Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1,223.
Experiencing a Difficult Childhood This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 1,223.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
I fooled you there, huh?
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This episode is a dialogue between Morris and Tony about growing up in difficult situations.
Let's get started.
Congratulations on finishing your latest book.
What's it about?
It's about a girl whose parents abandoned her at birth and who ends up living on the streets.
She experiences abuse and is put in juvie.
Wow, that sounds heavy.
Wasn't your last book about children whose parents served time in prison and who lived in fear of bullies in their neighborhood?
Yes, I wrote that after my first book, which was about a brother and sister who lived in an impoverished home, traumatized by events beyond their control.
Do you ever write about happy childhoods?
I do write about happy childhoods.
All of the children and teenagers in my books are very resilient.
They are survivors.
I was thinking about children who have normal childhoods with two parents living in the suburbs.
You think they'd be happy?
I bet there's an underbelly of crime and misery in most seemingly perfect families.
I've no doubt that if that were true, you'd be the one to write about it.
Morris says to Tony, congratulations on finishing your latest book.
We can guess that Tony is a writer, an author.
Morris asks Tony, what's it about?
Meaning, what is your book about?
What is the topic of the book?
Tony says it's about a girl who whose parents abandoned her at birth and who ends up living on the streets.
To abandon someone at birth is to give up your baby right after the baby is born.
Usually this expression to abandon someone at birth refers to typically a mother who leaves her child perhaps at the door of a hospital or somewhere else.
There used to be a term for this called a foundling, F-O-U-N-D-L-I-N-G.
A foundling is a baby who has been abandoned by someone his or her mother and who is found hence the word foundling by someone else who takes care of the baby.
It was even quite common in some cities in Europe to have foundling hospitals.
There's one in London.
There's one in Florence, Italy, and in several other cities.
Fortunately, nowadays, we don't have a lot of foundlings, but that's what happens in Tony's book.
A girl is abandoned at birth and ends up living on the streets.
The expression.
To live on the streets means to be without a home, to not be able to live in any one place, but to have to perhaps move around every day.
A more common term nowadays is simply homeless.
To live on the streets implies often that you are involved perhaps, in activities that aren't very healthy or safe.
Tony says the character, the girl in her novel, experiences abuse and is put in juvie.
Abuse, A-B-U-S-E, is when someone hurts you either physically or emotionally, perhaps even sexually.
This girl eventually is put in juvie, J-U-V-I-E.
Juvie is another word for juvenile detention.
Juvenile detention is where you go if you are under the age of 18 and commit a crime or do something wrong.
You will not go to a regular prison or jail.
You will instead typically be sent to a special jail for children and teenagers, called juvenile detention.
Juvenile means that you are young.
You are not an adult.
In the United States, you are an adult legally when you are 18 years of age.
The girl in Tony's novel is eventually placed in juvenile detention, in juvie.
Morris says, wow, that sounds heavy, meaning that sounds very serious.
Wasn't your last book about children whose parents served time in prison and who lived in fear of bullies in their neighborhood?
Tony's previous book was about parents who served time in prison.
To serve, S-E-R-V-E, time in prison means to spend time in jail, to be a prisoner.
To live in fear of something means to always be worried or frightened of something.
Some people live in fear of death.
They are worried about dying all the time, which is not a very good way to enjoy your life.
In Tony's novel, the children, whose parents are in prison, remember, live in fear of bullies.
A bully...
B-U-L-L-Y is a person who is mean to other people, who uses his strength, power or influence to hurt other people or to make other people scared.
Normally, the term bully is used to describe a child who intimidates or is mean to another child.
More recently, the word has begun to be applied to adults, although the primary use is still one which is referring to a child or a teenager who is mean to another child or teenager.
The characters in Tony's previous novel lived in fear of bullies in their neighborhood in the area where they grew up.
Tony says yes, I wrote that after my first book, which was about a brother and sister who lived in an impoverished home, traumatized by events beyond their control.
What happy novels, Tony writes.
The first book she wrote was about a brother and sister who lived in an impoverished home.
Impoverished, I-M-P-O-V-E-R-I-S-H-E-D, means very poor, without a lot of money.
They lived in a house, a poor house, And were traumatized by events beyond their control.
To be traumatized.
T-R-A-U-M-A-T-I.
I-Z-E-D means to be affected by something very bad that happens to you, a very bad experience, or perhaps even a bad injury to your body.
If you are traumatized by events, something happens in your life that affects you mentally, emotionally or psychologically.
Events that are beyond your control are things that you are not able to influence or stop.
There are many things in our life that are beyond our control, things that we can't stop or influence, like how stupid other people are.
There's not a lot you can do about that, although I've tried.
Morris asks Tony, do you ever write about happy childhoods?
Childhood refers to the time when you are growing up, between the time you are born and say, 18 years old.
Tony says I do write about happy childhoods.
All the children and teenagers in my books are very resilient.
Resilient R-E-S-I-L-I-E-N-T is an adjective meaning to be able to recover quickly from a difficult experience or situation.
Someone who is resilient is someone who, even though he goes through difficult times, is able to recover, is able to get better.
Toni describes her characters as being survivors.
S-U-R-V-I-V-O-R-S
A survivor is someone who remains alive the word comes from the verb to survive even when he is in difficult situations.
A survivor is someone who is able to continue living even when he may die because of the situation he is in.
And of course, who can forget that wonderful song by Destiny's Child, I'm a Survivor.
I'm a survivor, I'm gonna make it, I will survive, keep on surviving.
Great stuff, great stuff.
Anyway, we're talking about survivors in Tony's depressing novels.
Morris says I was thinking about children who have normal childhoods with two parents living in the suburbs.
The suburbs are the areas outside of the main city which, in the United States, are often where the richer people live.
Tony says She doesn't think having two parents and living in the suburbs is normal, the way Morris does and the rest of us do.
Tony says Meaning Are you saying that the children would be happy with two parents living in the suburbs?
Once again, most of the evidence says they are.
But not Tony.
No, Tony says, I bet there's an underbelly of crime and misery in most seemingly perfect families.
An underbelly U-N-D-E-R-B-E-L-L-Y is something that is hidden normally, something you can't see.
That usually involves either crime or something bad happening.
Misery M-I-S-E-R-Y is suffering extreme unhappiness when everything is terrible and sad like watching an American presidential election.
It's misery.
The word seemingly S-E-E-M-I-N-G-L-Y means apparently something appears a certain way, but it isn't really.
That's why Toni says that she thinks there's an underbelly of crime and misery in seemingly perfect families.
The families look perfect, but in fact, they're not.
They're full of misery, according to Toni.
Morris says, I've no doubt that if that were true... you'd be the one to write about it.
Morris is saying that if it were in fact true that there's an underbelly of misery in seemingly perfect families, Tony would be the person who would write stories about that.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Congratulations on finishing your latest book.
What's it about?
It's about a girl whose parents abandoned her at birth and who ends up living on the streets.
She experiences abuse and is put in juvie.
Wow, that sounds heavy.
Wasn't your last book about children whose parents served time in prison and who lived in fear of bullies in their neighborhoods?
Yes, I wrote that after my first book, which was about a brother and sister who lived in an impoverished home, traumatized by events beyond their control.
Do you ever write about happy childhoods?
I do write about happy childhoods.
All of the children and teenagers in my books are very resilient.
They are survivors.
You call that normal?
You think they'd be happy?
I bet there's an underbelly of crime and misery in most seemingly perfect families.
I've no doubt that if that were true, you'd be the one to write about it.
Our dialogues never traumatize you.
That's because they're written by the always happy Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
