Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 717, Starting a New School Year.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 717.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Thank you.
They're talking about things that a young student would need when they begin their school year.
Let's get started.
It's your first day at a new school.
I'm worried about you.
Mom, I'll be fine.
Do you have all of your books and supplies in your backpack?
Oh, and I've packed you a lunch already.
You didn't have to do that, Mom.
I was going to buy lunch at school.
Now you won't have to.
I hope you make some new friends.
It's no fun being a loner.
It's not that you have to be popular.
I just don't want you to feel left out.
I'll be fine, Mom.
I'd better go or I'll be late.
Do you think the school will do something special to kick off the new school year?
I hope your teachers aren't too strict.
Oh, your backpack weighs a ton, but you can leave most of your books in your locker, right?
They don't have lockers at my new school, but I'll be fine.
I hope the teachers don't already have seating plans.
I know you like to sit near the back of the classroom and I hope you won't have too much homework on the first day.
Mom, stop fussing.
Everything will be fine.
You're my baby, and I'm worried about you.
Mom, I'm not starting kindergarten.
I'm starting college, remember?
Mom begins by saying to Paul, It's your first day at a new school.
I'm worried about you.
Paul says, Mom, I'll be fine.
I'll be okay.
Don't worry about me.
Mom says, do you have all of your books and supplies in your backpack?
The word supplies means all of the things that you need for a particular purpose, for a specific thing that you are going to do, especially in school or in an office.
Office supplies would include pens, paper towels, notebooks, paperclips, that sort of thing.
Things you use in an office.
School supplies would be things that students typically use in school.
Often things that you use up or consume so that you need to get more in the future.
Backpack one word is a usually cloth or leather bag that you wear on your back.
It has something so you can put it on both of your shoulders, and It's common in many schools for children students, to have backpacks to carry their books and supplies from class to class.
It wasn't very common when I was in school, maybe because we didn't study very much, so we didn't have very many books.
I'm not sure.
But I didn't have a backpack in high school.
I did have a backpack in college and at the university it's very common to see backpacks.
In many high schools you have a place where you can keep your books.
That's called a locker.
L-O-C-K-E-R.
It's a little space for each student.
I'm not sure if schools still have lockers.
I think many of them do, but it's something you would find in a high school.
At the university, you would have to have a backpack, or if you were in elementary or grade school.
As a younger student,
It's interesting.
Backpacks are considered for children in some countries as, but in the United States you will find them mostly at the university.
Mom continues by saying, Oh, and I've packed you a lunch already.
To pack someone a lunch means usually to put some food a sandwich, an apple, perhaps a candy bar into a small bag so they can take it with them.
You might pack a lunch if you are going on a trip in your car and don't want to stop to eat.
Packing a lunch is common for people going to work who don't want to spend money buying food at a restaurant.
Paul, I guess, has a lot of money because he says, you don't have to do that, Mom.
I was going to buy lunch at school.
Mom says now you won't have to.
I hope you make some new friends.
Remember it's a new school for Paul.
She says it's no fun being a loner.
A loner L-O-N-E-R is a person who is very quiet, who doesn't have a lot of friends, who sits by him or herself.
That would be a loner.
It's not that you have to be popular, mom says.
I just don't want you to feel left out.
To be popular means to be liked by many other people.
Popular has some other meanings as well.
Take a look at our learning guide for those.
To feel left out means to feel that or think that you don't belong to any group, that people are not accepting you, that they did not invite you to do something with them.
Paul says, I'd better go or I'll be late.
Mom says, Do you think the school will do something special to kick off the new school year?
To kick off is a phrasal verb that here means to start something, especially with a lot of enthusiasm.
We're going to kick off our celebration by singing and dancing.
We're going to begin it.
We're going to start it.
Kick has a number of different meanings.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional ones.
The school year is sometimes called the academic year.
In most American schools it begins in late August, early September and ends in May or June, depending on the school.
Mom continues, I hope your teachers aren't too strict.
To be strict.
S-T-R-I-C-T means to follow all of the rules and make sure that you follow all of the rules, that you obey the rules.
So a strict teacher would be someone, for example, who doesn't allow anyone to talk in class, and if they do, they would be punished.
