Talent Wish
Vocabulary
Talent Wish
envious
It’s something I’m very envious about.
When you are envious of people, you are jealous of things they have. Notice the following:
- I am envious of her success.
photographic memory
I really wish I had photographic memory.
People with a photographic memory can remember everything they see. Notice the following:
- Spies often have photographic memories.
rhythm
I have no rhythm at all.
Here, rhythm refers to beats or patterns in music. To have rhythm refers to being able to dance well to the beats. Notice the following:
- I am a terrible dancer. I have no rhythm.
bitter
I’m kind of bitter that he didn’t take me.
When you are bitter, you are angry about something that happened to you. Notice the following:
- I am still bitter that I did not get a raise.
opponent
Hit the ball on the opponent‘s side.
An opponent is a person who competes against another person. Notice the following:
- His opponent was very skilled, so he lost the game.
dribble
I can dribble with my let hand.
In basketball and soccer, to dribble means to move the ball as you run with it. Notice the following:
- I can dribble very well, but I am bad a shooting the ball.
Audio Script
Talent Wish
Gyri: What are some talents you wish you had?
Viyasan: I would say this talent spreads a long time back and it’s always something I’m very envious about. I don’t have the best memory and so I really wish that my talent was to remember a lot easier or even have photographic memory. I think that would be very useful, especially as a student during exams where we’re able to read quite a bit and remember all of it. I think that talent would be interesting to have because I wouldn’t always be forgetting daily things, like my keys to my apartment.
Gyri: Right.
Viyasan: Or for example, my water bottle every single time I leave for class. I think memory is very important and it’s very good to remember certain conversations with people. For example, sometimes I might have a conversation with someone and completely forget that I talked about that topic and then just be reminded of it when I talk to that person the next time.
Gyri: Yeah.
Viyasan: I think having a better memory or photographic memory would be great for those situations.
Gyri: Yeah, definitely.
Viyasan: And yourself? What are some talents that you wish you had?
Gyri: I wish that I could dance. I have no rhythm at all.
Talent Wish
Viyasan: Yeah.
Gyri: I feel so stupid when like if we go out or we listen to music, I just look really goofy when I try to dance, but I feel like dancing so I still try, but it just looks horrible. Yeah, I wish I had more rhythm and the ability to learn dance moves, I guess.
Viyasan: Yeah, I would say that dancing is definitely a talent that some people have. Likewise, I do not have any rhythm so I’ll join you on that same dance floor.
Gyri: Yeah.
Viyasan: Even though I like to dance, I don’t dance very well.
Gyri: Yeah. Yeah, I wish that I was better at sports as well. I really like downhill skiing, for example, but I never skied a lot, like my dad, he skied professionally when he was young, and I’m kind of bitter that he didn’t take me up to the hills more than he did because if I had started at a young age I could be really good right now, but I didn’t, so I’m a casual skier but I really wish that I could be like better than average in something, especially a sport.
Viyasan: Got it, got it.
Gyri: Do you play any sports besides basketball?
Viyasan: Basketball is my main sport. I used to play a little bit of volleyball when I was in high school and so I played the position of setter and so that was very fun. It took a lot of accuracy. I think if I had to be a little bit more talented, it would be at jumping because if I was able to jump a lot more, I would be able to fake my sets and just hit the ball down on the opponent‘s side.
Talent Wish
That would be a cool talent to have if I was able to jump maybe five to ten more inches higher than I usually did. I still remember that my vertical was 26 inches when I was in grade nine or grade ten and so maybe if I added a couple more inches onto that I would’ve been able to perform in more creative ways.
Gyri: Yeah.
Viyasan: Yeah.
Gyri: Can you dunk a basketball?
Viyasan: That depends on how high the rim is. If it’s five feet or six feet, definitely, but on a standard regulation net, which is probably nine or 9.5 feet, I cannot.
Gyri: Okay.
Viyasan: But maybe if I had the talent of jumping extremely high, I would be able to dunk a basketball but no.
Gyri: Can you dribble with your left hand?
Viyasan: Of course. I can dribble with my let hand, I can dribble with my right hand, I can dribble between my legs. I’ve done a lot of different types of basketball drills when I was on the high school team and so yeah, I’m pretty good at handling the basketball. Shooting, driving to the net, and passing it a lot quite a bit, so yeah, pretty efficient with the basketball.
Gyri: Yeah, that’s impressive.
Viyasan: I just can’t dunk.
Talent Wish
Gyri: Okay, yeah. Can you shoot with your left hand?
Viyasan: Mm, no, I cannot. I can’t shoot with my left hand. I can do a lay up with my left hand, but I can’t shoot the ball naturally like a free throw or three point shot with my left hand.
Gyri: Okay. What exactly is a lay up?
Viyasan: A lay up is when you drive towards the net, you’re allowed to take two steps while holding the basketball and so that’s usually how people when they’re very close to the net, they do a lay up or they’re also able to convert a lay up into a dunk so they’re able to take two steps and dunk towards the basketball net.
Gyri: Okay.
Viyasan: Yeah, that’s a little bit of basketball knowledge for you.
Gyri: Yeah, got it.