📘 Part 3: Groups

This episode's vocabulary

Extra curricular activity (adj.) - an extracurricular activity or subject is not part of the usual school or college course.

Equivalent (noun) - having the same amount, value, purpose, qualities, etc.

Notoriously (adverb) - in a way that is famous for something bad.

Delegate (noun) - a person chosen or elected by a group to speak, vote, etc. for them, especially at a meeting.

Delegation (noun) - a group of delegates.

Charm (verb) - to attract someone or persuade someone to do something because of your charm.

Comprise (verb) - to have things or people as parts or members; to consist of.

Legitimacy (noun) - the quality of being reasonable and acceptable.

Legitimate (adj.) - reasonable and acceptable.

Impetus (noun) - something that encourages a particular activity or makes that activity more energetic or effective.

Dormant (adj.) - something that is dormant is not active or growing but has the ability to be active at a later time.

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Questions and Answers

M: So, Rory. How's your life?

R: It's quality. Now we can use that word properly.

M: Right. Let's talk about children and groups. What activities do young children do in groups at school in your country?

R: Lots of extracurricular activities to choose from, I think. And they're held within the school building too. Although the pandemic make currently limit them, I suppose. Lots of students go to jujitsu, for example, or karate, and I imagine their online equivalents as well.

M: Is it important to teach children to work in groups?

R: It should definitely be a priority since socialization is essential for everybody to function in the world. Even if they don't like it, it's important that students learn to find ways to minimize the more negative aspects of it. That's quite important, I think.

M: Why do some children prefer not to work in groups?

R: Oh, children can be absolutely awful to each other and develop this sort of in group out group mentality and exclude others based on that for all sorts of frivolous reasons. I'm not surprised there are some kids who would rather not get into that, especially when adults fail to stop it.

M: Let's now talk about leading in group. What can be difficult about leading in group?

R: Well, I suppose if the group is not a voluntary formation, there are some people who are uncomfortable with being led, maybe to the extent that they don't want to. And that can lead to tension. I suppose the other difficulty is ensuring the appropriate level of organization and supervision. It might not be too bad in small groups but bigger groups are notoriously difficult to manage in this aspect. In this respect. Sorry.

M: What are the qualities of dormant

a good group leader?

R: I think charisma and then the abilities of delegation and organization. You need to charm people into following you, but then you also need a plan to follow and the ability to let them fulfill their role in that plan. So many plans and organizations can come undone without these things.

M: What personality should a good leader have?

R: Um, I suppose one of best matches the context in which they're expected to lead. So, for example, Napoleon was a great leader for his time, but I imagine today he would face all kinds of issues that would mean he would be rather ineffective today.

M: Would you agree that the success of a group depends entirely on it's leader?

R: Oh, I'm not so sure about that. There are cases where leaders have been completely ineffective, and yet the group has triumphed due to the actions of those comprising the whole. Well, of course, you could argue that that still requires some kind of leadership, maybe informally, but it's possible without leaders too, I think.

M: Let's talk about international projects. What are the advantages of countries working together on a joint projects?

R: Well, in theory, it could lead to the fielding of greater resources for the project, as well as lending an air of legitimacy to it. For example, let's say, two countries. Well, let's say countries want to build a dam to create power and they both share a border where the dam should be. If they work together on it, then they can use the resources of both countries and they can complete it faster, maybe even to a greater extent than it would be done with one. And of course, if one country does all the work, then, you know, it might violate some of the things that happen in the other country. But if they work on the project together, then it's seen as more legitimate so they can compromise and find solutions to problems that benefit everybody.

M: Do you think there's a continuing need for translators and interpreters for international projects?

R: Oh, I think so. So advances in machine learning are making translation programs more effective. But there are elements of human communication that are not carried over well by software. And then there are some non job related elements like making things look official, for example. So there's still a space for them. Absolutely.

M: Will technology be able to guarantee the success of international projects?

R: Well, I think it always has and probably always will. But it's not the only ingredient in the recipe for success. You need resources and willpower to enable the realization of the plants and the plants themselves. You can have all of the technology in the world but without any impetus it's just going to lie dormant, isn't it?

