EC102_Guide.pdf

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 102

TOPICS

The Pledge of Allegiance, tomato as fruit versus vegetable, to be raised versus to

grow up, buy versus purchase, to take the bull by the horns, can versus may

versus could when asking for permission

_____________

GLOSSARY

pledge – a vow; a promise; a commitment; a serious statement that one will do

something

* The president made a pledge to increase money for education.

allegiance – loyalty; one’s continued support for an organization or person

* The soldier swore his allegiance to the king.

unison – together; with many people acting as one; in harmony

* At the school performance, the students sung the closing song in unison.

to stand for – to represent; to symbolize; to mean the same thing as something

else

* A red rose stands for love, and a yellow rose stands for friendship.

indivisible – strongly united; strongly held together; cannot be divided or

separated

* The laws were made so that the state is indivisible, and even if cities wants to

separate and join another state, it cannot do so under this law.

tariff – money that must be paid when products move into or out of a country

* How much is the tariff when you import Japanese cars into the United States?

duty – a tax; an amount of money that must be paid to the government when one

buys something

* Many countries have high duties on alcohol and tobacco.

to rule on – to make a legal decision about something; to decide a case in a

court of law

* The U.S. Supreme Court rules on many important issues every session.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 102

unanimously – with everyone in agreement; with everyone sharing the same

opinion; all together; without any exceptions or disagreement

* The team unanimously decided to choose Jill as their leader.

to be raised in (a place) – to be a child in a particular place; to spend one’s

childhood in a particular place with the love and protection of someone

* Yolanda was raised in Texas, but now she lives in Maine.

to grow up in – to be a child in a particular place; to spend one’s childhood in a

particular place as one grows older

* Did you grow up in Boston, or did you move here recently?

to buy – to get something by paying money for it; to give money to get

something

* The Winfreys bought a new home in Atlanta.

purchase – to get something by paying money for it; to give money to get

something

* We need to purchase a new refrigerator because the old one stopped working.

to take the bull by the horns – to do something without delay; to do something

right away and without complaining, even though it is difficult and/or unpleasant

* Quincy didn’t want to paint the house, but last weekend he decided to take the

bull by the horns and do it.

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

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 102

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

God Bless America Versus This Land is Your Land

God Bless America is a “patriotic” (proud of one’s country) song that was written

in 1918. Many people think of it as the United States’ unofficial national “anthem”

(a song that is very important for a country), because it is more popular and

easier to sing than the real national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner .

However, Woodie Guthrie, a famous American “folk singer” (a musician with a

traditional, country style) didn’t like God Bless America . He thought it was

“unrealistic” (not related to real life), and so he wrote a song “in response” (in

answer to something) called This Land is Your Land in 1940.

Let’s look at the “lyrics” (the words to a song) for both of these songs. Here are

the words to the “chorus” (the lines that are repeated many times during a song)

for God Bless America :

God bless America, land that I love

Stand beside her and guide her

Through the night with the light from above

From the mountains, to the prairies,

To the ocean white with foam

God bless America, My home sweet home.

The lyrics to the chorus of This Land is Your Land are:

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California to the New York Island

From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters

This land is made for you and me.

Both of these songs are patriotic and show that Americans love their country.

God Bless America is more religious and asks God to “bless” (to ask God to

protect something) the country. This Land is Your Land is more about how the

country should be shared by all Americans.

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

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 102

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 102.

This is English Café episode 102. 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 and download a Learning Guide for this episode.

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

business and daily English courses you may be interested in.

On this Café, we’re going to talk about something that is known to every

American child, and that is the Pledge of Allegiance. We’ll talk about what that

is. We’re also about tomatoes, whether they are a fruit or a vegetable and why

that is related to the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest legal authority in the United

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

Our first topic today is something called the “Pledge of Allegiance.” One of the

things we try to do on the English Café is tell you about American ideas,

customs, traditions – things that most Americans know but you may not know if

you live in another country, and the Pledge of Allegiance is a good example of

that.

The Pledge of Allegiance is something that every American knows, especially

every American who went to school in the United States – elementary and

secondary school. Everyone here could tell you what the Pledge of Allegiance is.

Let’s begin by talking about these words, “Pledge of Allegiance.” A “pledge”

(pledge) is a promise. Usually it’s a formal promise, a promise to do something.

In this case it is a promise of allegiance (allegiance). “Allegiance” means loyalty,

means defending something, being a supporter of something. The “Pledge of

Allegiance” is a promise, or an oath, of loyalty or of support to the United States.

When children go to school – elementary and secondary school – the first thing

they do every morning in almost every school in the United States is they say this

Pledge of Allegiance. They stand up in their classroom, they look at the flag of

the United States, they put their hand – their right hand – over their heart on the

top of their chest, and they say this one sentence pledge. The words of the

pledge are – and this is all said together, everyone says it together. We would

say it is said “in unison” (unison), which means all together. The words are:

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 102

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

justice for all.

Let me explain that sentence to you. It begins by using the word “pledge” as a

verb: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.” The “flag”

is, for most countries, a symbol of the country. In this case, you are looking at

the flag, you are pledging allegiance to the flag, but not to the flag itself. You’re

pledging allegiance, or support, for the country, and that’s why the next part of

the sentence it is “and to the Republic for which it stands.” The “Republic” is

another name for the country – the United States. The United States is a

republic. The flag stands for the Republic – the country. When we say it “stands

for,” we mean it represents, so the flag represents the country.

The pledge continues “one Nation (one country) under God (under the guidance

or protection, perhaps, of God), indivisible.” Something that is “indivisible” means

you cannot divide it, and this is an important word because during the middle of

the 19 th century, about 40 or 50 years before this Pledge of Allegiance was

written, America had, as you may know, a civil war where the North and the

South fought each other. The southern states tried to separate from the United

States, and the northern states prevented them from doing that. That’s one of

the reasons why there is this word “indivisible” – cannot be divided.

The final phrase of the pledge is “with liberty (or freedom) and justice for all.”

“Justice” is being fair, being right. So once again:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

justice for all.

This is what is said by almost every child in school every morning, usually at the

beginning of the school day – the beginning of the first class.

A couple of interesting things about the Pledge of Allegiance, first, it was

originally written – and I think this is very American, in some way – as an

advertising slogan, or part of an advertising campaign. There was a company

that made flags and sold flags, and they asked someone to write them this

Pledge of Allegiance. However, soon after this happened, back in 1892, the

president at the time decided to make the pledge something that all schools

used.

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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