English, baby!

Child Prodigies

Learn English meaning of child prodigies

Date: Aug 07 2019

Themes: Family, Pop Culture

Grammar: Adverbs

Go Super!

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

Go Super to Listen

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Go Super to Listen

Li Na started playing tennis when she was 8 years old. By the time she turned 14, she was sponsored by Nike. Two years later, at the age of 16, Li Na became a professional tennis player. She was a natural. She started earning a lot of money at an age when most kids are still in high school! She is known as a child prodigy.

Child prodigies don’t have to be tennis players. They can be actors, scientists, musicians, etc. To be a child prodigy, one must simply be young and talented. Sadly, many child prodigies do not have a very normal childhood, because they have to grow up so fast.

Sara is telling Kellie about her friend’s younger brother. Find out why in today’s English lesson about a whiz kid.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Sara_R

Kellie

Sara_R: Hey, Kellie. Do you know any child prodigies?

Kellie: No. Do you?

Sara_R: Yes, I do. I just finished talking to my friend Jill, whose brother is a prodigy on the piano.

Kellie: Oh, wow!

Sara_R: Yeah, he’s really gifted. He’s just a natural. He was this whiz kid, and just got all this attention. He played at the GRAMMYs.

Kellie: Oh, my gosh. Wow.

Sara_R: He’s amazing.

Kellie: Don’t you think they grow up too fast?

Sara_R: Yeah, I think they probably do. I think he did grow up a lot faster than other kids… just because he has lived in the adult world since he was a kid.

Kellie: So, he didn’t have much of a childhood?

Sara_R: Not the same kind of childhood that other kids have, no.

Kellie: I guess as long as he had a childhood. That’s important, you know?

Sara_R: He did. And his family is really supportive and healthy. And he’s just this great kid.

Kellie: I would love to see him play.

Grammar Point

Go Super to learn "Adverbs" from this lesson

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3

Go Super to Ask Ebaby! teachers your questions!

The iTEP^® test

Sponsored by

Schedule an iTEP^® test and take the official English Practice Test.
Take Now >

Discussion

Go Super to Listen

Sara’s friend Jill has a brother who is a child prodigy. He is a very good piano player, who even played at the GRAMMYs. She thinks that even though he had a much different childhood than many other kids, his family is still very healthy and supportive.

Kellie doesn’t know any child prodigies, but she thinks that they probably grow up too fast. She thinks having a normal childhood is important. Kellie is interested in the prodigy that Sara knows, and wants to see him play piano.

What do you think about child prodigies? Is it OK to take away a kid’s childhood for success?

Comments

diegorogu

Colombia

I think that it is good when a kid is a prodigy. Not every kid is a whiz kid and I think that it is something to enjoy as long as they have their family’s support. Sometimes I wish I was gifted with instruments, but unfortunatelly I was never good at it. However, I was lucky to have a wonderfull childhood given I was a normal kid, so I think it is also ok to have a normal life.

borisovna

Ukraine

All children are talented. But not everyone has the prodigy abilities. if a child prodigy is not a hostage to the ambitions of his parents, and the development and success of his abilities occurs without fanaticism, this is good. otherwise, childhood has been taken away from the child. And very often the mental health of both the child and his parents is impaired.

mandzhi

Russian Federation

Child prodigies is very clever, they study a lot and they have a great success in their area. But i think they don’t have usual childhood like another children because they are very busy and parents want more from their children. I don’t say exactly what i would have done if i had had a whiz kid child.

Safaaomar

Egypt

My point of view is that child prodigies are considered valuable wealth for their countries and their parents as well. But parents should not put their talented children under pressure and let them live normal balanced life . Otherwise those gifted children will hate being prodigies.

laafri3

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

a few prodigies lose fame and fortune after reaching adulthood. But many of them continue to show their brilliance

julito1

Argentina

I agree with Kellie . Gifted children live under a lot of pressure and is important that their parents don´t put more of it on their shoulders .There are stories of parents that saw an opportunity to become rich overnight by exploiting a gifted boy or girl, and don´t let them to live a normal life more appropiate for a young kid.

hamid123

Algeria

Mm..yeah it is good thing to see some child prodigies around of us..but it Is better if you elder enough but you still achieve and reashing to your goal

s11211s

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Child prodigies couldn’t have normal life, when we have normal life we choose strange and interesting life, and when some of us have strange and abnormal life, normal life becomes to us blessing!

Very talented people couldn’t live normally because they are not normal! By the way they grow up too fast because of their ability and their talent, so at least it’s better to take away these kid’s childhood for their success!

NavidArash

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

As a child I really desired to be a whiz kid because nobody took me that serious in that time, And I was in dire need to find a way out to prove that I am something and persuade my parents, siblings, teachers to make some room for me. I played soccer and I had my heart set on to turn into a legendary football player (someone like Lionel Messi), what a dream. But I wasn’t gifted or natural at all (later I found out that I got a talent in playing football video game but nobody gave a hoot about it) and I doomed to be the same ordinary kid to put up with my problems without complaining.

But now when I look at it as an adult, I am glad that I hadn’t have such a prosperous childhood. Fame and fortune isn’t something that most adult could handle it very well so let alone a child.

Do you recall nice and cute Miley Cyrus in Hannah Montana? But now look at her after a couple of years , these days I really can’t stand her eccentric behaviors on the stages no longer. Yeah It is said that “success breeds success” but sometimes It’s better to say that success could breed silliness.

La Princesse de la vie

Egypt

Not having been that close to a natural prodigy made me believe that whiz kids are those kids who get attention from their family and were taught to do something special from a very young age and then they grow up excelling it, but whether a prodigy is naturally born witn it or acquired it from the surroundings, it remains an advantage, because I always thought that what we bring our kids up on is what they will be doing later, so giving attention to kids at early ages is not a mistake unless they are pushed beyond their limits. And if they enjoy it and become interested, so I don’t think they are being divested of their childhood.