ESL Pod Official - Speak English Fluently by Listening (with Text)

ESLPodcast 14 - Going to a Concert I (Fast)

Tags: Entertainment

Audio Index: 15:47

I heard on the radio this morning that my favorite band was going to be in concert here next month. I was so excited. The first thing I did was to call my friend Ben who is also a big fan of the band. Not only was the band playing in town, they were going to play at a bar called the Whiskey. The Whiskey is known as a small, intimate venue so we’d be able to get close to the band. It's not a big amphitheater where you can't even see the band from the nose-bleed section. This would be the ultimate concert experience if only we can get tickets.

I was sure that the tickets would sell out fast when they went on sale on Saturday morning. So, Ben and I decided to camp out in front of the box office on Friday night. That way, when the box office opened on Saturday morning, we would definitely get tickets. We grabbed a bite to eat on Friday night, then we got dressed in our warmest clothes and took our sleeping bags to the ticket office. This was around 8pm. When we got there, I couldn't believe it! There were already about 15 people in line! And, I was sure we'd be the first ones. Oh well.

Ben and I got into the back of the line and we barely got any sleep all night. We talked to the other people there and we just hung out all night. Nothing got out of hand, though, so we didn't get hassled by the cops. By morning, there were more than 50 die-hard fans in line.

Well, it paid off. When the box office opened at 9 am, we filed up to the window one by one and got our tickets. It was all worth it. I heard afterwards that the concert sold out in less than a half hour! I'm so glad we braved the elements and camped out. I really can't wait until next month!

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

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ESLPodcast 13 - Dining at a Restaurant II (Fast)

Tags: Dining

Audio Index: 14:52

I love coming to this Italian restaurant. The appetizers and desserts are to die for. When the waiter came to our table to take our order, my friend ordered a lobster ravioli dish, and I ordered my favorite, lasagna. The waiter then asked us, "Would you like a soup or salad with that?" My friend said yes; I passed on both.

The vibe in the restaurant is pretty laid back, not at all uptight like you find in some of the ritzier restaurants in Beverly Hills. The wait staff is courteous, although sometimes the hostesses can be a bit snooty .

Anyway, when our meals arrived, everything was cooked to perfection. Since I didn't order any appetizers, soup, or salad, I was starved. Even though I was really hungry, I tried not to gobble down my food too quickly. I didn't want my friend to think I was a pig! But even though I tried not to, I still overate. When the waiter asked if we wanted any dessert or after dinner drinks, I just couldn't resist getting the apple-filled crepes. They are the best.

When we got our check, my friend and I split the bill, as we're accustomed to do. I frankly prefer to go Dutch when I eat out with friends. So that was the end of a really great meal. Now I have to hit the gym if I'm going to lose any of this extra weight I gained from eating that lasagna!

Script by Dr. Jeff McQuillan

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ESLPodcast 12 - Dining at a Restaurant I (Fast)

Tags: Dining

Audio Index: 12:13

Well, I love going out to restaurants to eat. One of the best experiences I've had recently was at a place here in Los Angeles called Il Fornaio. It's an Italian restaurant in a very nice part of Beverly Hills. I don't go there very often--I can't really afford it, but every once in a while I'll treat myself.

The last time I went, I walked in with a friend and I was greeted by the hostess. She asked how many people were in my party, and I said, "Just two." "Right this way! I'll show you to your table" she said. She was very polite. When we reached our table by the window, she asked us, "Is this all right?" We said, "Of course!," and then she handed us the menus, along with the wine list. The place setting with the silverware was very complete. There were two forks (one for the salad course, one for the main course), a spoon, a knife, a dinner plate, a dessert spoon on top, a wine glass and a water glass, a cup and saucer for coffee, and a bread basket. I was already getting hungry!

"Your waiter will be with you shortly," the hostess said. So we looked over the menus‚ so many choices, especially for a lover of Italian food like me.

