EC106_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 106

TOPICS

American folklore: Bigfoot; Who’s on First?, to tear apart, Cliff Notes, to fall out of

love

_____________

GLOSSARY

UFO – unidentified flying object; an alien spaceship; an object seen in the sky

that one thinks might be used by non-human travelers

* That man says that a UFO landed in front of his house and took him to another

planet.

folklore – the stories that a group of people tell to each other; the stories that are

shared within a culture or community

* Native American folklore has a lot of stories about where the first humans came

from.

Pacific Northwest – the Northwestern United States, usually Oregon,

Washington, Idaho, and sometimes British Columbia, Canada

* It rains a lot in the Pacific Northwest.

hoax – a mean joke; a trick; something that is done to make someone believe

something that isn’t true

* Someone called the university and said that there was a bomb in the cafeteria,

but it was a hoax.

sighting – a report of having seen something that is unusual or unlikely

* Do you believe in the sightings of the Loch Ness monster?

creature – animal; a living thing that can move; monster

* What kinds of creatures live in these forests?

comedy routine – a funny performance or act; a performance by one or more

comics

* The comedy routine was very funny, and we spent all night laughing as we

watched it.

duo – a pair; two people or things that work well together

* Not only do they act together, they’re also a famous singing duo.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 106

nickname – a name that someone is called, even though it isn’t his or her real

name; a short or funny name that one is called by one’s friends and family

* Her name is Rebecca, but her nicknames are Becky and Reba.

play on words – the funny use of a word or phrase that can have more than one

meaning

* The comedian used a play on words as part of his joke, but the audience didn’t

get it.

to tear apart (someone or something) – to force two or more people or things

apart; to make it impossible for two or more things to stay together

* Having high-pressure jobs and no time to spend together torn apart Jim and

Leslie’s marriage.

CliffsNotes (or Cliff Notes) – a brand of study guides where famous books and

other academic information is explained simply in a small, yellow-and-black book

* Did you read Hamlet or just the CliffsNotes?

to fall out of love – to no longer be in love with someone; to realize that one no

longer loves another person as one used to

* They had been married for 23 years, when one day, her husband told her that

he had fallen out of love with her.

love at first sight – the feeling of knowing that one loves another person

immediately after seeing him or her for the first time, without knowing anything

about him or her

* When Imea saw Olaf across the room, she knew that it was love at first sight

and she had to go talk to him.

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). 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 – 106

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a short story written by Washington Irving, an

American writer, in 1820. In the story, a weak teacher named Ichabod Crane

falls in love with a young woman and competes with a very strong, “rowdy” (noisy

and violent) man “for her affection” (to get the woman to choose him as her

husband). One night, they are all at a party. When Ichabod leaves the party, he

is followed by the “Headless Horseman” (a man without a head who is riding a

horse), who is a “ghost” (the spirit of a person that is left on earth after he or she

dies) looking for his own head. Ichabod gets very scared, and leaves the town.

The woman marries the other man, and the reader is left thinking that the other

man might have been involved in scaring Ichabod away.

The story has “captured the imagination” (made people very interested and

curious) of many readers. Many movies and “cartoons” (animated movies) have

been made about Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman. There is even a

“Headless Horseman Historic Run” in the town of Sleepy Hollow, where a

“descendant” (a person who lives after another person and is related to that

person) of Washington Irving takes people on motorcycle tours of Ichabod

Crane’s “path” (direction of going somewhere) out of Sleepy Hollow.

Some people “claim” (say that something is true, especially if it seems unlikely) to

have seen the Headless Horseman. Many of these sightings occur around

Halloween (a holiday on October 31, when there are supposed to be many

ghosts).

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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 – 106

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 106.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast English Café episode 106. I’m

your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational

Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Be sure to go to our website at eslpod.com and take a look at some of the new

features we offer on our website. You can also download a Learning Guide for

this episode, which gives you the complete transcript of everything we say as

well as the vocabulary words, definitions, cultural notes, and additional definitions

that are not found on the audio portion of this episode.

Today we’re going to talk about two things that most Americans know about, at

least most Americans of my generation – of my age. One is “Bigfoot,” the other

is the famous comedy dialogue “Who’s on First.” These are both things that I

think almost every American knows about, but you may not have heard of them

or seen these things so we’re going to talk about those today. We’re also going

to, as always, answer a few of your questions. Let’s get started.

Back in the 1970s, when I was growing up, there were lots of programs on TV

about strange “phenomena,” strange things that would happen. These were

shows that, as a child, I always found interesting. For example, there would be a

television show about “UFOs,” unidentified flying objects – people from other

planets – and there would be television shows about whether they existed or not.

One popular topic for these shows was something or someone called “Bigfoot,”

usually spelled as one word: “Bigfoot.” He is also known by a Native American

name, which is “Sasquatch” (Sasquatch). Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, is part of what

we could call American “folklore” (folklore). “Folklore” are traditional stories that

are told; your grandfather tells your father, and your father tells you, and so forth.

Usually when we talk about folklore, we’re talking things that are either

exaggerated or simply not true – things that people have imagined or made up.

Part of that folklore includes this thing called “Bigfoot.”

Now, Bigfoot is supposed to be like a big ape – like a big animal. People say

he’s between 7 and 10 feet tall, which would be up to 3 meters, so very tall. He

is covered in dark brown hair so he looks like a big ape, like an animal that you

would find in a jungle. He has a big head with very large eyes. The head sits on

his shoulder so that you can’t even see a neck.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 106

Now, Bigfoot is supposed to live in the Northwest part of the United States, out in

the middle of the forest. The Northwest part is sometimes called the “Pacific

Northwest,” it includes the states of Washington and Oregon, also the Canadian

province of British Columbia could be considered part of the Pacific Northwest.

Well, Bigfoot is supposed to live there, and there are people who say that they

have seen Bigfoot. I remember watching a television show as a child, where

they actually showed some movies – a film – that had Bigfoot in it at a distance.

You couldn’t see him very well, but there was this tall, ape-like man in the movie.

Now, one of the interesting things about folklore stories like this is that many

people, knowing that they aren’t really true, try to convince other people that it is

true. And so, associated with Bigfoot have been a number of what we would call

“hoaxes” (hoaxes). A “hoax” is when someone does something to make you

believe something that isn’t true. For example, another common story in

American folklore – modern American folklore – is that Elvis is still alive – Elvis

Presley didn’t actually die! Well, some people try to create photographs on the

computer to make it look like “Oh, there’s Elvis!” We even talk about “Elvis

sightings.” A “sighting” (sighting) is when you see someone. Here in Los

Angeles you can have movie stars sightings, where you see a famous movie star

on the street.

Well, people have claimed to have sightings of Bigfoot, including, as I say, this

movie that was once shown on television, or short film, but these are usually

proven to be false – they’re proven to be hoaxes. Of course, that doesn’t mean

that Bigfoot doesn’t really exist, however it would be unusual for an ape to live in

a cold, wet area such as the Pacific Northwest when most apes live in warmer

climates – Africa, Asia, or in nearby islands. There is no physical evidence for a

Bigfoot-like creature in the U.S. The word “creature” (creature) usually is a term

to describe an animal: this “creature” – this animal. But, you may want to still

believe in Bigfoot if you like.

There are similar stories in other countries. In Scotland, for example, there’s a

famous story of the “Loch Ness Monster.” This is supposed to be a monster that

lives in a large lake in Scotland, and people say that they have seen this monster

– this big animal – and have taken pictures of it! So, you can believe what you’d

like. Maybe we can get Bigfoot to come on the English Café and give us an

interview – if he speaks English!

Our next topic is also very well known to most Americans. It probably is not as

common in other countries because it’s a series of jokes – it’s a dialogue, a

comedy dialogue, what we would call a “comedy routine” – that was made

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

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