Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 938, Learning to Ride the Subway.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 938.
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.
Become a member of ESL Podcast and download a learning guide for this episode.
This episode is a dialogue between Donnie and Kayla about riding on a subway.
Let's get started.
Come on.
We need to buy our subway tickets at that ticket machine.
Why can't we just get them at the ticket window?
I'm not sure what the fare is.
I've never taken the subway before.
I don't know how it works.
Just follow me.
Here, take this card and walk through the turnstile.
Put your card in this slot and then retrieve it as you pass through.
Okay, now where do we go?
Let's look at this subway map showing all of the lines.
That's the station we want.
Don't we need to get transfers?
We don't need transfers to take connecting trains.
Let's see.
We want the express, not the local train.
Are you sure we shouldn't just ask somebody, like a station agent?
Good luck finding one.
And plus...
Are you sure that's the right train?
Yes, and if you ask me another question, you can continue this conversation with those tracks.
This episode is all about subways.
A subway is a system of underground trains in a large city that transport people from one part of the city to another.
Many large cities have subways all around the world.
Here in the United States, the most famous subway system would probably be in New York City.
But other cities, such as Washington, D.C., have subway systems.
Los Angeles kind of has a subway.
Not really.
It's a very small section of our transportation system.
We do have other types of public transportation, but subways aren't very popular here in Southern California, where everyone drives a car.
But our dialogue is about subways and we begin with Donnie saying Come on, we need to buy our subway tickets at that ticket machine.
Come on is just a way of getting someone's attention, getting them to come with you in this case.
A ticket machine is a machine that sells usually little pieces of paper that give you permission to enter into something.
In this case, they give you permission to go on the subway train.
Kayla says, why can't we just get them at the ticket window?
I'm not sure what the fare is.
A ticket window would be a place where there is actually someone working, a real human being that you can talk to and, in this case, buy a ticket from.
We might call this place a ticket window.
We might call it a ticket counter.
There are other names that you could give people this particular place where someone is working with whom you can speak and from whom you can buy your ticket.
Kayla says she's not sure what the fare is.
The fare F-A-R-E is the amount of money that you have to pay to take a certain kind of transportation.
We can talk about bus fare.
We can talk about subway fare.
We could talk about train fare.
In all of these cases, we're talking about the amount of money it takes to travel from one place to another on a subway in an American city nowadays.
You probably have to pay 150 or 2 for each ride.
Maybe it's more.
I don't know.
I don't ride the subways.
Kayla doesn't know what the fare is, and that's why she wants to go to a ticket window to ask someone.
Donnie, however, says there's a long line and we need to catch a train right now.
Train here refers to the vehicles that are in a subway system that move you from one place to another.
We also use the word train to talk about transportation that may take you from one city to another.
Kayla says, I've never taken the subway before.
When she says she's never taken the subway, she means she's never ridden on the subway.
She's never actually been on a subway train.
I don't know how it works.
I don't understand how it functions, how it operates, what the system is.
Donnie says, just follow me, meaning do what I do.
Here, Donnie says, take this card and walk through the turnstile.
Put your card in this slot and then retrieve it as you pass through.
There are a couple of different ways that a subway system can function, especially when you are getting on the subway, when you are entering into the subway system.
Usually there is some sort of card that you buy that you can use for a number of different rides.
You can typically put on a certain number of rides on your card.
So you can use that card for 10 rides, for example.
When you walk up to enter into the subway system, usually there's a machine called a turnstile T-U-R-N-S-T-I-L-E.
The turnstile is a small device or machine that allows one person to go through at a time.
In the turnstiles on the subway systems that I've been on, you have to put in your ticket into the machine.
The machine will then check to make sure that you have paid.
And if you have, then it will allow you to go through this turnstile, to go through the machine so that you can get on the actual subway train.
Sometimes you put the ticket in the machine and it comes out on the other side or on top of the machine.
Sometimes you just take the card and you slide it through.
You pass it through a certain part of the machine.
Donnie is explaining to Kayla that she needs to put her card in this slot.
A slot, S-L-O-T, is a small opening for a coin or a ticket in a machine.
In this case it's the place where the ticket goes in the turnstile.
To retrieve, R-E-T-R-I-E-V-E, means to get something back.
