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English Cafe 123
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ENGLISH CAFÉ – 123
TOPICS
Charles Schultz and Peanuts, how to become a police officer, you and I versus
you and me, yippee-ki-yay, to call dibs
_____________
GLOSSARY
comic strip – a series of drawings that tell a funny story, printed every day or
every week in a newspaper or magazine
* There was a funny comic strip about working in an office in today’s newspaper.
Did you see it?
to syndicate – to sell what one writes or draws to many newspapers; to sell
one’s articles or comic strip to many newspapers
* Dear Abby is an advice column that is syndicated to newspapers nationwide.
high school yearbook – a book with many color photographs that is produced
at the end of the academic year and shows what happened at a high school
during that year, so that people can remember their high school experiences
after they have graduated
* Maxwell appears in his high school yearbook three times: on the soccer field, at
the senior dance, and in chemistry lab.
withdrawn – shy; timid; not interested in talking or spending time with other
people; solitary; isolated
* Carina is very withdrawn, always preferring to be alone with her books and
music instead of spending time with friends.
at its peak – at its maximum; at the highest point or amount of something
* The price of oil is now at its peak; it has never been higher than it is right now.
barber – a man who cuts other men’s hair
* Quinton told the barber to be careful not to cut his hair too short.
hairdresser – a person (man or woman) who cuts and styles other people’s hair
* I need to make an appointment with a hairdresser because my hair is getting
too long.
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English as a Second Language Podcast
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 123
inferiority complex – the feeling that one is not as good, beautiful, powerful,
intelligent, or important as other people
* Janey has such an inferiority complex! Just because she didn’t go to college,
she thinks that everyone else is smarter than she is.
criminal justice – the system that a country uses to punish people who break
the law and protect the rest of society from those people
* Courts and prisons are part of the U.S. criminal justice system.
agility – ability to move easily and quickly; flexibility
* The 95-year-old man ran across the street with surprising agility. No one
thought he could move that quickly!
law enforcement officer – police officer; a person whose job is to make sure
that other people follow the laws
* The woman identified herself as a law enforcement officer and told us to leave
the area.
police force – the group of people who make sure that other people follow the
laws; the members of one group of police officers, usually of a city or state
* Timmy joined the police force when he was 19 years old because he wanted to
make his city a safer place to live.
civil service examination – a test taken by people who want to work in
government administration; a test that the government uses to select employees
for administration, but not for the military
* If you want to work at the embassy, you will probably need to take the civil
service examination.
yippee-ki-yay – a meaningless phrase that is shouted to express enthusiasm,
especially by cowboys
* We’re going to Austin, Texas for summer vacation. Yippee-ki-yay!
to call dibs – to have the right to use, do, or have something first, before anyone
else.
* I call dibs on the front seat!
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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
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English as a Second Language Podcast
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 123
WHAT INSIDERS KNOW
Classic Comic Strips
Peanuts is probably the most well known “classic” (very popular and well known)
comic strip in the United States, but many others have been published a long
time and are popular, too.
Calvin and Hobbes was a comic strip about a little boy named Calvin and his
“stuffed animal” (a soft doll made to look like an animal, as a toy for children), a
tiger named Hobbes. Everyone else sees the stuffed animal, but Calvin sees a
live tiger who can talk. Calvin and Hobbes have many “adventures” (exciting
experiences) together that make people think about their own childhood when
they had a lot of “imagination” (the ability to see and believe things that are not
really happening). Calvin and Hobbes is no longer being drawn, but it is
“reprinted” (old drawings are printed multiple times) in many newspapers.
Another popular comic strip is Doonesbury , which is usually about what is
happening in U.S. politics. For example, many of the Doonesbury strips are
about the war in Iraq, and they often “feature” (show) U.S. presidents.
The Far Side is not really a comic strip, because it has only one “panel” (all the
drawings appear in only one square, rather than a series of drawings). It has
“surreal” (dreamlike and strange) humor that often focuses on strange events in
life, talking animals, and logical problems. The panels appear not only in
newspapers, but also on “coffee mugs” (large ceramic cups used for drinking
coffee), calendars, and posters, especially in offices.
