📘 Part 3: Growth and change in personal and professional life

This episode's vocabulary

Prepare (verb) – to make ready for something. → Parents should prepare their children for the first day of school.

Packed lunch (noun) – a meal prepared at home to be eaten at school or work. → She brought a packed lunch to school.

On hand (phrase) – available or nearby when needed. → Have a lunch box on hand so the child doesn’t go hungry.

Pay for (verb) – to give money in exchange for something. → You have to pay for lunch at some schools.

Socialise (verb) – to interact with others in a friendly way. → Children socialise by playing and talking together.

Joke (noun) – something said or done to cause laughter. → They shared jokes during break time.

Common (adjective) – shared by two or more people. → People connect when they find something in common.

Deprived (adjective) – lacking something necessary. → Kids deprived of social contact may suffer.

Hormesis (noun) – beneficial effect from low-level exposure to stress. → Playing outside helps kids build resilience through hormesis.

Neurotransmitter (noun) – a chemical in the brain that affects mood. → Social interaction boosts neurotransmitters linked to happiness.

Norm (noun) – an expected standard of behaviour. → Children learn social norms through interaction.

Convention (noun) – a traditional or widely accepted way of doing things. → Social conventions are learned at school.

Get to grips with (phrase) – to start understanding or dealing with something. → You need to get to grips with new policies in a job.

Progression (noun) – advancement or moving forward. → Big companies often offer more career progression.

Awash (adjective) – filled or covered with something in large amounts. → Large firms are awash with policies and systems.

Peer (noun) – someone of the same age or status. → Children learn a lot from interacting with their peers.

Adapt (verb) – to adjust to new conditions. → Changing jobs requires you to adapt quickly.

Workload (noun) – the amount of work someone has to do. → A smaller company might mean a lighter workload.

Resilience (noun) – the ability to recover from difficulties. → Children build resilience through social play.

Salary (noun) – money paid regularly for work. → Many people change jobs to get a higher salary.

Questions and Answers

Maria: What would parents prepare when their children go to school on their first day?

Rory: Ideally, they'll have prepared their children for the experience. If we talk about physical things, then making sure the school bag is all packed and ready, and if they take one, or if their children take one, having a packed lunch or a lunch box on hand is also a good idea, so they don't go hungry. Or having money to pay for lunch, if they're eating at the school as well, and you have to pay.

Maria: How do children socialise with each other?

Rory: How does anyone socialise with anybody? They play together, share jokes and stories, and anything else people do together. I suppose it's all about finding out what you have in common so you can keep doing the things that interest you, or talk about them.

Maria: Is socialisation important for children?

Rory: Definitely. I think there was a case where kids deprived of physical touch and opportunities to run around and meet people, well, they died or had pretty dismal health outcomes. And that makes sense for a variety of reasons, since they're not exposed to various things that can strengthen their immune systems by hormesis, or get the neurotransmitters flowing that contribute to positive feelings. Or they miss out on the chance to learn various social norms and conventions. It's also just nice to have friends and meet people, at least I think so.

Maria: What are the advantages and disadvantages that come along with changing jobs?

Rory: Well, you need to get to grips with a whole new work environment and the policies that come with that, which there's no escaping, sadly. But you get the chance to meet people and make new friends, which is nice for the reasons that we talked about earlier when we talked about young people.

Maria: Are big companies better than small companies?

Rory: I have no idea, really. I mean, from a certain perspective, big businesses are relatively more stable and have more opportunities for progression and development, and possibly allow for larger salaries, just because they're likely to generate more income in general. However, they might also be awash with complex policies and operations and a whole array of social arrangements which people could struggle to handle. A smaller company has none of those problems, but it probably has fewer opportunities too, because it's confined to a smaller space. So it likely depends on the sort of person you are and how able you are to handle these things, rather than the company itself.

Maria: What are the reasons for job change?

Rory: As many as there are people, frankly. I think the most common ones are, or at least seem to be, things like getting a higher salary or more opportunities in new places. But it could also be about disliking the work environment or actually wanting fewer responsibilities for less stress.

