Okay, it's time to work on our listening and comprehension.
I'm going to play you a conversation that was unscripted, unplanned
and is largely unedited.
Then I will go back and revisit some of the vocabulary that you may not
have been familiar with, but by the end of this lesson, you will be.
If you would like the cheat sheet that goes along with this lesson,
which includes the transcript of the conversation along with vocabulary that
I point out, and some little exercises to help you to remember the vocabulary,
then all you need to do is click on the link below and join my mailing list and
I'll send the cheat sheet straight to you.
Now, without further ado, let's listen.
"Were you a teacher's pet back at school?
Um, for some of them, no, well, no.
No.
What about you?
Yes, in English I was definitely the teacher's pet and in like PE I
was the golden girl because I did all the clubs and took part in every
extracurricular activity that was going.
I was generally a good girl, not a naughty girl.
It's a funny word, isn't it?
Naughty, because we use it to mean cheeky a lot.
For children, I don't think we, I think naughty just means, um...
Badly...
...like badly behaved.
I think adults being naughty is different to being a criminal.
Yes, yes.
Whereas...
Because if you break the rules at school, you're a naughty boy or
you're a naughty girl, but if you're a grown-up and you call someone a
naughty girl, then it's got almost like a, it's like hanky panky, isn't it?
Yeah.
It's like, um...
Sexual connotations.
So, as a child, I wasn't a naughty girl, but I did hang around with...
...as an adult!?
I did hang around with some of the naughty kids.
There was one time when I started a new school and I was trying to hang out with
a cool crowd and they were all behind the bikeshed having a sneaky ciggy,
but I was being the lookout for them.
I was trying to help them out because I wanted to get in with them and so I
was looking out for them and then one of the girls asked me to hold one of their
cigarettes for a moment and the moment I took the cigarette in hand was the moment
like the head of department or someone quite senior in the teaching staff walked
around the corner and literally caught me red-handed even though it wasn't my
cigarette and of course, I protested.
I was like,
"It's not mine, it's not mine..."
But I had it in my hand.
Do you think your friends saw the teacher coming?
Maybe.
Maybe they were just like setting me up for a fall.
But even in those circumstances, like, I wasn't the kind of person
who would dob other people in.
I was a good girl but I kept my mouth shut when I needed to.
I used to hate the word dobbing.
Did you?
Yeah as a kid it was like, I always thought it was something
that people got off Neighbours...
Right.
...or, um, Home and Away, saying,
"You're gonna be dobbing me in."
Well what word would you use?
Like to rat, to rat someone out or?
I think,...
as when you were younger you just say like 'telling the teacher'
or something, but then...
"I'm telling!"
Yeah.
"I'm telling on you!"
Yeah, be like you telling or whatever and then I think when you're a bit older like,
"You're gonna grass me up."
Oh, 'grass up'.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, we used that one a lot when I was a kid.
"Don't grass me up."
I was a goody two shoes, actually.
I don't remember ever getting a detention or...
You really were a goody two shoes.
Yeah, I really was.
I really was.
I have no idea how many detentions I got.
Really?
Oh, so you were a bit of a naughty boy.
Yeah, I got in a few fights and all this kind of stuff, you know, boys
trying to find their place in like the hierarchy of the, of the year.
And there was 150 kids in my year, so there was a lot of people
finding their places and things.
And then when you got a bit older, like, those sorts of things mostly disappeared.
I wasn't very good at doing my homework.
I was a bit bored, I think, for the most part.
So you'd just always test the limits.
You know, I didn't, I didn't mind saying things that maybe were a bit on the edge.
Right.
Getting me in a bit of trouble with the teachers and things.
You weren't expelled, were you?
No, I was never expelled.
I think you've got to be horrible to be expelled.
I was suspended, maybe three times.
You were suspended three times?
I think so, yeah.
What on earth did you do to get suspended for a whole week?
Well..."
Were you a teacher's pet back at school?
Teacher's pet describes the student who is the teacher's favourite student.
So they might get a special treatment, or the teacher may just behave in a more kind
and friendly way towards that student.
The teacher's pet.
In like PE I was the golden girl.
Here I mentioned being the golden girl in PE.
PE stands for physical education.
It's the lessons that involve sports and being physical that we do at
school and being a golden girl is like being a very well-behaved and
well-liked girl, a golden girl.
But if you're a grown-up and you call someone a naughty girl, then it's got
almost like a, it's like hanky panky.
Hanky panky.
This kind of fun slightly naughty phrase refers to behaving in a very
intimate and sexual way with somebody else the act of hanky panky could
literally replace the word sex.
So,
"Did you have hanky panky last night?"
It's sex, basically.
A bit of hanky panky.
But hanky panky can also refer to just the acts that are sexual
that aren't necessarily sex.
So a bit of, a bit of tickling and rolling around.
Hanky panky.
And they were all behind the bike shed having a sneaky ciggy, but
I was being the lookout for them.
I was trying to help them out because I wanted to get in with them.
Here, I used the phrase ciggy, meaning cigarette.
So you might hear different, uh, like slang terms like
sig, fag, ciggy, cigarette.
I use the word ciggy just off the cuff.
I also said lookout.
To be a lookout is to be the person who stands guard while something is happening,
watching to make sure that no one is coming or that no one can see and if
someone is coming the lookout is supposed to tell whoever is doing the deed,
"Someone's coming quick."
Now, normally there'd be a lookout if a gang were committing a crime like
robbing a bank there'd be someone on lookout at the front or I always think
of meerkats when I think of a lookout because meerkats will spend their
time doing what they're doing but one meerkat will have the job of being the
lookout and he stands up tall and he looks to the sky to look for predators.
And if there's a predator, he will warn the others and they'll all
quickly scurry away into safety.
