Hello everyone and welcome to English Pod My name is Marco.
My name is Katherine and today we've got some kids for you in this dialogue.
They're doing something that's very common in America, I'm not so sure if it's common elsewhere but we'll find that out later.
So today we're going to ask for money because we are having a fund razer.
So this is a very interesting word. Why don't we take a look at it in vocabulary preview?
Very cablery preview.
So Funraiser is a thing.
It's an event. It's something that you do at a school or a business to try and collect money for a special event or charity.
That's right so a money you can also say is funds, right?
And that's what you're trying to do.
You're trying to collect.
You're trying to gather a lot of money or funds in order for, like you say, some sort of objective purpose.
Right but it's not just like we're having fund -razer to earn more profits this year?
If usually an event that's for some kind of charity or good cause.
So, for example, the company is having a fund -razer for Jenny's child because he's sick and they can't pay for medical care.
So fund -razer is for a good cause.
Exactly. So that's what this dialogue is all about today.
Why don't we listen to the dialogue for the first time and we'll be back in a bit.
Okay Mark, it's your turn to ring the doorbell.
I did it last time.
I hate going door -to -door, and I hate asking for money.
But we need to raise enough money for the school fundraisers so that our class can win the pizza party.
You do want to have a pizza party, don't you?
Yes, but... Just go already.
No one's coming. Try again.
Maybe there's no one home.
Of course there's someone home, there are two cars in the driveway and I can see lights in the house.
Hello, anybody home?
We would like to know if you want to sponsor our school fundraiser.
50 % of the profits go towards the new school playground.
I don't know why anyone would want what's in this catalog anyway it's just a bunch of tacky christmas ornaments CDs of old people singing christmas songs and special crackers and cheeses and boxes of chocolates.
You don't like chocolate?
Not this kind. Got weird names like ganache and preceding.
Look! I just saw someone walking around inside.
These people are being very rude.
Finally, someone's coming.
They don't look too happy.
Hi, sir. Would you like to sponsor us or make a donation to you?
Oh, great. Are you kids in?
Great Seven. Then for Goodness sake, don't you see this sign?
Kit, you read. No soliciting?
Alright, so obviously, the kids are selling a candy and a lot of different things for their new playground.
That's the fundraiser, right?
So, they use a lot of interesting words and phrases there.
Why don't we take a look at a couple of them on language take away?
Language takeaway. Well, the first word is one that Marko you've already talked a little bit about today.
We talked about fun, razor to raise.
Well, we do have the verb here to raise enough money.
So, raise is a verb that means to collect or gather or to get.
That's right. So, you wouldn't really say we are collecting money or we are gathering money.
You say we are raising money for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
That's right. So, the reason we don't say we are earning money is because you're not doing any work, really.
You're not going to the job at nine o 'clock and leaving the job at five o 'clock.
You're actually asking people for donations.
Exactly. So that's what you're doing you are raising money and now moving on another way that you can Help people maybe through a charity or donation is also to sponsor to sponsor someone or some thing okay, so people can sponsor Events or people and companies can also do this as well So to sponsor someone is basically to give them money in support of a cause right for example Have you ever done one of those 5k runs or 10k runs?
Did you have to collect sponsors?
Basically, to find people who would help pay money for you to do this run?
Not personally, but I know people who have actually get companies interested and maybe that person, for example, is going to run five kilometers in this race in order to raise money for victims of some serious illness.
And so they get sponsors, they get companies to donate money for this cause.
Right, you can have a person or a company sponsor you, they could be your sponsor by giving you money that you can then use for this charity or special clients.
That's right, but the difference between a fundraiser and to sponsor something or someone is that sponsoring is not always for a charity or for some sort of a non -profit cause, right, we have many sponsors for concerts or for sporting events.
That's right, so oftentimes when you see athletes, they have their sponsors, or their sponsors logos written all over their jerseys.
The flows that they wear.
So for example, if you're watching Formula One racing, you see the Ferrari and the bank and all these different things.
That's right. So those are different ways of sponsoring events or people.
And now moving on we have a word that's well not really related to money and fundraisers, But it's a very interesting word in very common when the kids mentioned that they're selling a bunch of tacky Christmas ornaments tacky tacky Okay, you're gonna hear this a lot and the interesting thing about the word tacky is that it means something different to everyone So what I think is tacky might be just normal for Marco and what Marco thinks is really tacky might be something that I actually like right and so tacky is Basically a bad thing.
