New-School-Year_Vocabulary.pdf

New School Year - Vocabulary Lesson

Hello, and welcome to the vocabulary lesson for the conversation “New School Year.” In this

conversation, Joe is talking with Richard. Richard is mine and Joe’s neighbor. He lives in the same

building where mine and Joe’s apartment is. Richard is a first grade teacher and his new school year has

just begun. So this is what he and Joe are talking about.

Okay, let’s begin with the conversation.

* * * * *

Joe first says, “How’s the...”

Now how’s here... This is short for how is.

Joe says, “How’s the, uh...”

Uh. This is a filler word. It really has no meaning. It’s not needed in the sentence.

Joe goes on to say, “How’s the new school year goin’?”

Now goin’... This is short for going.

And Joe says, “I know you just started it up again.”

Started it up. This means to begin something. Started it up. For example: I started up my degree in

teaching in 2003. Started it up.

And then Richard says, “Uh, yeah...”

Yeah is casual or slang or informal for yes.

And then Richard goes on to say, “It’s off to a rough start.”

Off to a rough start. Now this means a difficult or challenging beginning, not an easy beginning. Off to a

rough start. For example: After I locked my keys in the car, I knew my day was off to a rough start.

And then Joe says, “Really?” And Richard says, “Yeah.” And Joe says, “Why so?” And Richard

says, “Uh, we have a new reading program, um...”

Now um... This is the same as uh. It’s just filler. It has no meaning. This um and uh are said a lot of

times in conversations when people are maybe thinking of something else to say.

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New School Year - Vocabulary Lesson

And Richard goes on to say, "It’s called Reader’s Workshop, um, and a new math program,

Everyday Math, so a lot of prep work.”

Now prep... Prep is short for preparation. Prep. An example of prep would be: When you make

vegetable soup, the prep work is cutting up onions, carrots, celery, etc., etc. Cutting up vegetables.

That’s the prep work.

And then Richard goes on to say, “Yesterday I was at school from about 9:00, 9:00 until 2:00.”

And Joe says, “Gosh.”

Now, this is just showing emotion, uh, emotion. For example: I don’t believe you have so much work to

do to get ready for a new school year.

And then Richard says, “Yeah, getting stuff ready."

Or, getting everything ready.

"There is just a lot of preparation for launching the math program.”

Now launching... This is beginning or starting something. Launching. Can also be used to describe the

start of a website. For example: We are launching our website in October. Launching.

And then Joe says, “It sounds like you’re probably starting from scratch because...”

Starting from scratch. What Joe is saying here is it sounds like you’re probably starting at the beginning

with no preparation. Starting from scratch. For example: Let’s say that you were in college and you

were studying science. You have been studying it for three years. Then you decide that you want to

study something different. Maybe you want to study English. You will be starting from scratch because

you will be starting to study English from the beginning. Starting from scratch.

And Richard says, “It is.” Joe says, “You’re used to teaching the...” And Richard says, “Yeah.”

Joe says, “same methodologies before.”

Now methodologies or methodology... This is a way of doing something. For example: Teachers use

different methodologies depending on the subject they teach. Methodologies.

And Richard says, “Right.”

So he’s saying that’s correct. Or Richard is agreeing with Joe.

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New School Year - Vocabulary Lesson

And Richard says, “So...”

And so is just filler. It’s not really needed here. It has really no meaning in this sentence.

So Richard says, “So, we, the last math series..."

Or the last math program.

"that we had, we had for, um, four years.” And Joe says, “Uh-huh.”

Now, this doesn’t really mean anything. Joe is just letting Richard know he is listening.

And Richard says, “And so, y’know...”

Y’know. This is short for you know. You won’t see this in written English but you’ll definitely hear y’know

and other shortened words in conversational English.

So Richard goes on to say, “It was like, easy to teach.”

Like, easy to teach. Now like is... You probably know like is usually, um... Or it has a meaning of when

you have positive feelings for someone. You like someone. But here it’s just filler. It really has no

meaning. It’s not needed in the sentence.

Then Richard goes on to say, “Y’know, I didn’t need to do any prep stuff...”

Or I didn’t need to do any prep work.

“for it, y’know.” And Joe says, “Right.” And then Richard says, “I knew what I was going to do

from day to day.”

Day to day. This means happens every day or most days. Day to day. For example: When I was in

school I would go to the library day to day to study. Day to day.

And then Joe says, “Mm-hm.”

Now this doesn’t really mean anything. Again, Joe is just letting Richard know he is listening.

And Richard says, “And now, tomorrow’s Monday.”

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New School Year - Vocabulary Lesson

Tomorrow’s. This is short for tomorrow is.

And Richard goes on to say, “And we’re launching the program. So it’s lesson one and I don’t

know what I’m doing.” And he laughs. And Joe says, “If it’s not enough to keep your eyes on the

kids the whole time..."

Or all the time.

"now...”

Keep your eyes on. This means to watch closely. Keep your eyes on. For example: When you drive a

car, you can say that you keep your eyes on the road because you do not want to hit another car or a

person crossing the street. Keep your eyes on. So Joe is saying if it’s... You know you already have to

watch the kids, or the children, all the time. And now here you have this new teaching methodology that

you have to get ready for.

And then Richard says, “Exactly.”

So what Richard is saying here is he is just agreeing with Joe. Exactly. You’re right.

And Joe says, “You gotta also be wondering...”

Gotta is short for got to. So you won’t see gotta in written English but you’ll definitely hear it in

conversational English . So what he’s saying is, “You have got to also be wondering or thinking.”

“oh, you know, am I, am I delivering this new methodology correctly?”

Now when Joe says, oh, that’s just filler. It really has no meaning. It’s not needed in the conversation.

When he says delivering this new methodology, he’s saying teaching. Teaching this new methodology

correctly.

And Richard says, “Right, because I, because I want to, I want to teach it as though I know what

I’m doing.” And Joe says, “Yeah.” And Richard says, “So I don’t want to come across...”

Or I don’t want to look like.

“as I’m stumbling for, y’know, my words, or stumbling for what comes next, so...”

Stumbling for. Stumbling for means, in this situation, to be unsure of. Stumbling for. For example: I did

not want to be stumbling for words when I gave a speech at school. Stumbling for.

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New School Year - Vocabulary Lesson

And then Joe says, “Have the kids..."

Or have the children...

"been into it so far?”

Into it. This means to be excited about. For example: Tim is really into football. He watches football

whenever he can. Into it.

And Richard says, “So far, yeah.”

So far. That means until now.

And then Richard says, “Um, right now...”

Or at this moment.

“We’ve just been doin’ a lot of...”

Just. This is just filler. It has no meaning. It’s not really needed. It’s just put into the conversation but it

doesn’t have to be there.

Richard goes on to say, “um, exploration.”

So, he’s saying exploration, or they’re trying... trying it. Trying this new method.

Richard goes on to say, “So there’s a lot of math tools that we just give them time to play around

with...”

Play around with. This means to use. It usually means that you are not very familiar with the thing you

are playing around with. Or that you do not use it very often or very much. For example: Todd likes to

play around on motorcycles. He only rides them two times a year. Play around with.

Richard goes on to say, “so that when we actually teach the lesson...”

Or when we teach the lesson. Actually is not really needed in the conversation. It’s filler. It has no

meaning.

Richard goes on to say, “um, they’re focused...”

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