Speaker A
And my mom will buy me a card to give to a friend. And I'm like, come on, please.
British English conversation about living abroad, teaching English, and cultural experiences with Lewis and Kirsty.
Key Takeaways
- YouTube is a powerful platform for teaching English and connecting with a global audience.
- Living abroad requires cultural adaptation and embracing local customs to fully integrate.
- Seasonal changes and weather can significantly impact the experience of living in different countries.
- Building a community and engaging with students online provides motivation and a sense of fulfillment.
- Avoid isolating yourself with speakers of your native language to improve language skills and cultural understanding.
What the video covers
- Lewis and Kirsty introduce themselves and discuss their journeys as English teachers on YouTube.
- They talk about the motivations behind starting their YouTube channels and the joy of connecting with students worldwide.
- The conversation focuses on living abroad, particularly Kirsty's life in the south of France and Lewis's experiences in Belgium and England.
- They discuss cultural differences, weather comparisons, and the importance of embracing local customs when living abroad.
- Kirsty shares her experience living in the French Caribbean and her appreciation for seasonal changes.
- Lewis talks about staying with family in England and attending a friend's wedding while managing travel logistics.
- They emphasize the value of immersing oneself in the local language and culture rather than sticking to one’s native language community.
- The speakers reflect on the addictive nature of posting videos and the rewarding feedback from their online communities.
- They touch on practical advice for moving abroad, including social integration and language learning strategies.
- The conversation includes light-hearted moments and British cultural references, enhancing the engaging and informal tone.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and YouTube journey
- 02:13Connecting with students and community
- 04:47Living abroad: weather and lifestyle
- 07:41Cultural differences and personal experiences
- 12:07Language immersion and social integration
- 20:07Practical advice for moving abroad
- 25:31Reflections on teaching and online engagement
- 30:07Closing thoughts and next steps
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Really? Do we need that? My mom does that for my brother, too, though. She doesn't do it for my sister.
Speaker A
[laughter] [music] Hello everybody, and welcome back to another British English Chitchat nata conversation with me, Lewis, and another amazing guest. So, let's get straight into it. Cut to the chase. So, Kirsty, welcome. And how are you?
Speaker A
Hi, Lewis. I'm really well. Thank you for having me. I'm good. How are you?
Speaker A
I can't complain. You know, I've just had a sandwich because I was a bit peckish before we started recording. I was a little bit hungry, so I thought, oh, I could just do with a bite to eat.
Speaker A
And I've got a brew here as well. Oh, it wouldn't be—Yeah, it wouldn't be a chat without a brew.
Speaker A
Perfect. Well, cheers to that. Yeah. Cheers. Cheers, Lewis. [laughter] But, uh, let's begin with a little bit of an introduction. I'm sure pretty much everybody will know you or have watched your videos before, but just for anybody who hasn't watched Kirsty's videos
Speaker A
before, could you do us a favor and introduce yourself? You can tell us as much or as little as you want.
Speaker A
Well, my name is Kirsty. As you've just said, I'm a British expat. I live in France where I teach English. I'm married to a Frenchman and I have children here in France. And just like you, Lewis, I teach English on YouTube
Speaker A
also. So, let's start with that. We're going to focus mainly on a specific topic in today's conversation, which is about living and moving abroad. But I'm just curious, Kirsty, how come you started your YouTube journey? Why did you decide
Speaker A
to start making videos and posting them online? I think it's an amazing way to help as many people as you possibly can. Um, I live in the French countryside in the south of France and it was just a way of
Speaker A
me being able to teach um to more foreign students, which I absolutely love. Um, and so I've got a great community going on on YouTube and also in my private lessons. And you know, it's just really enjoyable for me. I
Speaker A
grew up in a very international setting when we moved to France and you know, I I was missing that interaction that you can then get of from YouTube. So that was where I started my YouTube journey. What about you? I mean, in my
Speaker A
case, I remember it as if it were yesterday, more or less, at least, which was when I moved to Brussels because of my partner's job, and I was a bit of a I don't know, a turning point in my life.
Speaker A
I wasn't sure what to do with my free time. I wasn't sure what I was going to do in the future. I was starting to have these little doubts and thinking like, should I keep teaching English or not?
Speaker A
Should I try and get a more stable job? So, I was weighing up different options and knowing that I'm quite indecisive, I thought, well, I don't want to make a proper decision yet. I can keep putting that off for the future. Which is why I
Speaker A
thought, well, I'm going to start posting videos, short videos on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts and see where it goes, to see if I can get some new students. And I kind of liked it and I got a bit addicted and
Speaker A
the moment you see a video do well, I was like, "Oo, that feels nice. It's almost like gambling and winning a bet." [laughter] Yeah, I agree. There is that element.
Speaker A
And I agree. Yeah, you you can become addicted to posting on YouTube, but for me, I like the the the the gambling side to it like you said, but more importantly, it's the comments when people come and say, "Hi, hi, I'm from
Speaker A
here. Hi, I'm from here." And the same people coming back as well week after week to say, "Oh, I I like this video." Or, "This has really helped me." Or, "How are you doing, Kirsty?" I love that. I find it amazing, you know, that
Speaker A
we can communicate and have this banter back and forth uh with people across the globe. So, yeah. Yeah, I totally agree with you on that. Yeah.
Speaker A
I think one of the coolest things as well is when you recognize a profile/username on YouTube, for example, and then you see this profile has booked a class with you and you're like, "Ah, I've seen that name so many times." And
Speaker A
that's when you're finally able to put the profile name to the face and get to know that person. And then it's like awesome. You see, we're connecting just from simple videos or conversations, podcasts, you can reach so many people
Speaker A
and teach them for free as well. So, it does feel like you're giving something back and you're helping all sorts of people. Even if maybe they cannot afford to have classes with you, you know that they're going to be able to immerse
Speaker A
themselves in the language to be able to pass exams, move abroad, or get a job speaking English. So maybe that's a great way of linking us with the topic of this conversation. I mentioned moving abroad. And Kirsty, you live in France,
Speaker A
so I want to know first, what's the weather like today?
Speaker A
Really hot, Lewis. It's scorching. Um, yeah, we're coming towards the end of summer and I think the sun has just decided to give, you know, a last little
Speaker A
scorcher to France and um but we're expecting storms, quite violent storms actually so we'll see how that goes. Um, and then it's supposed to be 10° cooler tomorrow.
Speaker A
So, to be honest, that will be a welcome break. I bet. I mean, if you've got a heat wave and a drought for months and months and months, then when you see a little bit of rain, it's like, oo,
Speaker A
yeah, that's new. That's different. I like it. Yeah. You You want to do a rain dance?
Speaker A
What about you? What's Where are you right now? Well, right now I'm back home. I'm still at my mom and dad's house. And people are going to think that I live here because I've been recording lots of podcasts and videos here. I don't live
Speaker A
here. I promise. I did move out when I was 18 years old. [laughter] But it's always nice to come back. And when I do come back, I often stay for two or three weeks. I make the most of the full
Speaker A
fridge and the countryside walks here. I can catch up with my friends and the rest of my family as well. And the reason I've extended this stay is partly because in a couple of days I've got my friend's wedding. So I didn't really
Speaker A
want to fly back from England to Belgium and then Belgium back to England because it's a hassle. It's a bit of a pain. So I'm still here for another few days and looking forward to the wedding. And the
Speaker A
weather is a little bit all over the place because right now I've had to lower the blinds because if not it's really bright and sunny. But then two hours ago I went for a run and just when I stopped running it started pissing it
Speaker A
down. It started pouring it down and it was really windy as well. So I was like, "Oh no, I'm going to catch a cold at this rate." So yeah, the weather is all over the shop.
Speaker A
Good old British weather then. Exactly. [laughter] Um, do you miss it? Do you miss English weather?
Speaker A
Do I miss British weather? Um, I I like I actually like seasons. Um, at one point, uh, when I was younger, I lived in the Caribbean for almost three years.
Speaker A
Okay. Yeah, that was another time that I lived abroad. It was the French Caribbean, so it was still France. And it was really strange to it felt like it was the same day over and over again. You know, like
Speaker A
Groundhog Day, the Bill Murray film. Uhhuh. Um, so you'd be doing your shopping in December and the people the the the people at the checkout would have Father Christmas Santa Claus hats on and you'd be like, "Oh yeah, it's December." But
Speaker A
because it's always hot and always summer, um I realized at that time my in my life how much I love seasons. So I do I do actually enjoy cold weather. I I like seasons for sure, but we get seasons in
Speaker A
France as well. Yeah, I guess in winter it gets cool and cold maybe, but if you're in the south south of France it never gets like freezing or does it? It depends where you are in the south of France. If you are closer to
Speaker A
the mountains, you do get a real winter. Um, so yeah, it depends. It really depends where you are. South um like can we say cans in English, right?
Speaker A
They
Speaker A
Okay, perfect. And by the way, I mentioned the word freezing, which is very, very cold. But if you want to say a little bit cold, you can say it's cool, it's chilly, or we can also use a kind of northern British slang word,
Speaker A
which is nippy. It's like, woo, it's a bit nippy. When I went out for a run earlier, I was like, "Wow, we're recording this in September, but woo, it's a bit nippy. It's a bit chilly." Yeah, nippy. You don't hear that very
Speaker A
often in France. But my mom definitely says it. Yeah, nippy. Perfect. So, let's begin with this first question related to moving abroad. And Kirsty, I'm curious. I want to find out when did you first move abroad and how
Speaker A
come? Well, I moved to France. It was a family project and uh I was almost 17. So, I went to an international school to finish my A levels.
Speaker A
Mhm. Um so, yeah, it was a family project. Um I had been preparing to move to France for a few years as a teenager and so I had been learning French from home in England. Yeah. listening to French
Speaker A
radio, watching three French films non-stop that I had and shadowing. I didn't know at the time that I was shadowing, but I was. So, that's something that I tell all of my students to do. Shadow, shadow, shadow. Repeat.
Speaker A
You were way ahead of the curve. Unbelievable. I I was just desperate to speak French and you know, and I was worried I think as a teenager thinking, will I make friends? will I be able to fit in? Um, you know, you need to speak
Speaker A
a language in order to to fit in. So, yeah. So, I was quite young.
Speaker A
Okay. And did you know for quite a long time that the plan was to move to France? Like, did you have a year or two to be able to train and improve your French before making the move?
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. A a couple of years. Yeah, we knew a couple of years in advance.
Speaker A
And uh the move was quite easy as I say because um we used to go to France on holiday. Um my I had an uncle who had a house in France and we would spend summers in France as well. Um talking to
Speaker A
people in French villages. It was very charming. You know, it was typical, you know, typical rural France. Um and so yeah, so we had some time to prepare and the move was quite easy because my mom is also an English teacher and you know
Speaker A
it runs in the family. If you want to travel, teach English, you know. Um so yeah, so the move was quite easy and my sister was um about to begin high school. So I was doing my A levels. She started high
Speaker A
school. I mean, it was difficult at first, you know, because our French wasn't perfect, but we were fluent enough to to to to not find it too difficult. Yeah.
Speaker A
I mean, I guess if you were kind of like you just about an adult, but you're still, you know, not fully independent.
Speaker A
So, maybe it makes it easier to learn a language because you're younger. And I guess when you moved, you'd have been forced into so many situations where you had no choice but to use French. It's not like you can hide and use English
Speaker A
all of the time, especially moving to a countryside. Because this is a common tip that I sometimes give people, which is people want to move to London, for example. But if you move to London, it's going to be very easy to avoid using
Speaker A
English if you want to do that. Let's say you are Brazilian and [clears throat] you really want to immerse yourself in English and you move to London. Well, maybe London isn't the best place because you will find working
Speaker A
or in different language schools lots of other Brazilians. So then you can kind of sit back, relax, and stay in your comfort zone, which isn't going to benefit you in the long run. and you're not going to be able to push yourself to
Speaker A
use the language every single day. So, related to that, was this an advantage for you that you moved to the countryside rather than Paris, for example?
Speaker A
Um, well, actually, it wasn't the countryside. I live in the French countryside now, but but when we moved, we actually moved to quite a big city in the north of France. Um, which is why I know uh Belgium and Brussels because we
Speaker A
we we actually moved to Leil in the north of France. You know, they're just next to each other.
Speaker A
Um, so it's not Paris though. Um, you definitely you definitely see more French people and, you know, interact with more French people. But um being in an international school uh you know I was hanging out mostly with English speakers. So I agree with what
Speaker A
you said um with what you've just said. You really need to to surround yourself with the language. And if you're only hanging out with people who speak your mother tongue that's not going to work.
Speaker A
Yeah. So in that case, if you had moved to a small town in the countryside, maybe it would have helped you.
Speaker A
Maybe I would have gone running back to England to my grandmother's house. Don't forget, I was 17. [laughter] So So I think I needed the big city, you know. Um, so it it wasn't too it eased me into French life and speaking French,
Speaker A
having a few bilingual friends because in the international school often children are there because they have uh a bilingual setup at home.
Speaker A
Um, you know, French mom, British dad or American mom, French dad. So, okay. And Leo, I think it's a pretty cool city as well. of course, living in Brussels. I've been a couple of times and it's quite nice. The architecture is
Speaker A
beautiful. There's lots of students as well. I think it's a student city. Yeah. And it's big without being like intimidatingly big. So, exactly.
Speaker A
I imagine it's like comparing it to maybe a leads, a Liverpool, perhaps a Manchester where it's a big city, but you know, Paris would be like, "Ah, this is so big. What do I do? Where do I go?