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Discussion

M: Rory, thank you very much for your answers.

R: No problem.

M: Oh, my God, dear listener, you have to go back and listen how Rory says, I'm not so sure about that. Oh, he's so laid back, sort of like, oh, I'm chilling. The question was, would you agree that the success of a group depends entirely on its leader and Rory goes like oh, I'm not so sure about that.

R: Did it sound like that?

M: Yes.

R: Sorry.

M: I'm not so sure about that. This is how it sounds. It's just a one word, right. I'm not so sure about.

R: I'm sure about that.

N: That. Nobody says that. Right, now, we are discussing the words in a very serious. Are you sure about that? No, seriously. Go back and listen to how he says this phrase. This sentence. Amazing. I love it.

R: Do you actually love it?

M: Oh, yes.

R: Or you're just like, stop sounding like you're about to fall asleep.

M: No, it's not about falling asleep. I think it's kind of like, so, like, like laid back. Right, so groups and activities. When we talk about the activities in groups, we surely should mention lots of extracurricular activities.

R: Although we need to be careful with that because extra curricular can actually mean outside of school. But some people have extracurricular activities in their school. Extracurricular just means outside the curriculum. But the school itself is a physical building. So I just decided to drop that band nine word in there and then I explained why it was connected.

M: Yeah. Yeah. If the essay is about education do squeeze it in extra curricular activities, make sure you spell it correctly with double r. And then you can give an example of extracurricular activities so that children do in a group. Jujitsu. Karate, yes, it's karate, yeah?

R: And then there are online equivalents which just means they are similar things.

M: Online karate, online underwater swimming, online diving. Now love go to your bathtub.

R: Tom Daley did his workout online.

M: Yeah. Online workouts. Yeah, we did have this online dancing classes. Online yoga. Yeah. Yeah. How do you say this social? Socialization.

R: Socialization is just the process of becoming part of society.

M: Yeah. Now say it three times. Socialization, socialization, socialization. Rory, five times, go.

R: And then spell it with an S because you're not American.

M: Yeah. We can spell this word with an s or with a z.

R: Even though it sounds like a z, I'm not saying it.

M: Yeah. Socialization. When we do work in groups, we socialize, we interact with people.

R: But if we don't want to, we find ways to minimize negative aspects, which means just to make them not such a big problem for us.

M: What about this in group out group mentality? Wow.

R: Yes. So in group out group mentality is just like saying you have this idea where you are part of a group and other people are not part of your group and you hate the people that are not part of your group.

M: Oh wow.

R: And if you hate them, then you exclude them, which means you don't want them to be part of it.

M: Wow. So some people exclude others.

R: You see it with in gangs of kids at school all the time. It's horrible.

M: Oh yeah, I know. Yeah. Children could be so horrible to each other.

R: Oh yeah. And it's not their fault. The problem is not with the children. The problem is with the adults who don't stop them.

M: Mhm. Yeah. True. So then we talked about leading a group. And it's nice to use the passive voice structure, people who are uncomfortable with being led. I know, I know, it's cool, huh? So some people enjoy being led. Yeah. And you might think like why is been? What is this? Was or have been bing bing bing. Well it is the verb to be but some people enjoy doing something, right? So some people enjoy being led. So to be led by somebody and because we have this enjoy we need -ing. I know it's confusing. So some people don't like to be led by others. Rory, are you enjoying being led by us on this podcast.

R: Oh now you're looking at me. Yes. I love it. No objections at all. Let's keep going.

M: Yeah. Rory is truly a natural born leader who delegates the stuff.

R: Delegates to everybody. Can't write the advertising. You do that.

M: Yeah. So can be notoriously hard in this respect. Notoriously hard. That's a nice one.

R: Yes. Notoriously hard just means it's another way of saying very. It's well known for being very hard.

M: Oh, really? Like very hard, notoriously hard? Oh wow. That's a good synonym to vary.

R: Yeah.

M: So it's very difficult, it's notorious.

R: But if it's notorious then it's like very in a negative context. You wouldn't say, well, this is notoriously fun, for example.

M: Speaking of things that make wanna joy us, your charisma.

R: This kind of fun. Moving on.

