Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 443, Having a Slumber Party.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 443.
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.
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A learning guide that can help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is called Having a Slumber Party.
It's a conversation between Russ and Irene about a party that the girl Irene is going to have with her friends.
It's a particular kind of party that is very popular, especially among young girls in the Let's get started.
Mom says you're having a slumber party next Saturday.
I'm just having a few friends over for a sleepover and it's none of your business.
Don't be like that.
How many people did you invite?
I'm not telling you anything.
I know what you're thinking.
You want to pull pranks on us.
No, I don't.
I just want to know how many giggling girls in sleeping bags I'll have to step over to get to the kitchen.
You're not going to get anything out of me.
I can see right through you.
Don't be stupid.
I haven't worn those since I was six.
Can I be part of the pillow fight?
No way.
You're not invited.
But you're going to stay up all night and watch movies, aren't you?
I want to do that too.
You'd better stop teasing me or I'm going to tell Mom.
I'm not doing anything.
I'm only trying to help you plan your party.
Right.
You want to help me?
It's more like you want to wreck my party.
Aw, you've hurt my feelings.
I doubt it.
Now leave me alone.
The title of this episode is Having a Slumber, S-L-U-M-B-E-R Party.
A slumber party is also sometimes called a sleepover.
One word.
A slumber party or sleepover is when many children sleep at one of their friends' houses.
Usually they do this on the weekend, on a Friday or Saturday night, and the kids all come over.
Maybe three four, five or more kids come over and they bring something to sleep in a sleeping bag and they have lots of food and stay up late at night and so forth.
The term slumber party is usually one more associated with girls than with boys, although it's possible for both boys and girls to have this kind of party, this sort of sleepover.
When I was in oh fourth or fifth grade, I remember going over and sleeping at my friend's house with a couple of other friends and we would stay up late at night and watch movies.
In fact I think even once we stayed up all night talking and watching movies and eating.
It's a very popular event for children growing up in the US.
Irene is going to have a slumber party and Russ, her brother, says Mom says you're having a slumber party next Saturday.
Irene says I'm just having a few friends over, meaning I'm having some friends come to our house for a sleepover and it's none of your business.
The expression none of your business means it's not something that you need to know about.
It's not important for you.
But we use this expression in a somewhat hostile or negative sense.
If someone says it's none of your business, That's not a nice thing to say.
They're saying that you have no reason or right to know this.
And it is often said after someone has perhaps tried to get information out of you that you don't want to give them, that you think is private.
Russ says, don't be like that to his sister.
Don't be like.
That is a phrase we use to ask someone to change his or her attitude, his or her behavior, usually when they are angry.
Russ says, Irene says, Of course, they're brother and sister, so sometimes they don't get along.
They don't play nice with each other.
They're not friendly to each other.
Irene says, I know what you're thinking.
You want to pull pranks on us.
To pull pranks P-R-A-N-K-S means to do something to another person, usually something that would be funny or something that would be embarrassing.
It's playing a joke on someone, often a physical sort of thing.
So, for example, when I was growing up, it was sometimes common for my friends and I to run around in our neighborhood and go up to a house and knock on the door or ring the doorbell and then run away and wait for the person to come out, and of course no one would be there.
Now that's not very funny to me now, but I guess when I was younger it was funny.
That would be a prank that you would pull on someone.
So we use the verb to pull with this particular expression.
Pull has many different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Russ says, no, I don't, meaning I will not pull pranks on you and your friends.
He says I just want to know how many giggling girls in sleeping bags I'll have to step over to get to the kitchen.
To giggle, G-I-G-G-L-E, means to laugh.
Usually to laugh in a very high voice.
I can't do it very well because I'm not a girl.
But girls, especially young girls, are often seen or heard giggling.
Usually it's because you are embarrassed or because there's something funny that's happened.
It's something we associate mostly with young girls.
Giggling girls, in this case, will be in sleeping bags.
I mentioned sleeping bags a few minutes ago.
A sleeping bag is a long warm, thick piece of material, of fabric that is filled often with feathers.
