Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,281.
Going to the Playground.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,281.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to eslpod.com forward slash Facebook to join our Facebook group.
This episode is a dialogue between Patrick and Mary about going to a place where children can play, called a playground, of course.
Let's get started.
Hi.
Do you mind if I sit on this bench with you?
No, be my guest.
We've just moved to the neighborhood and we love having a playground around the corner.
It's nice, isn't it, to be able to bring the kids here to get some exercise and to burn off some energy.
Definitely.
I'm watching my daughter on that spring rider.
It's her favorite.
Is that your son on the slide?
It is.
Over there, I have two other sons playing on the merry-go-round.
They're the ones wearing green.
Oh, yeah, I see them.
Do you have other kids?
My son Frankie and daughter Therese are on the jungle gym hanging on the monkey bars.
See them?
Oh, sure.
Are those two on the seesaw, yours too?
They are.
And those three boys on the swings are mine, too.
Over there, you'll see another one of my sons swinging on the trapeze rings.
And right here is my youngest playing in the sandbox.
Wait.
How many children do you have?
Only eleven.
A playground P-L-A-Y-G-R-O-U-N-D is an outdoor area where children can play, usually on large pieces of equipment, some of which we'll be talking about in this episode.
Our dialogue begins with Patrick saying to Mary, Hi.
Do you mind, meaning is it okay or does it bother you, if I sit on this bench with you?
A bench, B-E-N-C-H, is a long, flat seat that usually three or four people can sit on.
You find benches in parks, in bus stations, in other public areas.
There are places where you can sit down.
The bench here has room for at least two people since Patrick is asking to sit next to Mary.
Mary responds to Patrick by saying no be my guest, meaning no, it doesn't bother me, I don't mind be my guest G-U-E-S-T.
The phrase be my guest is used when someone is asking something from you or requesting something from you.
Often it involves allowing the person to use something or to do something that is involved somehow with that person.
For example, you're sitting at a table, at a dinner table, and someone says can I have that last piece of apple pie or that last piece of cake?
The other person may respond, be my guest, meaning go ahead, that's fine, I don't mind.
So Mary says to Patrick, be my guest, meaning yes, you can sit next to me.
She then says we've just moved to the neighborhood and we love having a playground around the corner.
Mary is talking about, we're guessing herself and her family, who have just moved to this neighborhood, this area of the city.
She says they love having a playground around the corner.
Around the corner means very close to where you live.
Patrick says it's nice, isn't it, to be able to bring the kids here to get some exercise and to burn off some energy.
Exercise, E-X-E-R-C-I-S-E, is exercise.
Things you do with your body, usually to make yourself healthier or stronger or perhaps, for some people, to lose weight.
That's called exercise.
It could be running.
It could be doing other sorts of activities that require you to work your body hard.
To burn B-U-R-N off some energy.
E-N-E-R-G-Y means in this case to have the children do some physical activity so that later they're calmer or perhaps tired and want to go to sleep.
Sometimes parents will take their children somewhere so that the children will run around, will do a lot of activity or a lot of exercise, so that later the children are quiet because they're tired.
Mary agrees with Patrick that it's nice to be able to bring the kids to this playground to get some exercise.
She says, I'm watching my daughter on that spring rider.
A spring, S-P-R-I-N-G, rider, R-I-D-E-R, is something that you may find in a playground.
It often looks like an animal or perhaps a car.
It moves around and goes up and down when a child sits on it.
It's often made from wood or plastic.
The important thing in a spring rider is that it is attached to or connected to a metal spiral, something made of a very strong, long metal, of metal that goes around and around in a circle.
That's called a spring.
A spring is made out of a long, thin or thick piece of metal that is curled around.
It goes around in a circle.
We would call it a coil.
C-O-I-L.
If you push a spring down and then remove your hand, the spring will come back up.
Well, a spring rider isn't so much about the child moving up and down, but more side to side, I think.
To be honest, we didn't have spring riders when I was a child at the playgrounds I used to go to, but I think that's what it is.
Mary says that her daughter is on a spring rider and that it's her favorite, meaning it's the ride or it's the thing at the playground she likes the most.
Then Mary asks Patrick, is that your son on the slide?
S-L-I-D-E.
A slide can best be compared to a hill.
Or When you go skiing at least downhill skiing You go from the top of the hill to the bottom of the hill.
A slide is like an artificial hill, except it isn't wide.
It's very narrow and is usually made of just a piece of metal that one person can slide down or go down from the top to the bottom.
To get to the top, you have to climb up what is called a ladder L-A-D-D-E-R, which is like a series of steps that you go up.
