Over the past several years, many of our listeners have asked us about English courses for children, especially at a low English level. We have finally completed three courses called “Simple English Stories” just for children — and for adults who want to learn English, too!”
Stories for Children
“Simple English Stories” are children’s stories written at a low level. These fun and exciting stories include useful vocabulary that is repeated many times in an interesting and meaningful way within the story. Hearing English used many times while hearing a fun story will help children learn English quickly and in a fun and exciting way!
Something For Adults and Older Children, Too!
For older children and adults, each set of “Simple English Stories” contains a “Bonus Story” that takes a fresh and different look at the traditional classic story (Story A). This is a humorous and fun way to introduce useful vocabulary. Children and adults can listen together to Simple English Stories — and learn English together!
Today is Dr. Jeff McQuillan’s birthday! If you’ve been a longtime listener, you know how old he is (but I won’t tell).
Here at ESL Podcast, we wish him the very best for this special day. It’s hard to know what birthday present (gift) to get him–let me know if you have suggestions. In the meantime, join me in wishing Jeff a very happy birthday!
It’s finally here - our Third Anniversary Video! Thanks to all of you who posted questions for us to answer on the video. We’re sorry we didn’t have time to answer them all. We had some technical difficulties so it took us a little longer to get the video ready. (Our actual anniversary was July 22nd, so we’re a little behind!)
The complete transcript for the video is below. Thanks to all of you for listening!
~ESL Podcast Team
Jeff: Hello and welcome to ESL Podcast’s third anniversary video podcast. We are now three years old, and as we do every year we are recording a short video podcast for you. This year, we asked you to send us some questions to answer, and in this podcast I and Lucy will be answering some of your questions.So, the first question is: “How did the podcast get started?” Well, back in the spring of 2005, three years ago, I read about podcasting in the newspaper and I decided to investigate it and learn about it. It sounded very interesting, a very good way to reach many people directly, and I wanted to do some more English teaching over the Internet. And on July 22nd, 2005 we had our first ESL Podcast episode, and here we are three years later.The podcast originally was done by me during the first week or two, and then Dr. Lucy Tse came and started writing the scripts and helping produce the podcast, and basically making it more professional, and Lucy and I now work together as a team to do that.We also have other people that help us now with the podcast in different ways. Adriano, our webmaster, is an excellent technical person, and he helps us with all of the website information that we need. We have Jessica, who does a lot of our writing, especially for the Learning Guides, and she also now does some customer service. She helps us with our communications with you, the listener. And we also have Sue, who does what we call postproduction. She does all of the editing and putting the audio together and making sure everything sounds good, and she also does some video editing. So, Sue is an expert in many things. And, we are very lucky to have someone as talented as Adriano, someone as smart and as creative as Jessica, and someone who’s such an expert in all things technical, that being Sue.
Next question is: “How did we think people would receive the podcast? Did we think it would be a success?” And the answer is absolutely not. We were very surprised, shocked when we got 100 listeners, and then 500 listeners, and soon after 1,000 listeners. Now we have thousands and thousands of listeners all over the world, and we are very happy but very surprised, and we have always been surprised by that.
Someone asked: “How long does it take to record and produce the podcast?” Well, if you start from the writing of the script, which Lucy does, and the Learning Guides, and recording, and the editing, and the web work, and all the rest, it’s probably a total time for all of us together of somewhere between 10 and 12 hours per episode – each episode. So, we do three episodes a week plus we do special courses, so it’s – it’s a very big job, but we love doing it. We really enjoy it.
Someone was commenting on my reading of the scripts and wanted to know if I had an acting career – if I was an actor. Well, I live here in Hollywood, in Los Angeles, and actually I was an actor many years ago, more than 20 years ago. I was in a movie, you may have heard of it, called Star Wars with Harrison Ford. Harrison’s a great guy! I was the character called Chewbacca, who was the big gorilla with all the hair all over his body. That was me! And unfortunately, as you can see no more hair, so no more acting jobs for me.
When did Lucy and I first meet? Well, Lucy and I met more than 15 years ago. We met in graduate school. We were both studying here in Southern California and we met at, I think, the first class we had together. We were studying the similar subject. We also worked in the same building, teaching English to international students at the university. So we’ve known each other for a very long time.
