baby of the family

Welcome to Daily English 1 – Introducing Yourself. This is Daily English number 1. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California. This episode is a story about me, introducing vocabulary you need to talk about yourself. Let’s get started. [start of story] Let me tell you a little about myself. I was born and raised in Minnesota and I’m a native of the city of Saint Paul. I grew up there with my parents and my eight brothers and two sisters. I’m the eleventh child, so you could say I’m the baby of the family, but I swear I wasn’t spoiled. That’s right, I’m part of a big family, probably the biggest family in the neighborhood, perhaps the biggest family in the state! I had a happy childhood, for the most part. My father and mother didn’t have a lot of money, but because they both worked hard, we never felt deprived. I wasn’t much interested in sports, like my brothers were. I enjoyed reading and listening to music while growing up. I went to grade school near my house, and then to high school about two miles away from our home. After graduating from high school, I went on to the University of Minnesota for my bachelor’s degree. It took me a while to learn the ropes at the university, but I finally graduated about six years later. Better late than never, as my father used to say. I then went to Mexico for a couple of years to teach English and to study Spanish. When I returned, I decided to become a teacher, so I went back to school to get my master’s degree. After teaching high school for a few years, I was offered a job in California, so I moved to Los Angeles in 1991. After working here for a few years, I went back to school (again!) to get my Ph.D. I was starting to become a professional student.

Well, I completed my Ph.D. in