EC034_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 34

TOPICS

News anchors, public school curriculum, Mark Twain, dictionary vs. thesaurus,

shortened words (rehab, lab, mag, celeb), “apparent suicide,” feature

presentation

_____________

GLOSSARY

to flip through the channels – to change the channels on a television, usually

to look for a good program to watch

* He flipped through the channels so quickly, I couldn’t see what programs were

on.

remote control – something you use to change the channels on a television,

usually a small object you hold in your hand

* I never need to leave the sofa to change the channels when I have my remote

control.

newscast – a television news program

* Watching the newscast every evening helps me find out what’s happening in

the world.

spokesperson – someone who “speaks for” a group or organization; a

representative of an organization who talks to reporters from newspapers and

television stations

* The spokesperson for the company said that the new product won’t be ready

for sale for another six months.

chairperson – the head or leader of a committee

* You need to ask the chairperson of the committee to make that important

decision.

to decentralize – to put the power or authority in different places or with different

people, not just in one place or with one person; opposite of “to centralize”

* Countries trying to decentralize the mail service aren’t having much success.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 34

school board – a committee of people, usually elected, who help run a group of

schools

* The school board decided to close the old school to make room for the new

one.

federal – national; usually meaning the United States government

* The federal government announced today that people won’t need to pay any

taxes next year.

to mandate – to order or demand; something that must be done

* The university mandated that all students pay a fee for health care on campus.

standards – a list of things students should know when they finish school

* Some say that the standards are set too high; others say they’re too low.

to exit – to leave or to complete

* Before workers can exit the training program, they need to pass the test.

K-12 – kindergarten through grade 12; elementary and secondary school

* He has been a K-12 teacher for 20 years. I guess he really likes kids.

to appoint – to name or to choose someone for a particular position

* The committee appointed her to be in charge of the new project.

humorist – someone who writes funny stories or articles

* Did you know that he is a humorist who writes for a popular magazine?

to interfere – to get in the way of; to make it difficult for someone else to do

something

* When a husband and wife have an argument, it’s best not to interfere.

rehabilitation – to make yourself better or stronger after being sick or hurt

* After his illness, he entered rehabilitation for three months before he returned to

work.

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 34

synonym – a word with a similar meaning

“Wonderful” is a synonym of “great.”

antonym – a word with the opposite meaning

“Terrible” is an antonym of “great.”

homonym – two or more words that sound this same but mean different things

“Be” and “bee” are homonyms.

_____________

ENGLISH LEARNING TIPS

Many people find pronunciation to be very difficult when speaking another

language. One of the most important things is to be relaxed, to stay calm. If you

get nervous or excited when you are speaking English, your pronunciation will

usually get worse. Do something to relax yourself before speaking, such as

breathing in and out a few times to calm yourself down. If you have to give a

presentation in front of a group of people, be sure to practice your speech many

times so that you are very comfortable with it.

Some scientific studies say that the best way to be relaxed during a presentation

is to do what is called “visualization.” To visualize means to picture or imagine

something in your mind, to think about how it looks, sounds, and feels. When

preparing your presentation, spend some time thinking about the people whom

you will be talking to, and the place where the presentation will take place. Now

picture or imagine yourself doing this speech or presentation very, very well.

Imagine yourself being very successful and being very relaxed, with excellent

pronunciation. Go through your speech or presentation in your head and see

yourself being successful. This may sound strange to you now, but some

researchers believe this is an excellent way to be more relaxed when speaking in

front of other people.

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 34

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Cafe

number 34.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast English Cafe number 34. I'm your

host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational

Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Remember to visit our new website and take a look at the Learning Guide for

today's podcast, which has a complete script of the podcast along with definitions

and additional information. In today's Guide, we include some tips on improving

your pronunciation which you'll want to read. Go to www.eslpod.com for more

information.

On today's cafe, we're going to talk about news anchors, who they are and what

they do. We are also going to go over what public schools teach and where they

get their curriculum from. And as usual, we'll answer a few of your questions.

Now, let's get started.

I was watching the news last night and I like to flip between channels. To “flip”

means to change the channel on the television. Of course, you can do that real

easily now because we have remote controls. We sometimes just call them the

“remote;” that's the thing that you can hold in your hand and press the button to

change the channels or to increase or decrease the volume. Well, I was flipping

through the channels last night when the national news broadcasts were on.

These are half-hour programs. There are three of them on three different

television channels or television networks. And I noticed that some of them have

different news anchors on their program, so I thought it would be interesting to

talk a little bit about famous news anchors in the United States.

First of all, a “news anchor” is the person who reads the news, the main person

or people who read the news on the news broadcast. We call those “the anchor”

or “anchors,” if there are more than one. An “anchor” is a word that is also used

for the thing that you, if you are on a boat, you drop it into the water. It's very

heavy, it goes down to the bottom of the lake, for example, and it keeps you

steady. The boat doesn't move because there is an anchor that is holding it

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 34

there. We also use that word as a verb: “To anchor” something can also mean

sort of to control. This is the closer meaning, when we talk about the news

anchor, the news anchor being the person who controls or is the main person in

the news program, what we would call the “newscast” (all one word).

Well, for many years in the United States, the news anchor was a man, usually a

white man, and an older white man. So, there would be a journalist, a reporter,

who would become the anchor. The “reporter,” of course, is the person who

goes out and talks to people, and on a news broadcast, usually, there are

reporters in different parts of the city, or the co untry, or the world, and they film

them talking about the problem. Well, usually, one of those reporters, after many

years, can become a news anchor. Traditionally, the anchors, as I say, were

always white men, usually older white men. The most famous news anchor in

the United States, at least in the 20th century was probably, a man called Walter

Cronkite, I think. And, Walter Cronkite is a name that every American knows

because he was the news anchor for many years on one of the big television

networks.

There used to be just three big television chains of stations or networks - ABC,

NBC, and the oldest is CBS. Those are abbreviations for, I think, “American

Broadcast Company,” the “National Broadcast Company,” and “Columbia

Broadcast Company.” [Correction: “Columbia Broadcast System”] Anyway,

Walter Cronkite was the anchor on the CBS evening news. And so, his name is

very famous because everyone knows him. He retired, he left his job, maybe 10,

15, (maybe longer) years ago, but most people still know who he is; he's still

alive. He was very well-respected; he was like an older uncle who would talk to

people in the newscast. People felt a lot of confidence in him.

Well, in the last 20 years or so, things have been changing, but very slowly.

Most of the news anchors for the three big network newscasts are still white, and

they're mostly still men, but that is changing. In fact, there is now going to be a

woman who is going to be the news anchor on the CBS evening news. After

Walter Cronkite left, there was another news anchor, another man, Dan Rather,

and he left last year. Now, the new news anchor will be a woman. For the first

time, there'll be a woman as the news anchor on CBS evening news. So, that's

sort of a change. One of the other news stations also has an anchor who is

female. The ABC newscast has two people; one of them is a woman, Elizabeth

Vargas, I think is her name. Sometimes, you will see the word “anchorman” or

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2006). Posting of

these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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