Of course the teacher can talk and the teacher can ask students to answer questions, but a strict teacher would follow the rules and be very serious about them and punish people who don't follow the rules.
So mom is asking, or hoping that the teacher's.
She says A ton T-O-N is a unit of measurement equal to 2000 pounds.
But the expression to weigh a ton means that something is very heavy, that it weighs a lot.
It doesn't actually weigh a ton, but it's very heavy.
Mom says, but you can leave most of your books in your locker, right?
I mentioned earlier that in American high schools, many of them have lockers.
L-O-C-K-E-R-S.
These are basically little storage places that each student has.
They're given one where they can put their books and lunch and other supplies.
In most schools, you need to lock your locker.
You need to bring or to buy a locker.
The school usually doesn't give you a lock.
You have to get one yourself with a key or a combination lock.
Lockers are popular in high schools, in some junior high schools and elementary schools.
If you've watched almost any movie about American high schools, you will know what lockers are.
Students often spend time at them in between their classes talking.
It's popular in many schools to put pictures inside of your locker.
Girls often put pictures of... attractive actors and singers, that sort of thing.
I don't think I ever put a picture of anyone in my locker.
I did remember having a calendar in my last year of school where I would, at the end of each day, cross off, put an X on the calendar for that day, counting the number of days left of school.
You can tell I really loved my high school.
Anyway, Paul says that his new school doesn't have lockers.
Mom says, A seating plan is when a teacher decides where each student will sit.
Sometimes teachers will put students in alphabetical order.
So if your last name begins with A, you sit in the front.
And if your last name begins with Z, you sit in the back.
Other teachers make seating plans based on other criteria, other reasons.
I used to have a seating plan.
I would let students sit where they wanted to.
This is when I was a high school teacher many years ago, 20 years ago.
And then, after the first day, I would write their names down where they were and that's where they had to stay, unless they caused problems, in which case I would move them to a different seat.
That's a seating plan, and it's very popular in high schools and elementary schools.
Mom says The classroom is the room where the students sit and the teacher stands in front and gives the lesson.
I personally always liked to sit in the back of the classroom.
Mom says, and I hope you don't have too much homework on the first day.
Homework are things that students have to do outside of school for their class.
We might call them school assignments.
Paul then says, Mom, stop fussing.
This is a good word to fuss.
F-U-S-S-S means to worry about many things that other people don't think are very important.
You're worrying about small things, things that aren't important.
But you are acting as if they were important.
This is to fuss.
It's a criticism to say someone is fussing.
And Paul is criticizing his mother by saying, stop fussing.
Everything will be fine, he says.
Mom says, you're my baby and I'm worried about you.
Paul says, Mom, I'm not starting kindergarten.
Kindergarten is school for young children, usually five years old in many places.
You go to kindergarten first and It's not required, but many schools offer a kindergarten program for five-year-olds.
And then when you're six years old, you begin first grade, the first grade of elementary school.
Before kindergarten, there is what's called preschool.
When I was a child, I think I went to preschool school. for a half a day for at least a few months.
It was not at a regular school.
It was at a public building, a park actually.
And then kindergarten was also half day.
That is, I didn't go the whole day.
I went in the morning and then came home in the afternoon.
That's when I was five years old.
Anyway, as interesting as my life may be, let's finish up the story here.
Paul says, I'm not starting kindergarten, I'm starting college, remember?
And that, of course, is the joke.
Mom is treating Paul as if he were a young child, when in fact his new school is the university.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
You didn't have to do that, Mom.
I was going to buy lunch at school.
Now you won't have to.
I hope you make some new friends.
It's no fun being a loner.
It's not that you have to be popular.
I just don't want you to feel left out.
I'll be fine, Mom.
I'd better go or I'll be late.
Do you think the school will do something special to kick off the new school year?
I hope your teachers aren't too strict.
Oh, your backpack weighs a ton.
But you can leave most of your books in your locker, right?
They don't have lockers at my new school, but I'll be fine.
I hope the teachers don't already have seating plans.
I know you like to sit near the back of the classroom and I hope you won't have too much homework on the first day.
Mom, stop fussing.
Everything will be fine.
You're my baby, and I'm worried about you.
Mom, I'm not starting kindergarten.
I'm starting college, remember?
We never want our scriptwriter to feel left out.
That's because it's the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
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.