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. No, Le is is a really nice It's It's a great city for like weekend breaks. I loved uh growing up in Le. I then studied in Leil. I went to French University. Um and yeah, it
Speaker A
was amazing. And in France, everyone says that uh northerners, people from Northern France um are the kindest and the warmest people. And I have to say it's true. They are very very kind. Yeah. So, so it was quite
Speaker A
easy to fit in. People are really open. Yeah. You see the same stereotype exists in the UK as well that northerners and Scots as well are much friendlier, you know, kind of down to earth as well, easier to get along with. And then the
Speaker A
stereotype, not saying it's true, but the stereotype is in the south of England that people can sometimes be a little bit stuck up. And this adjective stuck up is to describe someone who almost looks down on others that they
Speaker A
feel perhaps superior to others. Of course, massive generalization. Not everybody, but you know, the stereotype exists for a reason.
Speaker A
Don't you think? Maybe. Yeah, because I didn't mention that I was from Liverpool at the beginning of our conversation. So, yeah, Lewis and I, we are northerners. Yeah.
Speaker A
So, which is why we're so friendly. Obviously, we we believe that northerners are just really friendly.
Speaker A
Yeah. It's slightly biased. Maybe just just slightly. Yeah. [laughter] And how long did it take you before you felt comfortable speaking French at university etc. Was it relatively quick or did it take quite a long time?
Speaker A
Um so I think my language journey was in two phases. Um so I reached fluency before we moved to France and I would I was quite at ease with the language when we arrived in France. Then you pick up
Speaker A
everyday slang which you don't learn, you know, when you're learning a language. It's not what you learn at school. It's not. So then I spoke kind of more of an everyday French. And then when I wanted to go to university
Speaker A
as a French stu, like treated as a French student, um, you know, I couldn't just write on my exam paper, please don't mind my mistakes. I'm British. They're anonymous. like all exam papers. Um that was definitely the next step academic French and that
Speaker A
was much more difficult and I needed to study uh a little bit more before I went to university to then do I did a degree and a master's to train to be a curator actually which and now I'm an English
Speaker A
teacher but yeah I trained to be a curator so um and the studies were amazing. I absolutely love history. Um, but it was that was very difficult.
Speaker A
Academic French was Yeah. And you know, and quite rightfully so. None of the university professors were giving me any, you know, get out of jail free cards to if I made mistakes, I needed to speak French as good as the next French
Speaker A
student. So that that was quite difficult but re very enjoyable and it really pushed me as well. So you know sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you just have to make that effort and so that's what happened
Speaker A
to me and it was a really good thing you know it it really boosted my French.
Speaker A
Yeah, I guess it was kind of like sink or swim. You know, it's one of these scenarios where you are dropped into a swimming pool, for example. You don't know how to swim. You're not prepared.
Speaker A
So, okay, are you able to think on your feet and adapt and be able to go through the tough times and hopefully come out at the other end of it. So, it was think or swim.
Speaker A
Think or swim. Absolutely. You swam. Yeah. [laughter] like this just about just about at first and then it became easier but yeah I I had to play catchup quite a bit at the beginning um but yeah what about you Louis your language
Speaker A
journey tell me more about that well you speak you speak fluent Spanish am I right I speak fluent Spanish of course there are some slight imperfections sometimes maybe people can tell that I'm not a native speaker but I'd still class it as
Speaker A
fluent Um so that happened uh initially just because at school when I was studying languages which was a very very very small amount of time each week maybe 1 hour of French 1 hour of Spanish and for some reason with Spanish I saw the funny
Speaker A
side of like playing a role and imagining that I was Spanish imagining that I was Colombian imagining that I was Mexican. So I was really overexaggerating my accent because I saw it almost like theater, like drama. So it was like you have
Speaker A
science, you have maths, you have lots of different subjects that maybe you don't feel passionate about, so it's hard to get through it. And then Spanish and French when I was studying at school, it was like, "Oh, this is fun. I
Speaker A
can just mess around." And Louis the Mexican came out. Exactly. I had my sombrero and I was like, hola.
Speaker A
Okay, that's really funny. So, that was maybe one of the first moments when I thought this is quite fun. I can consider it in the long term.
Speaker A
And then I mentioned just 15 minutes ago that I'm quite an indecisive person sometimes. So then when I went to university, I was weighing up two options of doing physiootherapy or languages.
Speaker A
And I thought, well, if I do languages, then it's going to be more fun. And I'm going to university to have fun. Not thinking about my future at all, just about making friends, going out and having fun.
