EC135_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 135

TOPICS

Types of vocational education in the U.S.; American Cities: Miami; to have a

monkey on (one’s) back; to administer; to execute; to be off

_____________

GLOSSARY

vocation – non-academic job; non-academic occupation

* He likes to work with wood, so he has always dreamed of a vocation as a

furniture-maker.

apprenticeship – a non-academic internship; a period of time, usually a few

months or a few years, in which a person works with an expert in a profession to

learn how it is done before beginning to work independently

* Jackie completed a 10-month apprenticeship in metalwork before she opened

her own business.

trade – vocation; occupation; a physical (not academic) job

* How many years have you worked in the auto-mechanic trade?

home economics – a high school subject that teaches students how to cook,

sew, care for children, and manage a home

* Becca made a beautiful dress in her home economics class.

community college – an academic institution that is smaller than a university

and offers classes to community members and for two-year degrees, with some

students transferring to a larger university afterward

* Ricky wants to take an algebra class at the local community college this fall.

associate degree – a two-year degree offered by a community college that can

also be used to transfer to a university

* When did Albert earn his associate degree in filmmaking?

to look down upon (someone or something) – to think that one is better than

someone or something; to think that someone or something is not very good and

does not deserve one’s respect; to not think very highly of someone or something

* Everyone looked down on Dan when they learned that he had been arrested for

stealing.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 135

port – an area in a city next to an ocean where boats and ships come and go

with products

* The port of Seattle, Washington is a good place to buy inexpensive fish.

boom – a period of time when something is very popular and increases very

quickly

* The “baby boom” refers to a period of time in U.S. history when many babies

were born after World War II.

retiree – an elderly person who no longer works

* Cesar can’t wait to be a retiree so that he can go golfing every day.

proximity – closeness; nearness

* Laura wants to live in Oregon’s Willamette Valley because of its proximity to the

coast and the mountains.

gateway – an opening in a wall or fence through which one can reach other

places, often used figuratively

* Many people view earning a college degree as a gateway to getting a good job.

to have a monkey on (one’s) back – to have a problem that won’t go away; to

have a problem that worries or bothers one a lot

* She always feels like there’s a monkey on her back because she is never able

to pay her bills on time.

to administer – to manage; to run a program, especially the administrative

details

* How many people are involved in administering the university’s student

selection process?

to execute – to implement; to control a project or program and make it happen

* The company is executing a new sales strategy to try to increase its profits.

to be off – to be cancelled

* The wedding is off! Avery decided that he didn’t want to get married after all.

to be off – to depart; to leave a place

* We packed everything into the car, locked the house, and then we were off to

enjoy our two-week vacation.

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

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 135

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

Miami Vice

Miami Vice was a popular television series from 1984 to 1989. A “vice” is a bad

habit, such as smoking, eating too much, or being jealous. Miami Vice was

about two police “detectives” (people who investigate crimes and other

mysteries) in Miami. Most “episodes” (individual shows in a series) were about

drug selling and “prostitution” (selling sex). Miami Vice was one of the first

popular TV shows about police and it was a model for many similar shows that

were created later.

The most “impressive” (surprising in a good way) thing about the show was the

way that it influenced “pop culture” (popular culture; things that are familiar and

enjoyable for most people in a society). Miami Vice had a “tremendous” (very big

and powerful) impact on “fashion” (popular styles). The characters often wore t-

shirts under “pastel” (lightly colored) suit jackets, and the people who watched

the show began to do the same. A well-known clothing store, Macy’s, even

opened up a Miami Vice section in its stores, selling men’s clothing that was

similar to what was seen on the show.

“Likewise” (similarly), the Miami Vice characters started the “trends” (something

that is very popular during a brief period of time) of not wearing socks and rolling

up the sleeves of one’s jacket. The characters also wore Rayban sunglasses,

and the Rayban company’s sales of sunglasses increased “dramatically” (very

much) as ordinary people tried to “imitate” (be like another person, or do

something like another person does it) their favorite characters. Men also began

to wear a “five o’clock shadow” (a small amount of beard left unshaven), just like

the characters.

