Our Best Idea

Posted on Tuesday - August 30, 2016 by Warren Ediger

Hawai'i_Volcanoes_National_Park_HAVO1837Here’s a question for you: In the U.S., what is as large as the United Kingdom (the countries of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) and was visited by more than 300 million people last year?

The answer: our 59 national parks.

A few days ago, we celebrated the 100th birthday of the National Park Service (NPS), which is responsible for taking care of our national parks and other national sites (important places). One 20th-century historian (someone who studies history) called our national parks “the best idea we’ve ever had.” Many would agree.

Our national parks are as diverse (very different from each other) as the people who live in the U.S. You’ll find rocky cliffs (side of a mountain that drops straight down) and waterfalls in Yosemite. Seven small islands surrounded (to be all around) by clear blue water in Dry Tortugas.  Wooded (full of trees) hills in Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah. The lowest, hottest, and driest place in the U.S. in Death Valley. Rain forests in Olympic, one of the wettest places in the U.S. Some of the world’s largest trees in Sequoia and King’s Canyon. Wetlands, crocodiles, and Florida panthers in Everglades. Glaciers (slow-moving sheets of ice) with deep crevasses (cuts in the ice) in Kenai Fjords. The deep, colorful walls of the Grand Canyon. A palace (home for an important person) built by early American Indians in the side of a cliff in Mesa Verde. A quiet path along a slow-moving river in Cuyahoga. Fiery volcanoes in Hawai’i Volcanoes. Trees that are different than any trees you’ve ever seen in Joshua Tree. Trees that have been dead for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years in Petrified Forest. And that’s just a sample (part of the whole group).

There’s no better way to explore the parks than to visit them. But if you haven’t, or can’t, the Internet is a good place to get a taste of them. I invite you to take some time, look around, and discover them for yourself. Here’s how you can do it.

For an overview (quick look) of the national parks, watch See all U.S. National Parks in One Minute (Note: there’s a short advertisement at the beginning.). You may want to watch it more than once! And to whet your appetite (make you hungry) for more, look at Mark Burns’ beautiful new black and white photographs.

Next, look at the short National Geographic Best of… videos from the five most popular parks – the links are below. You’ll enjoy the scenery, see some unusual animals, and pick up (learn) some new “park” vocabulary (Note: there’s a short advertisement at the beginning of each one.).

For a closer look, the NPS website is the best place to go. Here are the NPS home pages for the 10 most popular national parks. When you get to the home page, click on Plan Your Visit > Places to Go to explore the park.

Here they are:

If you want to visit other parks, you can use the NPS Find a Park page to find their home pages.

My favorites from this list are Great Smoky Mountains, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain (I used to live next to it), and Acadia. Which do you like?

~ Warren Ediger – ESL tutor and coach. My website is Successful English.

Photo from Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Note: For a list of all the national parks we’ve discussed on our English Cafe, see here.

Posted in Life in the United States | 10 Comments

Podcasts this Week (August 29, 2016)

Posted on Sunday - August 28, 2016 by Paolo T

icon_51812Get the full benefits of ESL Podcast by getting the Learning Guide. We designed the Learning Guide to help you learn English better and faster. Get more vocabulary, language explanations, sample sentences, comprehension questions, cultural notes, and more.

Get the Learning Guide and support ESL Podcast today by becoming a Basic or Premium Member!

………

ON MONDAY
ESL Podcast 1238 – Making Accusations

In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “to trash” and “I’d sooner.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “The Los Alamos National Laboratory.”
“The Los Alamos National Laboratory is a U.S. ‘complex’ (a group of buildings) in Los Alamos, New Mexico….” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…

ON WEDNESDAY
English Cafe 570
Topics: Famous Americans – Shirley Temple Black; Famous Songs – “Taps”; paper versus report; internship versus externship; to march (someone) to front of the class

In the Learning Guide:  Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear).
In “What Insiders Know,” you will read about “Kennedy Center Honors.”
“The Kennedy Center, named after former president John F. Kennedy, is a well known ‘performing arts center’…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…

ON FRIDAY
ESL Podcast 1239 – Sharing an Online Account

In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “by any chance” and “all right.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “Parental Controls.”
““Parental controls” are electronic tools that help parents ‘control’ (place limits or restrictions on) how their children use electronic ‘devices’…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide

Posted in Announcements | 9 Comments

An Actual Phone Call to My Internet Provider

Posted on Tuesday - August 23, 2016 by Dr. Lucy Tse

A few months ago, the company that provides me with home Internet and phone service sold that portion (part) of their company to another business. Since then, there have been many news reports about service problems. I’m one of the customers who has been affected (felt the change or influence).

Below are excerpts (short sections) from an actual phone call I made to my Internet provider (company that provides Internet service) to report my problem. The same company provides my landline (regular phone; not cell phone). The person who took my call was named “Kimberly.”

…

Kimberly:  What is the problem you’re having?

Me:  My Internet has been slow for the past couple of months. This morning, service was cutting in and out (sometimes working, sometimes not). And even when I have service, it’s running (operating) very, very slowly.

Kimberly:  [Silence.]

Me: So I’m calling to get my Internet service fixed.

[It takes about six minutes to access my account using my PIN (Personal Identification Number used for security purposes) and for me to give her a phone number she can call me at in case we’re disconnected (call ends unexpectedly).  I repeat my phone number three times before she gets it right.]

Kimberly:  Okay, what happens when you have no service?

Me:  Nothing happens. When I have no service, I have no service.

Kimberly:  I mean, are you not getting a dial tone (the stuttering (short, repeated) sound you hear when you pick up a telephone when its not in use)?

Me:  I have FiOS (a type of Internet service using “fiber-optic” wires).  I don’t have dial-up (using a telephone line) Internet service.  And I’m not calling about my home phone service.  I have a problem with my Internet service.  That’s what I’m calling about.

Kimberly:  [Long pause.]  Do you have pets?

Me:  Huh?  What?

Kimberly:  Do you have pets?

Me:  No, I don’t have pets.

Kimberly:  Can you tell me what kind of router (device needed to send digital data, required for Internet service) you have?  I am going to troubleshoot (solve common problems using established steps).

[The call has already lasted 20 minutes and from what I’ve read about other customers’ experiences, I was confident that troubleshooting over the phone would not help. Others have reported being on the phone for three, four, or more hours going through troubleshooting.]

Me:  I’d like to get a service call (repair work done at the location).

Kimberly:  I’m supposed to troubleshoot, but if you request it, I can schedule it.

Me:  Yes, please order a service call.

Kimberly:  Okay, they can be there Monday at 8 a.m. [Six days later.]

Me:  All right.  If they don’t show up (arrive as scheduled), is there a number I can call?

Kimberly:  You can call the number you just called. I have to tell you that if they don’t arrive by 8 a.m., the window (the time interval (beginning and end time) for arrival, usually for work to be done) is expanded (made longer) to 5 p.m.

Me:  Excuse me?  I don’t understand.

Kimberly:  If they’re not there at 8 a.m., then they will be there anytime between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Me:  Are you serious?

Kimberly:  Yes.

Me:  [Long pause.]  Okay, thanks.

…

The_Scream_Pastel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ Lucy

Image Credit:  “The Scream” From Wikipedia

Posted in Life in the United States, Technology | 12 Comments

Podcasts this Week (August 22, 2016)

Posted on Sunday - August 21, 2016 by Paolo T

icon_51812We are grateful to our members and donors, because we are only able to produce this podcast with the generous help of our listeners.

If you enjoy our podcasts, please consider supporting ESL Podcast by becoming a Basic or Premium Member today!

………

ON MONDAY
ESL Podcast 1236 – Dressing Inappropriately for Work

In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “cut-offs” and “tank top.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “School Dress Codes.”
“In the United States, school dress codes are often ‘controversial’ (with strong opinions on both sides of an issue), especially among students who…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…

ON WEDNESDAY
English Cafe 569
Topics: John Muir and The Sierra Club; The Ma and Pa Kettle Movies; every versus each; Christmas/New Year break at colleges and universities; jinx

In the Learning Guide:  Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear).
In “What Insiders Know,” you will read about “United Daughters of the Confederacy.”
“The United Daughters of the Confederacy is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1894. Its members are the female…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…

ON FRIDAY
ESL Podcast 1237 – Disagreements About Spending Money

In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “barely” and “to splash the cash.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “Types of Formal and Informal Bank Accounts.”
“Banks offer two main types of formal accounts: ‘checking accounts’ that are used for daily expenses, and ‘savings accounts’ that are used to save money…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide

Posted in Announcements | 7 Comments

#FirstSevenJobs

Posted on Tuesday - August 16, 2016 by Warren Ediger

1393535551_28397c1f8e_zMarion Call had a problem.