Now, some of you have also asked questions of Lucy, and many of you wanted to see what Lucy looks like. So, I’m going to invite Lucy. Lucy, would you like to come and sit down?
Lucy: Sure. Hi Jeff. Hi everybody.
Jeff: Hi Lucy. Thank you for coming.
Lucy: Um…Jeff, you’re the tech expert, but are you sure the camera is on both of us?
Jeff: Yeah, let me see here. Yup, there it is. It’s there, it’s there.
Lucy: Okay. Some of you asked questions of me as well, so I’ll answer a few of those. One of you wanted to know how I came up with the script ideas for the podcast.
To me, the scripts are just a small part of the podcast, really. Jeff does all of the hard work. Coming up with the script ideas isn’t that difficult. I try to think of situations that are common or that may be helpful, and then I write a script around that. Some of the script ideas are sent to us from the listeners, like you, and I want to thank all of you for your suggestions. Those are very, very helpful to me. For me, writing the scripts is one of the best parts of my job; it’s really fun to do.
Another question is: “What is it like working with Jeff?” As Jeff said, we have known each other for many, many years. In the old days, when we were graduate students and then later as professors, we worked with each other quite a lot doing research and doing writing projects. We both have strong opinions, but since Jeff has all the good ideas, and he’s always right, it’s great working with him. There’s a saying: “What you see is what you get.” Jeff, on the podcast, is the way he is in real life. He’s very funny, and he sings just as well as he does on the podcast. I know, because my office is right next to his!
And the last question we’re going to be answering is for both of us. A listener wanted to know if we get tired of doing the podcast. What about you, Jeff?
Jeff: No, I don’t get tired of doing the podcast. I love doing the podcast. I love doing the recording and all of the other things. So no, I have not and do not get tired of the podcast.
Lucy: Me, neither. I like the creative part of it, thinking of new ideas, the writing part of it, and I love hearing from our listeners. So, I can imagine doing this for the next…oh…20 years. Right Jeff?
Jeff: 20? 20 years?
Lucy: 20 years.
Jeff: Um…sure, yeah! 20 years, absolutely.
Lucy: Yeah.
Jeff: Mmhmm.
Lucy: I think we’re out of time. Like Jeff, I want to thank all of our fabulous listeners for their support, especially our members and our donors who make it possible for us to continue our work and allow us to continue producing these podcasts. So, Jeff, would you like to do a little singing for us before we leave?
Jeff: Well…uh…I would. Thank you, Lucy, for asking me. And I want to thank Lucy Tse, here, for coming on, and especially for being on camera like this, and so people can see you. I think that’s really important.
Lucy: Now that everyone sees what I look like, there’s no mystery anymore.
Jeff: Right. You’ll be recognized everywhere now. So…um…now I would like to sing, but my [clears throat] my voice is a little sore today. So, I promise I will do more singing, though, on the regular podcast.
So, from Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan…
We have celebrated our past two anniversaries by producing a video podcast. We want to do that again this year, but we need your help.
This year, Jeff will be answering listener questions. Do you have a burning question (something you want to know very much) about us or the podcast? If so, post a comment here and we will select a few to answer in the anniversary video podcast.
We at ESL Podcast want to wish all of you a peaceful and joyful holiday season. Although you, our listeners, are in more than 80 countries and speak dozens of different languages, we are all united in our common humanity, no matter what language we speak. For us, the greatest gift is being able to influence in some small way the lives of others for the better.
Thank you for giving us that opportunity, and for your loyal support this past year!
One question we get frequently is: Can you please talk about phrasal verbs? A phrasal verb is sometimes called a two-word verbs such as “to put down” or “to get out” or “to kick (someone) out.” English has lots of these phrasal or two-word verbs, and they can be very confusing to people trying to acquire English.
Let me respond to this question a couple of different ways. First, we DO talk about phrasal verbs, almost every episode. For example, in ESL Podcast 322 from last week, we had all of these phrasal verbs: to pick up, to take advantage, and to stick to (something). In English Café 112 last week, we talked about the phrasal verbs to cover up and to carry out. Even more phrasal verbs are typically found in our Learning Guide under the sections What Else Does it Mean? and Cultural Note. We talk about two to three phrasal verbs on nearly every podcast episode and Café.
