Hello everyone! I’m Faith, and this is The Vita English Podcast.
Welcome to The Vita English Podcast. You’re listening to Language Stories. Language Stories is a series where listeners learn specific English skills through simple personal stories. In each episode, I'll focus on a different part of language as I tell my story. This podcast is for people who have a basic understanding of English but want to improve their fluency! Today we’re going to learn all about how to use past perfect tense as I tell you about a very sweet memory I have from my time in South Korea.
In March 2012, my husband and I packed our bags and got ready to leave Canada: We had both been offered teaching jobs in South Korea! This was our first time traveling overseas together, and we were very excited to start our marriage out in a new country with new jobs and many opportunities for new experiences. We absolutely loved our time in South Korea, and today I want to share a sweet memory from my time living there.
As soon as we arrived in South Korea, we found out that South Koreans were a very kind and generous group of people. As foreigners, we needed a lot of help with the basic things in life– getting food, setting up phones and bank accounts, and figuring out the transportation system–just to name a few things. People were always willing to help us, and we felt welcome right away.
I have a really sweet memory that is a good example of the generosity we received when we lived in South Korea. One day I was in a part of Seoul. For those of you who don't know, Seoul is the capital city of South Korea. Anyway, I was walking around shopping at an outdoor market when it started to downpour. Do you know what downpour means? In English, we sometimes call a heavy rain a downpour. Anyway, it started to downpour, and I was caught in the middle of this outdoor market without an umbrella or a raincoat. I was about to run for shelter when an older gentleman came over to me and handed me a big black, umbrella. He smiled at me and then headed down the street. He didn't say anything, but his actions spoke for a million words. This is such a beautiful memory for me–there I was standing in the middle of a downpour in a huge city far away from my home– and a random stranger protected me from getting drenched (by the way– drenched means completely wet). Anyway, I used that black umbrella the entire time I lived in South Korea, and every time I used it, I remembered this act of kindness from a stranger.
So, this umbrella story may seem like a random or usual act of kindness towards a stranger, but this sort of thing also happened to our friends. Here’s another example: One of my friends told me a story about how she had gotten lost in Seoul, and she approached a local to ask for directions to her destination. The local person didn’t just give my friend directions, that person actually escorted my friend to where she needed to go. Do you know what it means to escort someone? To escort someone means to go with somebody to protect or guard them or to show them the way. So, my friend simply asked for directions when she was lost, and instead of just being given directions, the person actually escorted her. The person took her to the destination where she needed to be.
I think South Korean culture is incredibly hospitable, and my time living there was one of the best times of my life. Have you ever visited a different country and received this type of hospitality? If you have, practice talking about your experience, in English, out loud. This is a great way to get English speaking practice in – just pretend you’re sharing you story with me or another friend, or if you’re listening to this episode on youtube, leave your story in the comments below.
In the story I just told, I used the PAST PERFECT a few times. Let’s look at the 2 different ways I used this verb tense, and let’s look at an third additional way this verb tense can be used.
Number 1:
To talk about an activity that was completed before another activity or time in the past.
Example:
In March 2012, my husband and I packed our bags and got ready to leave Canada: We had both been offered teaching jobs in South Korea!
*unscripted*
Number 2:
To report actual words spoken in the past simple.
Example:
One of my friends told me a story about how she had gotten lost in Seoul..
*unscripted*
Bonus Number 3:
*unscripted*
In fiction writing. An author will often use simple past to say that an event happened, and then the author will use past perfect to explain what happened before that event. I know that's a lot to think about, but let's listen to the example.
Example:
Joe was happy. He had just had the best day of his life.
*unscripted*
Alright, now it’s your turn. I want to give you a chance to practice using past perfect. Try to answer these questions. Say your answers out loud if you are listening to this as a podcast, and if you're on YouTube, leave your answers in the comments section below. Remember to use the past perfect.
Question number 1
How long had you studied English before you felt comfortable speaking?
Question number 2
Can you report these words?
"I taught English for 1 year before I moved to South Korea."
*unscripted*
Question number 3
Can you begin a story using past perfect tense?
Thanks for tuning in to the Vita English Podcast. Tune in to the next episode of Language Stories to learn the past perfect progressive.
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for future episodes, OR if you’d like information on taking 1:1 online english language classes visit my website www.vitaenglish.ca or send me an email me at info@vitaenglish.ca
See you next time.