I also said I wanted to get in with the group, to get in with them.
To get in with a group of people is to become one of them.
So be liked by a group of friends so that they want you to be in their group.
They like talking to you, they invite you to do the things that
they're doing to get in with them.
And literally caught me red-handed even though it wasn't my cigarette.
I was caught red-handed.
To be caught red-handed is an idiom that describes being caught or found in the act
of doing something you shouldn't be doing.
So if I'm in my kitchen, no one's around, and there's a big slice
of cake in the fridge that I'm not supposed to eat, because it belongs
to someone else or maybe I'm on a diet and then I think no one's looking,
"Chomp chomp!"
And I've got chocolate all over my face and someone walks in as I'm just
licking my fingers, but I still have chocolate on my face Then I've just been
caught red-handed, caught in the act.
Maybe they were just like setting me up for a fall.
To set someone up for a fall is to prepare someone to then allow them to fail.
Just like you would set up dominoes, and as soon as you finish setting
up your dominoes, you knock them down, and they all fall down.
In some circumstances, people will set other people up for a fall.
So they'll put them in a situation where they know they will fail.
It's not pleasant, but it happens.
But even in those circumstances, like, I wasn't the kind of person
who would dob other people in.
To dob someone in it's possibly clear now because of the context, but to
dob someone in is to tell someone that that person was doing something wrong.
So if we are friends at school and you break the rules and I go and
tell the teacher that you've broken the rules, I am dobbing you in.
To dob in.
I always thought it was something that people got off Neighbours...
Right.
...or, um, Home and Away.
Nick mentioned Neighbours or Home and Away.
Now these are two very famous soap operas, maybe not as famous now with the
younger generations but certainly when I was growing up in the 90s Neighbours
and Home and Away were very popular.
Everyone of my age will know what I'm referring to, if I say Neighbours or
Home and Away, these are soap operas that were just commonplace in the
British household when I was growing up.
Neighbours
Everybody needs
good neighbours.
Closer each day,
Home and Away
You're gonna grass me up?
Oh, 'grass up'.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, we used that one a lot when I was a kid.
On the subject of dobbing someone in, we also have other
phrases that were very common.
One particular one is grass up.
Now, if you grass someone up, it's the same as dobbing them in.
You're telling tales on them.
You're telling someone,
"They did this, they did something wrong."
in order to get them into trouble.
That's the reason that you would grass someone up.
If you committed a crime and I went to the police, then I'm essentially a grass.
I am a grass.
I've just grassed you up.
You really were a goody two shoes.
Yeah, I really was.
To be a goody two shoes.
It's often actually used as a phrase that has a negative connotation.
If someone's a goody two shoes, it means that they're disliked a little
bit because they are too good.
They really play to the rules and just always try to be the golden
girl or the golden boy and they don't have any problems with grassing
someone up, dobbing them in so that they can win brownie points, so
they can be favoured by authority.
So sometimes people don't like a goody two shoes.
Also a goody two shoes is someone who maybe never lets their hair down.
They never take risks.
And that can be associated with not being fun.
So it's good to follow the rules and do as you're told but being a goody
two shoes maybe is a step too far.
Yeah, I got in a few fights and all this kind of stuff, you know boys
trying to find their place in like the hierarchy of the, of the year.
Here I used the word hierarchy.
Hierarchy.
A hierarchy is a system that orders people in terms of status and authority.
So in a school, at the top of the hierarchy will be the
headmaster or the head mistress.
Below them will be the heads of departments, so the head of math.
The head of English, the head of languages, the head
of PE, physical education.
And then below that, you'll have all the other teaching staff.
And below that, you might have the prefects, which are the, the
model students, the goody two shoes students who are happy to
take on extra responsibilities.
And then you have the students.
That's the hierarchy, the system of status and authority.
I was a bit bored, I think, for the most part.
So you'd just always test the limits.
You may have missed it, but I said, uh,
"So you always test the limits."
If someone tests the limits, it means that they see how much they
can do before getting into trouble.
So if you say to me,
"Anna, bedtime is nine o'clock on the dot and that's the rule.
Stick to it."
But then one night I stay up till two minutes past nine
and I don't get into trouble.
So the next night I stay up till four minutes past nine.
Nobody says anything.
So the next night I really push the boat out and I stay up till ten past nine.
Then I get into trouble.
"Anna, I told you bedtime is at nine o'clock on the dot.
You're really pushing the limits here.
Don't test me."
So, to test the limits is to see how far you can go before things change.
You weren't expelled, were you?
No, I was never expelled.
The word expelled not a good word.
This means that you are permanently removed from a school or educational
setting because of bad behaviour.
So if you've done something very serious then you are asked to leave
the school and you may never come back.
Suspended, maybe three times.
You were suspended three times?
I think so, yeah.
To be suspended means to be asked to leave for a short period and this is a
punishment for doing something quite bad but not so bad that you are expelled.
It might be that you are only allowed to be suspended two or three times, and
if you are continuously breaking those rules, then eventually you'll be expelled.
Suspension is for a short period you're asked to leave school.
Expulsion, to be expelled, is a permanent ban.
What on earth did you do to get suspended for a whole week?
And here I said,
"What on earth did you do?"
What on earth?
Um, to add on earth into a question, like,
"Who on earth?"
"What on earth?"
"Where on earth?"
"Why on earth?"
If you slide in 'on earth' after those W-questions, then you're
really exaggerating the fact that you're surprised or shocked by
what you are trying to understand.
If you are doing something that I think is crazy, I'd say,
"What on earth are you doing?"
Or if you walk into my house and I don't know who you are, I'd look at you and say,
"Who on earth are you?
And what on earth are you doing in my house?"
So it adds meaning an additional level of shock or surprise to your question.
I hope you enjoyed that.
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