The 24-year-old singer-songwriter from Juneau – the remote (far from other places) capital of Alaska – was writing a song about work. And she needed more ideas.

Call turned to (went for help to) Twitter and asked her followers, “What were your first seven jobs?” She used the hashtag (label to identify a topic) #FirstSevenJobs and included her own:

#FirstSevenJobs: babysitting, janitorial (cleaning offices, etc.), slinging (informal: serving) coffee, yard work (taking care of area around a building or buildings), writing radio news, voice-overs (speaking on videos or TV without being seen), data entry (putting information into a computer)/secretarial.

Call got the help she was looking for, and more. #FirstSevenJobs quickly became a meme – an idea that spreads quickly from person to person, especially on the Internet. Many thousands of people answered her question. Magazines and websites wrote articles about #FirstSevenJobs. And researchers used #FirstSevenJobs information to compare the jobs teenagers work today with teenagers’ jobs from almost 50 years ago. All of this . . . in about 10 days!

Call says her favorite answer came from Buzz Aldrin, an American astronaut. He was one of the first two people to land on the moon and the second to walk on it. Here are his first seven jobs:

#FirstSevenJobs: dishwasher, camp counselor (responsible for children at a summer camp), fighter (military airplane) pilot, astronaut, commandant (officer in charge of a U.S. Air Force school for pilots), speaker, author.

Sheryl Sandberg, a top Facebook executive and someone we would consider very successful, didn’t get off to a good start (begin with success): she was fired from her first job as a babysitter. The parents were upset because she opened the door for a stranger and accepted and paid for a pizza that no one had ordered. She got a second baby-sitting job, but was fired from that one, too, because she fell asleep on the job.

Call has been fascinated by the responses because they describe “each person’s really tiny journey . . . You get to see thousands of strangers reflecting (thinking) about that journey – jobs they were good at, hated, learned what it was like to have a bad boss, what it was like to be a good boss, what it was like to be your own boss . . . you get a picture of a human (person) behind each one [each answer to her question].”

Here are my first seven jobs:

#FirstSevenJobs: yard work, construction work (building houses and other buildings), furniture factory, mail room clerk (responsible for the mail at a small manufacturing company), delivery truck driver, night watchman (nighttime guard at a school), radio announcer.

What were your first seven jobs? What did you learn from them? I wrote about what I learned from one of mine in What did you learn from you first job?

~ Warren Ediger – ESL coach/tutor and creator of the Successful English website.

Photo by Bobby Acree used under Creative Commons license.

Posted in Life in the United States | 7 Comments

Podcasts this week (August 15, 2016)

Posted on Sunday - August 14, 2016 by Paolo T

icon_51812Is your limited English standing in your way? Do you want to improve your English now?

Learn English even faster with the help of the Learning Guide. In it, you’ll get more vocabulary, language explanations, sample sentences, comprehension questions, cultural notes, and more.

Get the Learning Guide and support ESL Podcast today by becoming a Basic or Premium Member!

………

ON MONDAY
ESL Podcast 1234 – Traveling With Pets

In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “board” and “cabin.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “Traveling with Pets.”
“Travelers who cannot ‘leave their pets at home’ (travel without their pets) must ‘comply with’ (follow the rules of) many restrictions if they want to travel…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…

ON WEDNESDAY
English Cafe 568
Topics: Famous Americans – Duke Kahanamoku; The Quiz Shows of the 1950s; terms used for family favorites; when versus what time; based on versus on the basis of

In the Learning Guide:  Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear).
In “What Insiders Know,” you will read about “Surf Music and the California Sound.”
“Orange County, California is almost ‘synonymous with’ (has the same meaning as; is thought of in connection with) ‘surf culture,’…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…

ON FRIDAY
ESL Podcast 1235 – Joining a Secret Society

In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “the chosen few” and “to amount to.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “The ‘Know Nothing’ Movement.”
“The ‘Know Nothing’ ‘movement’ (an organized effort to change society in some way) was an American ‘political party’…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide

Posted in Announcements | 9 Comments

A Gold Medal in English

Posted on Tuesday - August 9, 2016 by Dr. Jeff McQuillan

unevenbarsThis week much of the world is, like I am, watching the Olympic games in Rio. It seems like every Olympics has its own problems and scandals (doing something wrong that causes the public to have strong negative reaction). But somehow, when you actually start watching the athletes compete, you forget about all of that and just enjoy the magic of our fellow (similar to us) human beings doing some really extraordinary things.