The waiter came up to the table a few minutes later and said, "Good evening. My name is Giorgio, and I'll be your waiter this evening. Is there anything I can get you started with -a cocktail, a glass of wine?" Well, my friend and I are not exactly big drinkers, so we just ordered a couple of iced teas. "Would you like a few minutes to look at the menu?" he said. We nodded our heads, and he went off to get our drinks.

As I was looking at the appetizers, I spotted one of my favorite dishes-crab cakes! I told my friend that the crab cakes were a must. Just then the waiter returned to our table, with our drinks on a large tray. Now, I was ready to order.

Script by Dr. Jeff McQuillan

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Interview

It would be great if I could always feel happy all the time, day in and day out. But sometimes I feel down. This is one of those days. Sometimes I get depressed if something disappointing happens—like if I interview for a job and I don't get it, or if I have to cancel my vacation after looking forward to it for a long time.

Once in a while, I'll even feel down if I've read a very sad book or have seen a movie with a sad or tragic ending.

Well... None of those things happened today, but I'm still feeling a little blue. I don't know what the cause is, but maybe what I need to do is to try to cheer myself up.

When I've felt this way in the past, I've found that a change of pace helps. Getting out of the house, going to a new restaurant for dinner, or just going for a walk outside can sometimes get me out of this bad mood.

Sometimes, I hate to say it, but going out and buying myself something new sometimes does the trick. Getting something new, especially something I've wanted for a while, can sometimes cheer me up.

Other times, just having a long talk with a good friend helps me put things into perspective, and I feel better.

Okay, I've got it. I'll call my friend Debbie and invite her out to dinner. Debbie is such a good friend, and she has a way of seeing the bright side of things. She's one of those people who always sees the glass half full—not half empty. I bet she'll help me get out of my lousy mood. And, if that doesn't work, I'm heading to the mall.

Vocabulary and Expressions

There were several expressions that we heard that mean the same thing—all of them expressing the idea of feeling sad. You heard the woman say:

• I feel down.
• I feel depressed.
• I'm feeling a little blue.
• I'm in a bad mood.

All of these are ways of saying pretty much the same thing: that we don't feel well, that we're not happy.

The expressions I feel down or I get depressed or feel depressed are fairly common. The expression I'm feeling a little blue is a little more old-fashioned—not used quite as often anymore in English—but to feel blue means to feel badly, like the color blue.

A bad mood can sometimes be used when we feel sad, but a bad mood can also be when you are angry or upset over something.

A couple of other expressions that were used:

• The woman said that it would be great if I could feel happy all the time, day in and day out. The expression day in and day out means all of the time, constantly. For example:
• It rains day in and day out, meaning every day, all the time.

The woman also said that because she was feeling a little blue, she was going to try to cheer herself up. To cheer yourself up means to make yourself happy.

One way she was going to do this was by having a change of pace. Change of pace means a change in the way that you are doing things. Literally, the word pace refers to speed, but here it means doing something different from your usual routine.

For example, in a race: If you are going to run a long race, like a marathon, you want to pace yourself, to keep your pace so that you don't get tired. To change your pace or have a change of pace means, more generally, to do something in a different way—to go in a new direction, to do things to get yourself out of your depression, to cheer yourself up.

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Telephone Conversation

Good morning, Roth and Company. Good morning. I'm trying to reach Michael Dobson. I'm sorry, Mr. Dobson is not in the office. Would you know if he will be in today? I'm afraid I don't know Mr. Dobson's schedule. Oh, I see. Well... I wonder if I could leave a message for him. Sure. I can take a message. Please let him know that Susan Kale called, and would you please ask him to call me at his earliest convenience? Would you spell your last name? Sure. It's Kale. That's spelled K-A-L-E. And does Mr. Dobson have your phone number? I believe so, but let me leave it just in case. My office number is 462-555-0306. And my cell number is 462-555-6258. I'll give him the message. Is there anything else I can help you with? No, that's all. Thanks so much. No problem. Have a nice day. Thanks. You too.

