Posts tagged You guys
A Canadian Childhood
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We were all kids once! But depending on where you live in the world, this can be quite a different experience. In this episode, Harp and Maura talk about the stuff that Canadian kids have to do, like chores, and the stuff that kids mostly want do, like the activities their parents sign them up for. They also talk about their own Canadian childhoods and reminisce about Saturday morning cartoons and playing hide-and-go-seek on their neighbourhood streets.
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| Maura: | There’s also a kind of kid that we call latchkey kids. |
| Harp: | Yes. A latchkey kid is a kid who gets home earlier than his or her parents and they have to open the door themselves and usually make a snack for themselves and maybe start homework by themselves. |
| Maura: | So it’s a kid who comes home to an empty house and they have to have their own key because no one is there to let them in. |
| Harp: | Yeah, exactly. So that’s a latchkey kid. |
| Maura: | Were you a latchkey kid? |
| Harp: | No. When I was young, my grandparents lived with us, so they were always at home when we came home from school. |
Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials:
| You guys | A chore |
| To get on someone’s case | To have it easy |
| A silly goose | A latchkey kid |
| To not be your thing | Brownies and Girl Guides |
| Not a single kid | To sign up for something |
| Hide-and-go-seek | I spy |
| A distant memory | Youth is wasted on the young |
| The grass is always greener on the other side |
Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Image: Forbes
Interview with a Brit living in Canada: Helen
Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Helen is an old friend to us at Culips, and we’ve finally recorded an interview with her for you. She’s British, but has been living in Canada for some time now, so in this episode, we talk about England and Canada, and get her opinion on both! You’ll find out how she ended up here and why she’s never left. (And if you’d like to hear another type of English accent, this episode’s for you.)
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| Maura: | What is your current status? Are you a Canadian citizen yet, or what? |
| Helen: | I’m a permanent resident and I just applied for my citizenship. If I get it, it should be in the next couple of months and you have to sing the national anthem in French and pass a little test about the history of Canada, so that’s going to be fun. |
| Maura: | Is it any easier, being a citizen of England or the Commonwealth, to become a Canadian citizen? Because I hear stories from other people, from other countries, who have to go through a really long process and fill out all this paperwork. |
| Helen: | I think, like anywhere else in the world, it depends where you’re from. France and England definitely have an advantage: French for Quebec and England for Canada. I have some Mexican friends and Argentinian friends and things like that, who’ve had a hard time integrating so easily. But I think yeah, we’re pretty lucky in Europe that we can move here pretty easily. |
Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials:
| To keep it up | No matter |
| Next door | A good 2 weeks |
| The Commonwealth | Paperwork |
| A path | All year round |
| A boot | A lorry |
| A chemist | Old-school |
| The imperial system vs. the metric system, and stones | You guys |
Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Image: Culips©