Finally, Cathy is another popular comic strip about a young single woman and
the “struggles” (difficult things) that she faces in life. The comic strip is often
about the humor in shopping, taking care of a house, working, and romance.
The comic strip often “deals with” (covers a certain topic) society’s expectations
of women.
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These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2008). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
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English as a Second Language Podcast
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 123
COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT
You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 123.
This is the English Café episode 123. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming
to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles,
California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com to download a Learning Guide for this episode.
You can also take a look at our ESL Podcast Store, which has some business
and personal English courses to help you improve your English even faster.
On this Café, we’re going to talk about Charles Schultz, one of the most famous
American cartoonists of the 20 th century. He is the person behind the Peanuts
cartoons, which have become very popular in many countries. We’ll talk about
him and his life. We’ll also talk about becoming a police officer in the United
States; what are the procedures, what are the things that you have to do to
become a “cop,” as we sometimes call them. As always, we’ll answer a few of
your questions. Let’s get started.
When I was growing up, one of the most popular comic strips was something
called Peanuts . A “comic strip” is a funny drawing that appears in the
newspaper. Usually there are three or four drawings that tell a small story, and
the most popular comic strip in the United States was Peanuts by Charles
Schultz. It had characters such as a dog named Snoopy and a boy named
Charlie Brown.
The person who created and drew the comic strip Peanuts was called Charles
Schultz. Schultz began the Peanuts comic strip back in October of 1950, and it
continued to “run,” that is, it continue to be published until February of the year
2000, so nearly 50 years. During that 50 years more than 17,000 comic strips
were published. When the comic strip was “at its peak,” that is, when it was most
popular, it ran in over 2,600 newspapers and had more than 350 million people in
75 countries who read it. Perhaps you have read a version of the Peanuts comic
strip in your own language.
Charles Schultz was an interesting man. He was born in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, but he was raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. That’s where he grew up –
that’s where he spent his early childhood and teenage years. St. Paul is famous,
of course, for producing famous and talented people! He was an only child; his
parents had no other children. He grew up in St. Paul; he actually went to high
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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 123
school at a place where my father went to high school. He was two years
younger than my father, I believe. The tradition in American high schools is at
the end of the year they publish a book called a “yearbook” that contains all the
pictures of all of the students, and my father has a yearbook where he has the
signature of Charles Schultz, who, of course, was not famous when he was in
high school when my father knew him.
Schultz became a “cartoonist,” that is, someone who draws cartoons or comic
strips. He first worked for the local newspaper in St. Paul, Minnesota. He
eventually got what we would call a “syndicated” comic strip. Something that is
“syndicated” is something that is distributed to different newspapers; it is also a
term we can use for a television program that is shown on different stations
throughout the country.
Schultz’s mother died in 1943 – very young. Schultz was a very good student in
school. In fact he was so good that he was put in a higher grade at a younger
age, and this may have caused some problems because he was always the
youngest person in his class. Some people think that the character of Charlie
Brown – Charles Schultz’s most famous character – is in part a reflection of his
own difficult childhood, where he was very shy and withdrawn. To be
“withdrawn” means you don’t talk to many people – you are very quiet, and that
was the personality of Charles Schultz as well.
The person Charlie Brown was an actual cartoonist, one of the friends of Charles
Schultz. The real Charlie Brown actually wrote a book, oh, about 20-25 years
ago before he died, about his own life – his own difficult life. I had a friend of
mine in the Twin Cities – in Minneapolis/St. Paul – who actually helped publish
the book, and gave me a copy of it. Very few people know that there was a real
Charlie Brown that was the, in part, inspiration for the character Charlie Brown.
Well, Schultz became very famous once his comic strip began to syndicate in
other newspapers. Although there was a real Charlie Brown, some of the
characteristics of the comic strip were a reflection of Schultz’s own life. His
father was a barber. A “barber” (barber) is a person who cuts your hair, usually a
term we use for a man who cuts another man’s hair. If it’s a woman, we
sometimes called them a “hairdresser,” or a “hair stylist.” “Barber” is a little older
term. The place where a barber works is called a “barber shop.”
In October of 2007 a biography of Charles Schultz was published. The family of
Charles Schultz criticized the author, saying that the biography was not an
accurate reflection of who the real Charles Schultz was. But other people say
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These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2008). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
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