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by Center for Educational DevelopmentA podcast for those wanting to learn or improve their English - great for any ESL or EFL learner. Visit us at http://www.eslpod.com.
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Special Announcement - New Blog, New Memberships, and New Premium Course
30/09/2007
Special Announcement Hello, this is Jeff McQuillan from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California, with a special announcement about ESL Podcast. First, I want to thank all of you for listening and supporting our podcast. We have three new features we want to tell you about. First, ESL Podcast now has a blog. This blog allows us to post messages for our listeners about topics that we don’t have time for in our regular podcasts or English Cafes. It also gives you information that helps you better use our podcasts and also what we might call “insider information” about what is happening at ESL Podcast and with us—Jeff and Lucy. Go to our website today to take a look, at ESLPod.com. Click on the Blog item in the menu to see our new blog. Another exciting change is in our ESL Podcast Memberships. We now have two memberships you can choose from: a Basic Membership and a Premium Membership. The Basic Membership gives you 12 new Learning Guides each month, and you have two weeks to download each Learning Guide. The Premium Membership gives you access to all of our Learning Guides, over 250! And, you can download, with our Premium Membership, the Learning Guides anytime, as long as you remain a member. The Basic Membership is $10 each month; the Premium Membership is $60 for the first month and $10 for each month after that. So, the first month the Premium Membership is $60, the second month is $10, and the third month is $10, and so on, until you cancel. We are very excited to be able to give listeners these two options. To find out more, go to ESLPod.com and click on “Learning Guides” in the menu for more information. Finally, we have a new course in our ESL Podcast Store. As many of you already know, we have very special Premium Courses on different topics in the ESL Podcast Store for both business and daily English. Our new course is called “English for Business Meetings.” This course teaches you both formal and informal business English needed to participate in business meetings. The course follows two meetings from start to finish, and you’ll hear different speakers giving information, asking questions, discussing topics, and running the meetings. The formal business English is appropriate for important meetings, such as for presentations at conferences or annual company meetings. The informal business English used is useful for smaller meetings, such as daily office meetings or for talking with or interacting with your co-workers. We’re very excited about these new features. Lucy and I hope that you will visit our website today to check out our new blog, our new memberships, and our new Premium Course, English for Business Meetings. From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening.
307 - Cable and Satellite TV
29/09/2007
Slow dialog: 1:33 Explanations: 4:11 Fast dialog: 14:14 Marion: I’m trying to decide whether to get cable or satellite TV. Which one do you have at your apartment? Cesar: I have satellite, but I used to have cable. Marion: What’s the difference? Cesar: Not a lot. With satellite, you have to have a satellite dish installed on the roof and you don’t with cable. Otherwise, you get similar options. You can get basic channels and choose from a lot of different premium channels. I have a package that includes the basic channels and some premium movie channels, and I also have a sports package so I can watch all of the soccer matches I want. Marion: How much is the monthly fee? Cesar: I think I pay $59.99 a month, excluding the taxes and fees, but the basic service is probably cheaper. When I had cable, I had to pay a deposit for the cable box, but with satellite, I had to buy the dish outright, but it wasn’t too expensive. Marion: What I want are pay-per-view channels, so I don’t need to run to the video rental store every time I want to watch a movie. Cesar: That’s not a problem. There’s video on demand on both cable and satellite, and there are a lot of movies to choose from. Marion: That’s great. I’ll check out whether my local cable company or satellite service has better packages and make a decision this weekend. Cesar: You could always start with the basic channels and then add services as you go along. Marion: That’s a good idea, especially since I know someone who has premium channels and round-the-clock soccer. Cesar: You bet. Drop by anytime, but don’t forget the beer and popcorn! Script by Dr. Lucy Tse
English Cafe #104
27/09/2007
Topics: American cities: Nashville Grand Ole Opry, school fund-raisers, to hold on to your hat, to be put inside, a blow-by-blow account Words Hall of Fame to be inducted into dialect fund-raiser funds raffle to grow weary to do away with to get rid of burdensome to hold on to your hat to be put inside blow-by-blow account to punch
306 - Giving First Aid
25/09/2007
Slow dialog: 1:29 Explanations: 3:17 Fast dialog: 17:45 Jeng: What did you do this summer? Cynthia: I worked at a summer camp as a nurse’s aide. I thought we would be giving simple first aid, but you wouldn’t believe the kinds of injuries the kids came in with. Jeng: You mean like poison ivy, bee stings, bug bites, and scraped knees? Cynthia: Yeah, we had those, but we also had some pretty serious cases. For instance, the second day of the camp, one of the boys who didn’t know how to swim fell into the lake. He must have hit his head because he was unconscious when they brought him in. We couldn’t find his pulse and the nurse did CPR. Luckily, we got him breathing again right away, but that little boy had a concussion. Jeng: Wow! You’re kidding. That’s serious. Cynthia: That wasn’t all. It’s true that most of the kids came in with superficial scrapes, but some of them had some major wounds. We had to stop the bleeding and bandage them up. We had one girl who needed 12 stitches after she fell out of a tree. Jeng: Geez, I never knew going to camp could be so hazardous to your health! Script by Dr. Lucy Tse
305 - Describing People’s Body Types
22/09/2007
Slow dialog: 1:38 Explanations: 3:54 Fast dialog: 15:19 Remi: We need to get these costumes sorted out. I’m not sure we have ones that will fit each person in this play. Bryan: Let’s see. We need a shirt for Hector. He’s broad-shouldered, so this one would be too small. Any luck finding one over there? Remi: No, but I think I found a dress for Lee Ann. She’s petite and thin, and I hadn’t been able to find anything that would fit someone that slender. All of the other dresses are for women with either pear-shaped or hourglass figures. Bryan: Okay, at least that’s some progress. What about Malcolm? Unlike his brother who is tall and skinny, he’s big and fat. How are we going to find one to fit him? Remi: He’s not fat! He’s stocky. He is really muscular and not at all flabby. Oh, here’s a pair of pants that would fit Pierre. These are perfect, since he’s not long-legged like all of the other men. Bryan: We’re actually doing pretty well, I think. Remi: We just need a costume for you. Bryan: Me?! What do you mean? I’m not in this play. Remi: Oh yes, you are. Ike dropped out, so they need a replacement and you’re the only one who isn’t already in the play. Bryan: Oh, no. I thought I could avoid being in the play by volunteering to help with the costumes! Remi: Sorry, but I don’t think you can get out of it this time. Script by Dr. Lucy Tse