Discussion

Maria: Right, dear listeners. So here the examiner could ask you questions about school, the first day at school, and also about jobs, changing jobs, socialisation, and communication with other people. We say on the first day at school. And parents should prepare their children for their first day at school. And if we talk about physical things, like physical objects, parents should make sure that their children have a school bag. It is packed. So parents pack children's school bags. They get their children ready for school. And usually parents give them a packed lunch or a lunchbox. So a lunch box, inside there is food, like a sandwich, an apple, or something like chocolate. And also they could prepare clothes. Well, they do prepare clothes for their children to wear.

Rory: Well, I hope so. Unless the children do that themselves, then there are some very responsible young people.

Maria: Five-year-olds, come on. Parents get the uniform ready or school clothes ready. And also they can praise their children. They can prepare them emotionally, like give emotional support to their children, like encourage them, say that everything is going to be fine, you are the best.

Rory: Oh, I never thought about the emotional side. So there could be the physical side and the emotional one. Yeah.

Maria: Children socialise with each other or they communicate with each other. They interact with each other. So they talk, they meet. So they play together. They share jokes. They tell jokes to each other. They tell stories or they share stories. And they do things together. They find out what they have in common. So what similar things they have. Socialisation is important. So if you can't pronounce this word, socialisation, interaction or communication, you can say. Like, socialisation. Because the is to socialise, to talk, to communicate, to interact with people. Here, Rory gave us an example when children were deprived of socialisation. So they didn't have any interaction with others. They didn't have any physical touch or opportunities to meet people. So you can answer this question, like if children don't have any socialisation, they will, like what will happen?

Rory: Well, they might die. I hate to talk about that. It's very sad, but I think that's what the ultimate outcome of the situation was.

Maria: Really? Oh wow. So when like little kids were deprived of socialisation, this had pretty dismal health outcomes. So dismal, like really bad.

Rory: Very negative. Very sad.

Maria: So we can say that socialisation is vitally important for children. Like super important. Like their lives depend on socialisation with different people, with their parents, with their close people. And children are exposed to various things that strengthen their immune system. So children kind of, they have various things, they see, they touch, they experience different things. And these things make their immune system stronger. Strengthen. To make something stronger means to strengthen something. Children's immune system. Well, our immune system protects us from different viruses. And you can say that socialisation is important for childrens’ immune systems. And Rory's immune system is C2.

Rory: How is immune system C2? That doesn't make sense.

Maria: I don't know. I don't know. It does. So all the cells in our body that protect us from infections and diseases. And we say that socialisation contributes to positive feelings. So it adds to positive feelings of happiness, excitement. And it's just nice for children to have friends and meet people and talk to them. Now, some questions could be about jobs and about changing jobs.

Rory: You never talked about my other piece of specialist vocabulary. I was very sad about that.

Maria: Oh, what, what, what, what?

Rory: We talked about the immune system via hormesis.

Maria: Oh, what's that?

Rory: So in a nutshell, and I'm simplifying this. So if you are a doctor or a healthcare professional, I apologise in advance. Hormesis is the process by which we expose ourselves to small amounts of something harmful in order to have a beneficial effect later on. So it's like you expose yourself to dirt and bacteria, and this activates your immune system. And then your immune system is more prepared to deal with this when a serious problem arises. And if you have worked with children, you know that they are filthy and therefore there's much to be exposed to if you are socialising with them, and your immune system becomes very strong when you are a teacher.

Maria: Wow.

Rory: And do you know how I learned that?

Maria: How did you learn it?

Rory: So in the pandemic, people talked about how if you stop people from interacting with each other, this phenomenon will not happen. But there was a doctor talking about it and he was like: That's like saying in order to protect yourself from radiation, you have to throw yourself into a nuclear reactor. It doesn't work that way. It's small amounts here. It's not just like exposing yourself willy-nilly to absolutely everything. It's got to be controlled at low amounts in order for the immune system to function. And I have no idea why, but that has stuck with me. And so when I heard the question, I was like, oh, this is a good chance to use that word and talk about that thing.