It means something is not good looking or not very not very fashionable fashionable.
It's like an bad taste, but as you say taste is something subjective right?
So maybe for example, sometimes we say that when girls wear too much makeup, it's very tacky right?
Right. Right red lipstick and blue eyeshadow exactly.
So a guy might say Oh that's so tacky Whereas another person might not think it's tacky at all.
So this happens a lot and we use this word a lot with decorations, for example.
For someone in his house, you may describe it as tacky, or a restaurant or a bar.
Right. So for maybe sometimes those Italian restaurants that have the red and white checkered table claws and other pictures of the Italians with the Mustaches, I might think that's a little bit tacky.
But maybe you think it's cute.
Right. So something that's tacky and as we say people use it all the time and it's not necessarily a bad thing You can just say it's a little bit tacky or I think this this thing is a little bit tacky Okay, and that's it right solace it.
Okay, and our final word on language take away towards the end of the dialogue when the kids were reading the sign the sign said no They did not understand what that means.
What does it mean when you have a sinus?
There is no salinity.
Okay so to solicit is to try to sell something or to offer a service.
So basically, the signs mean please don't come to my house and sell me stuff.
For example we have door to door, insurance salesmen or makeup sales people, and these people go to your door, and they try to sell you their products.
And no soliciting means don't come to my house I'm not going to answer the door if you're trying to sell something.
So to solicit is to try and sell something.
Okay, but usually in person trying to make a sale Uninvited, right?
Because if you're a businessman and you have a meeting a sales meeting you're not really soliciting with that other person.
No, this is basically Trying to sell something to a stranger.
Exactly. Okay, very good So a lot of interesting words there don't we listen to the dialogue again and we'll be back shortly with Fluency Builder.
I hate going door -to -door and I hate asking for money.
But we need to raise enough money for the school fundraiser so that our class can win the pizza party.
You do want to have a pizza party, don't you?
Yes… but… Just go already?
No one's coming. Try again.
Maybe there's no one home.
Of course there's someone home.
There are two cars in the driveway and I can see lights on in the house.
Hello. Anybody home?
We would like to know if you want to sponsor us in our school fundraiser.
50 % of the profits go towards the new school playground.
I don't know why anyone would want what's in this catalog anyway.
It's just a bunch of techy Christmas ornaments, cities of old people singing Christmas signs and special crackers and cheeses and boxes of You don't like chocolate?
Not this kind. I've got weird names like, Ganesch and Praleen.
Look! I just saw someone walking around inside.
These people are being very rude.
Finally, someone's coming.
They don't look too happy.
Hi, sir! Would you like to sponsor us or make a donation to?
What grade are you kids in?
Grade 7. Then for goodness sake, don't you see this sign?
Can't you read no soliciting?
Alright so now we're back and we have four key phrases for you on Fluency Builder.
Fluency Builder. Ok, this first phrase is a pretty common one, we wanted to make sure that everyone was comfortable with the verb that goes with doorbell, So Marko, what do you do to a doorbell?
You ring the doorbell.
You ring the doorbell.
So you don't touch it, you don't press it, you can press it, but you ring the doorbell.
to verb. Okay. So, for example, when I was a little, my brother and I always used to fight about who could ring the doorbell.
Really? Yes. I love doing in the doorbell and set it here.
Do you do the long ring or do you do the ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding?
The annoying ring. Yeah, so to ring the doorbell.
All right, all right.
And well, going back, when we were talking about no soliciting, you said that salespeople go door -to -door selling things.
So this is an interesting phrase and it's a fixed phrase, going door to door.
We'll think about it.
So a salesperson who wants to sell maybe some makeup goes to one house and no one wants to buy any makeup there so she goes to the next house so she's going from house to house.
But we don't really say house to house because she's going to your door to offer makeup so we just say going door to door that means going to strangers' homes in order one or after the next, does not something.
Very good, you go door to door.
So you for example, someone can go door to door asking for some sugar.
That's right, or we could say he is a door to door salesman.
Door to door salesman, very good.
All right, and now we have an interesting question and it's a very good one because it's a question that comes up a lot.
When somebody asks you if you're studying, for example, what grade are you in?
Okay, what grade are you in?