Speaker A
So then I did Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese later. And I first moved abroad properly when I went to Argentina. And I lived with an Argentinian family teaching uh a few classes in their school. And this was great because it was kind of in the
Speaker A
countryside. People spoke a little bit of English but not that much English. And I went with the attitude of okay, I need to squeeze as much as possible out of this experience. So even if I could probably use English with some of them, I'm going
Speaker A
to insist on using Spanish all of the time. So I learn a lot. I immersed myself in the culture. I made friends as well. And I think that was a moment where I thought to myself like, "Yeah, this is cool. I don't want to go back to
Speaker A
England. I want to carry on traveling. I want to carry on learning about more cultures and improving my language skills in each country. So then from there, I did my Arasmus in Italy, in Palemo.
Speaker A
My Italian isn't anywhere near as good as it should be, but hey, you live and you learn.
Speaker A
Were your housemates not Italian? I suspect my my housemates were Spanish and Portuguese. So, it was improved Spanish in Italy.
Speaker A
My Spanish got so much better and I even improved my Portuguese as well. And you know, I made some slight improvements with my Italian, but nowhere near as much as I would have liked.
Speaker A
And well, in the last decade, more or less, I've been living between Spain, more recently Belgium. I had a little stint in Australia as well, working there. So, I've moved around and I've lived abroad for I'd say half of my life
Speaker A
now because I was in the UK until 18. Of course, I come back very often, but I haven't properly ever Well, actually, funny thing, I've never paid taxes in the UK. [laughter] Ah, so you really are an expat. Okay.
Speaker A
Yeah, exactly. I'm kind of like a digital nomad at the moment. You could say that anyway.
Speaker A
Yeah. Okay. So, so you lived a little bit all over the place and really got to got down to improving your Spanish. So, would you say Spanish is your strongest uh second language?
Speaker A
100% without a shadow of a doubt. And that is because I lived quite a long time in Spain in Seville. But the other obvious reason is that I'm getting married to a Spaniard and we've been in a relationship for almost 12 years. So
Speaker A
between the two of us, we speak maybe 60 to 70% of the time in Spanish and 30% of the time in English, unless we have a row, unless we have an argument and then both of us, what comes out then?
Speaker A
We stick to our mother tongues. So I'll get angry in English and she'll always get angry in Spanish and it's just a spang English couple, I suppose.
Speaker A
Oh, that's so funny that you go back to your mother tongue. Okay. Now I can have in French definitely now. Yeah. So yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah. Okay. Maybe that's the moment when it's maybe that's the moment. Yeah. You dream in French. You you have a row. You can have a row in French. Pretty much French at that point. Yeah. Fluency is there.
Speaker A
Yeah. 100%. And just to go over that, a row is an informal slang way of saying an argument. Very common in British English. And it's confusing because it's written in exactly the same way as a row like rows on a plane or a train. So
Speaker A
that's slightly misleading. But remember row like if it is an argument and a row of different rows I don't know at school for example.
Speaker A
Yeah. Cool. Now let's keep going and let's move on to another question and let's give some tips. We've mentioned some of them in passing, but let's go a little bit deeper. So, what advice do you have for people moving abroad? I imagine some
Speaker A
people are watching this and thinking, "Ah, I'm panicking. I'm nervous. I'm moving abroad in the next few weeks or months." So, Kirsty, what tips would you give people?
Speaker A
I think we definitely need to come back to what you said earlier which is if you're moving abroad try not to stick with people who speak your mother tongue. I think that really is rule number one. Um so that you can immerse
Speaker A
yourself not just in the language but in the culture. So join uh I don't know a dance class, a music class, um some kind of a a group, sports, anything that will allow you to interact with local people. I think that is
Speaker A
absolutely key to moving abroad for the language, for the culture, for you know setting up your new network of friends and people. That's really important.
Speaker A
Um, and also I would say don't want to make anyone panic but prepare before you go and I say this a lot on on my channel. Um, you can prepare from home.
Speaker A
Um, especially now with Netflix, YouTube, you can listen to a lot of input. Um, I mean, if you're moving obviously to uh an Englishspeaking country, listen to English podcasts, series, things you enjoy though, okay?
Speaker A
It has to be something you enjoy. Otherwise, you know, you'll just stop listening. You'll get bored and it won't go in anymore.
Speaker A
So, I would say prepare before you go with input, as much input and shadowing as you can. And when you get to your new uh destination, your new uh country, um yeah, join join clubs, groups, places, go to places where you will meet locals
Speaker A
for sure. 100%. That's the best way I would say to uh that's that's the best advice I think I can give to someone moving abroad. What about you? Because you are an expat yourself, a a nomad expat. [laughter]
Speaker A
What what would you say is the is the best advice you could give someone for moving abroad?
