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This podcast is designed to give English students extra practice by discussing events, history, culture and language.
This is the VivaLing English podcast. VivaLing is an online language academy dedicated to providing one on one language coaching for kids, teens, and adults.
Tom:Welcome to the VivaLing English podcast.
Kari:Hello, VivaLing podcast listeners. One of the hardest things to do when learning a language is listening to real authentic language. It's different, right? Well, now's your time to practice. Listen to coach Jessica interview coach Sean, learn a bit about South African culture, and listen to authentic informal language.
Jessica:Welcome VivaLing podcast listeners. I'm Jessica. I'm a coach at VivaLing and I've been here for about five years, and today I have, with me Coach Shaun. Welcome.
Shaun:Welcome, thank you. Hello. Hello, hello. Good to be here
Jessica:Thanks for, yeah, thanks for being here with us. Can you tell me how long have you been working at VivaLing?
Shaun:Since 2019.
Jessica:All right.
Shaun:Yeah.
Jessica:So are you one of the original coaches?
Shaun:I am one of those dusty of the fury, I think I'm one of the original coaches, I'm not too sure what the data is, But yeah, I've been with VivaLing for a good, good amount of years, good happy years I may add.
Jessica:And, can you tell me, I'm assuming you haven't always been an online English coach in your life?
Shaun:No, I'm actually a teacher in South Africa and yeah, I mean just based on the teaching and the reward in South Africa, not being up standard. I have a big passion for kids and just wanted to seek some more affirmation, I guess, online. And I stumbled across and looked through everything, applied, and think since that day it's been the best decision of my life.
Jessica:I think that a lot of VivaLing coaches tend to be internationally minded or have interesting cultural backgrounds. There's a lot of diversity among our coaches. So can you tell me, what cultures have had an influence on you in your life, either as a child or later on as an adult?
Shaun:Well, if you look at South Africa, we've got a lot of people, a lot of different people, we've got 11 official languages. We are constantly barefoot, are known for the people that would literally have short pants on in any kind of weather. We literally would want to sit in the rain and have a barbecue, like you might know the name, but we call it a braai. So I grew up in everything goes, you know, being outside, being adventurous. There's no limits, the weather does not affect any South African, we do what we want.
Shaun:If we want to go fishing in the rain, we do that. So growing up, my cultural background was mostly surrounding those type of things, being outside, bonding with people, family was an important part in it, and just being with people that you love and kind of form the culture that we have. We have a loving and caring culture in South Africa to an extent, our activities are mostly outside. We are called the bura, which you can literally go look at how people dress and, and you can, there was a picture of a South African going to Antarctica and having a shorts on, so it's a lot different here, and we brag and we definitely feel that our brai, which is a traditional thing, is much more better than the barbecue, and you call it beef jerky, we call it doldong, much better than your beef jerky as well.
Jessica:My beef jerky?
Shaun:Your beef jerky, your country's beef jerky.
Jessica:Yeah, I'm not like a big fan of beef jerky, but tell me about why your beef jerky is better.
Shaun:Well, I've never tasted the American side, but I've spoken to people, they had conversations, meat in your country is just not the same as meat in our country, and you'll probably say the same. So I think it's just a cultural preference, if I may add that.
Jessica:So this is interesting for me because I actually have no stereotype or concept of what it means to be South African. So you're informing me that it has to be there's barbecues outdoors, really being outdoorsy, family oriented and wearing shorts. These are the things that it
Shaun:feel represent exactly. Also like sporting events, South Africa, like rugby, we are the world cup champions, really big, we're the only country to have that, you know, three times in a row. There's a lot of, a lot of things that, that make South Africa unique.
Jessica:Okay, have you traveled anywhere else before?
Shaun:Yeah, I visited Europe in 2014, went to Germany and I've got family in Belgium, in Antwerpen and in Brussels, think. Very cool. It's difficult for us to travel because of the weakness of our currency at the moment, so you really have to save up a lot of money to get somewhere.
Jessica:Right, right. No, I get it. Tell me about, on that trip you went on, what was most memorable for you and why?
Shaun:Yeah, I just think the, the buildings, the clean, the cleanness of the towns, the bicycle trips, and the, the bicycles, they have way over the cars. Yeah, the food was strange for me. The portions were small, where we eat big portions, so, but I mean generally it was really a cool experience. I think the, the places I saw, the beautiful landscapes I saw, it's, it's, and I think what was the strangest thing for me was the fact that you travel twenty or thirty or forty minutes and you're in a different country. Was mind blowing because in South Africa you travel like twelve hours and then you're just in a different place, you're still in South Africa.
Shaun:That was strange.
Jessica:Okay, so VivaLing coaches, I think, tend to be curious people with hobbies, a variety of hobbies and interests. So what do you like to do in your free time?
Shaun:Geez, I play a lot of golf. My free time, I don't have too much of a free time anymore. I have a child, he's six years old, so my free time is around him, so whatever he wants to do, we do. And I think taking in consideration that I have two jobs at the moment, so it's, it's, it's work and then work. It's difficult to get a hobby, but I do make time for golf a lot, and I do enjoy going to the gyms in the morning.
Shaun:So the other part of my hobbies would basically just be about my child and playing games with him and enjoying time spent with him, I guess.
Jessica:Tell me, what is a skill that you would love to learn if time and money were no restraint?
Shaun:Oh, this no, I don't know, let me think. It's the skill. I'd love to do okay, so in South Africa it does not snow, so I've never seen snow or touched snow before. It does snow but on the mountains, so I think I've never really learned, to do ice skating. We have, we had a place, the indoor ice skating rink, never went.
Shaun:So I think if I had the opportunity and I knew I could do it, because I'm not gonna learn it I don't want to learn. I just want to be able to do it, because I'm too scared to even learn about it. But to ski, would be really cool, or to surf would be fun.
Jessica:Well, to wrap up. Thank you for doing this interview with me, and, thank you for the work you do at VivaLing and for the person that you are in the world.
Tom:Thank you for listening to the VivaLing English podcast. For further information, go to our website, www.VivaLing.com, or follow us on Facebook or Instagram. And don't forget to subscribe to this podcast.