Welcome to Daily English number one.
Introducing yourself.
This is Daily English number one.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in California.
This episode is a story about me introducing vocabulary you need to talk about yourself.
Let's get started.
Let me tell you a little about myself.
I was born and raised in Minnesota, and I'm a native of the city of St.
Paul.
I grew up there with my parents and my eight brothers and two sisters.
I'm the eleventh child So you could say I'm the baby of the family.
But I swear I wasn't spoiled.
That's right.
I'm part of a big family.
Probably the biggest family in the neighborhood.
Perhaps the biggest family in the state.
I didn't have a lot of money, but because they both worked hard, we never felt deprived.
I wasn't much interested in sports like my brothers were.
I enjoyed reading and listening to music while growing up.
I went to grade school near my house and then to high school about two miles away from our home.
After graduating from high school, I went on to the University of Minnesota for my bachelor's degree.
It took me a while to learn the ropes at the university, but I finally graduated about six years later.
Better late than never. as my father used to say.
I then went to Mexico for a couple of years to teach English and to study Spanish.
When I returned, I decided to become a teacher, so I went back to school to get my master's degree.
After teaching high school for a few years, I was offered a job in California, so I moved to Los Angeles in 1991.
After working here for a few years, I went back to school again to get my PhD.
I was starting to become a professional student.
Well, I completed my PhD in four years and then taught at the university for several years.
Now, I work at a small research organization here in Los Angeles.
I am happily married, and I still enjoy reading and listening to music.
And, of course, creating ESLpod.com lessons.
Our story begins by me saying, I'm going to give you some information about me.
I start by saying I was born and raised in Minnesota.
To be born B-O-R-N means, of course, to come out of your mother, to be separated from your mother's body.
To be raised, R-A-I-S-E-D, means to be cared for as a child until you are an adult.
We might also use the phrasal verb to be brought, B-R-O-U-G-H-T, up.
You may, for example, be born in one city and raised in another, if your parents moved soon after you were born.
In the story, I say I was born and raised in Minnesota.
Minnesota is a state in the north central part of the U.S. on the border of Canada.
I continue by saying that I am a native, N-A-T-I-V-E, of the city of St.
Paul.
A native is a person born in a specific place.
I am a native of St.
Paul because that's the city where I was born.
I could also say I'm a native of Minnesota because I was born in the state of Minnesota.
I could say I'm a native of Because I was born in the United States.
So depending on what place you want to use, you can say you were a native of that particular place.
Well, I was a native of St.
Paul.
I grew up there with my parents and my eight brothers and two sisters.
I say then I am the eleventh child, so you could say that is, you could call me the baby of the family.
The baby.
B-A-B-Y here means the youngest person in the family or the youngest child of your parents.
We call that person the baby of the family.
The word baby usually refers to a child, from the time he is born until maybe two or three years old.
But if someone says he's the baby of the family or she's the baby of the family, he means that person is the youngest of the family.
We would say the youngest sibling, S-I-B-L-I-N-G.
Your siblings are your brothers and sisters.
Now, in many families, the baby of the family is spoiled.
To be spoiled.
S-P-O-I-L-E-D is to get whatever you want and often to not behave very well, especially if you're a child.
If parents spoil their children...
The children get whatever they want, and because of that they often don't behave or act like they should.
They don't act politely.
Well, I was not spoiled, even though I was the youngest or baby of the family.
That's right, I say, I'm part of a big family, probably the biggest family in the neighborhood.
A neighborhood is an area inside of a city where you live.
Most cities have several neighborhoods or areas.
I say that I had a happy childhood.
Your childhood, C-H-I-L-D, H-O-O-D, refers to the period during which you were growing up, from the time you were a baby until you became an adult, or perhaps a teenager, 13, 14, and so forth.
That's your childhood.
Some people have a happy childhood, some people have a sad childhood.
I say that my childhood was happy for the most part.
That expression for the most part means mainly or in most cases, or in this case perhaps, the majority of the time.
Sometimes, of course, my childhood was not happy, but usually it was.
I explained that my mother and father did not have a lot of money.
They were not rich, but they both worked hard, meaning they worked a lot.
Because they worked a lot, they had enough money to give us what we needed as children.
Therefore, or because of that, we never, I say, felt deprived.
D-E-P-R-I-V-E-D.
To feel deprived means to not have everything you need to be happy not have the things that you want to have in order to have a good life.
I say that I wasn't much interested in sports.
I didn't like playing sports, but my brothers did.
I instead enjoyed reading and listening to music while growing up.
I say that I went to grade school near my house.