Second, many people want a “systematic” or structured review of all of the most important phrasal verbs in English. I understand the desire to be thorough and organized in your learning, but unfortunately that’s not the best way to pick up new words, whether they are phrasal verbs or otherwise. Yes, you could try to memorize verbs the way many English teachers and courses try to teach you, one word at a time. But that one-by-one approach has been found by several research studies to be the least efficient use of your time, the worst use of your time. Why is this so?
To understand why trying to memorize vocabulary is not a good idea, you have to understand a little about language acquisition. I don’t have time to cover everything on a blog post, but I tried to provide more details on how you should improve your English a few years ago in a “special” podcast episode called, Secrets to Improving Your English. Those of you who have been listening since the beginning may already have heard this, but if you have not, just RIGHT-click on this link and “Save As…” to your hard drive. It’s about 25 minutes long.
One excellent way to improve your vocabulary (in addition to listening to ESL Podcast, of course!) is through reading – lots and lots of reading. In fact, reading has been shown in studies to be 10 times more effective than traditional vocabulary teaching. Reading is 10 times faster than any other typical approach to increasing your vocabulary, including flash cards, computer programs, and websites with lots of “vocabulary” exercises. The problem is that very few English teachers or students are aware of the scientific research in these areas.
So if you want to know all of the phrasal verbs in English, now you know what to do!
November 22 is the Thanksgiving holiday. It is a national holiday and is celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday of November. Most people don’t have to work on Thanksgiving, and many people take Friday off (not work; as vacation), so that they can have a four-day weekend. We talked about Thanksgiving traditions on English Cafe 60.
On this day, we spend time with our families, we eat turkey, and we think about all of the things we are thankful (grateful) for. We, at ESL Podcast, are always thankful for our fantastic listeners, and we hope that you and your families are well.
Best wishes from:
Jeff “give me more pumpkin pie” McQuillan
ESL Podcast is among a select group of Featured Providers on the Podcast page of the U.S. verison of iTunes! Only 46 companies are listed as being the most popular providers of podcasts, including the BBC, CNN, and now, ESLPod. The Featured Providers are selected by iTunes to feature (to publicize, to let others know about, to highlight) the best podcasts available.
Each country’s iTunes has a different list of featured providers, so you may not see it on your country’s Podcast page.
Welcome to the ESL Podcast blog! This blog is to keep you up-to-date with all of the latest news from ESL Podcast. This blog will also allow us to talk about things we don’t have time to go over (discuss) in the regular podcasts.
If you have a question or comment, you can submit them to us by posting (putting on the website) a comment. To avoid spam (unwanted messages sent to many people), we will need to approve the comments before they are posted, so please be patient. That may take a few days.
There are a lot of things that we want to talk about on the blog, and we hope you’ll come back to the website frequently (often) to read the newest posts (messages). The blog will also have information about things that are happening here at the Center, with the podcast, and with us–Jeff and Lucy.
Over the past several years, many of our listeners have asked us about English courses for children, especially at a low English level. We have finally completed three courses called “Simple English Stories” just for children — and for adults who want to learn English, too!”
We have celebrated our past two anniversaries by producing a video podcast. We want to do that again this year, but we need your help.
We at ESL Podcast want to wish all of you a peaceful and joyful holiday season. Although you, our listeners, are in more than 80 countries and speak dozens of different languages, we are all united in our common humanity, no matter what language we speak. For us, the greatest gift is being able to influence in some small way the lives of others for the better.
One question we get frequently is: Can you please talk about phrasal verbs? A phrasal verb is sometimes called a two-word verbs such as “to put down” or “to get out” or “to kick (someone) out.” English has lots of these phrasal or two-word verbs, and they can be very confusing to people trying to acquire English.
McQuillan
Tse
Welcome to the ESL Podcast blog! This blog is to keep you up-to-date with all of the latest news from ESL Podcast. This blog will also allow us to talk about things we don’t have time to go over (discuss) in the regular podcasts.
