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Welcome to our Daily English Listening Practice with this week’s series:

Family Vocabulary

Where’d you grow up? Today’s English Family Vocabulary is focused on Growing Up, who you were raised by and who influenced your life as a child. Enjoy!

Please listen to the audio files for explanations.
Transcripts unavailable.

Notes from the Audio Files

Raised by Someone

• Through my high school life: During high school
• My mom left: Casual way to say parents separated and I lived with my father
• Breadwinner: The main contributor to the household, pays rent, buys groceries etc.
• She raised me: she took care of me daily for most of my life
• Someone isn’t around: casual way to say a parent doesn’t spend much time at home, because they may be traveling or working or don’t want to be a part of the family.
• Helps raise you: plays a part in taking care of you

How to use it:
“I was raised by my parents in Houston, but I visited my grandparents so often that they practically raised me every weekend out in the country.”
“When my dad left I was raised by my mother.”

How They Raised Me

• How you were raised: your personality
• How you were shaped: how your personality was developed
• Personal hygiene: Cleaning yourself well
• Strict: Quite a lot of rules
• Naughty step: An area for a child to stay in as a punishment (in the corner, the bottom of the stairs, another room etc.)
• Those values stick with me: I still remember those lessons
• The South: the southern part of the USA
• Yes ma’am, no ma’am: polite ways to reply to a woman, yes sir, no sir
• They raised me to be independent: my parents taught me values so I could be independent
  • They raised me to be (adjective)
  • They raised me to be a certain kind of person
• When they split: when they divorced
• Coddled: over-protective, not preparing someone for the real world

How to use it:
“My Granny raised me to be polite but firm, and she taught me the value of hard work. She helped shape who I am today for sure.”
“My dad never raised me to worry about things I couldn’t change. Thanks to him I’m very level-headed and calm now.”

A Father-Figure / Motherly

• Takes on that role: becomes that part
• Maternal Instinct: natural trait in a woman to be motherly

How to use it:
“My aunt is the baby in the family, so I never really considered her a maternal figure but more of a fun big sister.”
“Growing up without a dad, it was probably my male teachers who acted like father figures to me.”

Bad Blood

• Family feud – Burn some bridges –
• Didn’t see eye to eye
• Had a falling out
• A spat
• A breaking point
  

How to use it:
“No one really explained why there was bad blood in the family, but eventually they got over their differences, and it’s all been forgotten.”
“My sister is getting a headache from planning the wedding. Some of the bad blood means she needs to sit people on opposite sides of the room!”

Talking about Your Childhood

• On my 13th birthday
• When I turned an age
• When you were a kid
• All throughout my childhood
  

How to use it:
“I remember I had just turned 16, and my Dad let me drive to the DMV to pick up my driver’s license. I still remember what I was wearing!”
“When I was a kid, I remember using MSN messenger to talk to all my school friends, this was way before everyone had phones.”

Where were you raised? Who was important in shaping your personality during your childhood? Let us know!

Thanks,

Kat and Mark