Grade, G-R-A-D-E, school is also called in the U.S. elementary school.
It's the first five to eight years of a child's education, depending on the school.
Sometimes these are also called, in certain areas, grammar school, although that isn't a term as commonly used now as it was say, 50 years ago.
We usually refer to grade schools as elementary schools nowadays.
I then went on to high school which, in the US, is normally grades 9 through 12, though it might be grades 10 through 12 depending on the school system.
My high school was grades 9 through 12.
After graduating, that is, after completing high school, I went on to the University of Minnesota for my bachelor's degree.
To go on to means to move to the next level, in this case, the next level of my education, which was college or the university.
I went to the University of Minnesota for my bachelor's B-A-C-H-E-L-O-R apostrophe S degree.
D-E-G-R-E-E.
A degree is a certificate or recognition of...
Study at a certain school.
A bachelor's degree is given after typically four years of study at a college or university.
I say that it took me a while that is a long time to learn the ropes R-O-P-E-S at the university.
The expression to learn the ropes is an idiom meaning to learn how things are done in a certain group or organization, or to learn how to do a certain kind of job.
In this case, I was learning how things worked at the university.
I say that I finally graduated or completed my studies about six years later.
That is, instead of taking the normal four years at university.
I took six years because well, I'm just not very smart.
I then say better late than never.
The expression better late than never means it is better to do something, even if you don't do it quickly, as long as you are able to complete it or finish it.
So my father used to say better late than never about my university studies, because it took me so long to finish.
But I did, in fact, finish.
Well, at least my bachelor's degree.
I then went to Mexico for a couple of years to teach English and to study Spanish.
When I returned, I decided to become a teacher there.
So I went back to school, that is, I returned to the university, to get my master's degree.
A master's M-A-S-T-E-R apostrophe S degree is a one, sometimes two-year degree that is given for studying about a certain topic after you complete your bachelor's, or typically four-year degree.
A bachelor's degree is sometimes called an undergraduate degree, and a master's degree is a graduate degree.
There are actually two graduate degrees that are common.
One is a master's degree done immediately after, or at least at some point after, finishing your bachelor's degree.
There's also a doctoral or doctorate degree that takes longer.
There are many different kinds of graduate degrees, however.
But master's and doctorate, which we also call a Ph.D., are the most common graduate degrees.
After teaching high school, I say I was offered a job in California, which is true, and I moved here in 1991.
After working here for a few years, I went back to school again to get my PhD.
A PhD, as I mentioned, is a graduate degree.
It usually takes somewhere between four and seven years to complete.
After you get your PhD, you can be called doctor.
I started becoming a professional student, I say.
I then finish by saying that I completed my PhD in four years and then taught at the university for several years.
I taught at a couple of different colleges after I got my PhD.
Now, I work at a small research organization.
Research R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H is used to describe efforts to learn more about something, either in a scientific or other disciplined way.
I work at a research organization here in Los Angeles.
I say I am happily married.
To be married is M-A-R-R-I-E-D, means to have a husband or a wife.
I am happily married and I still enjoy reading and listening to music, as well as, of course, making these ESLpodcom lessons.
Now, let's listen to the story again, this time at a normal speed.
Let me tell you a little about myself.
I was born and raised in Minnesota, and I'm a native of the city of St.
Paul.
I grew up there with my parents and my eight brothers and two sisters.
I'm the 11th child, so you could say I'm the baby of the family, but I swear I wasn't spoiled.
That's right.
I'm part of a big family, probably the biggest family in the neighborhood, perhaps the biggest family in the state.
I had a happy childhood, for the most part.
My father and mother didn't have a lot of money, but because they both worked hard, we never felt deprived.
I wasn't much interested in sports like my brothers were.
I enjoyed reading and listening to music while growing up.
I went to grade school near my house and then to high school about two miles away from our home.
After graduating from high school, I went on to the University of Minnesota for my bachelor's degree.
It took me a while to learn the ropes at the university, but I finally graduated about six years later.
Better late than never, as my father used to say.
I then went to Mexico for a couple of years to teach English and to study Spanish.
When I returned, I decided to become a teacher, so I went back to school to get my master's degree.
After teaching high school for a few years, I was offered a job in California, so I moved to Los Angeles in 1991.
After working here for a few years, I went back to school again to get my PhD.
I was starting to become a professional student.
Well, I completed my PhD in four years and then taught at the university for several years.
Now, I work at a small research organization here in Los Angeles.
I am happily married and I still enjoy reading and listening to music and, of course, creating ESLpodcom lessons.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESLpod.com.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