Vocabulary and Expressions

In this short phone conversation, there were several expressions that we want to discuss today—some of them dealing with asking for things politely, others used when we use the telephone.

The conversation began with the receptionist answering the phone: Good morning, followed by the name of the company. Then the woman on the phone said: Good morning. I'm trying to reach Michael Dobson.

The expression I'm trying to reach is one we use especially on the telephone when we're asking if someone is there. You can also say:

• Is Michael Dobson there? But that's a little less formal. A more formal and polite way would be:
• I'm trying to reach [name].

To ask for information politely, she asked:

• Would you know if he will be in today? Would you know if, followed by a statement, is a way of asking a question politely. For example:
• Excuse me, would you know if this bus goes downtown? That's a polite way of asking a stranger or someone in a business setting.

You can also say:

• I wonder if... The expression I wonder if is used when we are asking permission of another person. In this case, we heard the woman say:
• I wonder if I could leave a message for him. You could also say:
• I wonder if I could borrow your car. I wonder if, followed by any sort of request, is a polite way to ask.

Other telephone expressions:

• To take a message means to write down information for someone who is not there.
• When leaving a message, you can say:
  • Please let him know that Susan Kale called.
  • Could you please tell him that Jeff McQuillan called?
  • Could you please let him know that I called?

Another expression used was:

• At his earliest convenience. The phrase Would you please ask him to call me at his earliest convenience means as soon as he has time, when it is convenient for him. This is a very polite way of asking someone to return a call.

We also heard:

• Would you please spell your last name? This is a polite way to ask someone to spell their name so you can write it down correctly.

Finally, the caller said:

• I believe so, but let me leave it just in case. The expression just in case means as a precaution, for extra security. For example:
• I’m not sure if I locked the door, so I’ll check again—just in case.

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There have been several times in my work where I had to ask permission or for a favor that was somewhat difficult. And so I wanted to ask very nicely, very politely.

One time I went into my boss's office and asked if I could have some vacation time near one of the big holidays. So I went to her and I said: Excuse me, Ms. Chang, may I ask you a question? And she said: Sure, go ahead. Well, I said: I was wondering if it would be okay for me to take a few days off next week. She then asked me: Could you tell me why you need to take a day off so near a holiday? I said: Well, I was hoping that I could combine my vacation with the holiday to have more time. She said: I'm sorry, but I can't give you any vacation time next week.

Another time I went into my manager's office to ask him for a raise. I wanted more money. Now, I was very nervous, but I thought if I asked politely enough, he might just say yes. So I went to him and I said: Excuse me, Mr. Hilldigger, I wonder if I could ask you a question. Of course, he said. Well, I said: I was interested in what the company's policy was on pay raises. Would you mind telling me how often people get a raise in this division? He looked at me and said: Not very often. Well, even though I asked politely, I did not get a raise.

Another time I was working in a small office here in Santa Monica, California, and there was a girl there that I really liked. Her name was Julie. Anyway, I finally got up the nerve to ask her out to go on a date with me, so I said: Uh, hey, Julie. Could you tell me what you're doing this weekend? She said: Oh, nothing much. Then I said: Well, I was wondering whether you wanted to go to the movies. She said: Hey, that's a great idea. I'm going to call my friend Sam and ask him. Well... I wasn't very successful in asking her out for a date. I forgot to say that I wanted her to go to the movies with me.

Vocabulary Discussion Now let's talk about some of the difficult vocabulary in that last segment. We heard several ways of asking for things politely in a business or formal setting as well as in an informal setting.

When I was talking about asking for vacation, I came up to my boss and I said: May I ask you a question? The expression may I means you're asking for permission to do something. It's a polite way of asking.

Then I said: I was wondering if it would be okay for me... The expression I was wondering if is also an indirect way of politely bringing up a topic, often a somewhat sensitive topic.

