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English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 39

TOPICS

Topics: Country music, July 4 th celebrations, clever vs. smart, you formal vs.

informal, college vs. high school, to ride vs. to drive, “Tell me about it!”, to throw

in the towel

_____________

GLOSSARY

rural – countryside; not very close to a town or city

* The university he will attend is in a rural part of the state.

banjo – a musical instrument with strings with a long neck and a round body

* She sang while her husband played the banjo.

cowboy – a person, usually a man, who rides a horse and watches the animals,

such as cows and sheep, while they move from place to place

* My uncle was a cowboy and taught me how to ride a horse.

stereotype – an oversimplified and often wrong idea of something

* One stereotype of an American is someone who is loud and self-important.

crop – plants that are grown for food

* This year’s cotton crop is the best we’ve ever had.

declaration – formal statement or announcement

* The organization’s declaration says that any player from any team can join.

fireworks display – a show with fireworks that explode slowly and fill the night

sky with different colors

* The city celebrated its 100-year anniversary with a big fireworks display.

stripe – a long narrow band

* When he repainted his car, he asked for a red stripe to be painted on each side.

outdoors – in the open air; outside a building

* Summer is a good time to eat and play outdoors.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 39

corn on the cob – corn that is still on the long, round center part that it grows on

* Could you pass me some fried chicken and corn on the cob?

“ Tell me about it! ” – used when you agree with someone because of your own

experience; there is no need for that person to tell you because you already

know

* A - The concert was really great.

B - Tell me about it! I had front row seats.

sarcastic – trying to make someone else look foolish in a joking way; often a

way to say unkind things about someone

* She said that my dress looked nice, but I know she didn’t mean it because she

said it with a sarcastic tone of voice.

to throw in the towel – to give up; to drop out

* I’ve tried to fix this car for three days and it still doesn’t work. I’m ready to throw

in the towel!

to stay with something – to continue trying or doing something

* If you stay with it long enough, you will learn to play the piano well.

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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 – 39

ENGLISH LEARNING TIPS

Pictures can often help you understand what you are listening to or reading. One

good way to improve your everyday English is to read stories with pictures, such

as comic books and graphic novels. (Graphic novels are longer books, often for

adults, which have pictures and words like a comic book.) Comic books and

graphic novels are not just for children, and they are not “too easy” for many

intermediate students. They can be excellent ways to pick up new vocabulary in

a fun and interesting way. Some can be very interesting and contain difficult

vocabulary as well.

Comic books are often written at a low reading level, with simpler vocabulary.

For beginning and intermediate students, comics such as Archie , Tom and Jerry ,

and Bugs Bunny are good places to start. They are written at a low reading level

but still contain a lot of useful daily vocabulary. If you are more advanced, you

may want to try comics such as Superman , Spider-Man, and Batman , all of which

are written at a higher level but are still easy to understand because of the

pictures and drawings. There are also many translated Japanese anime graphic

novels in English that are written more for adults. Many of these have science

fiction themes that adults can enjoy.

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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 – 39

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You're a listening to English as a Second Language Podcast English Café

Number 39.

This is the English Café Episode 39. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to

you from the Center for Educational Development in the beautiful city of Los

Angeles, in the beautiful state of California. On today's Café, we're going to talk

about country music, one of the most popular forms of music in the United

States, in some places. We're also going to talk about the Fourth of July, which is

a national holiday here in the United States. We'll talk about why that is. And, as

usual, were going to answer a few of your questions. Let's get started.

Remember you can get a complete transcript of this podcast along with the

definitions of the words that we use, and sample sentences, as well as tips on

learning English. All of this is available on our website in our Learning Guide at

eslpod.com.

Our first topic today is country music. And, “country music,” which is sometimes

called “country and western music” is actually lots of different types of music that

are popular in the United States. It originally comes from the southern United

States, the southern states. And, when we say the southern United States, and

sometimes just the South, with a capital S, we mean the states of Louisiana,

Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina,

Kentucky, Tennessee, perhaps even Texas and Virginia would be included in the

South. Georgia is also a part of the South. But, this music, although it originally

comes from the South, is popular in many different areas. It's very popular in

rural areas of the United States. “Rural” is the part of the United States, the part

of a country that is outside of the city, where there are farms, for example. So, it's

a popular type of music, and many type(s) of people like it. It's again very

popular, especially in the southern United States and in rural areas.

And the term "country" or "country and western," as I said, also includes lots of

different types of music. Some people think Country music all sounds the same

and that’s not true. There are lots of different kinds of country or country and

western music. Bluegrass music, for example, is part of country music, music

that is made with banjos. A “banjo” is an instrument; it sounds like this: (banjo

playing). That's also considered country music. There's also music which was

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 39

originally called western music, but again country and western, and now we just

say, usually just say "country music" includes music about cowboys, music about

people who work in the western part of the United States where there were lots

of cowboys. A “cowboy” is a man who is in charge of keeping the animals from

leaving the farm, from leaving the area where they are being used.

And, this is country and western music has lots of different types of music. A

typical country and western song is difficult to define, but normally when you

think about country music there is a stereotype. A “stereotype” is what people

think is true but is usually a over generalization so you think that everyone is like

that. "Everyone in Minnesota is always happy." Well, that would be a stereotype,

not a true stereotype. So, stereotypes are not always true, but you assume it to

be true for everyone. Well, there is a stereotype for country music that it's usually

about a man who has lost his wife or lost his girlfriend and now he’s sad and he’s

singing a song about how sad he is because he lost his girlfriend or his wife. His

wife or his girlfriend left him, is the idea. And that’s kind of a stereotype of a

country music song.

Some of the most popular country music singers have been people like Dolly

Parton. Dolly Parton is very famous in the United States. She is a country singer,

actually a very good singer. She was also in a few movies back in the 1980's.

Willie Nelson is also a popular singer. A man who is getting old now, but he is

very popular as a country artist. A third one would be Kenny Rogers. Kenny

Rogers had many popular country songs that sold a lot of records. He sold a lot

of records with these country songs. One of Kenny Rogers’ most famous songs

is actually about a man who loses his wife, whose wife leaves him, and it's called

Lucille. Lucille was the name of the wife. And so, if you ask an American to sing

this song, most of them know it, they’ve heard it. It was very popular back in the, I

think 1970's, might have been 1980's, and of course I will sing it for you, because

I know that you want me to. (Jeff sings Lucille ). Well, that’s all you get. You'll

have to buy my record, my album, my CD to hear the rest of that song. "You

picked a fine time to leave to me" is kind of a joke line. "You've picked a terrible

time" is what he's actually saying, "to leave me Lucille," his wife. He has four

hungry children and a crop in the field. A “crop” is when you grow corn or wheat,

whatever you grow on the farm is called your crop and he has a crop in the field

that he has to go and get, and his wife has left him. So, a very sad song, but a

very famous country song. Some of the most famous country singers are now not

from the United States. One of the most famous ones is a singer from Australia

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

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