EC068_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 68

TOPICS

Ask an American: Raising a large family

criteria vs. standard, through vs. throughout, to call it quits

_____________

GLOSSARY

installment – a part of something that has many parts

* The salesperson said that if we can pay for the new furniture in installments

over two years.

to go into (something) – to start on something; to begin work in a field or type of

work

* After she finishes school, she’s not sure whether to go into business or politics.

lack of (something) – without something; being without something; not having

enough of something

* Due to a lack of money, the community center will be closing at the end of the

year.

allergies – having a bad physical reaction to something, such as food or animals

* My allergies bother me every time I visit my neighbor because she has six cats!

to be up for (something) – to be interested in something; to be ready for

something; to be willing to do something

* You’ve had a very busy day. Are you sure you’re up for going to a club tonight?

to play ball – to participate in a sport; to begin playing a sports game

* The younger kids wanted to play ball, but the older kids had already started

playing their own game on the field.

chore – a job done at home; a task done regularly in one’s house

* When we were young, we each had chores to do after school. I cleaned the

kitchen and my sister did the laundry.

laundry – dirty clothes; washing clothes that need to be cleaned

* Naomi was sick for two weeks and didn’t do her laundry. When she got well

again, she didn’t have any clean clothes to wear to work.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 68

to want for (something) – to charge for something; to give as a price for

something

* This is the perfect used car for our family. Do you know how much they want

for it?

we were in business – we were ready; we were prepared

* We got an email from our web designer that our website was done and that we

were in business.

when push comes to shove – at the most important or difficult moment; when a

decision must be made

* Len has said all along that he would help us with our project, but when push

came to shove, he said he was too busy and we had to do it without him.

criteria – a principle or standard used to make a judgment or decision

* I want to pick the best flowers for this show. My criteria are that they must be

fresh, colorful, and large in size.

standard – a level of quality

* The new food servers we hired for the holiday season aren’t up to the standard

of our regular staff.

throughout – all the way through something; in every part of something

* Morgan kept smiling throughout the entire ceremony even through she was

upset and angry.

to call it quits – to decide to stop; to stop doing something

* We’ve been trying to call him all afternoon and he doesn’t answer. Let’s call it

quits for today and try again tomorrow.

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 68

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

“Blood is thicker than water.”

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“Like father, like son.”

There are many sayings related to family and “relatives” (people related to you by

blood). One well-known saying is: “Blood is thicker than water.” This saying

means that being related by “blood” (the red liquid that goes through people’s

bodies) to someone is more important than other things, especially in a difficult

situation. For example, a woman wants to leave her successful company to her

children after she dies, but believes that none of her children are good in

business. She might say, “I know that my son James isn’t the best choice to be

the next company president, but blood is thicker than water. I would rather leave

the business to a family member than to a stranger.”

Another well-known expression related to family is: “The apple doesn’t fall far

from the tree.” This saying means that the children (or grandchildren) have the

same characteristics as their parents. It can be used for good or positive

characteristics. For example: “When Damon was in college, he was a great

runner. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. His daughter is only 12-years-

old, but she has won every race she has ever competed in.” It can also be used

for bad or negative characteristics. For instance: “I heard that their son was in

jail. The apple doesn’t fall from the tree. Both of his parents had problems with

the law when they were teenagers.”

A saying that has a similar meaning is, “Like father like son.” If you find out that

both the father and the son are good at fixing cars, you may use this expression,

“Like father, like son.” Although it isn’t as common, you can also use the saying,

“Like mother, like daughter.”

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2006). Posting of

these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 68

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to ESL Podcast's English Café, number 68.

This is the English Café, episode 68. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to

you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles,

California.

On today's Café, we're going to have another one of our “Ask an American”

segments, where we're going to interview and talk to someone to give you a

chance to hear some different voices on ESL Podcast. It's always good to listen

to different voices and try to understand different types of English and, as always,

we'll answer a few questions. Let's get started!

Be sure to take a look at our website at eslpod.com, and download the Learning

Guide for this episode. The Learning Guide contains all of the vocabulary,

sample sentences, definitions, culture notes, additional explanations of words

and a complete transcript of this episode.

Our first topic today is going to be another installment of a new segment that we

are starting on the English Café. An installment, “installment,” is a addition - an

additional part or an additional one of a series of things. So for example, you can

have a television show and the television show could be four parts - four sections

- and each section might be called an installment.

Well, this is a installment of a new segment, or section, of ESL Podcast's English

Café, where we are going to interview other people and ask them to tell us

something of interest, and then we'll talk about the language that they used. We

had a very good reaction from our first attempt at doing this a couple weeks ago

in English Café number 66, so we're going to try it again today.

Now, I was back in Minnesota for the Christmas and New Years holidays and I

had a chance to talk some people - to interview and record some people when I

was there. One of the people I talked to was my mother. My mother and father

both live in Minnesota, along with the rest of my family - or most of my family.

So, I asked my mother if she could talk a little bit about something that she

knows a lot about. My mother had 11 children. I am the youngest of 11 children,

so I come from a very big family. I asked my mother to tell us little bit about what

are the difficult things - what were some of the challenges that she had in raising,

or bringing up, 11 children.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 68

We're going to listen to what she says first; it will last about three minutes. It

might be a little difficult for you to understand because she sometimes speaks a

little fast. But after we listen to it, we will go back and listen to parts of it again

and explain any difficult vocabulary.

She's going to begin by talking about what were some of the problems in raising

so many children. She's going to talk about my brothers and sisters, and how

they were parts of different groups in our family. She's also going to talk about

how they found their first house, the house where I lived in - I grew up in - and

she'll talk about what she thinks is important in coming from a big family.

Again, just listen; try to understand what you can, and then we'll talk about it.

Here's my mother, Mary McQuillan.

[start of recording]

Mary: Well, I don't think anybody goes into their marriage thinking they're going

to raise 11 children, that's for sure! But, it was a challenge. The biggest

challenge was their health, or lack of good health because their father had many

allergies and I had many allergies, and you get that altogether, you're up for a lot

of problems sometimes.

Jeff: Yeah.

Mary: But, they were all the - it was like three groups: the oldest four, there was

two singles, and then a set of twins, and then the next were three, and then there

was four, and they were all within a year of each other, as they - their little group.

So, they, themselves, kind of kept together as groups, you know.

Jeff: Right, right.

Mary: The oldest four: they all played ball and this sort of thing. We lived in a

neighborhood where there were other large families, and they played together

real well - you know, got along pretty good.

Jeff: Uh hmm, yeah.

Mary: And as far as the hardest chore, I would say was, of course, laundry - was

a big thing. We had two sets of laundry equipment, one on first floor, one in the

basement.

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2006). Posting of

these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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