My favorite sport to watch is gymnastics, perhaps because my father was a gymnast (a person who competes in gymnastics) when he was in high school and so he loved watching those events on television. Gymnastics involves lots of different activities, including swinging on the uneven bars (see photo) and moving and jumping on top of a balance beam (a long piece of narrow wood about four feet (125 cm) off the ground).

If you need a reminder of some of the English vocabulary used to describe the Olympics, check out (take a look at) our episode on that topic from a few years ago. (And if you want to learn a little Portuguese from our very own webmaster, Adriano Galeno, take a look at his Brazilian PodClass.)

Lucy described some of the more popular sports during the 2014 Sochi Games, so I thought I would talk a bit about the two “new” sports for this year’s games, sports that are actually returning to the Olympic games after a long absence (time away from something).

Golf is returning to the Olympics after being dropped (removed) after the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Missouri. We spoke about golf briefly here, but as you probably know, it is a game that uses long sticks called clubs that are used to hit a small ball (called, logically, a “golf ball”). The ball is placed on a tee, a small piece of plastic or wood that holds the ball up in the air, a few inches from the ground. The object (purpose) of the game is to hit the small balls into a hole that is located several yards from where you begin hitting the ball.

The other sport returning this year after many decades (a period of 10 years) is rugby. Rugby is not popular in the United States, and I would guess that most Americans have never even seen a complete game of rugby (that would include me). From what I understand (which is very little), it involves a bunch of men and women (but not together) running around a field with a ball that looks like an American football. From the photos I’ve seen, it seems like there is a lot of hugging (people putting their arms around each other), but I could be wrong about that part. Technically, there are different kinds of rugby: the one being played in this Olympics is called “rugby sevens” since there are seven players on each team who play for periods of seven minutes. If you want to know more, don’t bother asking the average American, who I’m sure doesn’t know any more than I do.

What are your favorite sports to watch in the Summer Olympics?

~Jeff

Image credit: Pinterest

Posted in News and Current Events | 16 Comments

Podcasts this Week (August 8, 2016)

Posted on Sunday - August 7, 2016 by Paolo T

icon_51812Get the full benefits of ESL Podcast by getting the Learning Guide. We designed the Learning Guide to help you learn English better and faster. Get more vocabulary, language explanations, sample sentences, comprehension questions, cultural notes, and more.

Get the Learning Guide and support ESL Podcast today by becoming a Basic or Premium Member!

………

ON MONDAY
ESL Podcast 1232 – Intimidating a Coworker

In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “to know full well” and “to pack it in.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “Common New Hire Orientation.”
“When new employees ‘come on board’ (begin working at a company), they typically are required to participate in certain ‘orientation’…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…

ON WEDNESDAY
English Cafe 567
Topics: American Authors – Gertrude Stein; Famous Songs – “Puff the Magic Dragon”; sport versus workout versus exercise; to come across versus to stumble upon; debaucherous behavior

In the Learning Guide:  Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear).
In “What Insiders Know,” you will read about “Dungeons and Dragons.”
“Dungeons and Dragons is a popular ‘role-playing game,’ or a game in which each player pretends to be a particular character and uses words…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…

ON FRIDAY
ESL Podcast 1233 – Improving Flexibility and Mobility

In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “to lift” and “to squat.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “Mary Lou Retton.”
“Mary Lou Retton, often referred to as America’s ‘Sweetheart’ (a term of endearment; a word used to show affection and love for someone)…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide

Posted in Announcements | 7 Comments

Danger! Dumpster Fire!

Posted on Tuesday - August 2, 2016 by Warren Ediger

25440096000_d166951dbb_z-2In the U.S., our national elections are less than 100 days away. For the next three months we’ll read and hear a lot of what some call “politalk” – political talk – in news stories, TV ads, speeches, and interviews.

