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ESL Podcast English Café 124
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ENGLISH CAFÉ – 124
TOPICS
Cities: New Orleans; 9-1-1 emergency services, his or her, you don’t need to
know versus you need not know, incident versus accident
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GLOSSARY
port – a city next to the ocean where many ships and boats are used to transport
products
* A lot of ships from Japan deliver goods to the Port of Seattle in Washington.
to settle – to begin to live in an area where people didn’t live previously; to begin
to live in an area where there are no other people
* Many people decided to settle in this city when oil was found there.
to found – to establish; to start an organization or society
* Willamette University was founded in 1842.
to rebound – to be able to recover from a bad situation; to be able to do
something well again even though it just went very poorly
* Do you think that the orange growers in Florida will be able to rebound after last
year’s hurricanes destroyed their orchards?
Cajun – related to the people who live in Louisiana and have French ancestry, or
related to their language or food
* He speaks Cajun with his family, but mainly English at work.
predominately – mostly; primarily; mainly
* The Spanish-speaking immigrants in this area are predominantly Cuban.
quarter – a section of a city; a neighborhood; a part of an area
* Walking through the historic quarter of Boston is fascinating.
to flood – to become covered in water, usually because of a storm or a broken
dam
* When the street began to flood, all the homeowners began to pack up their
valuable belongings.
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 124
mansion – a very large, well-built house
* There are many beautiful mansions in Washington, DC, and many of them are
now used as embassies.
Mardi Gras – the last day of Carnival, when people wear colorful costumes,
make music, and eat and drink a lot, especially in New Orleans
* During Mardi Gras, men throw plastic bead necklaces at women.
Lent – the period of 40 days when Christians, especially Catholics, fast (do not
eat certain foods) and pray before Easter
* During Lent, most Catholics do not eat meat on Fridays.
crawfish – a small animal that looks like a lobster and lives in rivers, lakes, and
wetlands, and can be eaten, especially in Louisiana and surrounding states
* They had a delicious meal of crawfish boiled with potatoes, onions, garlic, and
lemon.
spicy – having a strong, hot taste, even if the temperature is not hot, due to the
spices and/or herbs that were used for flavoring
* Kiran loves spicy Indian and Thai food.
paramedic – a person who is not a doctor or nurse, but who helps people who
are sick or injured, usually in an emergency; a person who provides medical care
in an ambulance
* The paramedics carried the woman into the ambulance and began giving her
treatment.
incident – something that happens, usually when it is unpleasant, dangerous,
unusual, or violent
* The police were sent to the scene of the incident.
accident – something that is unplanned; something that happens unexpectedly,
especially when it results in injury or death
* The car accident occurred when the driver lost control of her car and it crashed
into a tree.
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 124
WHAT INSIDERS KNOW
Hurricane Katrina
In 2005, “Hurricane” (a large storm with very strong winds that forms over the
ocean and then moves over land) Katrina had very “devastating” (very damaging)
effects on New Orleans, Louisiana and nearby areas. Hurricane Katrina and the
“subsequent” (something that happened afterward) flooding caused $8.12 billion
of damage and at least 1,836 people “lost their lives” (died).
Because New Orleans is built next to the ocean and parts of the city are below
sea level, it has “levees” (low walls to keep water away from a city) for flood
protection. As Hurricane Katrina “approached” (came nearer), people began to
fear that the water would go over the top of the levees, so “evacuations” (orders
to leave a place for safety reasons) began.
When the storm “hit” (came onto land), it was much stronger than anyone had
“anticipated” (expected). It broke the levees and the city immediately flooded.
Many of the people who had not been evacuated waited for “rescue” (being
saved by other people) on roofs.
The government tried to create “refuges” (safe places) for the people who were
left in New Orleans. Approximately 26,000 people were put in the Louisiana
Superdome, a sports stadium. Unfortunately, very poor planning meant that
there was not enough food and water, and the “sanitation facilities” (water and
bathrooms) were “insufficient” (not enough) for that many people. The refuges
quickly became very unhealthy places.
Many people have blamed the U.S. government for its “inadequate” (not good
enough) response to the “disaster” (a very large, serious problem). They say that
the government should have “maintained” (to take care of something, especially
as it gets older) the levees more carefully, and that it should have started the
evacuations sooner.