Speaker A
I'd say a very similar thing. Of course, I couldn't agree more with everything you said about getting as much input as possible and also kind of being a yes man or a yeswoman of like, okay, if there's an opportunity to practice a
Speaker A
language, let's do it. Why say no? YOLO. You only live once. Yeah. But to give more concrete specific tips, I'm going to give you specific examples of what I have done when I have moved abroad to different places. So I
Speaker A
remember uh focusing on input when I was in Argentina. I watched um like Argentinian soap operas and I didn't particularly enjoy them that much, but I was seeing it as a way of learning and a very lazy way of learning. So I've never
Speaker A
been the kind of person who would write down lots of notes and stuff like that.
Speaker A
I just tried to get as much input as possible and I think if you are moving to a country you should not only learn about the language but also the culture and the traditions and how can you do
Speaker A
that? Well you can consume content from that culture country etc. So in Argentina Argentina Argentina I watched a lot of, you know, soap operas which were from Argentina. Then when I moved to Italy, despite actually not making that much progress, I went in
Speaker A
with the right attitude because I did the same thing. I found a soap opera which was I think every 3 days there was a new episode. So I'd learned so much about the country through that. And then with Spain, I did a very similar thing
Speaker A
as well where there was a TV program which was set in the past and it went over all of like Spain's history and focused on different cultural moments throughout history and how a family reacted to these moments. And it's a
Speaker A
series, just in case anybody knows it, it's called Quentame, which is tell me quent. It's got a very catchy theme tune as well.
Speaker A
So, just in case anyone can't find it, that's the tune. That's it. That's it. And I learn about 20 years of history of Spain and it went through uh the dictatorship and how the country became more open to foreign
Speaker A
countries. So, it was really interesting that I actually learned a lot about the country whilst improving my language skills. So, if you can find something similar to this in English, which there's plenty of it, think about The Crown, maybe. If you want a different
Speaker A
genre, you could go peey blinders. There's loads and loads. But get as much input as possible. And then once you move, just say yes to everything. Go for it. What have you got to lose? Immerse yourself in the language and try to
Speaker A
seize every opportunity you have to make friends in English and communicate in English essentially.
Speaker A
Yeah, even a part-time job. I mean, it depends how old you are and the reasons you know that you're going to that country for. Maybe you're moving for a new job. But if you are a student, for example, um or if you are retired and
Speaker A
you want to spend some time in an English-sp speakaking country, um then a small part-time job is amazing for learning the language as well, you know, in a pub or or a bar, even an ice cream shop, anywhere. It gives you permanent
Speaker A
interaction with with British people, you know. Yeah. And you're killing two birds with one stone because you're forced to communicate whilst also earning a little bit of cash. So yeah, funding your travels. Yeah.
Speaker A
[laughter] What's there not to like? Exactly. Now quickly another question. Pros and cons. What are the biggest pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages of living abroad? I'll kick off with one of each and then over to you. So, I'd say
Speaker A
do the one big pro, one big advantage, I'm repeating the obvious, is just improving your language skills.
Speaker A
Yeah. And it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get a lot better at the language if you move abroad because you can fall back into lazy habits and just end up hanging around with people from the same country. So,
Speaker A
try not to do this. Yeah. Yeah. But usually if you do move abroad, you're going to improve your speaking skills usually.
Speaker A
And then a con is well being far away from family. So it is the obvious reason why people might kind of chicken out and not want to move away and live abroad because you feel like you might miss
Speaker A
certain birthdays, weddings, etc. I make an effort to not miss these moments, but it means that it can be a little bit stressful that I'm constantly traveling around between the UK, Belgium, and Spain. So, there you have a big pro and a big con. Kirsty,
Speaker A
over to you. Um, I I totally agree with your pros and cons. Um, a big pro for me was being able to see my own culture in a different light. When you live in your own culture, it's very difficult to look
Speaker A
at it with fresh eyes. You need to live in a different culture to be able to analyze your own culture.
Speaker A
And there are lots of little things that that I'll give you. It's it's a really small strange example, but in England we have card shops. There may there may be less now. It might be less fashionable, but definitely when I was younger, just
Speaker A
shops that only sell cards. Okay? Because we send cards for everything. Agree? Everything. Uh birthday cards.
Speaker A
Well done. You've passed your driver's license card. Congratulations on graduating. University card. You're feeling sick. Get well soon card.
