Meet the Family
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Lucinda | Todd |
Todd: Lucinda, has Kwame been to New Zealand?
Lucinda: Yeah, he has. He came with me on my last vacation to New Zealand.
Todd: OK, so how was it? It was his first trip to New Zealand.
Lucinda: It was quite funny actually because, he's, I'm from New Zealand in the Western Country and I'm from the country and he's from Africa and he's from the city so a lot of people assume that if your from Africa you're from the country and if you're from a Western Country, you're from the city and when he came to visit us I think he was a little bit shocked to end up in the middle of the country and my family thought he's be able to, he'd know his way around a spade and a shovel and and be able to plant trees which is what my parents spent a lot of time doing and so, I think in the beginning he was very, he was quite shocked about the type of lifestyle we had but after awhile he really settled in really well.
Todd: What did you guys do on his trip to New Zealand?
Lucinda: I taught him to swim. (Really) Kwame, well, he still can't swim very well. He can float, so we put actually, we, it's quite embarrassing, but we put a life jacket on him from, cause we have race boats, so we put a life jacket on him, and just sent him out into the water on his back
Todd: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That would work.
Lucinda: So we were quite shocked that he could't swim because coming from an island country, I have never before met anyone in my life that couldn't swim. I learned to swim when I was maybe 4 years old and we have swimming lessons at school so at least you don't go to school, there's no way that you can't swim.
Todd: So are you a good swimming teacher? Did you teach him successfully?
Lucinda: I gave up halfway through it. My mom had to teach him because I'm very small and my mom used to be a lifeguard so she, she was able to, cause Kwame is so big. He's over 6 foot, so and I'm almost 5 foot so it's kind of a bit, a bit dangerous for me to be teaching him how to swim.
Todd: What else do you remember about his first trip to New Zealand?
Lucinda: Oh, gosh. I remember that my parents, they really, really loved him and my family spent the whole time fighting over who got to spend time with Kwame and I think that my parents want to adopt me out and adopt Kwame instead. I really think they prefer him. He's the good son.
Todd: What did Kwame think of New Zealand?
Lucinda: He really liked it. He, my stepfather, he goes fishing all the time and Kwame, coming from the city, he, when my stepfather asked him to go fishing he kind of squirmed at the thought of the start, but after coming back fishing, he asked every night after that to go fishing (really) and now all he talks about is the large snapper that he caught in New Zealand.
assume
People assume that if you're from a Western Country, you're from the city.
If you 'assume' something, you believe that it is true even though you have no evidence or information that it is. Notice the following:
- When I heard all the things you'd done in your life, I just assumed you'd be older.
- You need to ask about these things. You can't just assume that you know what you're doing.
know his way around
My parents assumed that because he's from African, he'd know his way around a spade and a shovel.
Here, 'know his way around' means 'know how to use.' Notice the following:
- It's amazing how well he knows his way around a computer.
- She grew up in the city, so he never expected she would know her way around farm animals.
halfway through
I tried to teach him how to swim, but I gave up halfway through it.
If you have finished half of something, but you still have to finish the other half, you can say that right now you are 'halfway through.' Notice the following:
- I'm halfway through this book already, and I only started it yesterday.
- He had to go to work before he even got halfway through his breakfast.
adopt
My parents loved him so much that I thought they'd want to adopt him.
'Adopting' a child means taking legal responsibility for him. This usually happens when a child has no parents and is taken by a family who wants to be his legal parents. Notice the following:
- They adopted a baby from India, because they couldn't have children of their own.
- My sister adopted her first dog when she was 10 years old.
squirmed at the thought
When my father asked him to go fishing, he squirmed at the thought at first.
You 'squirm at the thought' of something when the idea makes you so uncomfortable that you want to move around in your seat. Notice the following:
- You squirm at the thought of eating some of the things they eat on this program.
- Every time I have to go to the doctor, I almost squirm at the thought.
Vocabulary Quiz
adopt • squirms at
