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Talking about childhood

Episode 250523 / 23 May 2025

(Photo: Getty)

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Introduction

Neil and Beth have a real conversation in easy English about their childhoods. Learn to talk about what you were like when you were younger and how things have changed.

Vocabulary

childhood
the period of time when a person is a child

memory
something you can remember from the past

brings back memories
makes you think about the past

Grammar tip:

Use the past simple to talk about things in the past that were true for a certain period.

  • I lived in Canada.
  • I played in the street with my friends.

Use used to and would for repeated actions in the past.

  • I used to play ice hockey.
  • I would put on shows for my parents.
  • I'd make up songs with my friends.

Transcript

Neil
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English, the podcast where we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn. I’m Neil.

Beth
And I'm Beth. You can find a video of this podcast and find a worksheet to help you learn on our website bbclearningenglish.com.

Neil
Hello, Beth, how are you?

Beth
I'm very well, thank you. How are you, Neil?

Neil
I'm very happy. The Sun is shining today.

Beth
It is. It's a beautiful day.

Neil
What are we talking about?

Beth
Today we're talking about our childhoods. So we'll talk about life, how it was. What, what our lives were like when we were children.

Neil
How interesting. Let's get started.

Beth
So, Neil, what do you remember most about your childhood?

Neil
Well, it was such a long time ago, but I can remember things, obviously, quite clearly. I lived in a different country when I was a child.

Beth
Where did you live?

Neil
I lived in Canada until I was ten years old. So I can remember, very hot, humid summers, but very long and very cold and snowy winters.

Beth
So you always, like, made snowmen, I guess, and had snowball fights?

Neil
Yes. We always had a white Christmas, which is great. And I don't think I've ever had a white Christmas in England. Not in the south of England.

Beth
Well, I moved house, or my family moved house, when I was ten, so I feel like a slightly similar thing where all of my childhood memories really are in this house and playing with my friends that lived in that village and went to my primary school when I lived in that house. Having friends over for tea. That's a lot of, yeah, strong memories of, of my childhood.

Neil
And what kind of things did you do when you were a child? What kind of hobbies and interests did you have?

Beth
Well, my friends and I used to always put on shows. We would do gymnastics shows in the garden. We'd say, 'Mum, Dad, come and watch my gymnastics show with my friend'. We used to do singing concerts. We wrote our own songs. Once, my friend and I recorded onto a tape. Do you remember tapes?

Neil
Of course I remember tapes.

Beth
We recorded our own song onto a tape, and we sent it to a recording studio in the hope that they would sign us.

Neil
Is it a good song?

Beth
It's great.

Neil
I think we need to hear it.

Beth
Maybe at the end of the show. What about you? What sort of hobbies did you have when you were a child?

Neil
I just remember playing outside a lot with my friends and having adventures and also doing lots and lots of sport. So I always liked football and cricket and I played when I was in Canada, I played ice hockey.

Beth
That's cool. Can you still ice skate?

Neil
I'm OK. I'd say I'm better than most British people. Because you grow up in Canada skating.

Beth
Yeah.

Neil
But I'm not brilliant.

Beth
How do you think the world has changed since you were a child?

Neil
The world is really different from when I was a child. Because when I was growing up, we didn't have the internet or mobile phones. And I think they've made such a difference to the way people communicate with each other. And it drives me mad sometimes because my son will try to arrange to go out with his friends just to go to the park in a group chat, and then nothing ever happens. And I just say, 'just go there'.

Beth
Yeah.

Neil
It's 100 metres down the road. Knock the door. But I don't think that happens any more.

Beth
No, I think for me, like, something that's really changed is like I was saying about tapes, like the idea of playing a tape or putting a CD in a CD player. Like, brings back amazing memories. I used to have a CD that I would play, and then I'd sing really loudly, and I would imagine that then suddenly the band would be in the garden and they would and they'd be there singing with me. But I think those physical music devices even like having a video or a DVD, like they bring back loads of memories for me.

Neil
Let's recap the language we heard in our conversation about childhood, starting with childhood, which is the period of time when you are a child.

Beth
We had memory. A memory is something that you can remember from the past.

Neil
We can say that something brings back memories, which just means that it reminds you of something that happened in the past.

Beth
And when we talk about things in the past, we often use the past simple. For example, I said that I played in the street with my friends.

Neil
And we also heard used to and would, which is used when we talk about things that happened a number of times in the past. So for example, I used to play ice hockey. It means I played ice hockey a lot and now I don't any more.

Beth
And that's it for this episode of Real Easy English. Why not test what you've learnt with the worksheets on our website bbclearningenglish.com.

Neil
Join us next time when we'll be talking about days out. Thanks for joining us and goodbye.

Beth
Bye.

 

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