Maria: It's like we treat allergies by exposing ourselves to these little things we are allergic to. So the disadvantages of changing jobs could be a new environment. You need to get to grips with a new environment. When you get to grips with something, you understand, deal with this. For example, I need to get to grips with this problem. I need to understand it and deal with it. Get to grips with something is C2.

Rory: Look at all the C2 vocabulary that's being thrown around for free.

Maria: Yeah. So C2, Иand 9. And when a person changes their job, they need to get to grips with a new work environment. And they need to learn new policies, meet new people, make new friends. And that, well, could be a disadvantage. Yeah. But Rory, you never mentioned any advantages. Oh, no, no, no. Advantages. Yeah. Get the chance to meet people and make new friends.

Rory: Yeah. I was going to say, don't gaslight me, please. I did say something positive.

Maria: Large companies or small companies, like large corporations or small businesses. And Rory says, well, I have no idea, really. I don't know. And then he gives the answer from a certain perspective. On the one hand, large businesses are more stable. They have more opportunities for progression, for progress and development. So they develop more. And are more stable. Stability.

Rory: Well, maybe. I don't know. I'm not like a business professional, so I don't know so much about this, which is why I started by saying I have no idea, really. And then I went into guessing, which is why I said from a certain perspective, meaning my own limited perspective here.

Maria: But large companies could be awash with complex policies. To be awash with.

Rory: But that just means to have a lot of.

Maria: And people could struggle to handle so many arrangements and so many problems in a large company. But a smaller company has fewer problems because it's just small. Yeah. If we have different social arrangements in a large company, like we socialise with directors, with our colleagues, with other people, with all sorts of people. So we talk about hierarchy. Directors, senior managers, usual managers, low-level managers.

Rory: But it could also be used to talk about personal relationships.

Maria: There are many reasons why people change jobs. And you can say that, frankly, there are so many reasons. Again, like an adverb. Frankly, unfortunately, fortunately, to be honest with you. To be frank, like to be honest or frankly. You can use it at the end of the sentence, dear listener. So you can say, well, there are so many reasons, frankly. And the most common reason, the most kind of popular reason, but we don't say popular, we say common, is getting a higher salary. So a higher salary could be the main reason. And there are more opportunities in new places, like more opportunities for development, for promotion. Promotion occurs when a person gets a better position. And a person may not like the work environment, the work environment, so kind of atmosphere that you have at work. And a person might want fewer responsibilities. So not so many responsibilities.

Rory: Look at me using fewer.

Maria: Yeah, I was about to ask you, Rory, like, why do you think some people don't remember their first day at school, like me?

Rory: That's a good question. I imagine, because it was a long time ago, and so you've just prioritised other things in your head. And also people have different kinds of memories and ways of prioritising information. So that's also possible. But I'm not a psychologist, and I don't know much about the function of memory. So that's just a guess. But it's based on my own experience of dealing with people with different kinds of memory issues.

Maria: Yeah, I've asked Google: Why don't people remember their first day at school? And Google says that many people have difficulty recalling specific details or events, recalling, like remembering, from the first day of school, particularly when it was a long time ago, because of the developmental stage of the brain during early childhood. When we are kids, we have this developmental stage of our brain, the emotional and stressful nature of such experiences, and the typical memory consolidation process. So we have immature brains, dear listener, when we are five years old.

Rory: Oh, I thought you meant in general.

Maria: Our brain is immature, immature, and memory consolidation requires time and effort. So, like, to transfer our memories from short term to long term memory is still developing. That's why our memories may not be transferred to our long-term storage quickly. And also our emotions, our emotions interfere in our memory processes when we are five years old.

Rory: Look at all this learning happening!

Maria: Yeah, and then as time passes, memories tend to fade. So our memories tend to disappear from early childhood. Yeah, because we can't remember everything because just like, we are getting old. And that's it. Dear listener, thank you very much for listening. Hopefully your memory is fine. And now your brain is mature.

Rory: And you will remember our vocabulary and ways to talk about change at work and our first days at school and everything else that we talked about.

Maria: Yeah, or at least like you'll remember like two or three words. That's already good. Gets to grips with, for example, the immune system is C2. Bye.

Rory: Bye!

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