My boss replied in that first segment: Could you tell me why you need a day off? Could you tell me again is a polite way of asking for information. For example:

• Could you tell me where the restroom is?
• Could you tell me how long my appointment will last?

All of these are polite expressions. In talking about asking my boss for a raise, I used some of those same expressions.

I said: Excuse me, Mr. Hilldigger. I wonder if I could ask you a question. This is another way of asking for permission:

• I wonder if I could use your car.
• I wonder if I could get a new ticket.

All of these are similar in asking politely for permission.

I also said in that segment: I was interested in what the company's policy was on pay raises. To say I was interested in is again an indirect way of trying to find out. It's the same as I was wondering if, and so forth.

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Personal Email Hi, Julia. I'm sitting here in front of the computer in our apartment writing this email to you. It feels so weird not to have you here. You were my roommate for four years after all. I really miss having my best friend here. But enough with feeling sorry for myself.

I am so happy to hear that you're getting settled in New York City. I'm trying to imagine what it's like for you—first, getting your dream job, then moving to an amazing city and starting a whole new life. I'm really glad to hear that your cross-country drive to New York was a good one. There were no problems, no breakdowns, and you even made it in good time. I'm very, very happy to hear that the moving van made it there without any major catastrophes. I can't believe they made it there on time and they didn't even break anything. What a miracle!

Well, I hope that everything else goes well this next week while you're getting used to the new city before starting your new job. Are you excited about the job yet? It's so great that you'll be able to do what you've always wanted to—working as a writer for one of the best newspapers in the country. I always knew you could do it. You were always so focused and worked so hard. You really deserve it. I can't wait to start reading your articles in the newspaper.

Well, things here are pretty much as you left it. Same old, same old. My schedule at the restaurant is still the same. I'm working weekends. I'm not thrilled about that, as you know. But I do love my job. Being a chef is great. But there's one major drawback. I'm starting to notice that I'm getting fat. I have to stop eating so many of my own dishes. I decided today to do something about it. I joined the gym down the street. It's the one three blocks down near that video store. Do you remember it? I even went out today and got new workout clothes and a pair of new jogging shoes. Now I have absolutely no excuses. All I have to do is to get off my butt and go work out. I am so incredibly lazy. You know what a couch potato I am. But not anymore. I plan to get up each morning and work out before I head off to work. That means actually getting up before 10 a.m. Now that's going to be a challenge.

I'm going to start on Monday. We'll see how that goes. Wish me luck. Okay, that's all for now. Write me back soon. I'm anxious to hear how things are going. Talk to you soon.

One friend was emailing another friend who had just moved to New York City. Lots of expressions here that may be unfamiliar to you.

At the beginning of the message, Jessica—who was writing the email—said that she was “feeling sorry for herself.” To feel sorry for yourself means to pity yourself, to think that your situation is worse than everyone else's. We often, when we hear someone complain, say to them: Stop feeling sorry for yourself, meaning stop thinking that your situation is worse than everyone else's. This is something we would only say, however, to a friend, family member, or someone that you knew well. You wouldn't want to say that to your boss.

Another term was dream job. When we often use the term dream in front of a noun, it means the perfect or the ideal. So:

• My dream vacation would be to go to Hawaii.
• My dream car would be a Porsche.

Jessica also mentioned that her friend was lucky because she didn't have any breakdowns in her trip. Remember, this is a term we used in a previous ESL podcast. When a car or an automobile has problems and stops running, we say that it breaks down. And the term breakdowns would be the noun of that.

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Mary's Response I love to eat, but I don't like to cook—not at all. I probably don't like to cook because I'm really bad at it. When I was growing up, my mother did all of the cooking in our house. But I never did learn how to cook any dishes at all. And so when I went to college and I moved into my own apartment, I had to learn how to cook a little bit. Usually what I made were very simple instant things, like ramen noodles. I bought a lot of TV dinners. And I also bought a lot of frozen pizzas. So I didn't have a very good diet when I was in college. But I ate a lot of things that were easy to make and that were in my very small student budget.

