Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 633.
Moving out of a home.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 633.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful and I do mean beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is called Moving Out of a Home.
It's a dialogue between Andre and Ellie.
Let's get started.
Hello.
Is anyone here?
Yes.
Can I help you?
I saw your door open, and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.
Did you just move in?
No, I'm moving out.
As you can see, I'm doing last-minute packing.
I think I've used up ten rolls of packing tape.
This looks like a major undertaking.
Are you moving yourself?
No, the movers are coming with the moving van tomorrow morning.
I'm moving a few things into storage and I'll take a few of the perishables and essentials in my car, but they'll be doing the heavy lifting.
No loading for me.
Before they come, though, I need to disassemble this desk and this bookcase.
It'll be a long afternoon.
I can see that.
Are you moving far?
No, I'm only moving about a mile from here to another apartment.
Oh, so you're not moving out of the area?
No, I'm not.
I'm glad to hear that.
Let's make a deal.
I'll help you disassemble your furniture if you'll promise to invite me over to your new place sometime.
Really?
Are you sure you're willing to do that?
Sure.
Hand me those tools and I'll have it done in no time.
Boy, am I glad I left my door open.
Yeah, so am I.
Our dialogue begins with Andre knocking on a door.
He says, hello, is anyone here?
Ellie says, yes, can I help you?
Andre says, I saw your door open and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.
Andre apparently lives near this house saw the door open and for some weird reason decided to go and find out who was there.
He says, did you just move in?
To move in? is a two-word phrasal verb that means to begin living in a new place.
When you move all of your things to a new apartment or a new house.
Ellie says, no, I'm moving out.
To move out is the opposite of to move in.
It's when you are leaving a place, your apartment or your house.
Okay, so Andre doesn't know this woman, and he doesn't know that she's been living there.
So maybe Andre isn't from the neighborhood.
Maybe Andre is a thief, a crook, a criminal.
Let's find out.
Ellie continues, as you can see, I'm doing last minute packing.
To do anything at the last minute means to do it right before the deadline, right before it has to be done.
To wait until there is no more time left.
To pack, P-A-C-K, means to put your things in boxes, in suitcases, so you can move them.
So last minute packing packing here is a noun means the process of putting all your things in boxes to move them at the very last possible opportunity.
Ellie says, I think I've used up 10 rolls of packing tape.
To use up means to complete, to finish, to have no more of.
In this case, she's used up 10 rolls of packing tape.
Packing tape is wide, thin plastic tape.
Tape is sticky on one side, and you use it to close a box to make sure it stays closed.
The tape typically comes on a roll that's a circle that you can then pull the tape off of.
Andre says, this looks like a major undertaking.
Anything that is major is large or important, big.
An undertaking is a task, a job to do, often a long and difficult one.
So you will often see these words together.
A major undertaking, meaning a big job to do.
Are you moving yourself, Andre says, meaning are you doing this alone?
Is no one helping you?
Of course, we think Andre is interested in stealing her stuff.
And so, of course, he wants to know if anyone else is coming over.
Ellie unhappily says, no, the movers are coming with the moving van tomorrow morning.
The movers are the people whose job it is to come and help you pack.
You can actually hire people, pay them to come to your house and help you put all your things into boxes, if you have a lot of things, or perhaps if you're old and don't have the strength, or if you're just lazy.
Ellie is having the movers come over tomorrow with the moving van.
By the way, I should mention, mover has a couple of different meanings in English and those are in the learning guide.
A van is a large truck that is used usually to move things from one place to another.
A moving van is usually a large what we would call semi or semi-truck.
She says I'm moving a few things into storage and I'll take a few of the perishables and essentials in my car, but they'll do the heavy lifting.
Storage is a place where you can keep your boxes and other things, perhaps because you don't have room in your house anymore, perhaps because you are moving to a smaller house, or because you just hate to throw anything away, to get rid of anything, and you have too much stuff.
We all have too much stuff, I think.
Ellie says, I'll take a few of the perishables and essentials in my car.
