EC141_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

www.eslpod.com

ENGLISH CAFÉ – 141

TOPICS

Classic children’s television: Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood ;

American Cities: Washington, D.C.; mix, combine, stir, and beat; stock

photography

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GLOSSARY

series – a group of things that happen in order, one after another; a television

program with shows shown on a regular basis, such as every day or week

* We started watching this series from the beginning, so we can tell you what

happened before you started watching it this season.

episode – one show in a series of shows

* Did you hear that on this week’s episode, one of the major characters is going

to die?

animation – drawings that are put together to make a moving picture; a series of

pictures put together to show motion

* Will you be adding sound and music to your animation?

puppet – a large doll with parts that people can move to make the dolls look like

it is talking and moving on its own

* For our school show, we are doing a puppet show with puppets that look like

some of our favorite teachers.

make-believe – something that is imaginary; something that is not real and only

in one’s mind

* Sheila keeps telling everyone that she’s moving to Paris, but I think it’s all

make-believe.

values – important beliefs about how people should behave and how the world

should be

* Parents and teachers are the people most responsible for teaching values to

children.

founding fathers – the group of men who created the United States

* The founding fathers did an admirable job writing the important documents still

used to govern the American people.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 141

Congress – the part of our government where laws are made, with

representatives from each U.S. state

* The Congress is meeting today to try to pass a new law to protect the

environment.

free and open to the public – a place that anyone can enter for free; an event

that anyone can attend without paying money

* There will be plays and concerts in the park all summer and they are free and

open to the public.

monument – a statue or structure that is built in honor of something or someone

that people are very proud of

* When will we put up a monument of Dr. Jeff McQuillan for his work on ESL

Podcast?

memorial – something that is built to help people remember a person or event

* A new war memorial will be built to honor those who died fighting.

bike path – a narrow road for people to ride their bicycles on, where cars are not

allowed

* This is a busy road, but if you stay on the bike path, you should have no

problems with the traffic.

to mix – to put together ingredients and to blend them well so that they become

one substance

* The recipe says to mix together some milk, flour, and sugar.

to combine – to put ingredients together; to put substances together in a

container; to put things together in one space

* This is a very big closet, so there is room to combine your clothes and mine.

to stir – to lightly and slowly mix substances together in a container using a tool,

such as a long spoon

* Make sure you stir this soup while it cooks or it will burn.

to beat – to mix substances using a kitchen tool using a lot of energy and a fast

motion

* Be careful not to beat the eggs too long or we won’t be able to use them in our

cake.

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.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 141

stock photography – photographs that are generic and can be used for many

different purposes; photographs of common things not taken for a specific

purpose

* Let’s find some stock photography for the cover of this brochure so we won’t

have to take any photos ourselves.

______________

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

Well-Known Sesame Street Characters

Sesame Street is a show that many Americans grew up watching. As of 2007,

over 4,000 Sesame Street episodes have been shown on television. Many of the

characters on Sesame Street are well known to every child and adult in the U.S.,

and the most “beloved” (loved by people) are the puppets on the show.

Probably the most famous character is Big Bird. Big Bird is a large yellow bird

who is very tall, over eight feet. He lives on Sesame Street. He is a simple,

honest, and “lovable” (easy to like or love) character, who has a lot of friends,

both imaginary and real.

Another character who is not as lovable is Oscar the Grouch. A “grouch” is

someone has a bad temper and who gets angry easily. He is often unfriendly

and likes things that other people hate. He likes rainy days, but he doesn’t like

little “puppies” (young dogs). The thing he loves the most is garbage and that’s

why he lives in a garbage can.

The Cookie Monster is a character who also lives on Sesame Street. As you

may have guessed from his name, he loves cookies. He knows he shouldn’t eat

all of the cookies and other sweets that are around him, so he tries very hard not

to. But in the end, he can’t control himself and eats all of the cookies he sees.