Later on, I did try to learn how to cook a little bit. I tried to cook for a boyfriend or two. And each time I tried to cook, I would get some simple recipes that required things like marinating the meat, chopping up the vegetables, getting spices to add to the dish. And I would do all of those things. And I would spend a lot of time—maybe hours and hours—working on cooking a meal. And then in the end, it would always turn out badly. Whether I would cook it too long and it would burn, overcook it, or it would just simply taste terrible. I don't think I'm made out to be a cook.

Jeff's Response I like to cook occasionally—every once in a while. I probably cook now about three, maybe four times a week. By cook, though, I mean prepare a very simple dish. Usually it involves either rice or pasta. I like to boil pasta. And then I buy a bottle of pasta sauce with tomatoes and mushrooms and other spices. And I mix the pasta with the pasta sauce. And so I have my own Italian dish. Then I add chicken to that. And so it's like a hot pasta salad with chicken. That's my easiest dish.

I have a few other dishes that I make. I like to cook fish. I like eating fish. And so I steam the fish and then pour some hot oil over it. But generally speaking, I'm usually pretty busy. I don't have a lot of time to make up a meal. I don't know how to cook from scratch, so I need a recipe to tell me what to do. A lot of my “quote-unquote” cooking usually involves things like opening up a can of soup and putting it into a bowl and then putting it into the microwave oven. So like a lot of busy people, I don't feel like I have a lot of time to cook, and so I end up either eating instant foods, frozen foods, or going out for dinner. Someday, I hope I'll have time enough to learn how to cook properly.

Vocabulary Discussion Let's go over some of the vocabulary and expressions used in these two interviews. In Mary's interview, she started off by saying that she isn't good at cooking. The expression to be good at or to be bad at is what we usually say about how well we can do a certain thing. So, for example:

• I am good at writing, but I am bad at sports.

Another term that was somewhat confusing from Mary's interview and from my interview is the term dishes.

Both Mary and I said that we like to cook and we can usually cook some certain dishes. A dish is part of a meal. So a dish, for example, could be pasta salad. A dish could be ramen noodles. And another dish could be a salad. Typically in a meal you have several different dishes.

Now, the confusing part is that we also use the term dish to refer to the physical plate and bowl and cup that we use to eat. People will often say, clean up the dishes, or I need to set down, put the dishes on the table. So, that word dish has two meanings:

1. It can mean part of the actual meal—the food itself.
2. Or it can mean the plates, the saucers, the cups that we use to eat the meal.

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I do have nightmares sometimes. I do have bad dreams. A lot of my bad dreams are things like I'm being chased by someone and I can't get away from them, or I'm hiding from them. Some other of my bad dreams involve not being able to get home. I'm trying to get home and there are a lot of different obstacles that I have to get past before I get home. And I usually wake up before I get there. So I find it very frustrating. These bad dreams make me really tense. And when I wake up, I'm very, very stressed out.

A bad dream that I kept having over and over again—a recurring bad dream I had when I was in high school—was a really horrible one. I dreamt that my mother had a knife, a meat cleaver. And I was a child, and I saw her in the bathroom cutting up a dead body with a meat cleaver. And she saw me watching her, and she started chasing me with her knife. And she never caught me, but I had to hide from her. And she chased me and chased me, and I was really scared. I had this recurring dream, probably, I don't know, for several months. And to this day, it's the scariest, worst bad dream I've ever had.

Boy, that's an interesting question—bad dreams. Well, I would have to say that the worst bad dream I ever had, and this happens a lot to me in my dreams, is that I was trapped inside a building or I'm trapped in another country and I can't get back home. Usually what happens is that I meet someone there from my past—an old friend, an acquaintance, a classmate, someone from high school. And, of course, it seems normal. It seems just natural when I'm having the dream that I meet these people. But it's always in a situation that never actually occurred. But usually my dreams, like most people's bad dreams, I think are related to things that I thought about or happened to me that day or recently.

