EC033_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 33

TOPICS

High school musicals, what a woman looks for in a man, to drive your point

home, to call the shots, pilot TV shows, to be debt-ridden, to be in charge, on

behalf of

_____________

GLOSSARY

drama – a serious play or performance

* Watching a good drama sometimes makes me cry.

hit musical – a very successful or popular play that includes singing

* I plan to see the hit musical “The Producers” when I go to New York City.

crew – the people who work on a play or film who are not actors or actresses

* The crew doesn’t get the same respect as the actors in this theater.

backdrop – what you see behind the actors and actresses in a play, usually a

picture painted to look like a specific place; the background of the situation

* The backdrop looks like the city of Los Angeles in the 1920’s.

theater set – everything on the theater stage for a play except the actors and

actresses

* It’s not easy creating a theater set that looks real and convincing.

to dim – to make darker, to turn down the lights very slowly

* When the people at the wedding began to dance, they dimmed the lights.

scene – one part of a play; a play is divided into “acts” and each act is divided

into scenes

* The scene where the woman gets sick is followed by a scene where she dies.

cast – the actors and actresses in a play, movie, or television show

* I always look at who is in the cast before deciding to see a movie.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 33

fundraiser – an event or activity to make money for an organization

* The fundraiser for the school made enough money for the students to take a

trip to Washington D.C. this year.

to rehearse – to practice for a play or performance

* We need to rehearse many more times before we have our first performance.

birdie – a small bird; a word sometimes used by children for “bird”

* Do you see that birdie up in the tree?

clueless – not knowing about something; being ignorant of something

* I feel so clueless about taking care of young children.

critical – to say negative things about someone or something else

* My mother-in-law is critical of my cooking every time she comes over for dinner.

overbearing – to be too confident; to bother other people by thinking you are

better than them

* I like Michael but he can be overbearing at meetings when he’s trying to

impress the boss.

gentle – to be nice or polite; opposite of rough

* If you want to hold the baby, you need to be gentle.

to please – to make someone happy, usually by doing something nice for them

* The audience laughed at all of the jokes. They were easy to please.

to treat – to act or to behave toward someone

* Some people treat their pets better than their family members.

to respect – to have a good opinion of someone's ability or personality

* The students have a lot of respect for their teacher.

debate – an argument or disagreement

* The debate over which plan to use has been going on for many months.

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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 – 33

ENGLISH LEARNING TIPS

One of the best ways to improve your writing is to do a lot of reading. We know

from many years of research that good writers are almost always good readers.

Most of what you need to write well – good grammar, organization, spelling –

come mainly from reading.

Writing isn’t just a result of reading, of course. There are some hints and tips that

can improve your writing, and there are skills you learn that are specific to

writing. Interestingly enough, people who are good writers in their native or first

language are usually also good writers in their second language. If you’re a good

writer in Japanese, for example, you will probably also be a good writer in

English. This is because many things you use in writing “transfer” from one

language to another language.

Reading is especially important if you want to write a specific type of letter or

report. Try to read other letters or reports similar to the ones you want to write.

The more samples or models of good writing you can find, the easier it will be to

write like a native speaker. American business letters, for example, are usually

more direct and shorter than business letters in some other languages. By

reading lots of business letters, you’ll get a “feel” for how letters in English are

written. Soon you will be able to write letters in a similar style yourself.

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 – 33

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to ESL Podcast’s English Cafe Number 33.

Welcome to the English Cafe Episode 33. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan,

coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los

Angeles, California.

A Podcast Learning Guide for today's podcast, with a complete transcript,

vocabulary definitions, cultural information, tips on learning English, and much

more is available at our website. Go to eslpod.com and click on Learning Guides

for more information.

This is an all-new service we started this week, and we think you’ll really enjoy it.

In today’s Learning Guide, for example, we have tips on improving your writing in

English which you won’t want to miss. Go to our website to sign-up for our

Learning Guide service today.

You'll also want to go and look at our all-new website design. Adriano Galeno,

originally from Brazil but now living in Canada, is a web designer who has

worked with us to create a great new website. Thank you, Adriano, for all of your

work over the past few months! Adriano has really done a great job. Please go

to ESLPod.com and take a look at his excellent work.

On today's cafe, we're going to talk about the high school musicals and why they

are such a big part of high school culture in the United States. We'll talk a little

bit about a survey asking what women look for in men. That should be

interesting. And as usual, we'll answer some questions. Let's get started.

We're going to start today talking about a very popular institution in schools -

musicals. Now, a “musical,” you probably know, is a play where people sing. In

American high schools, almost every high school, public or private, they put on or

perform a musical every year, usually in the spring time, usually in April or May.

This time of year is when you can go watch a high school musical.

Most high schools have some sort of drama club or theater club. “Drama,” of

course, is connected to acting and to the theater. And high schools will perform

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 33

these musicals by getting students to play the parts, to play the characters in the

musical and to do the singing. And this is a very popular event. It is usually a

play, a musical that is popular or has been popular. So, these aren't original

plays; these are famous musicals. Most of them were Broadway musicals or

plays, musicals that were originally in New York City. Broadway, of course, is the

street in New York City where all the big theaters are. So, if someone says, “This

is a Broadway musical,” they mean that it originally was a play on Broadway. We

also call these hit musicals. “Hit” is a very popular, could be anything - a play,

book, a musical - we call it a hit musical.

Well, there are lots of different popular musicals that you can go to, at these high

school performances. Most of them are given for three or four times. They have

this same play three or four times, usually in the same weekend. They cost

probably—I don't know, it's been a while for me—10, 15 dollars? When I was in

high school, I was part of the high school musical, I think every year - freshman,

sophomore, junior, and senior. It's been a few years, so I have to think. But, I

participated in the high school musical and, unfortunately, I can’t sing and I can't

act and have no other talent—really, no other abilities. So, when I signed up for

the high school musical when I was a freshman, they made me part of the

lighting crew. The “crew” are the people who are not on stage, the people who

are doing the work with the lights and setting up the stage and painting what we

would call the “backdrop” – that’s what you see behind the actors and actresses,

the singers. We also called these the “set” - everything on the stage, except the

actors. Well, I was part of the lighting crew, so I was responsible for turning the

lights on and off. Usually, in a theater, when you are changing between different

parts of the play, different scenes (a “scene” is a part of a play), you would dim

the lights. To “dim” means to lower the lights, to make it dark. That was my big

responsibility. I couldn't sing, I couldn't act, but I could turn the light switch on

and off. So, you know that I have a great future in the theater, I think.

Well, the people who play in the musical, the people who play the characters,

who sing, are called the “cast.” The cast are the people who are actually singing

or acting. I was not in the cast, I was in the crew - the people who do all the

other work. The reason that high schools have these musicals - a couple of

reasons, I think: one is it's a fun experience for the students to do these musicals;

another is to make money for the school. These are, in other words, what we

would call fundraisers. A “fundraiser” is an event, something you do in order to

get more money for your organization or for your school. Of course, even public

schools here in the United States have to get money from people in order to have

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

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