So in the American system, for example, we have the very, very bottom grade K, which is kindergarten for maybe a five year old.
And at the very top, we have a high school grade 12.
In between we have one, two, three, four, five, you know an up.
And so basically to find out what year in school, a student is, you have to ask him or her, what grade are you in?
Right. So then the person would say, I'm in sixth grade, I'm in eighth grade.
But this is the way you ask this question for a school.
As you said, a kid that's maybe five years old all the way to 18 years old in high school.
What grade are you in?
Now if you're in university and you want to ask your friend, what year of university that person's in?
Then you say, what year are you?
What year are you? Yeah, you don't say grade.
So basically grade refers to like what you said, Marko.
those first 12 years of school and so we called them we thought going on call it so so you could ask anybody under the age of 18 what greater you in but when you go to university or when you're talking about university students it gets a little bit different so you can say what year are you in or what year are you so if if you're not sure about someone's age maybe they're in college you can ask them what year are you but generally anyone under 18, what greater you in?
Okay, good. All right.
And our last phrase.
And this is a kind of an expression.
Right? Goodness sake.
For goodness sake. Okay.
So let's look at the context, the kids say we're in grade seven.
And the person at the door says, then for goodness sake, don't you see this sign?
Right. For goodness sake.
So this is an expression that's used to indicate maybe you're a little bit frustrated so it's like come on or my goodness or for Pete's sake, so we have many ways of saying alright come on I'm a little tired of this right you're irritating me right so basically the person saying you're too old for this you're too old for this you should read what it says on my door no soliciting right and so the person's angry right the person's angry because these kids are trying to sell her something.
When clearly, she has a sign that says, no soliciting.
That's right, okay.
A lot of interesting phrases there.
Why don't we go back?
Listen to her dialogue for the very last time and we'll be back to talk with you a little bit more.
Upbeat music Okay Mark, it's your time to ring the doorbell.
I did it last time.
I hate going door -to -door and I hate asking for money But we need to there's enough money for the school fundraiser so that our class can win the pizza party.
You do want to have a pizza party don't you?
Yes, but I... Just go already.
No one's coming. Try again!
Maybe there's no one home.
Of course there's someone home.
There are two cars in the driveway and I can see lights on in the house.
Hello, anybody home?
We would like to know if you want to sponsor us in our school fundraiser!
Fifty percent of the profits go towards the new school playground.
I don't know why anyone would want what's in this cate oil.
It's just a bunch of tacky Christmas ornaments, CDs of old people singing Christmas songs and special crackers and cheeses and boxes and chocolates.
You don't like chocolate?
Not this kind. I've got weird names like Gnash and craylene.
Look. I just saw someone walking around inside.
These people are thinking very rude.
Finally. Someone's coming!
We don't look too happy.
Hi sir would you like to sponsor us or make a donation to you?
Well great are you kids in?
Great seven. Then for goodness sake don't you see this sign kit you read?
No soliciting. Alright so daughter Doris Selzmann I think this used to be a very American thing I think back in the 50s you would always see movies where this was actually a profession.
That's right. People would go door to door selling hair brushes or magazines, subscriptions, pretty much everything.
Yeah, you still see it sometimes, some people sell insurance or there are a lot of religious, door to door sales people who want to sell religious books or magazines, but I think it was much more popular in the 1950's because people didn't really use their has much to sell things, it was cheaper to have someone drive his car to your neighborhood and then go to every single house, but yeah, it's a very interesting interesting job.
I think it'd be very lonely.
And also, I think well now, maybe that's been reduced to that because now you have the internet.
Oh yeah, well the internet means that the salespeople come to you without you having to get up basically you're sitting at home in your pajamas and you can order a TV and some clothes.
But it's very interesting because I remember you would have all these door door silks.
For example, I had one visit me once who was selling me encyclopedias.
A big collection of like I don't know 37 books or more.
It was a huge amount of books and psychopaedias.
And I don't know if you see that anymore.
I don't know if anyone buys physical, huge encyclopedias to have in their home.
Now only collectors perhaps.
Maybe. So it's a very interesting profession.
I as you say, it's not very common anymore, very little, maybe specific services.
But this is interesting, maybe in your country, this is still a big thing.
Yeah, let us know in your country our door -to -door salespeople still common to see them.
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All right, bye -bye.
Bye -bye.
