Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 374, A Graduation Ceremony.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 374.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
You can visit our website at eslpod.com to download a learning guide for this episode.
The learning guide is an 8-10 page guide that gives you all of the vocabulary definitions, new sample sentences using all of the vocabulary we go over here on the podcast, comprehension questions, additional explanations of vocabulary, cultural notes and a complete transcript of this episode.
This episode is called A Graduation Ceremony.
It's a dialogue between Raphael and April talking about a typical American graduation from a high school or college.
Let's get started.
They're playing pomp and circumstance, and the graduates are filing in.
Do you see your daughter?
I don't see my son.
No, we're too far from the field, and everybody is wearing a cap and gown.
It's hard to see who's who.
Oh, there's the dean, and I think that's the commencement speaker behind her.
You must be really proud of your daughter.
I'm very proud of her, but your son is graduating cum laude with honors.
Those are great accomplishments.
It's a proud day for both of us.
What do you mean?
A group of rowdy students started singing an offensive song as the graduates went up to get their diplomas.
Hey, what's that over there?
Where?
Oh, that's a beach ball.
How dare they throw a beach ball around while the dean is speaking.
Don't look now.
Those students are doing something strange with their tassels.
Shame on them.
Shame on every one of them.
Rafael begins our dialogue by saying, "...their plain pomp and circumstance..."
And the graduates are filing in.
Raphael and April are actually at a graduation ceremony.
Graduation comes from the verb to graduate, which means to receive your degree or receive your certificate at the end of studying at a college or a high school or any other school.
The noun is graduate, and that would be the person who is graduating.
So when Raphael refers to the graduates, he's talking about the students, the boys and girls, or men and women who are graduating.
Pomp and Circumstance is a traditional song that is played at American graduation ceremonies.
It was composed by the British composer Edward Elgar in the late 19th, early 20th centuries.
Pomp, P-O-M-P, refers to a public ceremony, often a very beautiful or grand ceremony.
And that's what a graduation ceremony is, at least for the people who are graduating from.
To file in means to enter a place, usually in a single row, that is, one person after the other, looking in the same direction, walking in the same direction, in a line.
The circumstances here are that the graduates are filing in.
They are walking into the auditorium or stadium, wherever the graduation ceremony is being held.
Raphael says to April, do you see your daughter?
I don't see my son.
April says, no, we're too far from the field and everybody is wearing a cap and gown.
Graduation ceremonies are often held in sports stadiums, so the graduates are actually down on the field where, for example, the soccer and football players might normally play.
You need a big place to hold all of the graduates and their families who want to go to this ceremony.
Graduation ceremonies are very important to most families in the United States, both high school and, to a lesser extent, college.
A cap and gown is the traditional clothing that is worn at a graduation ceremony.
The cap goes on your head.
The gown is like a long dress that you wear.
The colors of the cap and gown often depend on the school.
Most cap and gowns are black, but sometimes they are different colors to represent the school colors.
April says it's hard to see who's who.
It's hard to tell who is who on the field.
Raphael says, oh, there's the dean, and I think that's the commencement speaker behind her.
The dean is, in this case, the head of the school, the director of the school.
Sometimes the dean is just the director of a certain division within the school.
So the University of Southern California has a school of education.
It has a school of medicine.
It has a school of law.
And each of those schools has their own dean, their own leader.
Commencement is another word for graduation.
It means to begin.
And in this case, the graduates are beginning their new life after school.
It's traditional in many schools to have one famous or well-known person sometimes a graduate of the school from many years ago, sometimes not who addresses or who gives a speech to everyone.
Presidents senators, actors and actresses other famous people are often invited by the university or school to come and give the commencement address, the commencement speech,
And that person would be the commencement speaker.
Raphael says, you must be really proud of your daughter.
I know I would be if my son were valedictorian.
April's son is, or rather her daughter, is valedictorian.
The valedictorian is the person, the student who has the highest grade average, what we would call their grade point average or GPA.
Often the valedictorian gives a speech at the graduation ceremony.
So it's the highest achieving student in a graduating class.
The second highest is called the salutatorian.
But the valedictorian is the very best student.
I was never the valedictorian of any of my graduating classes.
April says, I'm very proud of her, of her daughter.
But your son is graduating cum laude with honors.
Cum laude is a Latin expression which means literally with praise or with honor.
To graduate cum laude means that you were one of the best students.
In many universities, there are three levels of honors.
Cum laude is the lowest level.
Magna cum laude is the second highest level.
And the highest level is summa cum laude.
That's someone who graduates with highest honors.
So you have with honors, with great honors, and with highest honors.
Some universities don't use that system.
They just say that you graduated with honors, with distinction.
It's a way of saying that you were one of the best students.
The word honor has a couple of different meanings.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
April says those are great accomplishments.
Accomplishments are when you do something that is very good.
It's a high level of achievement.
Raphael responds by saying, it's a proud day for both of us.
They spend all their time here complimenting each other's child.
It's getting a little annoying.
Raphael says, I just hope that the graduates will keep this a dignified ceremony.
To be dignified means to be respectful, to be honorable, to be serious.
It's often the case at American graduations where the students like to get a little too happy.
They start to do things that are not necessarily very dignified.
Raphael says, I don't want to see any shenanigans.
Shenanigans are tricks or jokes, often secret or dishonest actions.
Another word for shenanigan would be a prank.
P-R-A-N-K, where somebody does something that's supposed to be funny, often in public.
April says, what do you mean?
Raphael says.
Last year, when my other son graduated, a group of rowdy students started singing an offensive song as the graduates went up to get their diplomas.
Rowdy.
R-O-W-D-Y means wild, out of control, very loud and noisy.
American college students are often rowdy, especially if they have been drinking.
Raphael says that last year they sang an offensive song.
Something that is offensive here means insulting, something that would make other people angry.
These students sang an offensive song when the graduates went up to get or receive their diplomas or certificates that show that they have completed their schooling.
The typical ceremony has the students go up and receive a certificate from the president of the university or the principal of the school.
April says, hey, what's that over there?
Raphael says, where?
Oh, that's a beach ball.
A beach ball is a large plastic ball filled with air that is often used by children in a pool, in a swimming pool or at the beach to play with.
For some reason it's popular at some American graduation ceremonies for the students to try to have fun, and so they have a beach ball that they hit up in the air like a volleyball and it goes around the stadium.
This happens all the time.
When I was a professor and I would be forced to go to the graduation ceremonies of the students.
This would happen very frequently.
Raphael says, how dare they throw a beach ball around when the dean is speaking.
April says, don't look now.
Those students are doing something strange with their tassels.
The expression don't look now means, in fact, look now.
It's usually used to indicate that Something bad is about to happen or is happening.
The students are doing something strange, April says, with their tassels.
A tassel T-A-S-S-E-L is a group or bundle of loose threads or strings that hang down from the top of your graduation cap.
Usually they are made of a certain color that represents your school.
And when you graduate, the tradition is that you move them from one side of your cap to the other to indicate that you have graduated.
Raphael says, shame on them.
He's saying to the students who are making fun that he is not happy with them.
Shame on you or shame on them is a way to show that you disapprove of, you dislike what someone else is doing.
It's a very strong expression of disapproval.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed, pomp and circumstance, and the graduates are filing in.
Do you see your daughter?
I don't see my son.
No, we're too far from the field and everybody's wearing a cap and gown.
It's hard to see who's who.
Oh, there's the dean and I think that's the commencement speaker behind her.
You must be really proud of your daughter.
I know I would be if my son were valedictorian.
I'm very proud of her, but your son is graduating cum laude with honors.
Those are great accomplishments.
It's a proud day for both of us.
I just hope that the graduates will keep this a dignified ceremony.
I don't want to see any shenanigans.
What do you mean?
Last year, when my other son graduated, a group of rowdy students started singing an offensive song as the graduates went up to get their diplomas.
Hey, what's that over there?
Where?
Oh, that's a beach ball.
How dare they throw a beach ball around when the dean is speaking.
Don't look now.
Those students are doing something strange with their tassels.
Shame on them.
Shame on every one of them.
The script for this episode was written by Dr. Lucy Say, who graduated with honors from college.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