Something that is perishable P-E-R-I-S-H-A-B-L-E is something usually food that you need to keep in a freezer or refrigerator.
If you don't, the food will, we would say, go bad.
You won't be able to eat it anymore.
So meat, for example.
You can't keep the meat outside of a refrigerator for decades. two days, the meat will go bad.
In fact, the recommended amount of time I think is two hours maximum.
So she's taking these perishables with her.
She's also taking other essentials, things that she absolutely must have, things that she can't wait to use.
Her toothbrush or perhaps her favorite pillow.
The movers, however, will be doing the heavy lifting thing.
To lift L-I-F-T means to take something very heavy and move it off of the ground or off of a table.
You are picking it up.
You are lifting it.
So heavy lifting as a noun, is when you have a lot of very heavy things, things that weigh a lot, that need to be moved.
Sometimes we use this expression just to mean a difficult task, something that is difficult or hard to do.
She says, To load, L-O-A-D, means to put the boxes into the moving van.
To load is usually used when you are moving or going from one place to another and you are taking things with you.
If you are going to the airport, You will need to load your luggage, load your suitcases into your car.
She needs to load the boxes into the moving van, but she's not going to do it herself.
That's why she says, Before they come, she says, To disassemble is the opposite of assemble.
To assemble is to put something together.
To disassemble is to take something apart.
Ellie says, it'll be a long afternoon, meaning I have a lot of work to do, Andre.
What do you want?
Andre says, I can see that.
Are you moving far?
Ellie says, it's none of your business, buddy.
No, she doesn't say that, does she?
No, she says, no, I'm only moving about a mile from here to another apartment.
Andre says, oh, so you're not moving out of the area, meaning away from this city.
She says, no, I'm not.
Andre says, I'm glad to hear that.
Let's make a deal.
To make a deal means to reach an agreement with someone when both people get something out of your agreement.
Well, here's the agreement.
Andre says I'll help you disassemble your furniture, your desk and bookcase.
And Now we see that Andre is not a criminal.
He's someone who is trying to start a romantic relationship with Ellie, you see.
He says...
I'll disassemble your furniture if you invite me over, meaning if you ask me to come to your house for dinner.
And Ellie says, really?
Are you sure you're willing to do that?
So Ellie obviously likes Andre.
She probably shouldn't since she has a boyfriend.
Oh, you didn't know that?
Yeah, she does.
Andre says sure, hand me those tools meaning, give me those tools and I'll have it done in no time.
Tools are things that you use to help you do something else.
You could have a hammer.
You could have a screwdriver.
Those are tools that you would use, perhaps, to disassemble something.
Andre says, I'll have it done in no time, meaning very quickly, very soon.
Ellie says boy, am I glad I left my door open so that any strange man could come in and start talking to me.
She really just said, boy, am I glad I left my door open, but she meant what I said.
Andre says, not surprisingly, yeah, so am I.
Nice job, Andre, if that's your real name.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hello, is anyone here?
Yes, can I help you?
I saw your door open and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.
Did you just move in?
No, I'm moving out.
As you can see, I'm doing last minute packing.
I think I've used up ten rolls of packing tape.
This looks like a major undertaking.
Are you moving yourself?
No, the movers are coming with the moving van tomorrow morning.
I'm moving a few things into storage and I'll take a few of the perishables and essentials in my car, but they'll be doing the heavy lifting.
No loading for me.
Before they come, though, I need to disassemble this desk and this bookcase.
It'll be a long afternoon.
I can see that.
Are you moving far?
No, I'm only moving about a mile from here to another apartment.
Oh, so you're not moving out of the area?
No, I'm not.
I'm glad to hear that.
Let's make a deal.
I'll help you disassemble your furniture if you'll promise to invite me over to your new place sometime.
Really?
Are you sure you're willing to do that?
Sure.
Hand me those tools and I'll have it done in no time.
Boy, am I glad I left my door open.
Yeah, so am I.
How do you learn English in no time?
Keep listening to these wonderful scripts by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Come back and listen to us again if you have a chance here at 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.
