Real English Conversation: Talking about FAMILY

Hello, my name is Emma, and today we have a special guest.

This is my sister, Audra.

Audra, you can say hi to our audience.

Hello.

Hello.

Audra is here to help me teach family expressions.

So today I will teach you some of the most common expressions we use to talk about our

families.

Audra and I are also going to play a fun game today, which you will see in a moment.

So first I will teach you an expression, and then Audra and I, with our arrows, are going

to decide who the expression represents the best.

So you will see what I mean in a moment.

Audra, are you ready?

I'm ready.

All right.

I've decided the first expression I want to teach today.

The first expression is the word "the favorite."

Some families have a favorite child.

The favorite is the child in the family or the person in the family that the parents

like the best.

This isn't necessarily a good thing to have, but I think in our family there might be a

favorite.

So Audra and I are going to use our arrows, and we're going to decide who we think the

favorite in the family is.

So Audra, if you want to point your arrow, who do you think the favorite in the family

is?

Oh, okay.

So Audra's pointing it down, which means she doesn't think there's a favorite.

Or I think it might be our brother, James.

I think he is the favorite in the family.

Okay.

So I forgot to mention, Audra is just one of my siblings.

Audra and I have a brother who is very shy and doesn't like to be on camera.

So our brother, James, is not here today.

So if we point down, that might mean it's our other sibling.

So Audra thinks the favorite in the family is James, whereas I think the favorite in

the family is me.

Okay.

So it looks like we have a disagreement, and that's okay.

So again, the favorite just means the person in the family who is liked the best by the

parents.

Our parents would say there is no favorite, but I think it's really me.

Okay.

Well, let's now go to the next family expression, which is a common family expression.

The next expression I want to teach you is the black sheep.

So a sheep is an animal.

It makes the sound "baa" in English.

But what about the black sheep?

What does that mean?

Well, the black sheep is the person in the family who is the troublemaker.

They are the naughty person in the family, or they're the person that embarrasses the

family.

So Audra, in our family, who do you think is the black sheep?

Okay.

So I think our brother, James, is the black sheep.

Audra seems very confident, and she thinks I'm the black sheep.

So I'm the troublemaker.

So we can agree to disagree.

Audra, is there a reason you think I'm the black sheep?

Well, I would say the reason dates back to a trip Teacher Emma took to Europe with me,

and that alone would be why she is the black sheep.

Stories from that trip would be why she is the black sheep.

Okay, so we'll leave it there.

Now let's look at some other great family expressions and find out more about our family.

Okay, so our next expression is "the baby of the family."

So this is a tough question.

So first let me explain what the baby of the family is, or Audra, do you want to explain?

What is the baby of the family?

Well, based off of what you've written here, I would say it is the youngest person in the

family, and it can be a child or an adult based off of the order they are born into

the family.

Okay, that's a great, great explanation.

So in our family, how many siblings are there in our family?

There are three siblings.

We have an older brother, James, myself, the middle child, and I don't want to ruin the

question here with the answer, but we also have a baby in the family.

All right, so let's use our arrows and figure out who is the baby in the family, which means

who is the youngest.

Okay, so we are in agreement.

So I am the baby of the family, Audra is the middle child, and our brother James is the

elder, or the eldest.

Great.

All right, well, our next question, "a daddy's girl."

Audra, can you tell us, what is a daddy's girl?

Well, a daddy's girl is a child who has a very close relationship with her father, and

normally it's a daughter, hence "daddy's girl."

Okay.

And can a daddy's girl be a woman as well?

Does it have to be a child?

It can be a woman as well.

You can have that relationship at any point.

Okay.

So, in our family, who is the daddy's girl?

Who has the strongest connection with our father?

All right, we are in agreement.

So Audra is a daddy's girl.

That means she has a strong connection with our dad.

Audra, tell us a little bit about your strong relationship with our dad.

I think we are very close, and I have a daddy's girl relationship because we're very similar,

so we have the same interests.

We both don't really like hanging out with a lot of people, we're introverted, so that's

partly why I would say I'm a daddy's girl.

Okay, excellent.

Well, let's now look at some other family expressions.

All right, so our next word, I'll have Audra introduce.

What's number five?

The spitting image.

