Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 417, Getting Travel Documents.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 417.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in the beautiful city of Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Please go there and download a learning guide for this episode that contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, comprehension questions, cultural notes and a complete transcript of everything we say on this episode.
This episode is called Getting Travel Documents.
It's a dialogue between Steve and Joyce about passports, visas and other things that you need to know if you are going to travel to another country.
Let's get started.
We need to apply for our passports now if we want to have them in time for our trip to McQuillanland.
I have a passport.
Yes, but it expired last year.
You need to renew it before you can get a visa.
McQuillanland requires a visa and vaccinations before they'll allow entry into the country.
Okay, okay.
Where is the application?
I thought U.S. citizens could travel freely in McQuillan land.
That used to be true, but their policies have changed.
We also need to bring our applications to their consulate in person with all of the supporting documents.
Fine.
The application asks which visa classification we're applying for.
Should I check student or tourist?
Even though we're taking a language course while we're there, we're asking for a tourist visa.
We can stay for three months on a tourist visa.
What are they going to do if we overstay our visa?
Deport us?
Yes, they will.
And you don't want to deal with the McQuillanland authorities.
They're not known for being kind to lawbreakers.
Those McQuillanlanders are my kind of people.
Our dialogue begins with Joyce saying to her husband, Stephen We need to apply for our passports now if we want to have them in time for our trip to McQuillanland.
A passport is an official document that you get from your government, where you are a citizen, that allows you to travel outside of the country.
It allows you to go to another country.
A passport usually is a small little booklet that has your photograph and many different pages in it, so that each country you visit can put their mark, a stamp, on your passport.
Passports in the U.S. for adults are usually good for 10 years.
So once you get a passport, you don't need to renew or get a different passport for 10 years.
Joyce says they need to apply for their passports if they want to have them in time for their trip to McQuillanland.
The expression in time for means before something else happens, before something is due.
If the party starts at 7 o'clock, You need to arrive by 7 to be there in time for the beginning.
Of course, if you're here in Los Angeles, you would probably arrive about an hour late.
At least that's what a lot of people here do.
They don't come in time for the beginning of the party or at the time the party begins.
Well, Steve and Joyce are going to McQuillanland, which is, of course, a very exciting place to visit.
Stephen says, I have a passport.
Joyce says, yes, but it expired last year.
When something expires, it is no longer good.
It is no longer valid.
If you are a student taking a test in school and you are given 30 minutes to complete the test, at the end the teacher might say The passport has expired means that it is no longer good.
You need to get a new one.
You need to renew it to get a new document in place of the old one.
Joyce says you need to renew your passport before you can get a visa.
A visa is a document from another country that gives you permission to enter that country, usually for a certain amount of time.
Many people who travel to the United States may need to get a visa, special permission from the United States government that allows you to come to this country.
Your passport then comes from your government in your country.
A visa, if it's necessary, will come from the government that you are visiting or the government of the country that you are visiting.
Joyce says McQuillan land, which apparently is a little dangerous, requires a visa and vaccinations.
Vaccinations are drugs, injections that you get to prevent you from getting a specific disease later in life.
Here in the United States, for example, all of the babies and young children are given vaccinations against diseases such as polio and the measles.
Vaccinations are sometimes required when you visit another country that may have illnesses that you are not familiar or prepared for or your body is not prepared for.
Joyce says you need the vaccinations before McQuillanland will allow entry into the country.
Entry, E-N-T-R-Y, is the process of going into another country.
Is this your first entry to the United States?
Is this the first time you have come here?
Entry has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at that learning guide I recommended for more information.
Stephen, who's obviously not the smart one here, says Okay okay, where is the application meaning?
The passport application?
I thought U.S. citizens could travel freely in McQuillan land.
The expression to travel freely means to be able to go from one country to another without needing a special visa or special permission.
This is very common, for example, in Europe, where people can travel often from one country to another without any sort of special visa or permission from the government.
Joyce, who is obviously the smart one, says that used to be true.
It used to be true that you could travel freely.
But McQuillan Land's policies have changed.
Their policies are their rules, their regulations, their official way of doing something.
Joyce says we also need to bring our applications to their consulate in person with all of the supporting documents.
A consulate C-O-N-S-U-L-A-T-E is a building that belongs to another country, where people can get help if they want to travel to that country.
A consulate does many different things.
In every country, there is one main building that is usually in the capital of that country.
That's called the embassy.
But sometimes in other cities of the country there may be other offices of the country's government, which we call consulates.
Here in Los Angeles, there are consulates from many different countries.
But the main building, the embassies, are located in Washington, D.C.
So Joyce says they have to go to the consulate in person, meaning you have to each go there.
You can't just mail it in.
You have to go to the building yourself.
They have to go with all of their supporting documents.
These are usually other papers that someone needs to look at in addition to your main application or your main solicitation.
These may include your birth certificate or proof of citizenship.
Stephen says, fine.
The application asks which visa classification we're applying for.
A classification is the type or kind of something.
Different countries have different visa classifications.
Here in the United States, you might be a student.
That's one kind of visa.
Or you might be coming here just to visit.
That's another kind of visa.
Visa classifications will be different in each country.
Stephen says, should I check student or tourist visa?
A tourist is a person who visits another country for a short period of time, usually just to have fun on vacation.
They're not working or studying.
Joyce says, Because they must speak a different language.
We're applying for a tourist visa.
We're asking for a tourist visa.
We can stay three months on a tourist visa, meaning with that particular classification they can stay in the country for three months.
Stephen asks, what are they going to do if we overstay our visa?
Deport us?
To overstay your visa means to stay in a country longer than you have permission to.
To stay in a country after your visa has expired.
Usually that's not a good idea, especially here in the U.S.
To deport someone means to make that person leave the country, usually because he or she is not allowed to stay in the country, or perhaps because you have broken the law, you have done something illegal and the country is sending you back to your home country.
That's deporting someone.
The noun would be deportation.
Joyce says, yes, they will.
Yes, they will deport us.
And you don't want to deal with the McQuillan land authorities.
To deal with means you don't want to have interactions with.
You don't want to be talking to the McQuillan land authorities.
Authorities are the people who are in charge, often government officials.
Joyce says these McQuillan land authorities are not known for being kind to lawbreakers.
Are not known here means that's not their reputation.
That's not what people think about them.
They don't think that they're kind to lawbreakers.
A lawbreaker.
One word is a person who does something illegal, something against the law, someone who breaks the law.
So the McQuillan land authorities, I guess, are pretty tough, pretty difficult to get along with.
Stephen says those McQuillan landers, those people who live in McQuillan land, are my kind of people.
When someone says they're one's kind of people, they mean they are people that you would feel comfortable with because they have the same opinions and beliefs and way of living that you have.
I think the McQuillan land people would be my kind of people.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
We need to apply for our passports now if we want to have them in time for our trip to McQuillanland.
I have a passport.
Yes, but it expired last year.
You need to renew it before you can get a visa.
McQuillanland requires a visa and vaccinations before they'll allow entry into the country.
Okay, okay.
Where's the application?
I thought U.S. citizens could travel freely in McQuillanland.
That used to be true, but their policies have changed.
We also need to bring our applications to their consulate in person with all of the supporting documents.
Fine.
The application asks which visa classification we're applying for.
Should I check student or tourist?
Even though we're taking a language course while we're there, we're asking for a tourist visa.
We can stay for three months on a What are they going to do if we overstay our visa?
Deport us?
Yes, they will.
And you don't want to deal with the McQuillanland authorities.
They're not known for being kind to lawbreakers.
Those McQuillanlanders are my kind of people.
The script for this episode was written by someone who's my kind of people, 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.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
