Views #845 | Low-Intermediate 4

Fred's Year

Fred talks about what kind of year 2007 was for him.

Script
Vocab
Quiz



Sabriya	Fred

Sabriya: Hi, Fred.

Fred: Hi, Sabriya.

Sabriya: So, we're going to be celebrating New Year's soon. Tell me how was your year?

Fred: Wow. My year. 2007. It was a great year for me I have to say. I feel like I've grown so much as a person. I've done so many things this year that made me become I feel a much more responsible person, a more mature man. I've been working quite a bit at the school, but I've also been doing a few things outside of school, such as working with children as well. I've been working in a camp where we teach kids for twelve days English. Well, actually we don't really teach them. What we do is we spend twelve days with them and during those twelve days, the children that don't speak English come to this camp and have to only speak English for twelve days and we do all kinds of different activities with them.

Sabriya: So how do you teach the children without communicating with them?

Fred: That's the beauty of it. I understand that English is really important, but however we have this saying during the camp that our hearts speak as one and so we understand each other without using so many words, but of course the children have some basis in English and so we can understand each other.

Sabriya: OK, that's very beautiful. Going back to the topic we were discussing right now, tell me what was the best thing that happened to you this year?

Fred: The best thing that happened to me this year? I have to say that the best thing that happened to me this year was when I went back to Canada, I had the opportunity of spending lots of time with my grandmother, and you see, when I was growing up as a child she practically raised me, and so I have a special relationship with her. I do love everybody from my family, but my relationship with my grandmother is really great and spending two months with her was great for me.

Sabriya: Well, I can relate to that too since my grandmother raised me as well, so I hope you have another great year next year.

Fred: Thank you very much.

Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

I have to say

I have to say I've grown as a person.

We use the phrase 'I have to say' when we want to add important information. Notice the following:

I have to say it was an interesting class.
I liked the presentation, but I have to say, I'm not impressed with the product.

spend

We spend twelve days with them.

We 'spend' time doing an activity. Notice the following:

I spend a lot of time on my computer.
He spends 2 hours a day at the gym.

the beauty of it

That's the beauty of it.

The 'beauty' of something is what makes it so good. Notice the following:

English allows you to communicate with people from around the world. That's the beauty of it.
It's free. That's the beauty of it.

our hearts speak as one

During camp, our hearts speak as one.

Here, the phrase 'our hearts speak as one' means that we can often communicate emotionally as well as with words. Notice the following:

My wife and I have been married for over 30 years. Our hearts speak as one.
Though we're from different cultures, our hearts speak as one.

Going back to the topic

Going back to the topic we were discussing.

Sometimes during a conversation, the topic can can quickly change. When we want to return to an earlier topic, we say 'going back to the topic'. Notice the following: