EC118_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 118

TOPICS

How to become the president of the United States, tailgating parties, seize

versus arrest versus detain, pronouncing “the,” expressions for showing

sympathy

_____________

GLOSSARY

constitution – the highest law of a country’s government

* The U.S. Constitution was written in 1787 and officially adopted in 1789.

amendment – an official change or addition to a country’s constitution

* The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives Americans freedom of

speech and religion, among other things.

natural-born – a citizen of a country because one was born in that country

* In the United States, only natural-born citizens can become president.

naturalized – a citizen of a country that is not the country where one was born

* Mia passed the citizenship test and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1988.

term of office – the amount of time that an elected government representative

can hold his or her position before he or she must be elected again

* The U.S. president has a four-year term of office.

term limit – the maximum number of times that a person can be elected for a

particular government position

* The United States has a term limit so that no president can serve more than

two four-year terms.

primaries – primary election; a U.S. election where people choose the person

who will run for a particular government position for each political party

* Which candidate do you think will win the Democratic primaries?

general election – a U.S. election where everyone can vote for whom they think

should hold a particular government position

* The U.S. general election is held on the first Tuesday of November every four

years.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 118

consecutive – things or periods of time that follow one another without any

break

* Melvin has an unusual work schedule because he works 10 consecutive days

and then has four days to rest.

to tailgate – to have an informal party where one’s pick-up truck or car is parked,

usually before or during a football game

* He always tailgates with his friends before important university football games.

tail – back; behind; rear

* The seats in the tail section of the bus are less comfortable than the seats in

the front of the bus.

to grill – to cook something by placing it on a metal frame over a hot fire

* When the weather is nice, we grill chicken and hamburgers in the backyard.

hinge – a small piece of metal that is attached to a wall and a door or another

object to let that door or object open and close easily

* When the hinge broke, the door wouldn’t close properly.

to seize – to catch someone, especially a criminal, by surprise and not let that

person get away

* The police seized three drug dealers on the street yesterday.

to arrest – to take a person to a police station because he or she has broken a

law

* Yolanda was arrested for stealing things from the grocery store.

to detain – to not let someone leave a place, usually because the police want to

ask that person questions

* After the shooting, everyone who saw it happen was detained for two hours for

questioning by the police.

to be in custody – to be kept in jail until one can go to court and have a trial

* Gregory was in custody for almost two months waiting for his trial.

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

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 118

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

Recent Election Controversies

The 2000 presidential election in Florida was highly “controversial” (with many

strong opinions for and against something). The “ballots” (pieces of paper that

have each person’s vote) had to be counted and re-counted many times and the

final “outcome” (results of the election) weren’t known for more than one month.

The “margin” (the difference in the number of votes between the first and second

candidates) was very small, so the state decided to re-count the ballots

“manually” (without using machines). The manual re-count found many mistakes

in the way that the ballots were counted the first time.

One “county” (a geographic area) in Florida used “butterfly ballots” where a page

appeared on each side of the marks that people were supposed to show their

selection of a “candidate” (a person who is running for a political office). Many

people were confused by the butterfly ballots and accidentally marked the wrong

candidate’s name.

“Hanging chads” were another problem with the ballots in Florida. A “chad” is the

small piece of paper that is made when a hole is punched in a piece of paper.

Normally the chad should separate from the ballot. However, sometimes one

side of the chad remains connected to the ballot, and this is known as a “hanging

chad.” A “dimpled chad” is a chad that remains connected to the ballot on all four

sides, but one can see that a person tried to punch it out of the paper. There was

a lot of controversy about whether and how hanging chads and dimpled chads

should be counted.

After all of these problems in Florida, many people “called for” (demanded)

election “reform” (changes to make something better), but the problems still have

not been solved completely.

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

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 118

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 118.

This is the English Café episode 118. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming

to you from the Center for Educational Development in the beautiful City of Los

Angeles, California.

Visit our website at eslpod.com. While you’re there, you can take a look at our

ESL Podcast Store that contains business and personal English courses, such

as Interview Questions Answered , English for Business Meetings, two special

series about daily English: one for a man, A Day in the Life of Jeff , and one for a

woman, A Day in the Life of Lucy . You’ll also find one of our English Through

Story Mysteries called Deadly Letters ; all of that on our ESL Podcast Store.

In this Café, we’re going to talk about how to become President of the United

States. The presidential elections begin in a few weeks here in the U.S., the

beginning of the process of selecting a president. We’re going to talk about what

the official requirements are to become president. I can tell you that intelligence

is not one of them! We’re also going to talk about something called “tailgating”

and “tailgating parties,” what they are, and what you do at them; very popular in

the United States, especially at sporting events – at games. Let’s get started.

Our first topic is how to become President of the United States – a simple thing!

“The United States Constitution,” our official law that has the basic rules for

government in our country, has some specific requirements that you have to

meet in order to become the President of the United States; not just anyone can

become president. These are official rules that you must follow, or qualifications

that you must have. There are three that are listed in the Constitution – the main

part of the Constitution. The first one, which most American citizens know about,

is that you must be a natural-born citizen of the United States.

Well, what does that mean, “to be natural-born?” Usually that’s written “natural-

(hyphen) born.” A natural-born citizen is someone who has two parents who are

both U.S. citizens when they are born. So, when you were born, if your mother

and your father were U.S. citizens then you are considered a natural-born citizen,

even if you are born in another country. Let’s say your parents are living in Paris

or in Beijing or in Buenos Aires, it doesn’t matter where you’re living if both of

your parents are U.S. citizens. Now, if only one of your parents, your mother or

your father is a U.S. citizen, then you are not a natural-born citizen, as I

understand it.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 118

The other kind of natural-born citizen is if you are born physically in the United

States. So, if you were traveling and you were pregnant, or your wife was

pregnant, and you had your baby born in a hospital in the United States, the baby

would be a natural-born citizen. Even if you came into this country illegally, if the

child is born in the U.S. the child is a U.S. citizen even if his parents are not.

Here in California we have, you may know, a famous governor, Arnold

Schwarzenegger; he is not a natural-born citizen of the United States. He can be

Governor of California, he could be Senator for California, but right now with our

current Constitution, he could not become president because he is not a natural-

born citizen. Arnold Schwarzenegger is what we would call a “naturalized

citizen.” A “naturalized citizen” is someone who becomes a citizen of the United

States after they are born. This is someone who’s an immigrant who goes

through the process of “naturalization,” officially becoming a citizen of the U.S.

So, a “natural-born citizen” is someone either born physically in the United

States, or who has two parents who were U.S. citizens when they were born.

The second qualification is that you must be at least 35 years old. Thirty-five is

considered young nowadays. The youngest president ever to be elected was

President John F. Kennedy, back in 1960. He was 43 years old, about my age.

He was the youngest to be elected president when he started in 1961. The

oldest president, when he left office – when he finished his term, we would say,

his period as president – was Ronald Reagan; in 1988 he was 77 years old. So,

there is an age requirement, you must be at least 35 years old.

The final requirement is one that many Americans don’t know about, but it is in

the Constitution. It is that you have to have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years.

So for example, if your parents are living in Moscow and you grow up in Moscow,

even though you’re a natural-born citizen, you have to come back to the United

States for at least 14 years in order to become president. Now, the Constitution

isn’t clear exactly about this; it doesn’t say the 14 years have to be “consecutive,”

meaning one after another after another. The fact is that no one has ever

challenged this requirement – no one has said, “Hey, that person hasn’t lived

here for 14 years,” but it is in the U.S. Constitution.

A President of the United States, according to the 22 nd Amendment to the

Constitution, can only have two terms of office. The United States Constitution

was written in 1789 or so, but there have been changes, and those changes are

called “amendments.” The 22 nd Amendment was approved after the presidency

of Franklin Roosevelt. Franklin Roosevelt was president for four terms, or was

elected to be president for four terms; he died in his fourth term. He was

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.

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