Speaker A
Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthday cards, new baby. H. Okay. And in France, there are no card shops. So, when we moved to France, we wanted to send cards home, you know, on birthdays and Christmas, all all the card
Speaker A
opportunities. And it was really difficult. And the French don't send cards as much. And I realized it's my own culture seemed really strange when you know in England you arrive at someone's birthday. Maybe it's not the case anymore, but it was definitely a
Speaker A
tradition with a present and a card on top. So you arrive with a present and you say happy birthday and then here's a card also saying happy birthday. that that didn't seem strange to me, but it was a
Speaker A
French person who said to me, "So, you say happy birthday, you see the person and then you give them a card where you say happy birthday in the card." I was like, "Yeah, that's [clears throat] what we do." Whereas in France, if you send a
Speaker A
birthday card, it's because you're far away. You don't walk up to someone and give them a birthday card. Do you see what I mean? It's just small things. I mean, that's that's a detail. I think that's a very good point. Like
Speaker A
personally, I'm kind of anti-cards. Um, today it's different. Yeah. E ecology wise and stuff and you know, yeah, I think but not not for those reasons. Just because I I I agree with the French.
Speaker A
It's just like [laughter] what's the point? I'm saying happy birthday to you. Why do I have to give you a card as well? And I'm realizing it with like engagements and weddings and all of these different things as well. And my
Speaker A
mom will buy me a card to give to a friend and I'm like, "Come on, please.
Speaker A
Really? Do we need that?" My mom does that for my brother, too, though. She doesn't do it for my sister.
Speaker A
So, yeah. Yeah. No, exactly. So, you see, your mom is still in this big card tradition. Um, when I see my grandparents at Christmas, um, there are loads of cards and, you know, they're open. You you can read people's cards.
Speaker A
They're not private either. People set up cards at home. And I I was saying to my girlfriend, "Oh, who sent you that nice Christmas card?" "Oh, you know, it's Carol down the road." Or, "So, the neighbor has come to the house to say
Speaker A
merry Christmas and here's Merry Christmas in writing, too." You see, now that I live in France, it seems strange, but when I was in England, you couldn't go to a birthday and not have a present and a card. I mean, you know, that would
Speaker A
be wrong. So, it it's small things. It allows you to really analyze your own culture and for bigger things as well, not just cards obviously. Um, and I really appreciated that and I felt also that I mean France isn't that different
Speaker A
to Britain. Um, but I really felt like I was I was gaining, you know, I I was definitely opening my cultural horizons, picking up little traditions in France that I loved. So, keeping traditions from Britain that I loved and adding
Speaker A
traditions from France or the continent in general that I loved. Um, so that's the big pro for me was to be able to, you know, just really think about your own culture in a in a different way. Um,
Speaker A
and I'm sorry, but my con is the same as yours. I get homesick even after years of being in France. I I get homesick sick for a cup of tea and a digestive biscuit with my grandmother. I get
Speaker A
homesick, you know, for squashy British couches and carpet under my feet, you know. [laughter] Yeah, there's there's there's something very cozy about Britain. um that I mean France can be cozy too, you know, but I don't know, there's something very very
Speaker A
cottage about Britain, you know, that that cottage feel. Not that my grandmother lives in a cottage, but do you know what I mean about that that typical British coziness? Yeah, I miss that.
Speaker A
And a lot of people will complain about the UK with the fact that we've got carpets everywhere.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. And I I think maybe if you've got carpets in a bathroom or a kitchen, it's a little bit of overkill.
Speaker A
It's a little bit too much. And nowadays, it's not as common, but a lot of Spaniards, French people, Italians, like, "Oh, yeah, you have carpets everywhere, don't you?" I'm like, "But isn't it cozy? Isn't it nice and warm? Don't you feel like, oh, I
Speaker A
just want to like get really comfortable, get a blanket, watch some TV with a cup of tea with my carpet?" So England and the UK in general, I guess it's a good place to be lazy and stay at home during winter.
Speaker A
Winter. Exactly. Yeah. An accurate representation of this is the fact that we have a TV program which is called Gogglebox.
Speaker A
And I don't watch it that much, but sometimes it'll be on TV and my mom and dad will be watching it. And the concept of the program is having families or couples sat down on the couch on the
Speaker A
sofa watching different TV programs and then kind of narrating slashc commenting on what is going on on said TV programs and that like defines for me like uh British culture especially in winter where you're just you know leaning back
Speaker A
you're on the couch talking about what's going on on I'm a celebrity for example And I feel like that is maybe not unique but very characteristic of the UK just like birthday cards are and cards for everything.
Speaker A
Yeah. Cards for everything. Yeah. No, I agree. Yeah. Like a family TV session where everyone has a cup of tea. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Google box. Google box. When I was told about this concept because I don't live in the UK anymore
Speaker A
obviously. So someone mentioned it when I went home in someone from my family and I was like what's Google box and when they told me what it was the concept of this watching people watching television I I thought how can that ever
Speaker A
work and it's huge everyone loves that show in the UK and it's funny because sometimes when if I'm feeling like really homesick and maybe on my feed a clip comes up from Google Box because the algorithms know that I'm British.