The show also increased Americans’ interest in Miami. This resulted in more

tourism and “investment” (money spent on projects) in the Miami area, and

especially around Miami Beach.

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

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 135

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 135.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café episode 135. 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. You can download this episode’s Learning

Guide, an 8 to 10 page guide we provide for all of our current episodes that gives

you some additional help in improving your English. You can also take a look at

our ESL Podcast Store, which has additional special courses in daily and

business English.

On this Café, we’re going to focus on vocational education in the United States.

Then we’re going to continue our series on American cities, today talking about

Miami, Florida. And as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions. Let’s get

started.

Our first topic today is vocational education. “Vocational” comes from the word

“vocation” (vocation), which is often used to mean the same as a job or an

occupation. Sometimes we use the word “vocation” to mean something more

than a job, something that is your purpose in life: “This is my vocation, to help

other people,” for example.

Now, strangely enough, “vocational” as an adjective usually refers to a job or

occupation that requires less education. So it has this different meaning; when

you say “vocational,” you’re usually referring to someone’s job that doesn’t

require a lot of additional training or education. Working as an electrician, a

carpenter, or an auto mechanic (someone who fixes broken cars) are common

types of jobs where you would get vocational education. Usually, vocational

education is one to two years; it doesn’t require going to a four-year university for

example. In fact, four-year universities that have bachelor’s degrees don’t

usually have courses in vocational education. Some American high schools also

offer vocational education classes to teach teenagers basic skills in some of

these different areas.

Vocational education is sometimes called “career,” or when I was growing up in

the 1970s, it was called “technical” education. Usually, it is focused on practical

subjects, meaning things that you needs in real life, not theoretical ideas.

Vocational education is also usually related to what we would call manual work.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 135

If something is “manual,” it means that you do it with your hands like an

electrician or a carpenter or a mechanic might.

In the United States, as I mentioned, both junior high schools and high schools

used to offer a lot of classes in vocational education; they’re not as common now

as they were when I was growing up. In the past, girls, for example, were

encouraged to take “home economics,” which is basically a class about cooking,

sewing, and taking care of children. When I was in high school, there was a

home economics class, and almost all the students were girls. There was also

something called a “shop (shop) class,” and the shop class was for mostly boys,

and they learned how to do things like cut wood and other practical techniques

such as making things from metal or wood.

Larger high schools often had even more advanced courses in things like

automobile repair. Today, however, there are very few schools that offer these

kinds of courses, part of the reason is what we would call budget cuts; the money

has been reduced for the schools in the U.S. in the last 25 years. Also, high

schools offer less vocational education now because the governments of the

states and the federal government are putting more emphasis on academic

subjects, subjects that will help kids get into a regular four-year university. So,

there’s less of an emphasis on vocational education. I think another reason is

that we don’t have the same what we would call “gender stereotypes.” “Gender”

is another word for your sex, either male or female. Many schools try to get

away from this idea that girls should be cooking and boys should be working with

wood, considering that a sexist notion of how boys and girls should behave, so

now it is much more common to have courses that both boys and girls are part

of, and that those courses be more academic in nature.

As a result, almost all of the vocational educational courses that you will find in

the U.S. now are at community colleges. A “community college” is a – usually a

two-year university – a two-year school. We wouldn’t call it a university; a

university offers at least a bachelor’s degree for four years. Community colleges

are sometimes called “junior colleges.” When I was growing up, we would call

them junior colleges, “junior” meaning smaller or younger. They were also called

technical colleges when I was high school, but now we call them mostly

community colleges. They offer courses for people who are not necessarily

interested in earning an academic or bachelor’s degree. They do offer

something called an “associate degree,” which is a two-year certificate. Many

students start at the community college and get a two-year associate degree,

and then continue at a four-year university and get two more years of schooling

to get their bachelor’s degree.

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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