And it allows you to sleep on the ground and still stay warm.
So it's like a big blanket that has a zipper on the side so that you can stay warm.
It's often used for camping outdoors, but it could also be used at someone's house.
When you are sleeping on the floor, you could sleep in a sleeping bag.
So all the kids, when they came over for the slumber party, would bring their own sleeping bag.
So Russ says I just want to know how many giggling girls in sleeping bags I'll have to step over to get to the kitchen.
The idea here is that the girls will be sleeping probably out in the main, or what we would call the living room.
And since the kitchen is often next to that, if he wants to go to the kitchen he'll have to step over these girls in the sleeping bags to get there.
Irene says, To get something out of someone means to get information, especially secret information, from someone, to do something, to make the other person tell you something that they don't want to tell you or that you want to know.
That is a secret.
Irene says, I can see right through you.
The expression to see right through someone means that you understand someone's plans.
You understand what a person is trying to do, even though the person is trying to hide it from you, is trying to keep it a secret.
Russ says in response, Are you going to wear your pajamas with feet?
Pajamas, P-A-J-A-M-A-S, are clothes that you wear to bed.
Usually there's a shirt and there are pants.
For very young children.
Sometimes there are pajamas that are one piece, that the whole thing is one piece of clothing and that on the bottom there are little feet like shoes, so that the young child doesn't get cold.
Of course, Irene is older than that, and so she would not still be using something like that.
So Russ is making a joke.
Are you going to wear your pajamas with feet? just like you did when you were a younger girl.
Irene says, Then Russ asks, A pillow is something that you put your head on when you sleep.
So a pillow fight is when people hit each other with pillows.
It's something that might happen at a slumber party or a sleepover.
Irene says, no way, meaning absolutely not, completely impossible.
You're not invited.
You're not invited to the party.
Russ says, but you're going to stay up all night and watch movies, aren't you?
To stay up all night means to stay awake all night, never to go to sleep.
Once again, Russ is joking, is kidding with Irene.
He doesn't really want to do that.
Irene says, you'd better stop teasing me or I'm going to tell mom.
To tease someone means to make jokes about someone, to laugh at someone or make other people laugh at someone.
It's not considered a nice thing to do.
Russ says, I'm not doing anything.
I'm only trying to help you plan your party.
Of course he isn't.
Irene says, right.
When we use the word right in that way, with that intonation, that sound, oh, right.
Right.
What you're really saying is that you don't believe what the other person is saying.
Normally, right means that you agree with someone or that someone is telling you something.
That is true.
But here, when used with that particular tone, it is the opposite.
It means I don't believe you.
Irene then says, you want to help me?
It's more like you want to wreck my party.
To wreck, W-R-E-C-K.
Here means to ruin or to destroy.
Wreck has a couple of different meanings.
Once again, take a look at the learning guide for this episode.
Russ then says, once again joking, aww.
To hurt someone's feelings means to make someone feel bad, to make someone feel sad about something.
Now let's listen to the dialogue again, this time at a normal speed.
Mom says you're having a slumber party next Saturday.
I'm just having a few friends over for a sleepover and it's none of your business.
Don't be like that.
How many people did you invite?
I'm not telling you anything.
I know what you're thinking.
You want to pull pranks on us.
No, I don't.
I just want to know how many giggling girls in sleeping bags I'll have to step over to get to the kitchen.
You're not going to get anything out of me.
I can see right through you.
Are you going to wear your pajamas with feet?
Don't be stupid.
I haven't worn those since I was six.
Can I be part of the pillow fight?
No way.
You're not invited.
But you're going to stay up all night and watch movies, aren't you?
I want to do that, too.
You'd better stop teasing me, or I'm going to tell Mom.
I'm not doing anything.
I'm only trying to help you plan your party.
Right.
You want to help me?
It's more like you want to wreck my party.
Aw, you've hurt my feelings.
I doubt it.
Now leave me alone.
The script for this episode was written by someone who would never hurt your feelings, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
