Learning from different generations ⏲️ 6 Minute English — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Hi Georgie.
2. 0:01Hi Phil.
3. 0:01So, Georgie, do you often spend time
4. 0:04with people who are much older than you or much younger than you?
5. 0:09I do, actually, because I'm in a choir,
6. 0:11so there's quite a wide range of ages – lots of older people,
7. 0:15lots of younger people.
8. 0:16We can call an age group of people a generation.
9. 0:21And you might feel that it's difficult to understand or agree with people
10. 0:26from a different generation.
11. 0:28Today on 6 Minute English, we're going to be finding out
12. 0:31about a project that is gathering together the oldest people –
13. 0:35that's those that are retired – with the youngest,
14. 0:39and that's children who attend nursery.
15. 0:41And we'll be asking the question,
16. 0:43What can we learn from different generations?
17. 0:50Let's start with our quiz question, Georgie.
18. 0:53What generation would someone born in 1982 be in?
19. 0:58Is it: a) Generation X, b) Millennial, or c) Gen Z.
20. 1:06Phil, I'm going to go with Generation X.
21. 1:10OK. Well, we will find out the answer at the end of the programme.
22. 1:14OK. Phil, so you said we're going to look at a project
23. 1:17which gets small children interacting with older retired people.
24. 1:22So, how does it work?
25. 1:23Well, in Chester,
26. 1:25in the northwest of England, a nursery has opened up in a retirement village.
27. 1:31There's the usual nursery staff to look after the children,
28. 1:34but the older residents can join in for activities as well.
29. 1:38There's a library, a cafeteria and a garden for the children
30. 1:42and the older people to share, and some of the older people or
31. 1:46'grand-friends', as the children call them,
32. 1:48lead some of the activities,
33. 1:50like dance or crafts.
34. 1:52And presenter of BBC World Service podcast People Fixing the World,
35. 1:57Myra Anubi, went to visit the special nursery
36. 2:00and spoke to some of the participants.
37. 2:03Ian was once a fighter pilot,
38. 2:04and getting involved in the nursery has helped him fill a void.
39. 2:08It was after my wife died last year.
40. 2:11It seemed I had a big, big hole to fill.
41. 2:14And the people down in the nursery,
42. 2:19they phoned me up and said,
43. 2:20We were doing such and such a thing.
44. 2:22Why don't you come and join us?
45. 2:24And that's what I've been doing.
46. 2:26So, yes, and I've enjoyed it.
47. 2:30And I find it very interesting to see how they develop.
48. 2:34One of the things I heard from the grapevine is that you help
49. 2:37the children make paper planes.
50. 2:39That's right.
51. 2:40Myra says that the nursery helped Ian fill a void after his wife sadly died.
52. 2:45If you fill a void, you find something to help you feel better after a loss.
53. 2:50Ian explains that after his wife died, staff at the nursery would phone him
54. 2:55to tell him about the daily activities, which he refers to as such and such.
55. 3:00And that's an expression that we use to talk about something
56. 3:03without giving a specific example.
57. 3:06It sounds like Ian has enjoyed spending time with the children at the nursery,
58. 3:10and Myra tells him she's heard from the grapevine
59. 3:13that he's been teaching the children to make paper planes.
60. 3:16Yes, 'hear from the grapevine' is an expression,
61. 3:19meaning that something is a rumour.
62. 3:22And we also say 'hear on the grapevine'.
63. 3:24Well, this nursery sounds like a really lovely project, Phil.
64. 3:28What is the impact it's having on the older and younger people?
65. 3:32Well, the charity Ready Generations, which runs the nursery,
66. 3:36says it works with universities to study the effects
67. 3:39of mixing generations on health and wellbeing,
68. 3:42and they say they've seen positive results.
69. 3:44And there have been studies around the world
70. 3:47on projects that encourage different generations to mix,
71. 3:50and they found that they can help reduce loneliness,
72. 3:54improve how healthy and well people feel,
73. 3:57and even boost learning and creativity.
74. 4:00People Fixing the World host Myra
75. 4:02spoke to Liz Ludden, co-founder of the nursery in Chester,
76. 4:06about the differences that she's noticed since it opened.
77. 4:10And as I realised,
78. 4:11these interactions also seem to be breaking down stereotypes.
79. 4:15Your first thought would be how lively and energetic young children can be,
80. 4:21and what we found is so can older people.
81. 4:24And so sometimes, you know, it's the older people that we're saying,
82. 4:27Can we just calm this down a little bit?
83. 4:30Myra says the nursery breaks down stereotypes.
84. 4:33This means it provides evidence
85. 4:35that common beliefs about a group of people are not true.
86. 4:38For example, a stereotype about generations is
87. 4:41that younger people are lively, meaning they're loud and have lots of energy,
88. 4:46whereas older people are not that lively.
89. 4:50Right. But in the nursery, Liz says
90. 4:52it's often the older people who have lots of energy
91. 4:55and are being noisy rather than the children.
92. 4:58The staff even have to tell them to calm down sometimes!
93. 5:01So, Georgie, is that something that you found in your choir?
94. 5:05Actually, yes.
95. 5:06The older people in my choir are big characters.
96. 5:09It's often them who are dragging us all to the pub...!
97. 5:12OK. Georgie, I think it's time to look at the answer for that question.
98. 5:16I asked if someone was born in 1982, which generation would they be from?
99. 5:23I said Generation X.
100. 5:25OK. Well, actually, I'm afraid the answer was b) –
101. 5:28they're a Millennial, just like you!
102. 5:31Ah...! OK.
103. 5:33Let's recap the vocabulary we learned in this programme,
104. 5:36starting with 'generation',
105. 5:37which is a group of people who are of a similar age.
106. 5:41'Fill a void' means find something to help you feel better after experiencing loss.
107. 5:47'Such and such' is a way to talk about something
108. 5:49without giving a specific example.
109. 5:52If you hear something on the grapevine, you hear a rumour.
110. 5:56The expression 'break down stereotypes' means find evidence
111. 6:00that common beliefs about a group of people are untrue.
112. 6:03And 'lively' means loud and with lots of energy.
113. 6:07Once again, our six minutes are up,
114. 6:09but you can test what you've learned with the worksheet on our website.
115. 6:12Go to bbclearningenglish.com.
116. 6:15Thanks for joining us and goodbye.
117. 6:17Goodbye!