[Listening Easy] Family Relationships – KEY

Pre-Listening Exercise

What five questions could you ask someone about his or her family (e.g., What does your father do?)?

Idioms

“get under someone’s skin” = annoy or bother someone
My brother gets under my skin when he enters my room without knocking.”

“stay-at-home mom” = a mother who doesn’t have a job outside the home
My sister finds satisfaction in being a stay-at-home mom.”

Listening Exercise

A. Listen to the recording and answer the questions.

 

Carl: Hi. My name’s Carl. Nice to meet you.

Pancho: Nice to meet you, too. My name is Francisco.

Carl: What?

Pancho: Francisco, but all my friends and family back in Peru call me Pancho.

Carl: Okay, Pancho. So, tell me about your family?

Pancho: Well, I have seven brothers and six sisters.

Carl: Wow. That is a big family. So are you the oldest, Pancho?

Pancho: No. I’m the second oldest in my family.

Carl: So, what do your parents do?

Pancho: My father is a taxi driver in Lima, Peru. It’s a hard job, but he works hard to support the family.

Carl: How about your mother?

Pancho: She helps run a small family store with some of my older brothers and sisters.

Carl: What kind of store?

Pancho: We mainly sell food, like bread, eggs, soft drinks, rice, sugar, and cookies. Things that people buy every day.

 

Vocabulary and Sample Sentences

  • support (verb): give help or assistance 
    – Does your family support you with your college expenses?
  • run (verb): be in charge of 
    – My brother is going to run our business when my father retires.
  • kind (noun): type 
    – What kind of work does your mother do?
  • mainly (adverb): for the most part 
    – We mainly spend time at home and watch TV in the evenings.