We’ve heard a lot of this before, but occasionally some words become part of the news. Here, for a little election year fun, are a few interesting and unusual political words that people have been talking about.

Let me begin with a handful of (a few) ordinary, everyday political terms. A candidate is someone who wants to become a mayor, governor, member of Congress, president, or something else. Candidates belong to parties – groups of people with similar ideas about what to think and what to do. Candidates and parties campaign – say and do things to try to get people to vote for them. You can use campaign as a verb and a noun.

“Dumpster fire” is a meme – a word, idea, fashion style, etc., that quickly spreads from person to person, often through the Internet. It appeared a few years ago in stories about sports and politics and has already been added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

A dumpster – see the photo – is a large metal container used for trash. “Dumpster fire” describes a very confusing situation, especially one that is handled (managed) very badly. We might say of a sports team that “their season began as a dumpster fire and never got any better.” More than once this year, people have said about one or two candidates: “His campaign is a dumpster fire!”

In the U.S., Supreme Court justices (judges) don’t usually say anything about politics. This year one did, and many were upset by it. One of those people said that the justice’s comments went “beyond the pale.”

“Beyond the pale” is an old idiom. Many years ago, pale was used to refer to a wooden stake, or pole, used to hold up grape plants. It came to be used as a fence of pointed stakes and, from that, to refer to a boundary, a line that marks the edge of a state or country or an area of land that belongs to someone.

The person who said the justice’s comments went “beyond the pale” meant that the comments went over, or beyond, the boundary of what was acceptable. In other word, a Supreme Court justice should not do something like that.

A short time ago, a well-known American businessman got very angry with a candidate and called him a “jagoff,” but almost no one knew what he meant. Those who did probably live in or come from western Pennsylvania, especially around the city of Pittsburgh. It is local slang (informal language used by a small group of people) that describes a person who is stupid and inept (not good at doing anything) and it’s been used in that area for many years. No one is sure how it got started.

Vice President Joe Biden recently polished off (made clean or shiny; prepared for use) one of his favorites descriptions and called a statement (something said) by one of the candidates “a bunch of malarky!” Malarky is a 100-year-old word that means lies (untruths) and exaggerations (statements that make something seem better, larger than it really is) or nonsense (statements that aren’t true or that seem very stupid). Our vice president is one of the few people who still use it.

Are there any interesting or unusual words used during political campaigns where you live? Or have you seen or heard any other English political words that you’re curious about?

A final note, a reminder: this blog post has been about political language, not politics. It’d be kind of cool if the comments were, too.

~ Warren Ediger – creator of the Successful English website: I help business and professional people improve their English and help students prepare to succeed in an English academic environment.

Photo by Goat4421 used under Creative Commons license.

Posted in Language & Terms, News and Current Events | 6 Comments

Podcasts this Week (August 1, 2016)

Posted on Sunday - July 31, 2016 by Paolo T

icon_51812We are grateful to our members and donors, because we are only able to produce this podcast with the generous help of our listeners.

If you enjoy our podcasts, please consider supporting ESL Podcast by becoming a Basic or Premium Member today!

………

ON MONDAY
ESL Podcast 1230 – Expressing Disapproval  of Elected Officials

In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “to reflect” and “regular folks.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “The Occupy Wall Street Protest Movement.”
“In 2011, the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ ‘movement’ (an initiative to change and improve society) began as people ‘protested’ (objected to)…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…

ON WEDNESDAY
English Cafe 566
Topics: Famous Americans – Linus Pauling; The Texaco Star Theater and Milton Berle; squalid versus sordid; on my own versus by myself; postseason competition

In the Learning Guide:  Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear).
In “What Insiders Know,” you will read about “Six Flags Over Texas.”
“Six Flags Over Texas is a popular ‘theme park’ (amusement park; a large area that people visit to go on rides and enjoy other types of entertainment)…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…

ON FRIDAY
ESL Podcast 1231 – Feeding a Large Family on a Small Budget

In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “staple” and “day-old.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “Common Types of Store Savings.”
“‘Bargain hunters’ (people who want to buy something at a low price) have many ways to save money at stores….” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide

Posted in Announcements | 9 Comments