EC115_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

www.eslpod.com

ENGLISH CAFÉ – 115

TOPICS

Professional wrestling, National Geographic, would-be versus wannabe, be my

guest, why not?

_____________

GLOSSARY

to wrestle – to play a sport where one fights with another person, trying to get

that person underneath oneself on the floor

* The school lets boys wrestle only with other boys who are the same age, size,

and weight.

stage name – a name that an actor or performer uses for performing, but that is

not his or her real name

* Did you know that Nicholas Cage is a stage name, and the actor’s real name is

Nicholas Coppola?

match – an event where two wrestlers fight against each other; a game where

two athletes or teams compete against each other

* Will you have time for a tennis match this afternoon?

ring – a square area that is surrounded by rope walls where wrestlers or boxers

fight each other and people watch from outside that area

* The wrestlers moved around a lot and used the entire wrestling ring.

referee – a person who watches a game, fight, or other sport event and decides

whether the players or fighters have broken any of the rules

* The player became very angry when the referee said that the ball he hit fell

outside of the tennis court.

to pin (someone’s) shoulders – to force a person’s shoulders to touch the floor

for a certain period of time during a wrestling match and thereby win the match

* After three minutes of wrestling, Kuon was able to win by pinning his

opponent’s shoulders.

mat – a soft, plastic-covered surface that is placed on the floor and used to

wrestle, box, dance, or exercise on

* Lisa bought an exercise mat so that she could do sit-ups more comfortably on

the wooden floors in her house.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 115

tag team – a team of two or more wrestlers who fight together one after another

* When a tag team wrestles, only one person on the team can fight at a time, but

the tag team members can change positions whenever they want.

battle royal – a fight among many (4-60) wrestlers, where the last person left

standing in the ring is the winner

* There were so many wrestlers in that battle royal that it was difficult to see all

the fighting!

to diffuse – to disseminate; to spread; to share information or materials with

many people over a large area

* Information diffuses rapidly over the Internet.

not-for-profit/nonprofit – an organization that is created not to make money,

but instead to do something good for society

* When did the American Red Cross become a nonprofit organization?

circulation – the number of copies of a magazine or newspaper that are sold in

a certain period of time

* The local newspaper wants to double its circulation by 2010.

wannabe – an informal word used to refer to people who try to be something that

they are not

* Roger is such a wannabe cowboy! He always wears jeans, boots, and a

cowboy hat, but the truth is that he has never ridden a horse.

would-be – a term used to refer to people who want to become something

* Many would-be actors spend thousands of dollars on acting lessons.

Be my guest! – a phrase used to mean help yourself; a phrase used to invite

someone to do what he or she wants to do; a phrase used to show that one will

not be upset if another person does something that he or she wants to do

* May I take a shower in the upstairs bathroom?

Yes, of course. Be my guest!

Why not? – a phrase used to show that one has no objections to what another

person is suggesting; a phrase used to show that one thinks that another

person’s idea is okay

* Do you think I should apply for that job?

Why not? The worst that can happen is that the company will say ‘no.’

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 115

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

The National Geographic Geography Bee

A “bee” is a competition for schoolchildren, often for spelling or mathematics.

One of the most famous bees in the United States is the “National Geographic

Bee” organized each year by the National Geographic Society. The “purpose”

(reason for existing) of the Bee is to increase interest in “geography” (the study of

the earth’s surface, countries, cultures, and other things) in schools and among

the general public.

Students in grades four through eight may “compete” (try to win) in the Bee.

First, there are competitions in individual schools. Each school may identify one

winner. Then those winners are asked to take a written test about geography.

National Geographic “grades” (determines how many answers are correct) each

test and chooses the “top” (with the highest scores) 100 students from each state

to compete in the state competitions in March or April. Finally, the winner from

each state goes to the National Geographic “headquarters” (the main building of

a business or organization) in Washington, D.C. for the final National Geographic

Bee competition in May.

The competition has been held every year since 1989. Each year it becomes

more “intense” (serious and stressful). Many children study geography “all year

long” (during an entire year) to compete. The competition is shown on public

television. The questions are extremely difficult and most “viewers” (people who

watch the competition) are “amazed” (very surprised in a good way) by the

children’s knowledge of geography. The three top winners receive “scholarships”

(money given to someone to pay for his or her education) of $25,000, $15,000,

and $10,000.