Finally, Bert and Ernie are two male puppets who are roommates and share an

apartment on Sesame Street. Bert and Ernie are good friends, but they are

“polar opposites” (very different). For example, Bert is very neat and tidy, while

Ernie is messy. Ernie is always trying to get Bert interested in his crazy ideas,

and Bert wants to spend time doing things that other people may find boring,

such as collecting “paperclips,” the small metal clip used to keep papers

together.

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.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 141

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 141.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café episode 141. 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. Download this episode’s Learning Guide, an 8

to 10 page guide we provide for all of our current episodes that gives you some

additional help in improving your English. You can also take a look at our ESL

Podcast Store, with additional courses in personal and business English, as well

as our ESL Podcast Blog, where several times a week we provide even more

help in helping you increase your English.

On this Café, we’re going to talk about two classic American television programs

for children: Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood . Then we’re going

to do another one of our American cities segments, focusing on our nation’s

capitol, Washington, D.C. And as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions.

Let’s get started.

Television is certainly a large part of American life, especially for young people

and even young children. There are many programs created especially for

children in the U.S., as there is in other countries. Most of these programs are

“cartoons,” or animated stories with fictional characters, things that you might see

from Walt Disney, for example. There are, however, some educational programs

that are quite popular with some young children. These educational programs

have become very famous. We’re going to talk about two of these television

“series,” or group of programs. A “series” is a group of things that happen in a

certain order. For example, we produce a series of ESL podcasts, one after the

other. When we talk about television, a series is a set of shows that have the

same characters each week or each day. Without a doubt, in the U.S., the two

most popular series in children’s television – educational television – are Sesame

Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood .

Sesame Street combines education and entertainment for preschool-aged

children. We say “preschool,” we’re talking about three or four years old children.

The series was created back in 1969 and is still extremely popular with children

and parents. It was a little too late for me; I was born in 1963, so by 1969 I was

already six years old, a little too old for this particular program. But all of my

nieces and nephews have watched this program. The series, as I say, has been

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 CAFÉ – 141

around for almost 40 years. It has created more than 4,000 episodes. An

“episode,” you probably know from listening to our podcast, is one show in a

series. Television channels usually show one episode of Sesame Street every

day. So every day, Monday through Friday, there’s a new episode.

This is an interesting program because it tries to teach children things, and there

has been a lot of research done by scientists on Sesame Street and the effects

of Sesame Street . Almost 80 million American children have watched Sesame

Street at one point or another in the last 40 years, so it has been very influential;

it has had a very large impact or influence on American culture. It has also had

influence internationally, since, you may know in your own country, and many

countries, Sesame Street is produced in different languages.

Sesame Street uses live actors, that is, as you would normally see on a

television series or a movie – people. It uses animation, like cartoons, and it

uses puppets. “Animation,” we already explained, is something like Walt Disney

movies. “Puppets,” are large dolls with parts that people can move to make the

dolls look as if they were talking and moving on their own. The main character in

Sesame Street is a large bird called Big Bird, but the show has puppets of all

different shapes and sizes. Big Bird is actually a man – or a woman, I’m not sure

which – that is in a big costume dressed like – well – a big bird!

Sesame Street tries to teach children basically simple reading and math skills. It

tries to help children recognize English letters and words and to do very simple

math. Each episode features, or pays special attention to, one letter and one

number. Of course, there are 26 letters in the English alphabet. The show also

tries to teach other “skills,” or abilities. It tries to teach children about keeping

clean, what we would call “hygiene” (hygiene). It tries to teach them about eating

healthy, about being nice to their friends and family, and so forth.

Another very popular children’s program that you may not know about, but is

known by most Americans, is Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood . Like Sesame

Street , this series began in the late 1960s. It’s a very simple show; it is about a

man named Mister Rogers. This, in fact, is his real name; his name is Fred

Rogers, or was Fred Rogers. Each episode begins with Mister Rogers coming

into his home through the front door and singing a song “Won’t You Be My

Neighbor?” while he’s taking off his coat, putting on a sweater, and changing his

shoes. (Jeff sings)

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood

A beautiful day for a neighbor

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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