You put your ticket into the turnstile, and then you retrieve it.
The machine gives it back to you.
Kayla says, okay, now where do we go?
Donnie says, let's look at this subway map showing all of the lines.
Most cities have more than one line.
That is, they have more than one route, more than one direction that a train goes.
You may have one line that goes from downtown to a certain city.
You might have another line that goes from the western part of the city to the northern part of the city.
A line, then, is a route in a bus or a train system.
Usually lines have either numbers, colors, or names, sometimes all three.
You might take the 7 line in New York City to go from Manhattan to Queens, which is another part of New York City.
Some cities have colors and each line has a different color the red line, the blue line, the green line.
Some cities give names to the different lines related to where the line goes, typically.
Donnie is looking at a subway map with Kayla.
He says, that's the station we want.
A station is a place where you get on and off the subway.
In most cities that have subway systems, there are usually dozens of different stations, places where you can get on and off.
The stations all have names associated with the place where the station is located, and In some cities stations will have symbols also.
This is sometimes done in cities where you may have a large population that either doesn't read or write well. very well or doesn't speak the language of that city very well the stations have symbols that you can look at and even if you don't understand the language you know which station that is in our dialogue Donnie is indicating to Kayla which station they want Kayla says don't we need to get transfers A transfer is permission to go from one type of transportation to another.
These are quite common in bus systems.
Donnie says, however, for the subway system, we don't need transfers.
He says we don't need transfers to take connecting trains.
A connecting train would be a second train that you would get on in order to get to the place where you want to go.
You transfer or go from one train to another.
Not when the train is moving, of course.
Donnie says, let's see.
We want the express, not the local train.
In some subway systems there are specific trains that only stop at a limited number of stations.
This is to allow people to move more quickly from the more popular stations, often in the center part of the city, to areas farther away from the city or on the outer edges, we might say, of the city.
Express trains then, don't stop at every station.
Local trains stop at every single station on that line.
In the New York subway system, for example, if you get on a local train, you will stop at every station.
That will take you a longer amount of time, of course.
An express train is a lot faster, but it will only stop at some of the stations, not all of the stations.
Donnie is saying that he and Kayla need an express train.
They don't need to ride the local train.
Kayla says, are you sure we shouldn't just ask somebody like a station agent?
A station agent is a person who works for the subway system, whose job it is to help people find which train they should get on.
Personally, I've been on many different subway systems all around the world and I haven't seen very many station agents there to help people, but I guess they do exist.
Donnie says, good luck finding one.
And that's exactly right.
Donnie is saying it's very difficult to find a station agent in most subway stations.
That's why he says, good luck finding one.
And plus, I don't need one.
I can figure it out.
I can understand it.
Follow me.
I think that's the right platform.
A platform, P-L-A-T-F-O-R-M, is the area where people stand before getting on the train.
It's where the train comes to a stop And people are able to get on and off the train.
The platform is always part of the station.
It doesn't move.
The train moves.
Kayla says, are you sure that's the right train?
That is the correct train?
Donnie says, yes.
And if you ask me another question, you can continue this conversation with those tracks.
Tracks T-R-A-C-K-S are the long parallel pieces of metal that the train actually rides on.
We call those tracks.
Donnie is making a joke, saying that if Kayla keeps asking questions, she can have a conversation with the tracks, because Donnie won't be there anymore.
He'll be on one of the trains that has already left.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Come on, we need to buy our subway tickets at that ticket machine.
Why can't we just get them at the ticket window?
I'm not sure what the fare is.
There's a long line and we need to catch a train right now.
I've never taken the subway before.
I don't know how it works.
Just follow me.
Here, take this card and walk through the turnstile.
Put your card in this slot and then retrieve it as you pass through.
Okay, now where do we go?
Let's look at this subway map showing all of the lines.
That's the station we want.
Don't we need to get transfers?
We don't need transfers to take connecting trains.
Let's see.
We want the express, not the local train.
Are you sure we shouldn't just ask somebody, like a station agent?
Good luck finding one.
And plus, I don't need one.
I can figure it out.
Follow me.
I think that's the right platform.
Are you sure that's the right train?
Yes.
And if you ask me another question, you can continue this conversation with those tracks.
I'd like to thank our wonderful scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say, for taking us on this subway trip today.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
