Episode 0339

Hello everyone and welcome to English Pot. My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and today we're talking about a very well, it's a pretty important part of your child's education.

That's right, something that many schools do is they have a conference between the teacher and the parents, so, you know, they can talk about how the child is doing.

That's right. So this is something very common in American schools and it's important to learn some of the words that you will hear. So, let's take a little listen to our dialogue and when we come back, we'll be talking about what some of these words and phrases mean.

Of course. I'm very interested to know how my child is doing and also get some insight from you as to how he can improve.

Well, Alan is a great student. He's a hard worker and very well behaved. However, he does struggle a bit with math.

I guess he gets that from me. I never did well in math when I was a kid. What can I do at home to compliment what he is learning in the classroom?

Well, it's important that you sit with him and review his homework assignments and help him with math. I would also recommend he stay after school twice a week for tutoring sessions. It will really help a lot.

Thanks a lot. I will definitely do that. Is there anything else?

Um, yes. Here's a notice from our financial department. Seems your child's tuition is overdue.

Oh, yes, I

Alright, we're back. So now let's take a look at some language takeaway.

First up in language takeaway, we have the key phrase here which is parent teacher conference.

That's right. So it's a parent teacher conference, a parent teacher conference. And it's basically a meeting between the parent of the child and the teacher of the child and they talk about how well he is doing or she is doing or where she needs or he needs to improve.

That's right. So this is something that can happen maybe twice a year, maybe four times a year. It depends on the school, but it's just a meeting between the parents or parent of the child and his or her teacher.

That's right. So it's uh, it's very common with schools in order to make sure that uh, the parent knows how the child is doing in school and can improve maybe.

And one of the goals is to provide the parent with insight um into how to help the child learn more.

Okay. So insight is kind of like um a better understanding of things.

More clear picture, yeah. So, um, I could say, you know what Marco, I just don't get that woman Cindy. Can you provide some insight into why she made that decision?

That's right. So you want some more information or some uh type of explanation as to why she made that decision.

Exactly. And so, um, the teacher will then provide this insight by describing um what he or she thinks about the student.

That's right. And well the teacher went on to say that uh Alan is a great student, hard worker, very well behaved.

So he is a hard worker, that means uh he is this. It's not an adjective, this is a noun. He is a hard worker, she is a hard worker. Um, he is very well behaved. Now this is a way to describe him. He is not naughty. He is well behaved. That means he doesn't start fights, he doesn't talk in class, he doesn't cheat.

Okay. So what would be the opposite? You say a a child or a person is well behaved, what would be the opposite?

I would say the the child who is not well behaved is naughty.

Okay. So you say he is not well behaved or just he is naughty.

He's very naughty. He always starts fights in class.

Okay. Now, um the student is having a little bit of problems with math. And so the parent asks what he can do to complement what he is learning in the classroom.

Okay. So to complement. You might have heard this verb before, but here it means something special. It means um to add to. All right? So, okay. The boy, Alan, he's learning a lot in school, but maybe he's not learning enough because his math scores just aren't good enough. So the father wants to know what can he do in addition to school.

You know, what can he do extra to help his boy? So that will it will complement his studies.

That's right. So we have to complement someone as to say, oh, you look nice today. Or this in this situation, this verb we are saying to uh provide more support or extra help to something.

That's right. So I feel really good about um accounting, but I want to take a an extra math class to complement my accounting studies, cuz I'm just not very confident in my math.

Very good, exactly. All right. So and towards the end, well, we're talking about how the child's tuition is overdue. The teacher says the child's tuition is overdue.

What is tuition, Marco?

Well, the tuition is the fees that you have to pay for school.

Okay, so maybe a private school will have a tuition. So a high school or an elementary school, but you often hear this uh in regards to college or university. So college tuitions in America are very expensive.

That's right. And when a tuition is overdue, it means that it hasn't been paid yet and so the payment is late.

The payment is late. Now, a lot of things can be overdue. That means they've passed their due date. A bill can be overdue.

That's right. So you should have paid your bill already, but you haven't. So it's overdue.

That's right.

Okay. So a lot of vocab there. Why don't we listen to our dialogue again?

Of course. I'm very interested to know how my child is doing and also get some insight from you as to how he can improve.

Well, Alan is a great student. He's a hard worker and very well behaved. However, he does struggle a bit with math.

I guess he gets that from me. I never did well in math when I was a kid. What can I do at home to compliment what he is learning in the classroom?

Well, it's important that you sit with him and review his homework assignments and help him with math. I would also recommend he stay after school twice a week for tutoring sessions. It will really help a lot.

Thanks a lot. I will definitely do that. Is there anything else?

Um, yes. Here's a notice from our financial department. Seems your child's tuition is overdue.

Oh, yes, I

All right, so now we've prepared three key phrases for you on fluency builder.

All right, the first phrase here on fluency builder is to struggle with. So, Alan is a great student, but he does struggle with math.

That's right. So to struggle with something means that you are having a hard time. It's difficult for you.

It is difficult. So when I was a student in elementary school, I struggled with science. Is there anything you struggled with, Marco?

