Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 605, Talking About Astronomy.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 605.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in in the beautiful city of Los Angeles, in the state of California, on the North American continent.
This episode, as all our episodes, has a learning guide.
It's an 8-10 page guide that gives you a complete transcript of everything we say, as well as additional cultural notes and vocabulary definitions.
Lots of fun stuff.
Go to our website at eslpod.com and download it.
This episode is about the stars, about astronomy, which is the study of stars and planets, and all of that good stuff up there.
Let's get started.
What are you working on, honey?
It's a project for school about the Earth and its place in the universe.
I have to write a report and build a model of what scientists can see with a telescope in space.
I can help you with that.
I was always good in science, especially astronomy.
Okay, Dad.
If I need help, I'll ask you.
Is that the report you're writing right now?
Yes.
Make sure you include all of the planets in the solar system.
I plan to, Dad.
Don't forget to talk about the Big Bang.
Oh, yeah.
And talk about traveling through space and how many light years it would take.
Are you going to include stars, asteroids, and other galaxies in your model?
No, the teacher didn't say we had to.
Yes, but including some of those would set your project apart from the others, don't you think?
Sure, Dad.
It would be out of this world.
Right, Dad.
Dad begins by saying to his daughter, Mariko, What are you working on, honey?
Honey is a word that you would use for someone you love.
It means the same as sweetheart or darling.
It could be a husband saying it to his wife.
It could be a father saying it to his daughter, as is the case here.
It could be a mother saying it to her son.
Mariko says, it's a project for school about the earth and its place in the universe.
A project is an assignment when we are talking about a school project.
We're usually talking about something that would take several days to complete.
It's very common in American grade schools, in perhaps seventh or eighth grade, to have a science project.
Sometimes it is an astronomy project.
When I was in school, we had an astronomy project where we had to use a telescope which I'll explain in a moment and write a long report about the different planets.
Mariko is doing a project about Earth.
That's the planet we live on.
I live on, anyway.
I'm not sure where you live. and its place in the universe.
The universe is the entire existence, physical existence.
All of the planets, stars, suns, moons, everything is included in the universe.
Mariko says I have to write a report, a written document, and and build a model of what scientists can see with a telescope in space.
A model here means a small copy of something that looks just like the original.
When I was a young boy, my brother used to build model airplanes.
He would get these kits, these special packages, and he would put together the little parts.
And when he was finished, it looked like a little airplane, a model airplane.
I think he enjoyed doing that.
Or he liked the glue.
Not sure which.
The glue is the liquid that holds things together in this case.
Well, Mariko is not building a model because she likes the smell of the glue.
She's building a model because she's required to for school.
She has to make a model of what scientists astronomers in this case who study the stars and space, can see with a telescope in space.
A telescope is is a long, what we would call cylindrical, round object that you look through.
It has special lenses, special pieces of glass that make things bigger.
They magnify.
And you can see very far into the distance, even up into the sky, even other planets.
Scientists, astronomers have these large telescopes they use and they have more recently put telescopes into space.
Space is sometimes called outer space.
It's all of the universe except for Earth itself.
Sometimes it's used to mean outside of a planet's atmosphere, that is, outside of the area that is immediately around a planet.
In general, however, it's used to refer to everything in the universe but planet Earth.
The word space, as you know, has many different meanings in English.
Well, if you didn't know, take a look at the learning guide for them.
Dad says, I can help you with that.
I was always good in science, especially astronomy, which is, of course, the study of the universe.
Mariko says, OK, Dad, if I need help, I'll ask you.
Meaning she doesn't want his help right now.
Dad, however, insists.
He says, Mariko says yes.
Dad says, A planet is a large object that moves around a sun in the middle.
The Earth is a planet.
Mars is a planet.
Venus is a planet.
Pluto might be a planet.
It depends on who you talk to.
The solar system is the part of the universe that is closest to us.
It includes the sun and the nine or ten planets that move around it.
Mariko says to her father I plan to, meaning I am going to include all of the planets in the solar system.
Dad does not understand that Mariko does not want his help right now.
But he continues.
He says, don't forget to talk about the Big Bang.
The Big Bang...
B-A-N-G or the Big Bang Theory is the idea that everything physical in the universe was created or was started with one large explosion and that small pieces of that explosion are still moving away from each other billions and billions of years later.
Dad says, oh yeah, and talk about traveling through space and how many light years it would take.
A light year is the distance that could be traveled by light in one year.
You often see or hear that term in watching science fiction movies.
It's also used to mean a very long distance or a point in the future that is very far from today.
For example, we are light years ahead of our competition, meaning we are very much advanced way ahead of them.
Astronomers talk about light years in measuring distance in space, and that's what Dad is referring to how long it would take to get from say, one part of the universe to another.
He continues, Are you going to include stars, asteroids, and other galaxies in your model?
A star is... basically a point of light.
It's typically a very large ball of burning gas that is somewhere up in the sky, in space.
Star has many other meanings as well, and those can be found in all together.
Now the learning guide.
Dad also mentions asteroids.
An asteroid, A-S-T-E-R-O-I-D, is a rock that moves around the sun but is much smaller than a planet.
A galaxy, G-A-L-A-X-Y, is a large group of stars and the planets that may be around them.
Earth is located in the Milky Way galaxy.
Dad is, of course, giving suggestions that are unwanted.
So Mariko says, The teacher didn't say we had to include stars, asteroids, and other galaxies.
The father says yes, but including some of those would set your project apart from the others, don't you think?
To set something apart from something else is to make something different or better so that people will notice it.
He wants Mariko to make her model different from the other children, and that would give her perhaps a higher or better grade.
Mariko says, sure, Dad, but you can tell she doesn't really want to.
Dad says, it would be out of this world.
To be out of this world, in this case, means to be very cool, to be very interesting, to be awesome.
It's also sort of a joke, since out of this world can also refer to things that are in space, that are far away from here, a long distance from Earth.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
It's a project for school about the Earth and its place in the universe.
I have to write a report and build a model of what scientists can see with a telescope in space.
I can help you with that.
I was always good in science, especially astronomy.
Okay, Dad.
If I need help, I'll ask you.
Is that the report you're writing right now?
Yes.
Make sure you include all of the planets in the solar system.
I plan to, Dad.
Don't forget to talk about the Big Bang.
Oh yeah, and talk about traveling through space and how many light years it would take.
Are you going to include stars, asteroids, and other galaxies in your model?
No, the teacher didn't say we had to.
Yes, but including some of those would set your project apart from the others, don't you think?
Sure, Dad.
It would be out of this world.
Right, Dad.
I think our scripts are out of this world, and that's because they're written by our wonderful scriptwriter and producer, Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you 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 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
