Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 985, School Fundraisers.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 985.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This dialogue is about trying to raise money, trying to get money for some activity at your school.
Let's get started.
What's this?
It's a note from Rachel's school.
It's about the next fundraiser.
Oh, no.
Not another one.
What is it this time?
A raffle, car wash, or spaghetti dinner?
It's none of those things.
It's a combination bake sale and craft sale.
Parents are supposed to donate baked goods and handmade items.
This is crazy.
Every month there's something else.
Last month, it was a candy sale.
I had to hit up everybody at work.
And that's on the tail of raffle tickets the month before.
It's like this every year.
I know.
We already donated a lot of things to the rummage sale last semester and gift certificates for the silent auction two months ago.
With two kids in two different schools, I feel like we never get a breather.
I know.
And there's more.
Brian's school is asking parents to buy a brick that will be part of a new school building and our names will be engraved on it.
You're kidding, right?
One more fundraiser and my name will get engraved, all right, on my tombstone.
Valerie begins our dialogue by saying to AJ, what's this?
AJ says it's a note from Rachel's school.
A note here means a piece of paper with information on it.
Schools often send information back to parents, or at least they used to, by giving the students pieces of paper that the students would then deliver to the parents.
Nowadays, I guess they could just email the information.
AJ says, this note is about the next fundraiser.
A fundraiser, F-U-N-D-R-A-I-S-E-R, is an event organized by some organization to make money.
One of the things that surprises people about American schools when they come here is that, even though our public schools are free, the schools often have activities events in order to make more money for special programs for the students of the school.
For example, if you have a football team or a musical group that you want your students to participate in, the government may not give the school enough money for the school to organize that.
So the parents have fundraisers where they try to get money by doing a variety of different things.
Valerie talks about some of those things in her reply to AJ.
She says, oh, no, not another one, meaning not another fundraiser.
What is it this time?
A raffle, car wash or spaghetti dinner?
Valerie lists three popular ways that schools and other organizations try to get money, and A raffle R-A-F-F-L-E is basically a lottery.
It's an arrangement where people buy tickets with the chance of winning one or more prizes, such as money or an iPod, or sometimes even a car.
That's a raffle.
A car wash is an event where group of people, usually students or young adults, get together and they wash people's cars in order to get money for their group.
We used to do this when I was growing up.
The school I went to would sometimes have car washes where the students would go and wash people's cars for five dollars or seven dollars i don't remember how much and they would give that money then to the group so that the group would have money to do whatever it is they wanted to do.
Spaghetti dinners were also very popular when i was growing up.
Spaghetti dinners are when usually a group of students prepares food for people to eat and then people pay, of course, to get the spaghetti dinner.
Spaghetti was popular because it was easy and somewhat inexpensive to make.
AJ says this fundraiser is not a raffle, not a car wash, or a spaghetti dinner.
He says it's none of those things.
He says it's a combination bake sale and craft sale.
These are two other popular fundraisers that are used by schools.
A bake sale is when different people bake cakes and cookies and other sweets and sell them.
A craft C-R-A-F-T sale is where people make things not things you eat, but things like ornaments or decorations for your house.
People make these things and then the group sells them and keeps the money, of course, from the sale.
Parents are supposed to donate baked goods and handmade items, according to AJ.
To donate, D-O-N-A-T-E, means to give to a person or group without expecting anything back.
When you donate money or donate things to a group...
You give them to the person or the group.
AJ is saying that the parents are supposed to donate things for the bake sale and for the craft sale.
Valerie says this is crazy, meaning she doesn't like this idea.
Every month, there's something else.
Last month, it was a candy sale.
A candy sale is when a school or organization buys candy from a company and then sells that candy at a higher price.
It of course keeps the difference between the money it spent to buy the candy and the money it got selling the candy.
Once again, this is something we did at our school when I was going to high school and grade school.
We had candy sales every year where we had to go out and sell these chocolate candies by going around and asking people to buy them.
Valerie says that she had to hit up everybody at work.
To hit up is a phrasal verb, which here means to ask someone for money.
In this case, to ask someone to buy the candy bars.
Parents often help their children sell this candy by asking their friends at work to buy the candy.
I've done that many times in the places where I've worked.
Valerie says that these sales are on the tail of raffle tickets the month before.
Something that is on the tail, T-A-I-L, of something, means it comes immediately after that.
Dogs and other animals have tails, little parts of their body that goes off the end of their body, the back of their body.
That's what tail means.
