Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 593, Staying Home from School.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 593.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpodcom.
Go there to download a learning guide for this episode and to win a million dollars.
Really?
No, not really.
This episode is a dialogue between Karen and Juan.
It's about a child who does not want to go to school.
A very common scenario, a very common situation.
Let's get started.
We're going to be late for school.
Hurry up.
I'm not going to school today.
I'm sick.
You're not sick.
You're playing hooky.
You're not going to put one over a mom.
She'll know you're faking.
Get up.
Let's go.
No, she won't.
And why are you giving me such a hard time?
It's not like you've never played hooky before.
I may cut class now and then, but I have a foolproof way of doing it so I don't get caught.
You mean you forge notes from Mom to let you get out of class for doctor's appointments and things like that.
I know all about that.
Who told you?
I keep my eyes and ears open.
I pick things up.
How?
I have a test in biology today and I have to get out of it.
Help me.
I suppose I could.
Out of the goodness of my heart.
Come on.
If you do, I'll owe you one.
A big one.
All right.
You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.
Here's what you have to do.
Karen says to her brother, Juan...
We're going to arrive late.
Hurry up.
Go faster.
Juan says, I'm not going to school today.
I'm sick.
Karen says, you're not sick.
You're playing hooky.
To play hooky H-O-O-K-Y means to not go to school when you are supposed to or to leave school early without permission.
Karen says you're not going to put one over on mom.
To put one over on someone means is a somewhat complicated expression.
It means to fool someone, to trick someone, to make someone believe something that isn't true.
It's a somewhat informal expression, to pull one over on someone.
Mom will know, Karen says, that you're faking.
To fake F-A-K-E means to pretend that something is happening, especially here.
To pretend to be sick when you aren't really sick, to act like you're sick but you're not actually sick.
Fake has some other meanings as well.
Take a look at the learning guide for those.
Juan says, And why are you giving me such a hard time?
To give someone a hard time or such a hard time means a couple of things.
It could mean to be difficult on someone, to be yelling at them or to be criticizing them.
It may mean simply to insist that someone follows all the rules.
In general, It refers to bothering someone about something they are doing or not doing.
Juan says, Typical of a sister, of course.
Karen says I may cut class now and then, but I have a foolproof way of doing it so I don't get caught.
To cut class is an expression meaning to not go to one of your classes in school that you are supposed to go to.
We might also say to skip S-K-I-P class.
If you don't go to school at all, we could say, I'm going to skip school today.
To skip anything means not to do it, even though you are supposed to do it.
Karen says, Full proof, which is one word, is something that cannot fail.
It will never create problems.
Something that will always be successful.
There is a foolproof way to lose weight.
Stop eating so much.
Foolproof way.
I give that advice to you for free.
Not even going to charge you for that.
So Karen has a foolproof way of skipping school so she doesn't get caught.
To get caught is one of the many verbs with get in it.
To get caught is to be discovered when you are trying to secretly break the rules.
When you do something wrong and then someone finds out about it, such as your mother or your wife or your boss.
Those would be three people who might find out you are doing something wrong.
You would get caught by them.
Juan says you mean you forge notes from mom to let you get out of class for doctor's appointments and things like that.
To forge F-O-R-G-E means to create a false document, especially when you sign your name to something that isn't yours.
You make your name look like the other person you're writing.
That's a forged document, and that is the verb to forge.
There are some other uses of this verb that can be found in, of course, the learning guide.
Karen says, who told you, who told you that I forge notes from mom to get me out of class?
This is a common technique, I should say, before moving on.
Children who write a note and then sign their mother's name, telling the school that they have a doctor's appointment and so they have to leave school at 2 o'clock.
Juan says, I keep my eyes and ears open.
I pick things up.
That's how he knows.
Remember, Karen asked him, who told you about her secret?
To keep...
Your eyes and ears open means to observe the situation by listening and seeing, to be very attentive, we might say, to be looking at the situation closely.
Juan says that he picks things up.
To pick something up carefully or to pick up something is a phrasal verb, meaning here to begin to understand something, even though no one explained it to you, because you are observing and paying attention to this thing.
Juan is observing Karen.
He's understanding what's going on even if no one told him.
To pick up something can also mean to lift something up in the air with your hand.
You can also use this verb to mean to stop somewhere and get something.
I'm going to pick up some milk on the way home.
Pick up can also be when a man tries to get a woman interested in him.
He may try to pick her up, try to get her to go with him and perhaps have a romantic relationship.
That is another use of this phrasal verb.
It's a rather common and somewhat complicated one.
Back to our story.
Karen says, To pretend means to act like something is true, even if it isn't.
It's similar here to the verb to fake.
Karen says that pretending to be sick never works.
It is never a successful strategy.
Mom will make you go to school anyway.
An excused absence is a period of time when you are not at school or at work, but you have permission not to be there.
It's okay for you not to be there.
Juan says, I have a test in biology today and I have to get out of it.
To get out of something is a phrasal verb, a phrasal expression meaning to find a way to avoid doing something that you are supposed to do.
Of course I will clean the dishes after dinner tonight, but I might think about a way I could get out of it.
Karen says.
The expression out of the goodness of your heart means because you are a good person, because you want to help the other person.
But this expression is often used sarcastically as a joke, meaning they don't really do it because they are good people.
They want something from you.
And in fact, that is what Karen is doing here.
Juan says, come on, meaning help me.
If you do, if you do help me, I'll owe you one, a big one.
To owe, O-W-E, someone one, means that you owe them a favor.
You will do something for that person if they do something for you.
That's what the expression is, I owe you one, or I'll owe you one.
Or if someone did a favor for you, They may say to you, you owe me one, meaning you owe me a favor.
Karen says, all right, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.
This is an old expression.
You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.
Your back here means the back of your body between your head and your waist.
To scratch means to take your hand, your fingers, and move them back and forth.
When you have an itch, when something itches, you scratch it.
You have this sensation on your skin and you take your fingers and you put your fingers on your skin and you move them back and forth.
That's to scratch.
Of course, scratching your back can be a very pleasurable experience sometimes.
The expression really means, I'll do a favor for you if you'll do a favor for me.
Karen then says, here's what you have to do.
But of course, we do not learn those secrets in the dialogue.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
We're going to be late for school.
Hurry up.
I'm not going to school today.
I'm sick.
You're not sick.
You're playing hooky.
You're not going to put one over on Mom.
She'll know you're faking.
Get up.
Let's go.
No, she won't.
And why are you giving me such a hard time?
It's not like you've never played hooky before.
I may cut class now and then, but I have a foolproof way of doing it so I don't get caught.
You mean you forge notes from Mom to let you get out of class for doctor's appointments and things like that.
I know all about that.
Who told you?
I keep my eyes and ears open.
I pick things up.
If you know so much, then you know that pretending to be sick never works.
Mom will make you go to school anyway.
There are better ways to get an excused absence.
How?
I have a test in biology today, and I have to get out of it.
Help me.
I suppose I could.
Out of the goodness of my heart.
Come on.
If you do, I'll owe you one.
A big one.
All right.
You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.
Here's what you have to do.
What's a foolproof way of improving your English?
Listen to Dr. Lucy Say's scripts right here on ESL Podcast.
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.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