I struggled with I struggled a little bit with history.

Interesting. So, for Marco, history was hard. For me, science was hard.

But you can also use it for your work, right? You can say, I'm struggling a little bit at work.

I'm struggling with my new schedule. I have too much to do.

Okay. So, after the teacher said that Alan is struggling with math, the parent actually said, I guess he gets that from me. I never did well in math when I was a kid. So, what is the parent saying?

He gets that from me or she gets that from me. This means that the child has the same problems the parent has.

So, when the parent was little, he had a hard time with math. He struggled with math. And now his child struggles with math. So it's something that maybe he he inherited or he got from his father.

Right.

He gets that from me.

Right. So sometimes you will hear that uh maybe somebody is stubborn and you say, well, you know, I get that from my dad.

Yes, I'm very talkative. I get that from my mother. That means my mother is talkative and I have the same characteristic.

So we're basically saying that you kind of genetically inherit the same characteristics.

Exactly.

All right. And the teacher said that, well, in order to improve, Alan should attend tutoring sessions.

Tutoring sessions. Now this is important. Um, you might have heard the word tutor before. I have a math tutor, but a tutoring session is actually the time you spend together with your tutor practicing something or studying something.

Right. So you don't have a class with your tutor. You have a tutoring session.

That's right. Class is for a teacher and many students. But uh a tutoring session is one on one. It's two people together, a tutor and a a student. Uh-huh, learner.

So uh the the word tutor can be a noun, you have a tutor, which is a person that helps you or you can tutor someone, to tutor, which means to teach or to help.

That's right. So in college, I had a tutoring session with a math tutor two times a week. That means my math tutor helped me learn math outside of school, after school.

Very good. All right, so a lot of great stuff there. Let's listen to the dialogue one last time.

Of course. I'm very interested to know how my child is doing and also get some insight from you as to how he can improve.

Well, Alan is a great student. He's a hard worker and very well behaved. However, he does struggle a bit with math.

I guess he gets that from me. I never did well in math when I was a kid. What can I do at home to compliment what he is learning in the classroom?

Well, it's important that you sit with him and review his homework assignments and help him with math. I would also recommend he stay after school twice a week for tutoring sessions. It will really help a lot.

Thanks a lot. I will definitely do that. Is there anything else?

Um, yes. Here's a notice from our financial department. Seems your child's tuition is overdue.

Oh, yes, I

Alright, so parent teacher conferences a very common thing. A very common thing and I think sometimes even a little bit scary for the kid because, you know, your parent is going to go talk to your teacher and maybe your teacher's not going to say great things about you.

Yeah, this is always very nerve-wracking for children because maybe you didn't tell your mom and dad what you got on your test in science last week and then your teacher will tell your parents and your parents will be angry.

So this is the time when the parents can be honest with the teacher and the teacher can be honest with the parents.

That's right because sometimes teachers will have a file with maybe um your test scores and they will show them to your parents. So uh not only what you get on your report card, but then you'll actually see the tests and it could be like you say a little nerve-wracking.

I've also heard though it can be nerve-wracking for the teacher because sometimes teachers have to tell parents things that they don't really want to know about their kids. If the teacher says, hey, your boy Alan, he's not very good at math, maybe Alan's dad gets angry.

Right.

Right, right.

So it can be hard for everyone, but I think generally they're very positive. They really help the students.

Right. Well, it's a it's interesting and actually I haven't really seen parent teacher conferences to be that common outside of the United States. So maybe if you're a parent you have attended a parent teacher conference or uh maybe when you were a kid your parents went to your parent teacher conference.

And if you don't have teacher conference parent teacher conferences in your country, what do you have? How do parents and teachers talk? Let us know our website is englishpad.com.

All right, we'll see you guys there. Bye.

The English pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

A person who teaches or instructs.

Teacher

A formal meeting where many people talk about ideas.

Conference

An instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing.

Insight

Try very hard to do something that is difficult.

Struggle

An expression of praise.

Complement

A person employed to instruct another in some branch or branches of learning, especially a private instructor.

Tutor

The charge or fee for instruction.

Tuition

Past due.

Overdue

Let's try that faster.

A person employed to instruct another in some branch or branches of learning, especially a private instructor.

Tutor

A formal meeting where many people talk about ideas.

Conference

Past due.

Overdue

Try very hard to do something that is difficult.

Struggle

An instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing.

Insight

An expression of praise.

Complement

A person who teaches or instructs.

Teacher

The charge or fee for instruction.

Tuition

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Overdue

Overdue

Overdue

Tutor

Tutor

Tutor

Maybe I should become a tutor as I'm great at science and I need a little bit of money.

Struggle

Struggle

Struggle

Don't struggle, you're only making things worse.

Insight

The documentary provides a fascinating insight into our country's dark side.

Insight

My personal guide gave me a great insight into his culture.

Insight

I'm reading this because I'm hoping it will give me an insight into the world of politics.

Teacher

Teacher

Teachers need to have a lot of patience.

Teacher