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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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 115

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 115.

This is the English Café episode one-one-five (115). I’m your host, Dr. Jeff

McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in

beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Visit our website at eslpod.com and download a Learning Guide for this episode.

You can also take a look at some of our ESL Podcast premium courses for

additional help in business and daily English.

This episode of the Café is going to find us talking about professional wrestling –

what it is, why it is so popular in the United States. We’re also going to talk about

an American institution, something that most Americans know about, called

“National Geographic,” what the organization is, and why it’s so famous. And as

always, we’ll answer a few of your questions. Let’s get started.

Our first topic is professional wrestling. Professional wrestling is very popular in

the United States; it is a very different kind of entertainment. If you saw the

movie Spiderman, and remember early in movie when Spiderman is trying to get

some money, so he goes to a place where they have people who are fighting

each other and he puts on his costume – his special clothing to make him look

like a spider-man, that is an example of a type of professional wrestling. “To

wrestle” is a verb that refers to two people who are fighting each other, trying to

win.

There is a well known type of wrestling, amateur wrestling, sometimes called

“Greco-Roman” wrestling, which is a very old sport where two people, usually

men, are on the ground and trying to defeat the other person. It’s a kind of a fight

but it’s not like boxing, where you hit them. Instead, you are trying to control

them with your arms and legs. Amateur wrestling is something that children

learn at school, at least in the United States men or boys learn it. It is an

Olympic sport, of course, and it is a very difficult and respected sport.

Professional wrestling is not the same; there are some similarities. You do have

two people, we call them “wrestlers,” who are trying to fight each other, but it’s a

very different kind of entertainment – a different kind of sport. Professional

wrestlers have to be athletic, but really their main job is to entertain – to put on a

show, we might say. So, professional wrestlers have “stage names,” meaning

not their real name, but they create a name that makes them sound tough – that

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 115

makes them sound mean. They have special costumes that they wear, and

there is a lot of fake (or not real) parts of a professional wrestling match. The

game – the fight between two people is usually called a “match.” We use that

word “match” instead of “game” for other sports as well; for tennis, we talk about

a “tennis match.” Well, for wrestling – for professional wrestling they have

matches. These are people (again, mostly men) who are paid to go and

entertain people. Everyone knows that it isn’t real; it’s really more like a play

than a sport. But, the people who are wrestling (the wrestlers) are usually very

good at keeping people entertained by doing crazy things.

A typical wrestling match takes place in a ring. The “ring,” just like the ring on

your finger, is a small area like a stage that has ropes around it. We use a ring

for boxing; we also use a ring for professional wrestling. A typical wrestling

match is a “one on one match,” meaning one person is fighting one other person.

Professional wrestling has a “referee,” a person who, in most sports, decides

whether people are following the rules or not, but in professional wrestling, the

referee is more like a director. They are often telling people (the fighters – the

wrestlers) what they should be doing next. In fact, in many professional wrestling

matches the referee has something in his ear (an earphone) and someone is

telling him what he should do next – what he should tell the wrestlers to do next.

Now, the purpose of a professional wrestling match is to pin your opponent’s

shoulder to the floor. “To pin someone’s shoulders” means to hold their

shoulders down. So you get the person, you throw them down, and you get on

top of them and you try to hold their shoulders to the floor. We call the floor in a

wrestling match the “mat” (mat). So, you are pinning their shoulders to the mat,

usually for three seconds. We would say “for a count of three,” meaning you hold

their shoulders down three seconds, and then you win. This typically takes five

to seven minutes in most professional wrestling matches, sometimes it’s a little

longer.

One of the interesting things about professional wrestling is how crazy some of

the people are. One of the things they try to do at the end of each match is have

what’s called a “finishing move,” and this is something that they do to try to win

the match – to try to win this fight.

Many people watch professional wrestling; it is one of the most popular television

programs on cable television – on satellite television. It is usually one on one,

but sometimes they have what is called “tag team wrestling,” or “tag team

wrestling.” I’m from Minnesota, I say “tag” (Jeff pronounces it like “teg”), most

Americans say “tag.” “Tag team” is when you have two teams; there are only two

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

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