How to talk about children: Common Expressions

http://www.engvid.com/ In this lesson, I will teach you some common words we use when talking about babies and children. You will learn words like "toddler", "temper tantrum", "infant", "tattle", "spank", "ground" and many more. If you are writing the IELTS or TOEFL, these words may help you get a higher vocabulary mark in the speaking and writing sections! Test yourself on this lesson with the quiz: http://www.engvid.com/children-common...

TRANSCRIPT:
Hi there. My name is Emma, and today we are going to do a vocabulary lesson, and we're going to talk about children and childhood. So this vocabulary lesson is very good for anyone who has children, anyone who knows children, who talk about children, and also people who are doing the TOEFL and the IELTS exam. And the reason for the TOEFL and the IELTS exam is for some of the questions, they may ask you maybe in the essay or in the speaking part to talk about your childhood, or if you have children, to talk about your children. So this vocabulary lesson can help you to get a higher score on the vocabulary component, because you'll be using a little bit more challenging words and they will recognize that.

So let's get started. Sorry about the siren, guys. Okay. So, a common grammatical mistake people make is they don't know when to use "child" and when to use "children". So, first of all, "child" means one; one kid, one child. "Children" is two... Or sorry, "children", two or more. Okay. So, my friend has three children. My other friend has just one child. Okay?

Another thing I want you to note is the meaning of "childhood". So when we talk about "childhood", we're talking about a period of time. A period of time when we were young, that's our childhood. So the childhood is the period of time when you're a child.

All right, so let's look at some different types... Some of the different stages of childhood and the terms we use for those. So, first of all, we have "infant". Okay? "Infant" is a noun, and it's a synonym of "baby". It's just sort of like a higher way to say "baby". "Infants tend to cry a lot." Just an example sentence of the word "infant".

So, after infant, the baby will get a bit bigger and it will become a "toddler". So, a toddler, this is a noun, and it's usually around the ages of 1 to 2 years old. It's a child who are... Who is between these ages. And usually toddlers, they're able to walk, and they can talk. They say not maybe full sentences, but you know, they're about 1 to 2 years old. So we use the term "toddler" for this age.

Now, similar to toddler, we also sometimes talk about "the terrible twos". So this is a common English expression, and we use it when we're talking about toddlers, because toddlers often scream, they often cry, they often fight, maybe kick or hit, and so as a result, parents often call this period of time: "The Terrible Twos". So, here's an example: "When children hit the terrible twos, they cry a lot." Okay? Although I hear the terrible twos really aren't that terrible, for parents who, you know, your children are growing, maybe it won't be such a bad time.

Okay, next we have "pre-teen". So I've skipped a lot between here. You'll see that we've jumped from 2 to 9-13. And the reason for that is, in general, after about 2 years old, we just usually use the term "children", "child", "kid". You can also use the age, too. I have an 8-year-old kid. I have a 3 year old. I have a 4 year old. So that's what we usually use for the ages between 2 and 9.

So, after that, we get to pre-teen. So, "pre" means before. So before teenage years. This is usually between 9 to 13 years old, these are pre-teens. And this is before a child hits puberty. That's what "pre-teen" means. This is also a noun. We're talking about a person.

And then, finally, our last two definitions for the types: "adolescent" and "teenager". These words are synonyms. They're for people between the ages of 13 and 19. So maybe you have teenagers at home, maybe you have adolescents, maybe you are a teenager. We can also shorten this. You will often hear the word "teen". Okay, so now we're going to learn some vocabulary about what children do and what parents do.

So here are a couple vocabulary words that reflect... Well, they are things that children do. So most of these are actions. Now, of course, children do a lot more things than the three things I have here, but these are words you may not know. They're words that can help you if you're doing TOEFL, IELTS, you know, they're a higher level word.

So, the first word we have is "crawl". "Crawl" is a verb and it's when children move, but they're not walking, they're on their arms and their knees. They crawl across the floor. So this is what babies do. So first, babies just lie there, then they crawl, and then they learn how to walk. So we can say: "Most infants learn to crawl between 7-12 months." Okay? So that's "crawl".