Neil and Georgie have a real conversation in easy English about Christmas and New Year. Learn to talk about your family celebrations.

Vocabulary

tradition

something we do every year for a celebration or have done for a long time

festive

used to describe something to do with a holiday that makes us feel good

New Year's resolutions

promises that we make to ourselves to be better in the New Year

always

every time

Transcript

Georgie

Hello and welcome to Real Easy English. In this podcast, we talk about a different topic each week in easy English. I'm Georgie.

Neil

And I’m Neil. Visit our website to read along with this episode and download a worksheet to help you learn, bbclearningenglish.com.

Georgie

Hi, Neil. How are you are you? Are you feeling festive?

Neil

Hi, Georgie. Yes, I am feeling a little bit festive. That means I am feeling like Christmas is coming and I'm a bit excited.

In the UK, we have lots of celebrations coming up. We have Christmas and New Year. Today we're going to talk about some of the family traditions we have at this time of year.

Georgie

Yes, and traditions, this means something we do every year and have done for a long time. So, Neil, does your family have any traditions at Christmas?

Neil

Yes, I think my family has lots of typical British Christmas traditions. So, for example, we put up decorations and a tree and my kids write a letter to Father Christmas or Santa Claus with a list of things that they would like to receive on Christmas morning, which is for us the 25th. That's when we open our presents, on Christmas morning.

Georgie

OK. And then do they receive a stocking from Father Christmas on Christmas Day?

Neil

Yes. So there are two kinds of presents in my family and maybe in others. There are the ones in the stocking, which are kind of little things from Father Christmas. And then they get presents from us and the family separately.

Georgie

Neil, do you still receive a stocking from Father Christmas?

Neil

I don’t get a stocking from Father Christmas. Just the kids. How about you, Georgie?

Georgie

Well, actually, I am still lucky to get a stocking from Father Christmas and I'm almost 30. So, it's not just for kids.

Neil

And do you write a letter to Father Christmas?

Georgie

No, I don't write a letter. He just… he just knows what I want somehow.

Neil

OK, Georgie, so what are your family's Christmas traditions?

Georgie

Well, we are from the countryside in England and we usually go for a walk in the countryside, just before lunch, and then we usually have lunch quite late, around three or four pm. And the usual tradition for food at Christmas is turkey, but we never have turkey.

Neil

Really? I never have turkey either.

Georgie

Ooh, OK. What do you have?

Neil

We usually have duck or some other kind of bird. But nobody really likes turkey in my house.

Georgie

No nobody likes turkey in my house either. We have venison, which is deer.

Neil

Wow.

Georgie

OK, Neil. So what about New Year's Eve? What do you usually do?

Neil

Well, New Year's Eve is quite different to Christmas for me. Christmas is all about family. But New Year is about friends. And so at New Year, we usually meet with some family friends who also have kids and we'll have a meal together in their house and then we'll play games and have a few drinks and celebrate and wait for midnight.

Georgie

Yeah for me as well it's usually about eating, drinking, dancing with friends and just before midnight you have a countdown from 10 to one and then everyone celebrates, sometimes there's fireworks. Do you want to explain what fireworks are?

Neil

Yeah. Big colourful explosions in the sky.

Georgie

OK, so that's New Year's Eve, but what about the next year? Do you make New Year's resolutions?

Neil

New Year's resolutions, these are promises we make to ourselves to be better. Yeah, I do. I have the usual ones about eating better, doing more exercise, all of those things. Do you?

Georgie

I always make resolutions. But I find it difficult to stick to them.

Neil

Let's recap the language we used during the conversation.

Georgie

We had tradition, something we do every year for a celebration or have done for a long time.

Neil

We heard festive, used to describe something to do with a holiday that makes us feel good.

Georgie

We had New Year's resolutions, that’s promises we make to ourselves to be better in the New Year.

Neil

And always, every time. For example, I always visit my family at Christmas.

Georgie

And that's it for this episode. We're taking a break from this podcast over Christmas and New Year. We hope you enjoy celebrating if you have any festivals coming up in your part of the world.

We’ll be back soon with more podcasts to help you with your English.

Neil

And don't forget, there are loads of podcasts, and videos on our website. Visit bbclearningenglish.com.

Georgie

Bye for now.

Neil

Goodbye.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/real-easy-english/241220

https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/realeasyenglish/RealEasyEnglish_s3e11_traditions_worksheet.pdf