My Childhood

English conversation lessons: my childhood!

In this English conversation lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about your childhood. Remember, for lots of great English class materials 

Objectives

This English conversation lesson will help you…

• …learn lots of useful vocabulary.
• …improve your listening skills.
• …increase your speaking fluency.
• …prepare you for the Listening and Speaking sections in exams.

Lesson order

• First, you’re going to learn some useful language for the video.
• Then, you’re going to watch a video with two people talking about this topic. This will help you remember the language.
• Finally, you’re going to answer some questions on the subject so you can practise speaking about it. Ready? OK, let’s go!

Childhood

Your childhood is the time of your life when you’re a child (between the ages of 0-16).

“I spent a lot of my childhood in a house in Kentucky.” [Kentucky is a state in the USA]

Hometown

Your hometown is the town or city where you lived as a child. “My hometown is Olympia, a city to the south of Seattle in the state of Washington.”

Grow up

 The place where you “grew up” is the place you lived while you were a child. “I grew up in the countryside, but later moved to the capital.”

Used to

The things you “used to” do are the things you did repeatedly in the past, but you don’t do any more. For example:

“I used to play a lot of tennis as a child.”

You can also use this expression to talk about your personality or state.

“I used to be quite naughty as a child.”

Would

We can use “would” in a similar way to “used to”. For example:

“I would play a lot of tennis as a child.”

However, we can only use “would” with action verbs (run, play, jump…). We can’t use it with state verbs (be, think, hope, expect…). So, we could say this:

“I would often go to school on my bike.”

But we couldn’t say this: “I would be naughty as a child.”

We would have to say this: “I used to be naughty as a child.”

Now, you’re going to watch a video with two people talking about their childhood. Watch it and choose the correct answers.

1. Kennedy grew up in a… farm house / manor house
2. She grew up in the state of… New York / Pennsylvania
3. Ally grew up in upstate… New York / Pennsylvania

4. She used to ride her bike with her… sister / brother
5. She would do that every… morning / afternoon
6. She said that when she was little, she learnt… volleyball / ballet

Here are the answers:

1. Kennedy grew up in a farm house.
2. She grew up in the state of Pennsylvania.
3. Ally grew up in upstate New York.
4. She used to ride her bike with her sister.
5. She would do that every afternoon.
6. She said that when she was little, she learnt ballet.

Now, watch the video and read the script at the same time to develop your listening skills.

Speaking

Now it’s your turn! See if you can answer these questions about your childhood. Good luck!

1. Which 2 adjectives would you use to describe your childhood?
2. Where did you grow up? Who did you grow up with?
3. How would you describe your hometown?
4. What did you use to do when you were a child?
5. What would you do every summer as a child?