EC045_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 45

TOPICS

Topics: Graceland and Elvis, Boston, to have a leg up on someone, flat out,

seeing eye dogs, to trip up

_____________

GLOSSARY

to commit a crime – to do something against the law

* The main reason he committed a crime was because he needed a lot of money

right away.

criminal – someone who does something illegal

* After a two-month investigation, the police arrested the criminals responsible for

robberies in this neighborhood.

overdose – when someone has taken a dangerous amount of a drug

* It’s not clear if he died of a heart condition or an overdose of drugs.

estate – a large house, usually with a lot of land around it

* After her family lost their money, they had to sell their estate and move to

another town.

landmark – a place that is important in history

* After Jeff McQuillan dies, his house will be made into a national landmark.

New England – the northeastern part of the U.S. that includes the states of

Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and

Connecticut

* Do you think two weeks is long enough to drive around New English on our

road trip this year?

nickname – a name for a person or thing that is not their real name

* When I was young, my friends gave me the nickname “Red” because of my red

hair.

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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 – 45

to have a leg up on someone – to have the advantage over someone; to have

a better chance of winning in a competition

* He has trained longer for this race than anyone else and should have a leg up

on the other runners.

flat out – directly; bluntly

* I’m telling you flat out that I’m not lending you my new car to take your girlfriend

to the beach.

blind – unable to see

* Even though there is no history of blindness in the family, both of her brothers

were born blind.

to guide – to lead or show

* The road is hard to see at night. Take my hand and I’ll guide you.

sight – the ability to see

* My sight is not as good as it was twenty years ago.

impaired – having a disability; to not have the ability to do something that others

can, such as seeing or hearing

* Don told me that he’s hearing-impaired in his right ear and asked me to speak

up when I’m seated to his right.

to trip up – to make a mistake

* Every time I sing this song, I trip up on the words.

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 – 45

ENGLISH LEARNING TIPS

In the last learning tip, we said that there are two ways to “know” a language –

learning and acquisition. Learning is conscious knowledge, such as memorizing

grammar rules, while acquisition is unconscious knowledge, what you can use in

speaking and writing without thinking about it. It is important to know that

acquisition is much, much more important in everyday communication than

learning is. You can be perfectly fluent in a language but never study or learn

any formal grammar rules. However, you cannot be fluent in a language just by

having a lot of learning; you must have acquisition.

It is also important to know that learning does not become or convert into

acquisition. They are two separate systems of knowledge. Studying language

rules will increase your learning, but never your acquisition. So how do you

increase your acquisition? How do you acquire languages, not just learn them?

The answer is simple, so simple that some people can’t believe it’s true: You

acquire languages by understanding what is being communicated to you. That

is, when you listen or read something that you can understand, you acquire part

of that language. Sometimes a picture or an explanation or your own knowledge

of the world helps you figure out what someone is saying to you or what you are

reading. The important thing to know is that you need to focus on what someone

is saying (what it means), and not on how they are saying it (the rules they are

using, and so forth). You do this through listening and reading English. The

more you listen and read, the more acquisition you will have.

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 – 45

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café

number 45.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Cafe episode 45. I'm

your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational

Development in the beautiful city of Los Angeles, California. Remember to visit

our website at eslpod.com to get the complete Learning Guide, a eight to ten

page guide to this podcast, which has the complete transcript, all the vocabulary

words we're going to talk about, definitions, and tips on improving your English

and more. So, go to our website for more information.

Today's Café - We're going to talk about Graceland, the home of the famous

American singer, Elvis Presley. We're also going to talk about the city of Boston,

what it's famous for. And as always, we'll answer a few questions. Let's get

started.

I had trouble sleeping last night, in part, because I was woken up by a helicopter

near my house. The Los Angeles Police Department uses helicopters to find

people who have “committed,” or done something wrong. “Committed a crime,”

we would say, or simply people they think are criminals. Someone who commits

a crime, someone who breaks the law, does something wrong. And, although I

live in a pretty safe part of Los Angeles, there are still sometimes helicopters at

night that will wake you up with the loud noise when they are looking for

someone, the police are looking for someone. There are some parts of Los

Angeles that are not very safe and you might hear a helicopter every night. So, if

you visit Los Angeles and you hear a helicopter every night, it's not a good thing,

not, not good news. You might want to find another place in the city to stay.

Our first topic today is “Graceland,” all one word. Graceland was the home of the

famous rock singer, Elvis Presley. Most people would just call him Elvis, his first

name. And this is a place that is located in Memphis, Tennessee. Now,

Tennessee is in the eastern part of the United States, sort of in the middle of the

eastern part of the United States. It is south of the state of Kentucky. It is the

home of Elvis' home, his house where he lived, and where he died, back in 1977.

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 – 45

If you read the news recently, you may have heard that the Prime Minister of

Japan, Prime Minister Koizumi, and President Bush visited Graceland together.

Prime Minister Koizumi is a fan of Elvis. He was even born, I think, on Elvis'

birthday. And this is one of the first times, in fact, I think it is the first time that a

President of the United States and a leader of another country have gone

somewhere together other than the White House, or an embassy, or one of the

presidential homes. This is one of the first times that the President and another

leader have visited a place together in the United States, had a meeting there.

But Prime Minister Koizumi is, is a big fan of Elvis, and wanted to visit the house.

Graceland is now open to the public. After Elvis died in 1977, they…a few years

later they opened up and made the house a museum. Now, I say Elvis died in

1977, but there's a common joke in the United States that Elvis didn't really die,

and many years after Elvis died, people would say that they had seen Elvis, and

they would show you pictures of Elvis, saying that he did not die, he was still

alive. I think he actually did die, but some people say, “I don't know.”

Well, Elvis' Graceland is now a museum, and it's now a very popular place for

people who are visiting Memphis to go. Many people just to go to Graceland.

Elvis had lived in the house for many years and, as I said, he died there. He died

of an “overdose.” An “overdose,” is all one word, is when you take too much

drugs, too many drugs. We would call Graceland an “estate,” and the word

“estate” is used to describe someone's property, someone's land, usually that

has a big house on it, and that there is a very large amount of land around the

house, gardens, that sort of thing.

The home of Elvis is actually one of the government's designated national

historic landmarks, meaning the government - the US government - says that this

is a protected place. You can't buy it and, and destroy it, or take the house

down. It’s a national landmark, like the White House. Maybe even more

important than the White House, I'm not sure. Anyway, Elvis is still very popular.

In fact, there's now a satellite radio channel that plays Elvis music 24 hours a

day, so if you really like Elvis Presley, you can listen to the all Elvis channel.

Well, if you are ever in Tennessee, or if you love Elvis and you want to visit his

home, like the Prime Minister of Japan, you can visit there. They have a special

parade, or a special ceremony, on August 16th, which is the anniversary of Elvis'

death. Next year will be the 30th anniversary. I'm sure they'll have a large

celebration, or ceremony, there on that day. Most Americans know about

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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