It means the end of something.
Valerie says it's like this every year, meaning every year they have all of these different fundraisers.
AJ says, I know.
We already donated a lot of things to the rummage sale last semester.
A rummage R-U-M-M-A-G-E sale is similar to a garage sale or a yard sale, but is typically held by a group, usually in a large auditorium or in a large area outside of, in this case, the school.
A rummage sale is when people donate things they no longer want anymore and the organization takes those things and sells them to other people.
Usually it takes place on one day or over a two-day period.
Many schools and other religious organizations have rummage sales in order to make money for their group.
AJ also says that he and Valerie donated gift certificates for the silent auction two months ago.
A gift certificate is usually a piece of paper you buy that allows you to spend a certain amount of money at a store.
Nowadays it's much more common to have gift cards which are like little credit cards but are used only for one particular store and have a certain amount of money on them.
A silent auction A-U-C-T-I-O-N is an event where people write their name on a list to show how much money they're willing to pay for something.
An auction is normally when things are sold to the person that will give the highest price.
There isn't one set or fixed price.
A silent auction is the same concept, except you don't have somebody standing up and trying to sell it in front of a group of people.
Rather, you have a list next to each thing that's being sold and you go around and you put down the price you're willing to pay.
We would call that price in an auction your bid, B-I-D.
AJ says, AJ and Valerie have two children, and they are attending or going to two different schools.
Each school will have its own fundraisers.
That means a lot of fundraisers for AJ and Valerie.
That's what AJ is talking about when he says, I feel like we never get a breather, B-R-E-A-T-H-E-R.
A breather is a time to breathe literally, but it means here a break, a period of time when you can rest.
Valerie says, I know, and there's more.
Brian's school is asking parents to buy a brick that will be part of a new school building and our names will be engraved on it.
When an organization is building a new building, they'll often try to raise money for that building by selling bricks and
These are bricks that will go into the wall that will have the person who gave the money's name on it.
The name will be engraved, E-N-G-R-A-V-E-D, on the brick.
To engrave means to use a special tool that puts writing on typically a piece of metal.
Although we also use that verb when talking about putting words in stone or on a very hard surface like a brick.
I actually used to work when I was in high school and in college at a place that did engraving.
So I would put people's names on cups, on silver cups, or on other signs that they would put on their door, for example.
That's engraving.
Schools and other organizations try to raise money for new buildings by selling bricks for 500 or 1000.
You can't just bring a brick and give it to the school and say, well, here's my brick.
You're not buying the brick, of course.
You're just donating money, and this is a way of recognizing your donation.
AJ says, you're kidding, right?
Meaning, you're joking, aren't you?
But of course, Valerie is not joking.
One more fundraiser and my name will get engraved, all right, on my tombstone.
Your tombstone T-O-M-B-S-T-O-N-E is a large stone that is placed above where you are buried when you die.
We call that place where they put your body a grave, G-R-A-V-E.
Traditionally, tombstones on graves have the person's name engraved, the year they were born and the year they died, sometimes the actual date of their birth and death and possibly a short message.
AJ is joking, of course.
He's saying that there are so many fundraisers that they are going to kill him with all this extra work.
That's why he says one more fundraiser, meaning if I have to participate in one more fundraiser And my name will get engraved all right on my tombstone.
All right here means for sure or definitely.
Of course, that could be another fundraiser.
Schools could sell tombstones and you could have your name engraved on it and just leave the day of your death blank.
You wouldn't fill that in until you actually died.
I'm just kidding, of course.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
What's this?
It's a note from Rachel's school.
It's about the next fundraiser.
Oh no, not another one.
What is it this time?
A raffle, car wash, or spaghetti dinner?
It's none of those things.
It's a combination bake sale and craft sale.
Parents are supposed to donate baked goods and handmade items.
This is crazy.
Every month there's something else.
Last month it was a candy sale.
I had to hit up everybody at work, and that's on the tail of raffle tickets the month before.
It's like this every year.
I know.
We already donated a lot of things to the rummage sale last semester and gift certificates for the silent auction two months ago.
With two kids in two different schools, I feel like we never get a breather.
I know, and there's more.
Brian's school is asking parents to buy a brick that will be part of a new school building and our names will be engraved on it.
You're kidding, right?
One more fundraiser and my name will get engraved all right on my tombstone.
The greatest script writer on the internet.
That's what I think they should put on Lucy Say's tombstone one day.
One day very, very far away, of course.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
