Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 323, Rooms in a House.
This is ESL podcast episode 323.
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 eslpodcom and take a look at our ESL podcast store, which has some business and daily English courses we think you'll enjoy.
You can also take a look at our ESL podcast blog at This episode is called Rooms in a House.
It is, of course, going to talk about the different parts of the house and what is in the different parts of the house.
Some useful daily vocabulary.
Let's get started.
I don't like cats.
That's not really true.
I like cats, but they don't like me.
Last week, my friend Sarah asked me to babysit her cat for two days while she was out of town.
Normally, I would have said no.
But she was in a jam, so I said okay.
As I said, cats don't like me.
When I got home from work, I couldn't find her.
I was sure she was hiding from me.
I looked all over the house.
I started with the bedrooms. looking in the closets and under the bed.
I looked in the bathroom and even behind the shower curtain.
I went downstairs and searched the basement.
No cat.
Next, I looked all over the living room, checking under the couch and behind the TV.
I also looked in the pantry and then the laundry room, thinking that the cat must be hiding behind the washer or dryer.
Still, no cat.
Finally, I looked in the kitchen.
There was the cat.
She was sitting on the counter.
Somehow, she had managed to open a box of cookies, and there she sat eating them all.
When the cat saw me, she started mewing.
I don't speak the language of cats, but I could have sworn that she was asking me for some milk.
Our story begins by me saying I don't like cats.
Now, the scripts for our episodes, as you know, are written by Dr. Lucy Say.
In this case, Lucy knows that this is true.
I don't like cats.
But then I say that's not really true.
I like cats, but they don't like me.
This is my problem.
Last week, my friend Sarah asked me to babysit her cat for two days while she was out of town.
To babysit B-A-B-Y-S-I-T.
One word usually means to take care of someone else's child, or This is something, for example, that a teenager might do for his or her neighbor.
They would watch the child while the neighbor's parents went somewhere.
To babysit can also be used sometimes to refer to pets or animals that people own.
Usually it's for children.
In this case, I was asked to babysit for Sarah while she was out of town, meaning while she was gone, she was going to another city.
Normally, I would have said no.
Under normal circumstances, my answer would be no.
But Sarah was in a jam, so I said okay.
The story continues, As I said, cats don't like me.
When I got home from work, I couldn't find her, meaning the cat.
I was sure the cat was hiding from me.
I looked all over the house.
I started with the bedrooms, looking in the closets and under the bed.
The bedroom is the place where you sleep.
You sleep on your bed.
Closets are places where you put your clothing.
You usually hang your clothing... and it is a place for storing things as well.
I looked in the bathroom, the place where you have a toilet and a sink, often a shower or a bathtub, and even behind the shower curtain.
The shower curtain is a piece of plastic usually that you put, or rather pull across the shower so that the water doesn't go outside of the shower area.
Some people have showers that have glass doors.
Other people have showers that have a curtain, just like the curtain that you might put on your windows of your house, except this is one for the shower, for the bathroom.
The basement is a large room below the rest of the house.
Most of the houses in cold areas have basements.
In Southern California, however, most houses do not have basements.
I couldn't find the cat.
Next, I looked all over the living room.
The living room is the main room of the house where you sit and sometimes watch television or talk to each other.
I checked under, I looked under the couch and behind the TV.
I also looked in the pantry.
The pantry...
P-A-N-T-R-Y is a small room near the kitchen where you put dry foods rice, for example, cans of soup or vegetables.
You would put these in your pantry.
It's a special place next to the kitchen.
Not every house has a pantry, usually just a big house.
My house does not have a pantry, for example.
I looked in the pantry and then the laundry room.
The laundry room is the place where you wash your clothing.
Laundry, L-A-U-N-D-R-Y, is another word for clothing.
In the laundry room, you will find a washer and usually a dryer.
A washer is a large piece of equipment where you put your clothes in and it washes them with water and soap.
The dryer dries your clothes out.
Some people put their clothes outside to dry on what we would call a clothesline.
They hang it on a clothesline.
Most people, however, use a dryer. and they have a washer and a dryer in their house.
Some people don't have room, and so they will go to a local area, a local store called a laundromat, and you can pay money and put your clothes in a washer and a dryer.
I used to do this when I was a student.
I didn't have any washer or dryer in my apartment, so I would go to the laundromat and have that done.
Finally, I looked in the kitchen.
There was the cat.
The kitchen is the place where food is prepared in a room where you do the cooking.
The cat was sitting on the counter.
The counter is a long surface, a long area that is sort of like a table.
Usually you find a counter in a kitchen or a bathroom.
It's a place where you can put things.
Often underneath the counter, below the counter, there are places to store things or drawers to store things.
Somehow the cat had managed to open a box of cookies, I say.
Somehow meaning in some way.
I'm not sure how, but somehow she managed to.
She was able to do something that is difficult.
She managed to open a box of cookies.
There she sat eating the cookies.
The cat was sitting there eating the cookies.
When the cat saw me, she started mewing.
To mew, M-E-W, is the verb we use for the noise that a cat makes.
In English, we say a cat goes meow, meow, spelled M-E-O-W.
Other languages, cats speak something different, I guess.
But in English, we say meow or meow.
I'm pretty good as a cat.
I say at the end of the story that I don't speak the language of cats, but I could have sworn that she was asking me for some milk.
It's common when you have cookies to also drink milk in the U.S., at least for little children.
The expression I could have sworn S-W-O-R-N is a phrase used to show that you thought something was true, or or that you believed something, but it was in fact wrong.
It was incorrect.
I could have sworn I put my keys on the table, but I look on the table and there are no keys.
I could have sworn.
I thought it was true, but it isn't true.
Now let's listen to the story this time. at a normal speed.
I don't like cats.
That's not really true.
I like cats, but they don't like me.
Last week, my friend Sarah asked me to babysit her cat for two days while she was out of town.
Normally I would have said no, but she was in a jam, so I said okay.
As I said, cats don't like me.
Next, I looked all over the living room, checking under the couch and behind the TV.
I also looked in the pantry and then the laundry room, thinking that the cat must be hiding behind the washer or dryer.
Still, no cat.
Finally I looked in the kitchen.
There was the cat.
She was sitting on the counter.
Somehow she had managed to open a box of cookies, and there she sat eating them all.
When the cat saw me, she started mewing.
I don't speak the language of cats, but I could have sworn that she was asking me for some milk.
The script for this episode was written by our own Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2007.
