The English Race — Meet the Contestants
Interview · 4 of 4
Meet Sofía Guerrero
Who is she?
Sofía “Sofi” Guerrero
Guadalajara, Mexico · Age 22 · Dancer and painter
Sofía is one of four contestants competing in The English Race, a language competition that takes teams across Britain and Europe. She grew up in Guadalajara — the capital of Jalisco and a city that beats with the heart of Mexican cultural life. Her father plays trumpet in a mariachi band; her mother made costumes for the Ballet Folklórico. Sofía dances and paints, collects language the way other travellers collect fridge magnets, and stops to notice things that other people walk straight past. In this interview, she talks about what it means to feel a language — not just learn it.
1
Pre-Reading: New Vocabulary
Study these words before you listen to the interview.
| Word / Phrase | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| spontaneous | happening naturally and without planning, often in response to a feeling or impulse in the moment | The best part of the trip was the spontaneous detour — they found the restaurant by accident. |
| vivid | producing strong, clear images in the mind; bright and full of detail | She described the market so vividly that I felt I had been there myself. |
| absorb | to take something in gradually and naturally, until it becomes part of how you think or feel | Children absorb new languages quickly — they don’t try to, they just do. |
| gesture | a movement of the hands, face, or body that expresses something — a feeling, an idea, or emphasis | He shrugged — a small gesture, but it said everything about how he felt. |
| interpret | to understand and explain the meaning of something — a word, an action, a situation, or a piece of art | The same piece of music can be interpreted very differently by different listeners. |
| expressive | clearly showing feelings or ideas through words, sounds, movements, or art | Her face was very expressive — you always knew exactly what she was thinking. |
Connect each sentence to the vocabulary word it best describes.
Tap a sentence on the left to select it, then tap the correct word on the right.
Sentence
Word
“Nobody planned it. Someone suggested dancing and everyone just started.”
gesture
“The colours were so bright and clear I could still picture them the next morning.”
expressive
“After six months, the rhythm of the city became part of how she moved and thought.”
spontaneous
“She held out both hands, palms up — a small movement that asked everything.”
absorb
“Two people can read the same poem and arrive at completely different meanings.”
vivid
“His playing was full of feeling — every note told you something about how he felt.”
interpret
2
Read and Listen: The Interview
Fill in the gaps as you listen. Use the word bank to help you.
Gap-fill: Six words from the vocabulary list appear as gaps in the interview. Choose the correct word for each gap.
spontaneous
vivid
absorb
gesture
interpret
expressive
Interviewer
Sofía, welcome. Tell us about where you come from.
Sofía
Guadalajara! (warmly, as if just saying the name is a pleasure) It is the capital of Jalisco — the second biggest city in Mexico. Very proud city. Mariachi music is from Jalisco. Tequila is from Jalisco. The Ballet Folklórico. My father plays trumpet — he performs in the Plaza de los Mariachis, the square in the old city where musicians have gathered for generations. I grew up sitting on the edge of that plaza watching him. The sound of a trumpet still feels like home to me. It is one of my most
memories.
Interviewer
You are both a dancer and a painter. How did both of those happen?
Sofía
My mother made costumes for the Ballet Folklórico — so dance was just always there, like the trumpet. I auditioned at six. I danced the zapateado — the Jalisco footwork — through my teenage years. And painting came when I was fifteen. There was an exhibition of Frida Kahlo’s work. I stood in front of one painting for so long my teacher had to come and find me. (a laugh) My parents never told me to choose between the two. I think that was — that was a very important
of trust. They were saying: both things are real. You do not have to be only one thing.
Interviewer
How does being an artist connect to learning languages?
Sofía
I think it is the same thing, actually. When I learn a language — or when I am in a new place — I try to
everything before I try to produce anything. I watch. I listen. I draw. With dancing it was the same — I watched my father play for years before I understood what the music was really saying. You cannot rush that process. If you rush it, you learn the surface. You do not learn the feeling underneath.
📖 Language Note: “The feeling underneath”
Sofía often uses physical or spatial language to describe abstract ideas. “The feeling underneath” — as if emotion is a layer below the surface of something you can see. This is called a conceptual metaphor — we map abstract ideas onto physical space. In English, we do this constantly: getting to the bottom of something, a deep understanding, a surface-level response. Notice how Sofía’s background as a dancer and painter shapes the way she uses language — she thinks in images and movement.
Interviewer
You have said that you collect language like other people collect fridge magnets. What do you mean?
Sofía
(laughing — she clearly said this and means it exactly) Yes! Because when I arrive somewhere new, I immediately want to know: how do people here say the things that matter? Not the tourist phrases. The real ones. The ones that are — how to say — they can only
one specific feeling or idea that exists in that culture and nowhere else. In Spanish we have madrugada — the hours between midnight and dawn, a word with its own atmosphere. In English you do not have that. Every language is a different set of drawers. They do not all contain the same things.
Interviewer
How do you find the race challenges? Do they suit your approach?
Sofía
Some of them do. The ones where you have to notice something — describe something — those feel natural to me. I am always late (another laugh) but I am almost never wrong about what I saw. The ones that are more structured — I sometimes — I lose patience a little. I am quite
by nature. A plan that is too rigid makes me feel like I am drawing inside the lines of someone else’s drawing. But Adam is good at structure. So between the two of us, usually we find a way.
Interviewer
You carry a sketchbook everywhere. What is in it?
Sofía
(a pause — slightly more private now) Everything. The race. The places. The people. I draw the way some people write a diary — not to show anyone, just to understand what I saw. Drawing something makes me look more carefully. A person’s face when they are trying to say something difficult. A building that — that is trying to look like something it used to be. Language is
in the same way a drawing is — both are trying to say: I was here. I noticed this. It mattered.
Interviewer
Thank you, Sofía.
Sofía
Thank you — and if you want, I can draw you. (a grin) I am quite fast.
3
Comprehension Check
Tap the best answer for each question. Feedback appears immediately.
What does Sofía say about her parents’ attitude to her dancing and painting?
According to Sofía, what is the right way to learn a language or arrive in a new place?
What does Sofía mean when she says languages are like “different sets of drawers”?
What kind of race challenges does Sofía find most difficult?
Why does Sofía draw the people and places she sees in the race?
4
Think and Discuss
There are no right or wrong answers. Talk with a partner, or write in your journal.
- Sofía says you have to absorb a language before you can really produce it — watch, listen, and feel it first. Do you agree? Think about how you have learned English, or another language. Did you absorb first, or did you try to speak immediately?
- Sofía describes madrugada — a Spanish word for the hours between midnight and dawn. Are there words in your language that have no equivalent in English? What do they describe? Why do you think English doesn’t have a word for that feeling or idea?
- Sofía draws people and places to understand them better — not to show anyone, just for herself. Do you have a private way of processing what you experience? A journal, a playlist, a walk? What does it help you do?