The spitting image.

What does it mean to be the spitting image of someone?

It means essentially to look the same as someone else.

Okay.

So, in families, sometimes you have somebody who looks a lot like another member of the

family.

So, in our family, there's somebody who is the spitting image of our grandma on my dad's

side, or our dad's side.

Who is the spitting image of our grandma?

Okay.

And so we're going to actually show you a photo so you can actually see what we mean

by spitting image.

This is an image of my grandmother from, I think, the 1930s, when she was around my age.

All right, well, now let's go to the next expression.

Audra, can you read this?

Sure.

It says, "to take after."

To take after.

And what does it mean to take after someone?

It means to be similar to an older member in appearance or character.

Okay.

So, when you're similar to a family member, either in personality or in looks, we can

say you take after that family member.

In our family, who takes after our mom the most?

Okay.

You know what?

I thought, for me, I think Audra actually...

I'm going to change my answer.

Yay, peer pressure.

I actually do think Audra takes after our mom the most.

I just didn't know if Audra knew that, but it looks like, Audra, you agree?

I do agree.

So, tell us, in what ways are you and our mom similar?

How do you take after our mom?

I would say I take after our mom because I am very organized, I really like making lists

of things to do, and I also have a very good sense of fashion.

Those are the ways in which I take after our mom.

So fashion, organization, and making really good to-do lists are some of the ways Audra

takes after our mom.

Okay.

Who takes after our dad the most?

Okay.

So we have an agreement.

Even though Audra is a daddy's girl, how do you think I take after our dad?

I would say you're both very intellectual, so you're very interested in a variety of

subjects and reading and learning about those subjects.

And I would also say you're very, very interested in weird things like different foods and making

your own food concoctions, and that would be something that makes you guys very similar.

Okay.

So my dad and I both like to eat...

We both are open-minded about food, and we like to try food from different cultures or

different places.

And you said we both like to learn, and we're both very curious.

All right.

Great.

So now let's look at some more family expressions.

All right.

So Audra, can you read the next expression?

Sure.

"Get along with someone."

Okay.

So when you get along with someone, what does it mean?

It means that you have a peaceful or friendly relationship with them.

Okay.

So we often use "get along with" with families.

We might say, "I get along well with my family," or, "I don't get along with my family."

Audra, do we get along?

I'd say we get along really well.

99.9% of the time.

99.9.

Okay.

Well, so my next question then is, who gets along best with our relatives?

So our cousins, our aunts and uncles, who gets along best, or who has the friendliest

relationship with our relatives?

Okay.

So it looks like we are both in agreement.

I'm the one in the family who usually writes Christmas cards or birthday cards to our relatives.

I call them a lot.

I visit them a lot.

I see how they're doing.

Audra, for you, you're more introverted.

That's correct.

I use Facebook.

I do not have my family as friends.

I also prefer to, you know, see them from afar rather than see them in person.

So Audra and I have different ways with our relatives, but we both get along with our

relatives.

It's just I get along with our relatives better.

And 99% of the time, she gets along with her relatives, whereas I'm around 50% of the time

getting along well with relatives.

All right.

Well, let's now move on to the next question.

What is the next expression?

A mama's boy.

Okay.

And, Audra, can you tell us, what is a mama's boy?

It's a boy or a man with a close relationship to his mother.

And do you think this close relationship or strong relationship with the mother, is this

usually a healthy relationship, or do you think it's a little strange of a relationship?

Well, if you watch Hitchcock and you like Psycho, it could be a very unhealthy relationship,

but it can also be an okay relationship.

It's just sometimes it's nice to have boundaries.

Okay.

So what Audra is trying to say is that when it comes to the word "mama's boy", it depends

on how it's used.

You can use this term "mama's boy" to insult someone, and you can say, "Oh, you're a mama's

boy.

You have an unhealthy relationship with your mom.

You are too close."

Or some people actually are proud of being mama's boys, and they don't consider it an

insult, and they say, "Yeah, I'm a mama's boy.

You know, me and my mom are very close."

So you might hear it in different ways depending on who uses it and how.

So in our family, remember, it's Audra, me, and our brother, James.

Who is the mama's boy in our family?

Okay.

There's no mama's boy in our family.