Speaker A
Mhm. You know, I'll be like sometimes I'll be like, "Oh, you know, to see because there's something very British about that program." I totally agree. And yes, we don't have carpets everywhere. I agree with that, too. And I didn't put
Speaker A
carpets into my French house either. You know, I don't miss them that much, but there's something about carpets and my childhood, I think, that I don't know.
Speaker A
It's I think what you miss about home sometimes your home country even though I feel today like France is home but I think you miss things that that you connect with your childhood for sure like I say you know a chocolate biscuit
Speaker A
with my grandmother and a cup of tea that's just small things you know uh lots of small things and I'm still uh thinking about the insane obsession that we have with cards I'm take I'm thinking about my grandparents house and being at
Speaker A
my grandparents house and just having over Christmas like cards in every corner all over the place.
Speaker A
Yeah. And sometimes people put them on ribbons. There are so many. And they hang them up like decorations. Yeah.
Speaker A
This is so British. There are so many. We have a problem with cards. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker A
I agree. But anyway, we're kind of running out of time, but don't worry because we're going to be repeating these conversations once every couple of months, more or less, speaking about different topics. So, on that note, let us know in the comments what topics
Speaker A
would you like us to discuss in more detail. Shall we keep having a chat about different types of cards or shall we mix it up?
Speaker A
So, let us know in the comments. And I'm also going to do a little bit of a recap now. So, I've been writing down some phrases. Not all of them, but some phrases that are quite advanced. So, for
Speaker A
1 minute, I'm going to do a little bit of a recap, a revision. So, first we'll start with scorching. If it is scorching, it's boiling, it's roasting, it's really hot. I said the weather was all over the shop, meaning it's very
Speaker A
chaotic, disorganized. One minute it's raining and then it's scorching. Uh Kirsty mentioned Groundhog Day, which is a famous film where every day is just the same. You're repeating it over and over again. Groundhog Day. Then I said, "It's a bit nippy." Nippy. This means
Speaker A
cool, chilly, a little bit cold. The opposite, if you want to say it's very cold, it's freezing.
Speaker A
I mentioned that Kirsty was a bit ahead of the curve. She was more advanced with others when it came to shadowing because she did it when she moved to France the first time. And we use the phrasal verb
Speaker A
fit in quite a lot. To fit in is to belong or feel comfortable with a culture or a group of people. So maybe when you start a new job, it takes a while before you fit in. You feel like
Speaker A
you belong in that group. If something runs in the family, it means that you might inherit it from your mom, dad, grandparents.
Speaker A
So Kirsty's mom, English teacher. Kirsty, English teacher. It runs in the family. Then a downto- earthth person is somebody who is, I'd say, friendly, normal, and not stuck up. So they're kind of opposites. If someone is down to
Speaker A
earth, they're very normal, relatable. Whereas a stuckup person is someone who feels superior to others. Maybe they're a bit posh. So they might look down on others, think they are better than others. If you have a row, you have an
Speaker A
argument. So remember row like ow. And Kirsty mentioned that what she likes about living abroad is that it allows her to see her culture in a different light. This is a nice way of saying you see it in a different way. So from her
Speaker A
perspective of French culture, she can see English culture in a different light. And last but not least, we have the adjective homesick. If you feel homesick, it just means you're a bit sad because you miss home. It's kind of like
Speaker A
seasick where you are feeling a bit sick because you are on a boat, but homesick, you feel sad because you miss home. So, there we have a recap of some of the words and phrases from today's conversation. And Kirsty, back to you.
Speaker A
So, excellent recap. Louis, thank you so much for having me. I'd love to come back for another cuper soon.
Speaker A
Now, we need to remember next time we do this, don't forget to bring a cuppper.
Speaker A
Absolutely. [laughter] Yeah. Now, I've got a class now, but Kirsty, what are you going to do now? You going to have lunch? You going to teach?
Speaker A
What's the plan? I have a class also after this, and then I will be getting my video ready for Friday. So, Let's go. Motivated.
Speaker A
Awesome. So, anyway, thank you everybody for watching. Thank you Kirsty for joining and I look forward to doing it again in a couple of months. So, me too. Me too.
Speaker A
See you later, guys. See you. Bye. Bye. Bye. [music]
Topics:British Englishliving abroadteaching EnglishYouTube English teachersexpat lifelanguage learningcultural adaptationFranceEnglish conversationonline teaching
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