EC103_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 103

TOPICS

Ask an American: raising children; one of those, reply versus answer, customer

versus purchaser

_____________

GLOSSARY

to be in competition – to be competing; to play a game or do another thing to

find out whether one is better or worse than another person or group of people

* Eddy and Samantha are in competition to see who will make the most sales this

month.

stressed out – very worried, nervous, and anxious about something

* Bo is stressed out about school this week because he has three important

exams.

to get (someone) into (something) – to arrange for someone to be able to

participate in something or become a member of a group

* Were you able to get Victoria into the ballet class, or was it already full?

to pause – to hesitate; to wait a short period of time before doing something

* Whenever I get angry, I try to pause and take a deep breath before saying

anything.

to build self-esteem – to improve one’s confidence in one’s own abilities; to

make oneself believe that one is good at doing something

* What do you think about building children’s self-esteem by telling them that

they’re good athletes, musicians, or students?

competent – capable; able to do something, but maybe not very well

* I’m a competent writer, but I don’t think I’ll ever publish a great novel.

capable – competent; able to do something, usually very well

* Sampson is a very capable in business and I think he’ll be a company president

within 10 years.

it’s all about (something) – a phrase meaning that something is the only

important thing, or that one is completely focused on something

* For Cindy, it’s all about getting good grades in school, and not necessarily

about learning things that will be useful later.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 103

spoiled – overindulged; having received everything that one ever asked for

(usually from parents and grandparents) so that one expects everything to be this

way and doesn’t know how to act in the real world

* Priscilla is so spoiled! Her parents buy her all the toys and candy she asks for.

narcissistic – self-loving; liking oneself too much

* Craig is very narcissistic and thinks he is the most handsome man in the world.

one of those – one of a group of something; that one

* I’d like to buy one of those necklaces, but they’re too expensive.

reply – a response to something

* Have you sent a reply to Janice’s email about her idea for the project?

answer – a response to a question

* What was her answer when he asked her to marry him?

customer – a person who buys something at a store or business

* The customer bought more than $100 in groceries.

purchaser – a person who buys something, often for a business or company

* How long did it take you to find a purchaser for your home?

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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 – 103

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

Competitive High School Sports

American high schools have many sports teams. These sports teams compete

with teams from other schools. Sometimes high school sports can be very

“competitive” (with a lot of pressure to win), with the “entire” (whole) school and

even community supporting the teams by “going to the games” (watching the

competitions).

Many movies have been made about competitive high school sports. Hoop

Dreams , for example, was made in 1994. It is a documentary (true story about

real people) movie about two African American boys in Chicago who play

basketball in high school and college and want to become professional

basketball players. The movie is about what happens in the boys’ lives and their

changing relationship, but it also has a lot of information about competitive high

school sports and how they can “affect” (have influence on) the players’ lives.

Friday Night Lights , which was made in 2004, is about a high school football

team in a small Texas town that has many economic and “racial” (relating to

people’s ethnicity and skin color) problems. The entire community supports the

high school football team and the games help to “bring the community together”

(help the community members stop fighting and feel like part of one group). The

“coach” (the person who leads a sports team) is very strong and helps the

players do their best. This movie shows the pressures and “rewards” (good

things that happen as a result of something) of competitive high school sports.

Finally, Hoosiers is a 1986 movie about a high school basketball team in Indiana.

The team has a bad coach, but it is able to “beat all the odds” (do better than

anyone expects) and win the “championship game” (the final game that decides

which team is the best in a year).

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). 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 – 103

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 103.

This is ESL Podcast’s English Café episode 103. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff

McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in the

beautiful City of Los Angeles, in the State of California.

You can visit our website at eslpod.com and download a Learning Guide for this

episode. You can also take a look at our ESL Podcast Store, which has some

additional premium courses you may be interested in.

On this Café, we’re going to be talking about bringing up children, and what

some people give as advice for parenting – what some American experts think

are good ideas for bringing up children. You’ll have a chance to see a little bit

about the way children are raised in the U.S. This is part of our “Ask an

American” series. And as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions. Let’s get

started.

Before we begin our main topic today, a small correction from a previous English

Café – English Café number 96. In that Café I talked about how to become a

doctor in the United States. I said that many doctors go through what is called a

“residency” in order to learn more about a specialized topic after their four years

of medical school. This is not quite correct. One of our listeners emailed me and

said that almost all doctors in the U.S. go through a residency, which is a sort of

practical training; this usually lasts between three and seven years. After that, if

they want to have a specialization of one specific area, they would complete

something called a “fellowship.” So, just a small correction about what a

residency is versus a fellowship if you want to become a doctor in the United

States.

Our main topic today is going to be children – how to raise happy children. To

“raise” children means the same as to “bring them up” – to help them as they

grow older. Usually, we talk about the parents, or a parent – mother or father –

who raises the child. We’re going to listen today to some Americans giving their

advice to American parents about how to raise children. I think it will give you an

interesting perspective – an interesting view – of the way some Americans raise

their children. This is one of the more difficult things to try to understand about

another country or culture, so I hope that listening to these experts – these

people who say they are experts – will give you some insight, some perspective

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

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 103

into that question. These are taken from a news story on the Voice of America

website.

We’re going to start by listening to a man talk about how parents feel as though

they are in competition with other parents. He’s going to talk about what

happens when parents feel this pressure, and what are some of the results of

that pressure. We’re going to listen to this person talk at a native rate of speech.

He’s going to speak somewhat fast, but I will go back and explain everything he

says. So don’t worry, just try to understand as much as you can and then we’ll

explain it. Here we go.

[recording]

We’re constantly in competition with other parents and with the whole society, we

think, to make our kids become whatever was our idea, 20 years before when

they were born, of what a success would be. So, they spend their days very

stressed out, driving kids everywhere, getting kids into whatever they consider

the best pre-school, and if their child’s self-esteem isn’t high, then she won’t

succeed, or if he doesn’t compete well, he won’t succeed.

[recording stops]

The man begins by saying, “We’re constantly in competition with other parents

and with the whole society.” “We’re constantly (meaning we parents are

constantly – are always) in competition.” To be “in competition” means to be

competing against someone else. It means that you are both trying to get

something. For example, in a game there are two teams in competition. They

are going for one prize, trying to get something and only one of them can win.

So, he is saying that American parents sometimes feel, or think, that they are in

competition with other parents to do a better job. I know this is quite true in the

area where I live in Los Angeles, where many of the parents feel like they are in

competition with other parents to make their child better.

Some of these parents try to make their children become whatever their idea was

20 years ago of a success. The expert says, “we think, to make our kids become

whatever was our idea, 20 years before when they were born, of what a success

would be.” What he is saying here is that we imagine what was successful when

we were younger, and then try to give that to our children – we try to make them

successful.

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). Posting of

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

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