So Audra and I, we're girls, so we're not the mama's boy because it has to be a man

or a boy.

So that leaves our brother, James.

Why isn't James a mama's boy?

I would say that he has a very normal relationship with our mom.

They often disagree, and he is very independent.

Okay.

So the key word here is "independent."

Our brother, James, is very independent, so he's not a mama's boy.

If our brother, James, had a very close but a little bit strange relationship with our

mom, where our mom does everything for James, you know, James, whenever he has a bad day

at work or something, comes crying to our mom, that would be a mama's boy relationship.

Or if he lived in his mom's basement as an adult, or...

But that's okay.

Yep, yep.

That's okay.

Or, you know, had her do his laundry and make him dinner and do all of those things.

That could potentially be mama's boy.

I should mention, though, that this is a very cultural expression, too, because in many

cultures, men do live with their moms for a lot longer, but in North America, there's

often people try to be more independent early on.

So there's also a cultural difference here.

All right.

Well, let's look at a couple more expressions.

Okay, Audra.

So I have a question for you.

We're not doing the game anymore.

We're just going to talk about some other expressions.

So I have here the expression "runs in the family."

When something runs in the family, it means there is a trait, like a genetic trait or

a personality characteristic that many people in the family have.

Audra, in our family, what is something that runs in our family?

So what's something many people in our family have or do?

Potentially I would say we all have a sweet tooth, so we all love candy or sugar or baked

goods or cake or cookies.

Okay.

So that's perfect.

So we all have a sweet tooth in our family.

The sweet tooth runs in our family.

It's a great example.

Okay.

Well, let's look now at the next expression, "to follow in someone's footsteps."

When you follow in someone's footsteps, it means that you do the same thing or type of

thing as someone else in the family.

So Audra, did you follow in anyone's footsteps in our family?

So I did, in the end, follow in my dad's footsteps.

He worked for a company in a corporate office, and likewise, I also work for a company in

a corporate office.

So Audra is a business person.

She works in business, in a corporation, just like our father.

Our father was a businessman, and he also worked in a corporation.

So Audra has followed in our father's footsteps.

Well, let's now look at the next expression, which sort of has to do with this.

Our father was the breadwinner in our family.

The breadwinner...

Audra, can you tell them, what is a breadwinner?

So a breadwinner is the person who earns the income to support the family or earns a majority

of the income to support the family.

Okay, so in our family, our dad was the breadwinner.

Audra, you're married.

In your family, who's the breadwinner?

So I would be the breadwinner in our family because I'm the sole person who is working

and bringing home the big bucks.

Okay, nice.

So Audra is a businesswoman, and she is the breadwinner in her family.

But Audra's married, so that leads to our next family expression, which is "stay-at-home

parent".

So you can have a stay-at-home mom or a stay-at-home dad.

What does a stay-at-home mom or dad do?

So my mom was a stay-at-home parent.

She would clean the house, she would do the grocery shopping, she would cook the meals.

And she would take care of the children.

And take care of the children.

Which was us.

Okay, and so in your family, do both you and your husband work, or are one of you a stay-at-home

parent?

So my husband is the stay-at-home parent, which means he gets the fun of taking care

of children, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, and ordering in pizza for us.

Okay, so we can call him a stay-at-home parent or a stay-at-home dad.

Because he stays home with the children and takes care of them and does exactly what Audra

mentioned.

Okay, great.

So we...

So I guess in this way, you are the breadwinner, just like our father was the breadwinner.

So that's another way where you follow in our father's footsteps.

So that's all for today for family expressions.

I'd like to thank you, Audra, for coming here and helping us teach these great expressions.

So thank you for your time.

Audra, is there anything you want to say to our audience before you go?

Thank you for tuning in and for watching Teacher Emma.

Great.

So, what I'm going to recommend you do is after watching this video, you can go to our

website at www.engvid.com, and there you can take a quiz where you can practice all the

expressions you just learned here today.

I also recommend that you subscribe to my YouTube channel because we have a lot of other

great resources on that channel where you can see things on grammar or pronunciation,

reading, writing skills, all sorts of things.

So I recommend you subscribe, and don't forget to ring the bell.

All right, well, thank you, and until next time, take care.