Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 315, Going to the Park.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 315.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
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You can also download a learning guide for this episode to help you learn English even faster.
Our episode is called Going to the Park.
It's a dialogue between a man and a woman who meet in the park.
What will happen next?
Let's find out.
I arrived at the park a little early for our neighborhood baseball game and I needed to kill some time.
I decided to take a walk along one of the trails so I could look at the scenery.
Suddenly, I came across a woman sitting under a tree.
What a beautiful day to be at the park.
You look comfortable sitting on the grass in the shade reading.
Do you come here often?
Not too often.
I come here every so often on the weekends.
This is a great spot for a picnic.
I saw a lot of people on the other side near the fountain, but this is much more peaceful.
Yeah, that's why I like it here.
Were you looking for the baseball field?
It's on the other side of the park.
Yes, I know.
I was just warming up with a little walk around the park.
We have a baseball game starting in a half hour.
I saw some people practicing when I walked past the field earlier.
I haven't seen a baseball game in ages.
Why don't you come and watch?
It should be a good game.
Maybe I will.
Thanks for the invitation.
No problem.
Take care.
You too.
Our dialogue begins with Octavi saying I arrived at the park a little early for our neighborhood baseball game.
The word park describes any natural area, usually one with trees or places to play, usually in a city, although you can have a park anywhere.
But we usually think of parks as being in a city, a green area in the city.
Central Park in New York City is an example.
Octavi says he needed to kill some time.
The idiom to kill some time means to do something with extra time that you have.
You arrive at your doctor's appointment 15 minutes early.
So you have to wait at least 15 minutes, probably an hour if it's the doctor, and before you can see him or her you need to kill some time.
So you read a magazine or a book, for example.
Well, Octavi needs to kill some time because he's early for a baseball game.
He decides to take a walk along one of the trails.
A trail is a footpath, right?
It's a dirt area where you can walk, usually outdoors in a park.
Usually a trail is unpaved.
Unpaved means there's no cement or asphalt.
It's just the ground.
So he's walking along one of the trails in the park to take a look at the scenery.
The scenery S-C-E-N-E-R-Y are the views of the park, the beautiful things around you, such as mountains or a forest or a lake.
Those could all be part of the scenery, nice things to look at.
Suddenly he says he came across a woman sitting under a tree.
To come across someone means to meet someone by chance, by accident, without planning to do so.
You can come across a thing as well.
I was looking on my desk yesterday and I came across a credit card bill.
I wasn't expecting to find it.
I guess I was hoping I wouldn't find it, but I did.
So I had to pay it.
That's to come across something.
So he comes across a woman sitting under a tree, A tall plant with wood at the bottom and leaves.
At the top is a tree.
Octavi says, What a beautiful day to be at the park.
He's trying to start a conversation with the beautiful woman.
Irene says, Oh, hi.
It's a nice day, isn't it?
She's agreeing and continuing the conversation.
Octavi says, you look comfortable sitting on the grass in the shade reading.
The grass is, you may know, the green plant that is usually very short and is used by people to walk on or sit on or sometimes just to make an area look beautiful.
Irene is sitting on the grass in the shade.
Shade, S-H-A-D-E, is an area where there isn't any direct sunlight.
For example, if you are underneath a tree and the tree is blocking the light of the sun, you are in the shade.
There's no direct sunlight.
It's usually cooler in the shade as well, of course.
Irene says that it's a quiet spot away from the playground.
Spot here just means place, a small area.
There are a couple of different meanings for the word spot.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Irene says that it's a quiet spot away from the playground.
A playground is an area for usually young children to play.
It often has equipment for the children to play on, such as a swing, which is when you have like, a small chair that hangs from a tree and you go back and forth in it.
That would be something you might find on a playground.
It's usually a word we only use to talk about an area for children, however.
Octavi then asks a question, ''Do you come here often?''
Octavia uses this expression seriously, but when a native English speaker hears this, they would laugh somewhat.
It's considered a very old way, an obvious way of trying to continue a conversation with a woman whom you are interested in.
And so if you actually wanted to meet this woman, you probably wouldn't use this expression.
Do you come here often?
It's a very old expression, and she might laugh because it's so obvious what you are trying to do.
I've only used it once in my life, and it didn't work.
I never did get to talk to the woman.
So Irene apparently doesn't care that this is an old what we would call pickup line where you try to meet another person, often a man meeting a girl, usually.
Well, not a girl, a woman.
Irene says, not too often, meaning I don't come here very often.
I come every so often on the weekends.
Every so often means once in a while, occasionally.
Not something you do every weekend or every day.
Octavia says this is a great spot for a picnic.
A picnic is when you eat food outside.
People bring food and you come and you sit on the grass and you can have a picnic.
Octavi says, I saw a lot of people on the other side of the park near the fountain.
A fountain, F-O-U-N-T-A-I-N, is a piece of art or sculpture that sends water into the air.
It's usually used for decoration to make something more beautiful. with water.
In Rome, for example, there's the famous Trevi Fountain where you can go and see a million other tourists trying to see the same fountain.
It's beautiful if you can see it without the other million people.
Octavius says that The place where Irene is is much more peaceful.
It's more calm, calmer.
It's more tranquil.
Less noise.
Irene says, yeah, that's why I like it here.
Were you looking for the baseball field?
She's asking Octavia if he's looking for the area where a game is played.
In this case, the baseball game.
You can have a baseball field.
You can have a soccer field.
You can have a football field.
These are all areas or places where you play certain organized games.
Irene says the baseball field is on the other side of the park.
Octavi says, yes, I know.
I was just warming up with a little walk around the park.
To warm up is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to prepare for exercising or to prepare for a big game, a sports game.
By moving your muscles slowly to get them ready.
That's warming up.
I warm up for ESL podcast by running two miles.
No, I don't really.
Irene says, I saw some people practicing on the baseball field when I walked past earlier.
She says, I haven't seen a baseball game in ages.
In ages means in a long time.
Irene is then asked by Octavi, why don't you come and watch?
It should be a good game.
Irene says, maybe I will.
Thanks for the invitation.
This, of course, is a way for Octavi to try to talk even more to Irene.
Octavi says, no problem.
Irene thanks him and he says, no problem, which is an informal way of saying you're welcome.
Then he says, take care.
This is an expression, an informal expression we use with people to say goodbye.
Take care of yourself.
Usually we just say, take care.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I arrived at the park a little early for our neighborhood baseball game and I needed to kill some time.
I decided to take a walk along one of the trails so I could look at the scenery.
Suddenly, I came across a woman sitting under a tree.
What a beautiful day to be at the park.
Oh, hi.
Yes, it's a nice day, isn't it?
It's a quiet spot away from the playground.
Not too often.
I come here every so often on the weekends.
This is a great spot for a picnic.
I saw a lot of people on the other side near the fountain, but this is much more peaceful.
Yeah, that's why I like it here.
Were you looking for the baseball field?
It's on the other side of the park.
Yes, I know.
I was just warming up with a little walk around the park.
We have a baseball game starting in a half hour.
I saw some people practicing when I walked past the field earlier.
I haven't seen a baseball game in ages.
Why don't you come and watch?
It should be a good game.
Maybe I will.
Thanks for the invitation.
No problem.
Take care.
You too.
Thank you.
Our email address is eslpod at eslpod.com.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
Take care.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2017.
