Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 697, Eating a School Lunch.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 697.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com.
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This episode is called Eating a School Lunch.
It's a dialogue between Chris and Sybil related to kids, high school students, elementary school students eating lunch at their school.
Let's get started.
What are you doing?
Let's get into the hot lunch line.
See this lunch box?
My mom made me brown baguette today.
She says that the lunches served at school aren't nutritious enough.
That sucks.
What did she make you?
A salad.
Gross.
I really feel sorry for you.
What else?
Let me see.
There are some carrot sticks too.
Sucker, you should have thrown a fit.
I wouldn't have taken it lying down.
Listen to me.
You should ditch that lunch and buy lunch instead, like me.
I can't.
I don't have any lunch money.
Do you want to trade some of yours for mine?
You're dreaming.
There's no way I'm trading my pizza for your salad and carrot sticks.
Not even if I do your math homework?
Math homework?
Now you've got my attention.
Only if you give me the entire slice of pizza.
You drive a hard bargain.
How about this?
I'll split the pizza with you if you'll do my homework.
You must really think I'm a sucker if you think I'd agreed to that.
Chris begins by saying to Sybil At most schools in the United States, the school gives students the opportunity, the option of buying their lunch online, a hot lunch cooked at the school.
The school has a kitchen and a place where the students can eat called the cafeteria.
My school, when I was growing up, did not have a hot lunch program, but this school, and most schools, do have them.
Chris says to Sybil let's get into the hot lunch line, the line where people are waiting to get their food.
Sybil says, See this lunchbox?
My mom made me brown baguette today.
A lunchbox is a small, usually metal or plastic box or container that you put your food into.
When I was growing up, as I said, there was no hot lunch program.
So many kids, especially the smaller children, had lunch boxes.
These were metal.
They often had pictures of cartoons or sports figures on them.
I had one.
I don't remember what was on it.
But lunchboxes were the way that you took your lunch to school.
The other way you could take your lunch is put it in a paper bag, a brown bag.
I'm not sure why, but the bags were always brown.
And that is what Sybil is referring to.
In fact, she's using this as a verb, to brown bag it.
Means to bring your lunch, cold lunch, in a bag, not to buy lunch at school.
Sybil says her mother says that the lunches served at school aren't nutritious enough.
Nutritious, N-U-T-R-I-T-I-O-U-S, is another word for healthy.
Food that has vitamins, minerals, other good things, and not too much sugar, fat, or salt.
All the things that taste good.
That's a nutritious lunch or a nutritious meal.
And Sybil's mother says that the lunches at school are not nutritious.
This has actually been a common complaint recently.
Well...
Maybe because they are sitting at home playing video games.
Maybe it's because their parents don't let them go out anymore on a bicycle unless they have the latest safety equipment on their head.
I don't know.
But they are getting fatter.
Chris says, that sucks.
The expression that sucks means that's very bad or that's very disappointing.
It's a very informal term used by a lot of young people, not something you want to say to your boss.
And it means that it's very unfortunate or very sad.
Chris says, what did she, your mother, make you?
Sybil says, a salad.
Chris says, oh, gross.
Gross means disgusting, something that is very unpleasant, usually related to food, but not always.
Another informal term we might use is yuck or yucky.
That's the general idea.
Chris says, I really feel sorry for you.
What else?
Meaning, what else did she make?
Sybil says, let me see.
There are some carrot sticks, too.
Little carrots that are cut up.
Chris says, sucker.
Sucker is a rude word used to describe someone who has been tricked or manipulated or used by another person.
It's definitely a negative word.
It's saying that person is stupid in a way for being deceived, for being used or tricked.
Chris says, To throw a fit means to get very angry, to start yelling and screaming.
It's something you expect a little child to do.
In fact, when a child does it, it's sometimes called also a temper tantrum.
Chris says, I wouldn't have taken it lying down.
To take something lying down means to accept something without opposing or protesting it, even though you're not very happy.
You don't say anything.
You just accept it.
That's to take something lying down.
Chris says listen to me, you should ditch that lunch and buy lunch instead.
Like me, like I am going to do.
To ditch, D-I-T-C-H, here means to get rid of something, to throw something away.
I'm going to ditch my old boxes in the garage.
I'm going to throw them away.
We also use this verb in schools especially to mean not to go to class when you are supposed to.
I'm going to ditch my chemistry class today.
I'm not going to go.
That's what we used to say, and that's probably something I did when I was in school.
Ditch chemistry class, that is.
Not my favorite subject, if I'm being completely honest.
Chris says that Sybil should ditch her lunch, should throw it away, and buy lunch instead.
Sybil says, I can't.
I don't have any lunch money.
Any money you can use to buy lunch, of course.
She says, do you want to trade some of yours for mine?
To trade means I give you something and you give me something else.
We exchange it.
Chris responds by saying, you're dreaming.
The expression you're dreaming is an informal way of saying that what the person just said or just suggested is completely unacceptable or silly.
It's another way of saying, no way, absolutely not.
You're dreaming.
There's no way I'm trading my pizza for your salad and carrot sticks.
So Chris isn't going to give Sybil some pizza in order to get some salad and carrot sticks.
Then Sybil tries to convince Chris to trade with her.
She says, not even if I do your math homework?
Sybil is offering to do Chris's math homework what the teacher gave them as work to do at home in exchange for some of his pizza.
Chris says, math homework?
Now you've got my attention, meaning, okay, maybe this is something I will do.
I'm now paying attention.
Sybil says, only if you give me the entire slice of pizza.
A slice is a piece of something, a piece of food, typically cut from a larger piece, portion or piece of food.
We use slice when we're talking about bread.
We use it when we're talking about cakes.
We use it when we're talking about pies, cheese and sometimes meat.
I want a slice of turkey on my sandwich with a slice of cheese and On two slices of white bread.
For dessert, I'm going to have a slice of pie and two slices of cake.
Of course, here we're talking about pizza, which is also a type of food we use this word slice, S-L-I-C-E with
Chris says, you drive a hard bargain.
To drive a hard bargain means that you are good at negotiating something.
You get a lot of things when you negotiate, when you are trading with someone, when you are trying to get someone to agree with you.
He says, He says, Chris is saying, well, I don't want to give you the entire slice of pizza.
I'll give you half of that.
That's what he means by saying, I'll split the pizza with you.
To split means to share it.
Each person gets half of it or some part of it.
Split has a couple of other meanings in English.
Take a look at the wonderful learning guide for some more information.
Sybil then says, you must really think I'm a sucker if you think I'd agree to that.
She's saying here that Chris must think that she is stupid, that she's a sucker, if he thinks that she will do his homework for only half a slice of pizza.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
What are you doing?
Let's get into the hot lunch line.
See this lunch box?
My mom made me brown baguette today.
She says that the lunches served at school aren't nutritious enough.
That sucks.
What did she make you?
A salad.
Oh, gross.
I really feel sorry for you.
What else?
Let me see.
There's some carrot sticks, too.
Sucker, you should have thrown a fit.
I wouldn't have taken it lying down.
Listen to me.
You should ditch that lunch and buy lunch instead, like me.
I can't.
I don't have any lunch money.
Do you want to trade some of yours for mine?
You're dreaming.
There's no way I'm trading my pizza for your salad and carrot sticks.
Not even if I do your math homework?
Math homework?
Now you've got my attention.
Only if you give me the entire slice of pizza.
You drive a hard bargain.
How about this?
I'll split the pizza with you if you'll do my homework.
You must really think I'm a sucker if you think I'd agree to that.
Our scripts never suck.
That's because they're written by the wonderful Dr. Lucy Saye.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
