Hello and welcome to the English Like A Native podcast.
My name is Anna and you're listening to week 35, day one of Your English Five A Day, the second season.
With this series, you are indulging in a habit that will help you to improve your listening skills, grow in confidence and, little by little, start to feel more like yourself when communicating in English.
We cover so much vocabulary.
It is explained and then brought together in a story.
So hopefully you're educated and entertained.
So let's begin this episode as we always do with a snapshot.
Maria arrived in London to work as an au pair for the Thompson family, where she would receive room and board plus a small monthly stipend in exchange for caring for their two children.
At first, she experienced terrible culture shock.
Everything from the food to social customs felt completely foreign to her.
Gradually, though, she began to connect with the children and they helped her feel more at home.
Okay, let's dive into the vocabulary, starting with the noun au pair.
Au pair.
Two words, au, we spell A-U, pair, P-A-I-R.
An au pair.
An au pair is a young person, usually from another country, who lives with a family and helps with childcare and housework in exchange for room, food and some money.
So, for example, the family hired an au pair from France to look after the children.
Have you ever worked as an au pair?
Have you ever employed an au pair?
Would you consider becoming an au pair if that was an option for you?
The next item on today's list is the noun phrase room and board.
Room and board.
Three words room R-O-O-M and A-N-D, which is often shortened to und or simply un board.
B-O-A-R-D room and board.
Room and board is a place to sleep. and meals.
So you have a room in which to sleep and meals in which to eat.
The meals are the board.
They're provided often as part of a job or an arrangement.
You come and look after my children and I'll give you room and board, a place to sleep and food to eat.
Here's an example.
He worked at the hotel in exchange for room and board.
Next is the noun stipend, stipend.
Stipend we spell S-T-I-P-E-N-D.
Stipend means a small, regular amount of money paid to someone, often for living costs while working or studying.
A stipend.
For example, she saved part of her monthly stipend to travel on weekends.
Next we have the verb connect.
Connect.
Connect.
We spell this C-O-N-N-E-C-T.
Connect.
To connect is to feel close to someone or to build a relationship with them.
Also it can be to join or link things, like you connect the bricks when you're building Lego or And you can also connect with people.
I try very hard to connect with my children on a daily basis.
Here's an example.
Social media helps people connect with friends abroad.
Last on today's list is the noun phrase culture shock.
Culture shock.
We spell this C-U-L-T-U-R-E, culture shock, S-H-O-C-K.
Culture shock is the feeling of confusion or surprise when you experience a very different culture from your own.
Have you ever had a culture shock?
Alright, that's our five, so let's do a quick recap.
We started with the noun au pair, which is a young person, usually from another country, who lives with a family and helps with childcare and housework in exchange for room, food and some money.
An au pair.
Then we have the noun phrase room and board, which is a place to sleep and meals that are provided, often as part of a job or arrangement.
Room and board.
Then we had the noun stipend, which is a small regular amount of money paid to someone, often for living costs while working or studying.
A stipend.
We had the verb connect, which is to feel close to someone or build a relationship with them, or to join and link things to connect.
And we had the noun phrase culture shock, which is that feeling of confusion or surprise when you experience a very different culture from your own.
Culture shock.
Let's now do this for pronunciation purposes.
Please repeat after me.
Au pair, Au pair Room and board Room and board Stipend.
Stipend Connect Connect.
Culture shock.
Culture shock, Fantastic.
All right.
What's the noun, the name of the person who would live with a family and look after their children in exchange for a place to stay and some food?
An au pair.
Very good.
And what's the noun phrase we use for providing someone with a place to sleep and meals?
Room and board.
Yes, room and board.
Now, if I give you a small regular wage to help with your living costs, what noun could we use for that amount of money I'm giving you?
A stipend.
Very good.
What's the verb we use to say that we start to feel close to someone or to build a relationship with them?
Connect.
To connect to them.
And finally, what's the feeling of confusion or surprise you might experience if you go to a new country and everything's so different?
A culture shock.
Fantastic.
All right.
Listen to our snapshot once again.
Maria arrived in London to work as an au pair for the Thompson family, where she would receive room and board plus a small monthly stipend in exchange for caring for their two children.
At first, she experienced terrible culture shock.
Everything from the food to social customs felt completely foreign to her.
Gradually, though, she began to connect with the children and they helped her feel more at home.
OK, I want you to listen out for our target vocabulary once more as we head into story time.
The seatbelt sign flickered off with a soft...
But Mara remained pressed against the window, watching the patchwork fields beneath her.
Six months.
That's what she'd committed to with the Whitmore family.
Six months in a country where people queued for everything and said, brilliant, when they meant, OK.
Her phone buzzed with a message from her mum back in Prague.
Ring when you land, love.
Remember, it's just an adventure.
Just an adventure?
Mara wished she felt half as confident as her mother sounded.
The agency had made it all seem so straightforward room and board with a lovely family in Guildford, a modest stipend for pocket money and the chance to improve her English whilst caring for two children.
What they hadn't mentioned was the uncertainty that had been eating at her stomach since she'd boarded the plane.
Would she connect with eight-year-old Sophie and five-year-old James?
The photos Mrs Whitmore had sent showed gap-toothed grins and paint-stained school uniforms.
But photos couldn't tell you if a child would warm to you or see you as an intruder in their carefully ordered world.
What if they cried for their mum every time she tried to help with homework?
What if they refused to eat anything she cooked?
The elderly gentleman beside her folded his telegraph with a crisp snap, and Mara found herself wondering if this was what culture shock felt like.
This sudden awareness that even the sound of a newspaper being folded was somehow different here.
Would she spend the next six months feeling like she was watching life through glass?
Understanding the words but missing all the unspoken rules?
Mrs Whitmore had seemed pleasant enough during their video calls.
Busy but kind, with laugh lines around her eyes and the sort of posh accent Mara associated with BBC period dramas.
But video calls couldn't prepare you for living in someone else's house, eating at their table, becoming part of their daily rhythm.
What if she couldn't manage the school run in their enormous car?
What if she accidentally broke something precious?
What if the children sensed her nervousness and decided she wasn't worth their trust?
The pilot's voice crackled through the speakers, announcing their descent into Heathrow.
Mara's reflection stared back at her from the window.
22 years, old university educated, supposedly capable of managing two small humans in a foreign country.
Her grandmother always said that courage wasn't the absence of fear, but the decision to act despite it.
She pulled out the crumpled printout of Mrs Whitmore's instructions.
I'll be waiting by the information desk in Terminal 5, wearing a blue coat and probably looking frantic.
Don't worry if you can't spot me.
I'll find you.
The plane touched down with a gentle bump and Mara's adventure officially began.
Ready or not.
The Whitmores were expecting her and somewhere in Surrey two children were about to meet the young woman who would share their world for the next six months.
She gathered her courage along with her carry-on bag and joined the queue for passport control.
And that brings us to the end of today's episode.
I do hope you enjoyed it.
Until tomorrow, take care and goodbye.