Patrick says that it is his son on the slide.
He continues, over there, I have two other sons playing on the merry-go-round.
They're the ones wearing green.
A Merry M-E-R-R-Y hyphen go G-O hyphened round R-O-U-N-D is a large flat circle, usually made of metal.
And into the circle, there are things that you can hang onto with your hands.
This circle is attached to a pole in the middle of the circle, and it goes around in a circle.
In order to make it go around, you have to push it so that it moves around.
That's a merry-go-round.
Sometimes it's called a roundabout.
Now, if you go to a circus, a place that has animals, for example, and other games to play, you will also see a merry-go-round, but that's a little different.
That's a merry-go-round that is operated electronically.
You don't have to push it.
And often, instead of just Hanging onto a pole with your hands, there are things that you sit on that are shaped like horses.
That's a little different kind of merry-go-round.
A playground.
Merry-go-round is just typically a large round disc that goes around in a circle if you push it down.
Patrick says his two sons are on the merry-go-round.
Mary says, oh yeah, I see them.
Do you have other kids?
Do you have other children?
Mary is asking.
Patrick says, my son Frankie and daughter Therese are on the jungle gym hanging on the monkey bars.
See them?
A jungle, G-U-N-G-L-E, gym, G-Y-M, is something that kids can climb on.
It is usually made of wood or metal, and it can take a variety of different forms or shapes.
To hang H-A-N-G means to hold on to something, usually with your hands, while the rest of your body is not touching anything else.
A jungle gym has high bars that kids can grab onto or hang onto with their hands and arms.
Monkey M-O-N-K-E-Y bars, B-A-R-S, is another piece of playground equipment.
It's basically a ladder that is up in the air and horizontal rather than vertical.
What you do is you jump up and you put your hand on one of the bars and I guess we could call it one of the rungs R-U-N-G-S.
A ladder has what are called rungs.
Those are basically the steps that you put your feet on when you go up a ladder.
A monkey bar is not a vertical structure, but rather a horizontal one.
So you have two other structures, usually made out of metal or wood, that hold the monkey bars up in the air.
So the monkey bars are basically on top of this other structure.
Monkey bars allow you to go from one end of the ladder, if you will, one end of the monkey bars to the other.
Mary sees Patrick's two children and says, are those two on the seesaw yours too?
Meaning yours also?
A seesaw, S-E-E-S-A-W, is sometimes called a teeter, T-E-E-T-E-R, hyphen totter, T-O-T-T-E-R.
A teeter totter say that ten times fast or a seesaw is basically a flat piece of wood or metal that is balanced in the middle, allowing one child to go up and the other child to go down.
So one child goes up and the other one goes down.
In fact, we have a verb to seesaw, which means to go up and down constantly.
Patrick says, yes, the two on the seesaw are his children.
And he says, those three boys on the swings are mine too.
Swings.
S-W-I-N-G-S are basically seats, things you sit on that are connected to long chains, long thin ropes or chains.
Patrick says.
Patrick says A trapeze T-R-A-P-E-Z-E ring R-I-N-G is a metal ring that is connected to a long piece of rope or a long chain that you can swing from back and forth by holding onto it with your hands.
Patrick also mentions his youngest son is playing in the sandbox, S-A-N-D-B-O-X.
A sandbox is a large box that is filled with not surprisingly sand, something that you would find say on a beach by the ocean.
Mary says, wait, how many children do you have?
Patrick responds, only 11.
Well, 11 is not that big of a family.
I am the youngest of 11 children.
And by coincidence, by chance, my parents were named Patrick and Mary.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hi, do you mind if I sit on this bench with you?
No, be my guest.
We've just moved to the neighborhood and we love having a playground around the corner.
It's nice, isn't it, to be able to bring the kids here to get some exercise and to burn off some energy.
Definitely.
I'm watching my daughter on that spring rider.
It's her favorite.
Is that your son on the slide?
It is.
Over there, I have two other sons playing on the merry-go-round.
They're the ones wearing green.
Oh yeah, I see them.
Do you have other kids?
My son Frankie and daughter Therese are on the jungle gym hanging on the monkey bars.
See them?
Oh sure.
Are those two on the seesaw yours too?
They are.
And those three boys on the swings are mine too.
Over there, you'll see another one of my sons swinging on the trapeze rings.
And right here is my youngest playing in the sandbox.
Wait, how many children do you have?
Only eleven.
There's no playing around when it comes to writing our scripts, thanks to the wonderful work by our scriptwriter, Dr Lucy Say.
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 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