For example, I had a very difficult time getting my car fixed the other day, and that night when I had a dream, I dreamt that I was broken down on the highway. And I couldn't get home. And it was dark. And it was starting to rain.

I started to get desperate and so forth. So when I woke up, of course, I was sweating and a little bit scared. But fortunately, I was able to calm myself down. And eventually, I actually got my car fixed. I hope I don't have that nightmare again.

You've just heard two people talk about a bad dream, including me. And I want to now talk about some of the vocabulary that they used that you might have had difficulty with. Remember, this section of our podcast is optional. If you want to go back and listen again and again, we recommend that. But if you want some additional help, then stay tuned.

One word that both speakers used is nightmare. A nightmare is another word for a bad dream. When Lucy was talking about her bad dream, she mentioned that she couldn't get home because she had lots of obstacles. An obstacle is something that gets in your way either when you're walking, running, in a car, or just generally in life. We talk about obstacles that get in our way—things that prevent us from going or doing what we want to do. In the Army, they have something called an obstacle course. And sometimes in school, in physical education class, they'll set up a game called an obstacle course. And you have to go through all sorts of different obstacles, different challenges, such as walking through some tires or climbing up a rope and so forth.

Another word that Lucy used was recurring. She said that she had a recurring dream. To recur means to repeat. So she had that dream several times.

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Today we're going to talk about favorite places to live. I'm going to talk a few minutes, and then we'll go back and listen for some particular vocabulary. Let's get started, shall we?

Well, I would say that my favorite place to live is in a big city. I've lived in a medium-sized city, a city of about 500,000 people. And now I live in a city—Los Angeles—of three and a half, four million people. It's difficult in some ways living in a big city. There's lots of traffic and there are lots of people, so it is very crowded. But I really enjoy the good things about living in a big city. For example, there are good restaurants. Just about any type of food that you want to eat, you can find in Los Angeles.

Another good thing about Los Angeles, of course, is its weather. It's always not too hot, not too cold—what we would call temperate—and I really enjoy that. I grew up in a very cold climate in Minnesota, the state of Minnesota, so I am very happy to be in Los Angeles. No more snow for me.

One other thing I like about living in a big city, such as L.A., is that there's a real diversity of people. There are people from probably every country in the world living in Los Angeles, and that's exciting. It can sometimes present a challenge and cause some difficulties in communication, but I enjoy that very much. I speak a little Spanish, and there are a lot of Spanish speakers in Los Angeles, so I get a chance to practice my Spanish as well.

I don't think I would want to live in the country or somewhere in a small town. My sister lives on the outskirts or in the suburbs of a small town—not really suburb, but because she lives almost out in the country, about 10 minutes from her town, which has only 10,000 people. So I would find that difficult. I think it would be a little boring for me, but she really enjoys it, and so do her children. To each his own. Everyone has their own taste in things like where they live.

Now that you've listened to the podcast, you have a couple of options. You can go back and listen again to see if you can understand more. Or, if you would like, you can listen to some explanations of vocabulary. There were four terms that I want to talk about from today's podcast.

The first is temperate climate. When talking about Los Angeles, I said that it has a temperate climate. Climate, of course, refers to the weather, the temperature. Temperate means it's not too hot and it's not too cold. It's right in the middle.

Another term I used in describing Los Angeles was diversity. I said there's a lot of diversity in Los Angeles. Diversity means people or things from different cultures. To be diverse also means to have many different types of interests or whatever you happen to be talking about. It could be cultures, it could be languages, it could be interests.

Another term I used in talking about some of the challenges is I said that things can present a challenge. To present a challenge means to give you some difficulty, to make things a little bit harder for you.

Finally, in talking about my sister, I said she lives in the outskirts of her town. In the outskirts usually means somewhere between the city and the country—not the suburbs, which are communities or places where people live outside of the main city—the last suburb and the place where the country begins, where you don't have a lot of city life.

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