Intermediate Listening Series 2 Lesson 6- Dialogue about Parenting in English
In this lesson, you listen to an English conversation between two people talking about parenting.
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English Listening Lesson Audio with Script
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Lesson Script
Jim: Now there’s a couple that are kind of, that are not as nice. They can be positive or negative like for example a helicopter parent.
Julia: A helicopter parent? What’s that?
Jim: So a helicopter parent is basically a parent that just hovers over their child all the time. They’re always worried about their child. They follow them everywhere. They want to know what they’re doing at all times and they just worry a lot. They’re so worried…
Julia: That sounds very stressful.
Jim: Yeah.
Julia: As a parent.
Jim: They’re always worried their child’s going to get hurt or something, you know, or they just are just over-protective, I guess yeah. So are you a helicopter parent?
Julia: No, I don’t think so, no. No, I’m very happy for my daughter to have independence.
Jim: That’s good. That’s good. So you don’t like, if she goes outside for a few minutes or if she’s, you know, you hear some clanging in the next room, you don’t go rushing over.
Julia: No. I wait for the tears before I go over.
Jim: Smart, smart. There’s, recently because of a very popular book we have, it’s called the Tiger Mom.
Julia: A Tiger Mum?
Jim: Yeah, Tiger Mom.
Julia: Sounds cool. Is it a positive term or is it a negative?
Jim: It is kind of. Actually it comes, the tiger I think comes from the Asian reference. It’s like for an Asian mother and it’s basically really strict, really driven, like really push your kids, make them study hard, demand good grades, demand that they do extra curricular activities, really push them to have high paying careers or successful careers, do well academically and stuff like that.
Julia: From very young, does this…?
Jim: Yeah, from very young. The woman who wrote the book, I think it’s actually called Tiger Mom and she was a Yale professor and I think she was of Chinese ancestry and she raised these very successful daughters and so she wrote a book and basically saying you need to be strict and push your kids and demand excellence. I think that’s what she wrote.
Julia: Is the tiger, is it reference to like the Chinese horoscope, maybe like the characteristics of the tiger for that year?
Jim: No. Actually I just think it has to do with being a tiger comes from Asia, I think that’s it.
Julia: OK, well a tiger does have a pretty kind of aggressive or driven sort of image.
Jim: Right.
Julia: When a tiger gets something in its sights, you know, like where it comes from.
Jim: Totally.
Julia: No, I’m not so much a tiger mum, no.
Jim: So you’re a soccer mom.
Julia: More of a soccer mum I think, yeah.
Jim: That’s good. Yeah, that’s what I would want, a soccer mom.
Julia: A soccer mum, yeah.
English Listening Lesson Quizzes
Answer the following questions about the conversation.
1) A helicopter parent is very _____.
- a) fast
- b) protective
- c) rich
- d) big
2) Helicopter parents don’ want their kids to ____.
- a) succeed
- b) fail
- c) get hurt
- d) be bored
3) Julia likes her daughter to have ____.
- a) safety
- b) independence
- c) goals
- d) free time
4) Asian moms are stereotypically ____.
- a) relaxed
- b) strict
- c) driven
- d) loud
5) The personality of a tiger is _____.
- a) aggressive
- b) forgetful
- c) fast
- d) intelligent
Answers
- 1=b
- 2=c
- 3=b
- 4=b,c
- 5=a
English Grammar Tips
Coming soon….
English Listening Lesson Phrases
helicopter
A helicopter parent is always worried about her child.
A ‘helicopter’ is a machine that flies using a rotating blade that spins around quickly above the place where you sit and lifts the craft up into the air. Notice the following:
- Have you ever ridden in a helicopter?
- The news channel helicopters are already flying over the scene of the accident.
hover
These parents just hover over their children and follow them around.
When you ‘hover’ around something, you stay very close, sometimes too close. Notice the following:
- I spent the whole party just hovering around the snack table, and now I feel really sick.
- It’s hard to plan a surprise party for him when he is always hovering around.
over-protective
Helicopter parents are very over-protective.
An ‘over-protective’ parent is so concerned about her children that she doesn’t let them do anything, because she is scared that something bad will happen. Notice the following:
- She is so over-protective of her husband that she doesn’t even let him talk to other women.
- Your kids will miss out on many opportunities if you continue to be so over-protective.
clanging
If you hear something clanging in the next room, you don’t go rushing over.
A ‘clanging’ sound comes from hitting a metal object with another hard object. Notice the following:
- There is a clanging happening in my car that I need to get fixed.
- What is that clanging sound? It’s very distracting.
driven
A tiger does have an aggressive or driven sort of image.
A ‘driven’ person is very motivated to do something. Notice the following:
- She is a very driven employee.
- He is driven by the possibility of making a lot of money.
in its sights
When a tiger gets something in its sights, it goes after it.
Whatever you have ‘in your sights’ is your goal. Notice the following:
- She has had him in her sights for a boyfriend since they were 10 years old.
- He has a gold medal in his sights for this year.
Quizzes for Lesson Phrases
- helicopter
- over-protective
- hover
- sights
- clinging
- The team had victory in its ……….. .
- His mother is so…………. of him, she walks him to school.
- He swears he saw a UFO………. over his house.
- You can take a…………. tour of the city.
- She likes to……….. to her mother’s side.
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