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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 – 124
COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT
You're listening to ESL Podcast's English Café number 124.
This is ESL Podcast's English Café episode one-two-four (124). 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. You'll find our ESL Podcast Store,
which contains several premium courses on business and personal English I
think you'll be interested in. You can also take a look at our ESL Podcast Blog,
where we help you learn English throughout the week with some additional
information, cultural and otherwise.
On this Café, we're going to talk about the great City of New Orleans, Louisiana,
sometimes pronounced “New Orleans” or “New Orleans.” We're going to talk
about this city and its importance in the United States. We're also going to talk
about the 9-1-1 system – the emergency system in the United States, what it is,
and how it got started. And, as always, we'll answer a few of your questions.
Let's get started.
Our first topic is the City of New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana. Louisiana is
located in the southern central part of the United States; it is on the Gulf of
Mexico of the Atlantic Ocean. Louisiana is where the great river that divides
United States, the Mississippi River, ends. It ends in the City of New Orleans.
New Orleans is a “port” city, that is, it's a city where ships – boats – come, that is
on the ocean. It is the largest city in the State of Louisiana.
New Orleans is an interesting city for several reasons. First, Louisiana is an area
that was originally “settled,” that is, originally lived in after the Europeans came to
what is now the United States, by the French, and Louisiana has still some
influences of French language and culture. New Orleans, in particular, has been
very influenced by French language and French customs. The City of New
Orleans was named after the Duke of Orleans, although that's not how it would
be said in French.
It is one of the oldest cities in the United States; it was “founded,” that is, it was
started in 1718. It was, at the time, part of the French territories in the United
States. During the middle of the 18 th century, about 50 years later, the French
colony was actually given to the Spanish. The Spanish controlled New Orleans
for 40 years. Eventually, the French got the territory of Louisiana back.
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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 – 124
Napoleon sold it to the United States in 1803, to then President Thomas
Jefferson, in what was called “The Louisiana Purchase,” where a huge part of
what is now the United States was bought from the French, from Napoleon.
By the middle of the 19 th century, by the 1840s and 50s, New Orleans was one of
the richest cities in the United States. It was, as I said, a port city, so there was a
lot of trade – a lot of commerce – business that was taking place in New Orleans.
New Orleans is also famous for what is called “The Battle of New Orleans,” which
took place during the war that the United States had with Great Britain, what we
call here in the U.S. “The War of 1812.”
It's interesting to look at who lives in Louisiana, and who lives in New Orleans.
The people of Louisiana are sometimes called “Cajun” (Cajun). “Cajun” comes
from the word “Acadia.” “Acadia” was a region in what we now know as Canada,
where there were a lot of French people living. However, after another war in the
mid-18 th century, what we call in the U.S. “The French and Indian War,” the
British defeated the French, and the French had to leave Canada. Many of those
people left this area of Canada called Acadia and they came to French
Louisiana, and they began to live there and have their families there. There's still
a very strong influence in Louisiana of Cajun culture – of this French influenced
culture.
The population of New Orleans is “predominantly,” that is, mostly African
American, or black. Almost two-thirds of the population is African American.
About 28 percent are white, or Caucasian American. There are smaller
percentages of Asian Americans and Hispanic, or Latino, Americans.
New Orleans, as you probably know, was hit by, or had suffered the effects of a
great hurricane back in 2005, Hurricane Katrina. The population of New Orleans,
before the hurricane, was about 1.4 million in the larger area, what we would call
“Greater New Orleans,” meaning New Orleans and the suburbs around it. Many
of these people left – most of these people left during that hurricane. There were
more than 1,500 people, however, who died in the hurricane. Katrina was a
huge disaster for the city; 80 percent of the city was “flooded,” that is, it had water
where water should not have been.
Many of the residents of New Orleans returned, about 70 percent. The
population now is about 1.2 million, but that's still a loss of over 200,000 people
who never went back to New Orleans after the terrible hurricane there. New
Orleans is recovering; it is trying to rebound. “To rebound” (rebound) means to
recover – to get better after a very difficult situation.
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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
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