Zapp! English Listening 3.2 - Children
Taught by Tom Wilkinson — Cambridge CELTA
Recorded and taught by a team of British and North American English teachers, based in Oxford (UK) and Barcelona (Spain).
Tom has done the maths and doesn't like the answer: leave it much longer and his future child will arrive at the school gates to the question, "Is that your grandpa?" Amanda, sitting opposite him, says flatly, "I've never had the maternal push" — and adds that she's currently excited about having plants, despite never having managed to keep one alive. Katie steers all of it into three conversations about children: whether you want them, when you should have them, and what actually changes when you do.
What you'll hear in this episode
The first conversation is Katie asking Tom and Amanda the simple question, "Do you want to have them?" — and getting two very honest answers. Amanda explains that people don't ask her whether she wants children any more; they ask why she doesn't have them. Tom's reply: "What's wrong with you?" Both agree they never made a conscious decision either way, and Amanda says she's happy being the aunt who can hand the children back: "Well you can leave can't you?" says Tom. "I've done my bit," she agrees.
In the second conversation Katie joins in and the topic becomes age. Amanda starts to say that she and Tom are both turning forty; Tom interrupts with "I'm not!" and Katie reports that he is "refusing to turn forty". They weigh up whether it's irresponsible to have a child after forty, mention a news story about a mother who said she was simply exhausted, and Tom argues the other side: "you're going to be far better positioned in your forties than being a parent when you're twenty." Katie is less confident about youth — "even now, I can barely look after myself" — and suggests something interesting: "most people who do have children, don't plan it."
Then two shorter interviews with people who do have children. Mary describes her two boys, a fourteen-year-old and a six-year-old, and says children tie you down but also bring you a cuddle and "I love you so much Mummy". Katie's mother Molly talks about responsibility, and how "you never stop worrying about them", until Katie has to end the interview because "my mummy's going to cry".
Quick facts
| Episode | 3.2 |
| Pack | Listening 3 |
| Level | 3 |
| Topic | Children |
| Duration | 19 minutes 26 seconds |
| Audio | Free |
| Workbook | Included in the €39 all-in-one pack |
What you'll learn
The main skills here are getting the main idea and pulling out specific details from unscripted speech — deciding, for example, whether Amanda is sad about not having children, when she never says so directly. You have to weigh up what she does say: that she loves being an aunt, that she was happy for her friends in Madrid but wouldn't want it herself.
The episode is also a lesson in how English speakers talk about age without giving exact numbers. In a few minutes you'll hear "I'm turning forty this year", "coming up to twenty", "you're in your sixties", "they're both in their thirties", "in their late forties" and "in their mid thirties". The workbook pulls these out and shows you the pattern: early for one, two, three; mid for four, five, six; late for seven, eight, nine.
You'll also get plenty of practice with real interrupted speech. People finish each other's sentences, restart mid-word and disagree politely — Amanda says "how much can you really give those children?" and Tom cuts in with "I think you can give them a lot." Following a three-way conversation where nobody waits their turn is a different skill from following one clear speaker, and it's the one this unit trains.
Vocabulary from the workbook
- maternal (adjective) – like a mother. Amanda has never had "the maternal push".
- procreating (present participle) – making babies.
- conscious (adjective) – something that you understand is important. Neither speaker made a conscious decision not to have children.
- paranoid (adjective) – always thinking other people want to hurt you or are saying bad things about you, although you have no reason to think this. Tom is paranoid about the grandpa question.
- conditioning (noun) – doing something a particular way because society has made you feel this is the correct way to behave.
- exhausted (adjective) – very tired.
- bizarre (adjective) – very strange, with no explanation. Tom uses it about a whole generation of friends having no children.
- boisterous (adjective) – noisy and uncontrolled. Mary's six-year-old "just can't keep still".
- implication (noun) – what could happen as a result of an action. Molly's word for the responsibility nobody warns you about.
- Also glossed: spontaneous, weird.
What's in the workbook
The workbook takes you through the unit in three tasks. Task 1 gives you two true-or-false statements before you listen, so you have something to hold on to, then explains both answers rather than just marking them. Task 2 asks for your own opinion first — what age is best, should older people have children — and then admits there's no correct answer, because there isn't one. Task 3 sets the two interviews against each other and asks what Mary and Molly have in common.
After that come Extra Materials: nine more detailed listening questions with answers, and a vocabulary exercise that works out meaning from context — the age expressions, plus to give up, it ties you down, a cuddle and to let go. There's a full transcript, so anything you missed you can check line by line, and a glossary of eleven words.
The workbook for this episode is part of the Zapp! English all-in-one pack, which covers every episode we've made, for €39.
Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39
Is the audio scripted?
The conversations are completely unscripted — that's why people interrupt and lose their thread. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.
What level is this episode?
Level 3, from the Listening 3 pack. You'll cope best if you're comfortable with several speakers talking at once and don't need every word to understand the point.
Do I have to pay for the audio?
No. The English conversations are free. The workbook that goes with them is part of the €39 pack.
Can I use this episode without the workbook?
Yes, and many people do. The workbook is what turns listening into practice: the questions, the answers with explanations, the vocabulary work and the transcript.
How many speakers are there?
Katie, Tom and Amanda take part in the two main conversations, and Katie interviews Mary and Molly separately in the third task.
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