M: Moving on. Yes. A good leader has charisma and abilities of delegation.

R: And organization.

M: Oh, yes.

R: Although you could just say the ability to delegate and organize.

M: Yeah, but again, we use various verbs and nouns. That's why it's good to say the abilities of delegation.

R: And organization.

M: Yes. Yeah. So Rory, as good leader, as a good group leader has to charm people into following his orders.

R: With varying degrees of success.

M: Yeah. So charm people into doing something and that's a good phrasal verb.

R: Yes, yes, it is.

M: So to charm, to charm people into doing things. So you can say like good leaders.

R: Well it means that you use your personality to convince them to do something. Saying nice things like I feel like you would be very good at this project, which I'm supposed to do. Why don't you do it for me?

M: This is charming. This is charming, right? Yeah. So when the examiner asks you about what personality should a good leader have, you can, you can give examples of like Napoleon.

R: You could give concrete examples of adjectives to describe personality. If you really believe that there are like certain personalities. So like you could say, oh, a good leader should be charismatic or a good leader should be effective or well organized.

M: Eloquent.

R: But I don't, I personally don't think that's true. I think good leaders match the situations that they're best designed to handle.

M: Yeah, they're adept. Adept and flexible.

R: If you think about the marketing for the podcast, for example, I don't know anything about marketing. And I can't take the lead on that, but Vanya does. So he does.

M: Yeah. That's why Rory has lovely abilities of delegation.

R: Well that's not delegation. That's just knowing when not to be a control freak, which is part of being a human being as much as part of being a leader.

M: OK. Yeah. But the point is like feel free to give some examples of real people. Then, dear listener, if you're not sure about something you can say just I'm not so sure about that. Seriously, just listen to it. Listen to it. You can just put it on a repeat. I'm not so sure about that.

R: I'm not so sure about that, to be honest with you.

M: When you talk about the success, or some success of a group, you can say that the group has triumphed.

R: Yes. And you might not say it was successful. You can say it's triumph, which means the same thing.

M: Yeah, triumph. That's a gorgeous word. Triumph. Can you feel triumph? Do you have triumph?

R: You triumph over something. So it's more like a verb in this case.

M: Triumph. So international projects, we have advances in machine learning. And we talked about the translators, interpreters. A translator does written translations, an interpreter does.

R: Spoken translations.

M: Yes, and we'll have like advances in technology or advances in translation technology, I don't know. Do they, like, use interpreters?

R: Where?

M: I don't know. During like negotiations.

R: I have no idea, like... Oh, right, you mean...

M: People or machines?

R: Well, most international projects use translators.

M: People.

R: Yes.

M: Interpreters.

R: Yes. Because the people, well, translators are like the machines are good at translating words directly. They're not good at other things like idioms or like body language, for example.

M: Yeah. Sarcasm.

R: And if you're interested in idioms, then you should listen to our episode on idioms.

M: Yeah, we have the whole episode about idioms. And, Rory, your last words when you answered this question about technology, like you said something and it was like you're speaking another language. You said something, impetus, it will be dormant. Dormant? Impetus? What?

R: If you can have all the technology in the world, but without any impetus, it will just lie dormant.

M: OK, dear listener, do you understand any of it? Seriously? Like, Rory, you should really explain.

R: Impetus is the driving force behind something. It's the thing that makes something work. And if something lies dormant, it means it just, it doesn't do anything. So, for example, you could have technology, but if you don't have anything to do with it, then it won't be doing anything. It just sits there and does nothing. But you could say instead, if you don't have the impetus, then it will lie dormant. And that's how you get a band score, quality, Scotland freedom, what a coincidence, band nine.

M: Yes. Oh, I'm speechless. Yes, I'm going to. I don't know, I have no words now.

R: You can take a lie down because that's the end of the episode. Thank you very much for listening to us. Hopefully you enjoyed our breakdown of vocabulary. If not, then you can enjoy Maria's is nervous breakdown, while I overload her with band nine words.

M: Oh, I'm overloaded. Buckets of vocabulary and grammar. Thank you very much for listening and supporting us. We really love you and hug you and sending you all the smiles and kisses. Bye!

R: Bye!

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