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Growing up: Listening Practice

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growing upWelcome to our free lesson growing up to give you practise for the IGCSE ESL exam. This is just one of the many lessons available to reinforce your learning so you feel confident when the IGCSE ESL exam day arrives. Our lessons are centred around common themes featured in the reading, writing, speaking and listening parts of the exam.

Growing up: Listening Practice

listeningIn this lesson, we will practice our listening skills by looking at the topic of growing up. Watch our video that will guide you through the lesson. You will be asked to pause the video to complete the activities in the tabs below.

Exercise 1Exercise 2Exercise 3Word List
You are going to listen to a song by Taylor Swift called Never Grow up. Write the missing words in the song when prompted.

Click here to view transcript

Your little hands wrapped around my finger
And it’s so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter cause you’re dreaming
So I tuck you in and turn on your favorite nightlight

To you, everything’s funny
You got nothing to regret
I’d give all I have honey
If you could stay like that

Oh darling don’t you ever grow up, don’t you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh darling don’t you ever grow up, don’t you ever grow up
It could stay this simple
I won’t let nobody hurt you
Won’t let no one break your heart
No one will desert you
Just try to never grow up
Never grow up

You’re in the car on the way to the movies
And you’re mortified your mom’s dropping you off
At fourteen, there’s just so much you can’t do
And you can’t wait to move out
Someday and call your own shots

But don’t make her drop you off around the block
Remember that she’s getting older too
And don’t lose the way that you dance around in your p.j.s getting ready for school

Oh darling don’t you ever grow up, don’t you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh darling don’t you ever grow up, don’t you ever grow up
It could stay this simple
And no one’s ever burned you
Nothing’s ever left you scarred
And even though you want to
Just try to never grow up

Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room
Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home
Remember the footsteps, remember the words said
And all your little brother’s favorite songs
I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone

So here I am in my new apartment
In a big city, they just dropped me off
It’s so much colder than I thought it would be
So I tuck myself in and turn my nightlight on

Wish I’d never grown up
I wish I’d never grown up
Oh I don’t wanna grow up
Wish I’d never grown up
Could still be little
Oh I don’t wanna grow up
Wish I’d never grown up
It could still be simple

Oh darling don’t you ever grow up, don’t you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh darling don’t you ever grow up, don’t you ever grow up
It could stay this simple
I won’t let nobody hurt you
Won’t let no one break your heart
And even though you want to
Please try to never grow up
Don’t you ever grow up
Just never grow up

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Taylor Swift

Never Grow Up lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

You are going to listen to Rina talking about growing up in two different cultures. Listen to the audio twice and answer the questions.

Click here to view transcript

Todd: So, Rina, now you are Lebanese (Mm-hm) and you grew up in a very small Canadian town.

Rina: Oh, yes.

Todd: So you really have two cultures. What’s it like growing up with two cultures?

Rina: In the beginning, it was very hard. My dad was very strict. I wasn’t allowed to work. I had to fight to have my first job at 19.

Todd: Wow. At 19.

Rina: At 19. I wasn’t allowed to have a boyfriend. I had to fight for that one two, and I had my first boyfriend at 18. Wasn’t allowed to go out. First high school dance was grade 11. So, I hated it in the beginning. I was, but now I appreciate it and I know where my parents were coming from.

Todd: So, it this the standard Lebanese family-type culture where daughters are not allowed to work?

Rina: Ah, yeah, my dad had basically believed that if I went out and worked I would, you know, be hit on by guys. It just wasn’t a place for his daughter, and typically before, yeah, women don’t work. They stay home. They took care of the kids. They, you know, it was a typical patriarchal society and my dad was very, very strict, and I spent a lot of my childhood pushing away my culture because of that.

Todd: And how do you feel about your culture now?

Rina: I’m very, very proud of it. I love it. It’s nice to be different and I’m glad I get that chance to do that. Um, the only thing, when I was in Lebanon, it was hard as well because people didn’t see me as Canadian, and they didn’t see me as Lebanese You know I was, a lot of people didn’t talk to me because of it. I went there and a lot of people shunned me basically, so.

Todd: So even though you had no language barrier at all cause you speak Lebanese?

Rina: Yep, yep, no, they basically, you know they were mad at me because I was too Canadian, or they were mad at me that I wasn’t enough Canadian, and like, it was just, you know, insane.

Todd: That’s pretty tough.

Rina: Yeah, well, they have their, they have their image of what you know, what Western society is like from movies and, you know, because you know I have my tattoos, they thought I was just basically Satan’s spawn,and because I wasn’t running around like a tramp, they thought well, “What is she is doing? What is she supposed to?” it was just the worst of both world’s really.

Todd: Ah, that’s terrible.

Rina: Yeah, so because, they do, they have, and actually I have to specify this: I was in a village. Like, both of my parents are from villages

Todd: Oh, I see.

Rina: In Beirut, it’s different, but when I was in the villages, where I stayed the majority of the time, it was like that, but I got, I made my little older ladies love me, but they were talking to me at the end, having coffee with me while I smoked my cigarettes, yep, yep.

Todd: Oh, that’s good to hear.

Resources adapted from Growing up in two cultures.

There are many words about parenting. Here are just a few that might prove a useful addition to your vocabulary.

to start a family – to have children
family man –  a man who enjoys being at home with his wife and children
family life –  he kind of life a person normally leads when they are married and have children
to raise (a child) –  to take ​care of a child until they become an adult
to bring up (a child) – to raise a child
to support (a family) – to have enough money to be able to look after a family

Here are the keywords and phrases covered in this lesson:

  • bring up a child
  • growing up
  • family life
  • family man
  • patriarchal
  • mad at (someone)
  • raise a child
  • strict
  • stun
  • support a family
We add activities and exercises regularly on various themes, so why not bookmark our site, so you can come back to practice anywhere or at any time of the day.

Explore the way we use technology and science in the modern world

Here you will find exercise to practice for the reading and writing section of IGCSE ESL examination for either the core or extended papers.

Exercise 1 - Read a text and answer a series of questions.

Exercise 2 - Read a text and answer a series of questions testing more detailed comprehension.

Exercise 1 (Questions 1 -4) - Short answer exercises

Exercise 2 - (Question 5) Gap-filled exercises

Exercise 3 - Matching

Exercise 4 - Multiple Choice

The more words you encounter and understand, the broader your day-to-day vocabulary will become. So, our IGCSE ESL Word searches are an excellent way to help to reinforce spellings. Word puzzles require not just a good vocabulary and a knack for spelling, but the ability to think logically and strategically. In the case of puzzles like our IGCSE Crosswords, it’s crucial to spell linked words correctly to be able to complete the task.
Learning English requires not just a good vocabulary, but a strong foundation of all skills to communicate well. Here we provide activities for the IGCSE ESL for all the skills required to be successful in this examination.
Levels Links:
Learn English with our free material for different levels of English. We add exercises on grammar and vocabulary as well as whole text activities on a regular basis. In addition, we provide test practise activities for students who are preparing for the Cambridge Assessment English Main Suite as well as the English Language B for the IB Diploma. The material will also support students studying for the Cambridge Advanced courses.

We provide free resources across the full range of levels to provide the tools to communicate in English well.

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