What the examiner means by "early memories"
Your childhood: your first memory, your family home, grandparents, a first day at school, games, a holiday, a frightening or funny moment, and how reliable those memories are. It is the warmest of the six subjects and the one where candidates relax and talk. The risk is the opposite of the others: plenty of content, in a tense that is one hundred per cent past, so the Grade 7 grammar has to be brought in deliberately.
Questions that come up
- What is your earliest memory?
- What did you use to do with your family when you were small?
- Tell me about the house you grew up in.
- Who were you closest to as a child?
- Do you remember your first day at school?
- Were you a well-behaved child, or not?
- Do you think children today have the same kind of childhood you had?
- If you could go back to one day of your childhood, which would you choose?
- Do you trust your early memories, or might some of them be stories your family told you?
- Should parents take lots of photos and videos, or does that change how children remember?
Grade 7 language for this subject
- used to: the heart of this subject. "We used to sleep on the roof in summer." "My grandmother used to tell us stories until we fell asleep."
- Expressing uncertainty: "I'm not sure whether I remember it or whether I've just seen the photo." "It might have been my fourth birthday, or my fifth."
- Second conditional: "If I could go back to one day, I'd choose the day my brother was born." "If I had grown up here, I don't think I'd have as many memories of being outside."
- Past habits with would: "Every Friday my father would bring home sweets."
- Relative clauses: "The house where I was born doesn't exist now." "My uncle, who lived with us, taught me to ride a bike."
- Advice: "Parents should let children be bored sometimes; that's when I remember being happiest."
- Advantages and disadvantages: "The advantage of photos is that you keep the day. The disadvantage is that you remember the photo, not the day."
A model exchange
Examiner What is your earliest memory?
Candidate I think it's sitting on a motorbike in front of my father, in the village in Albania, going to my grandmother's house. I might have been three. I'm not sure if I really remember it or if it's because my mother tells the story so often, but I can remember the smell of the petrol and being very happy. We used to go there every Sunday. Do you have a memory like that, one you're not sure is real?
Examiner Probably. Do you think children today have the same kind of childhood you had?
Candidate No, and I'm a bit sad about it. My daughter is six and she has never been on a motorbike with no helmet, which is a good thing, but she also hasn't walked anywhere alone. If we lived in Albania she'd be outside all day. Here I'm not sure that's possible.
Mistakes to avoid
- Telling one long story in the simple past with no used to, no would, no opinion.
- Saying "I don't remember" and stopping. Say what you might remember and why you are not sure; uncertainty is Grade 7 language.
- Getting emotional and losing the thread. Pick memories you can talk about calmly.