EC145_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 145

TOPICS

Advanced Placement courses and tests; Legos/Legoland and Hot Wheels; might

versus maybe; judgment call; no-brainer

_____________

GLOSSARY

placement – how and where you put something or someone, often according to

type of level of skill

* The music students each played one song for the director and hoped for a

placement in the advanced class.

college-level – something that has a similar difficulty level as things taught or

done in colleges or universities

* Janie was able to do college-level math while she was in elementary school!

subject area – topics that are studied in school, such as math, science, history,

and music

* The new teacher our school hired can teach courses in three different subject

areas.

to gear up for (something) – to prepare for something or to get ready for

something

* The fans are gearing up for the big football game this weekend by buying team

T-shirts to wear to the game.

financial aid – money received from the government or another source to help

students pay for school fees

* Without financial aid, Steven will have to stop going to school next year.

college credit – points toward graduation a student receives at a college or

university each time they successfully complete a course

* Three of my students got college credit by completing a special summer study

program.

interlocking – pieces that can be put together so that they hold onto each other

and do not come apart; pieces made to fit together so that they can be combined

* These floor mats are interlocking so that they won’t come apart when people

walk on them.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 145

kit – a group of things that are packaged or sold together for a special purpose

* I want to build my own boat. Do you think I can buy a kit?

theme park – a large area with many rides that are based around a single idea

* On our vacation to Florida, we spent three days at the theme park and had a lot

of fun!

replicate – copy; something made to look like the original

* I bought this Rolex watch on the street for 10 dollars. Do you think it’s real or a

replicate?

track – a path for a person or a car to follow, usually in a circle or oval shape

* All four cars drove onto the track right before the race began.

to collect – to buy and keep many different kinds of something

* Katrina began collecting paintings by her favorite artist and now has eight of

them.

maybe – perhaps; might; possibility of something happening

* Maybe it will rain today and I’ll have to walk home in the rain.

might – perhaps; maybe; possibility of something happening

* Dan said that he might be late to our party because he has a lot to finish before

he can leave work.

judgment call – a decision that does not have a clear answer; a personal

opinion based on one’s own beliefs, knowledge, and wisdom

* I don’t know if we should expand our company this year or not. It’s a judgment

call.

no-brainer – an easy decision; something easy to do; common sense

* It’s a no-brainer to tell your wife “no” when she asks you, “Do I look fat in this

dress?”

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

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 145

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

The Advance Placement Subject Exams

Many students in American schools take Advanced Placement examinations

each May. The exams have multiple-choice questions, which are questions with

several possible answers and the students select the correct one. The exams

also ask free-response questions. The “free-response” questions require that

students write an “essay” (narrative; explanation) or solve a problem. The test

for Studio Art, which includes painting, drawing, and sculpture, requires that

students submit a “portfolio,” which is an organized collection of their work. The

free-response answers and portfolios are judged by university and advance

placement teachers, who are trained to “evaluate” (judge) them.

Here are the subjects with Advance Placement Subject Exams:

Art History

Biology

Calculus AB

Calculus BC

Chemistry

Chinese Language

and Culture

Computer Science A

Computer Science AB

Macroeconomics

Microeconomics

English Language

English Literature

Environmental

Science

European History

French Language

French Literature

German Language

Comp Government &

Politics

U.S. Government &

Politics

Human Geography

Italian Language and

Culture

Japanese Language

and Culture

Latin Literature

Latin: Vergil

Music Theory

Physics B

Physics C

Psychology

Spanish Language

Spanish Literature

Statistics

Studio Art

U.S. History

World History

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2008). Posting of

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 – 145

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 145.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café number 145. 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. While you’re there, you can download this

episode’s Learning Guide, an 8 to 10 page guide we provide for all of our current

episodes that gives you some additional help in improving your English. You can

also take a look at our ESL Podcast Store, with additional courses in English, as

well as our ESL Podcast Blog, where several times a week we provide even

more help in helping you improve your English.

On this Café, we’re going to talk about Advanced Placement courses and tests,

what they are and who takes them in the United States. Then we’ll turn to the

topic of children’s toys, talking specifically about Legos, Legoland, and my

favorite, Hot Wheels. As always, we’ll answer a few of your questions as well.

Let’s get started.

Our first topic on today’s Café is something called “Advanced Placement”

courses and tests. “Placement” refers to how or where you put something or

someone. Normally, you take a test, and based on the results of that test, you

are placed at a certain level, for example in a language classroom. Advanced

Placement is a specific program that lets students in the U.S. and Canada take

college-level courses while they are still in high school. Now, I say college-level,

they are still usually taught by high school teachers, but they cover some of the

same information that you might get in a college class on that topic. In other

words, the classes place students in courses that are more difficult, more

advanced than the courses in the typical high school. We say these courses are

more advanced – they’re more difficult.

Many schools, perhaps even most high schools, offer Advanced Placement,

which we usually call simply “AP” classes. These AP courses are, as I said,

usually more challenging, or difficult, than regular high school courses. There

are more than 30 AP “subject areas,” that is, topics that students can study and

then be tested on. Most high schools, however, only offer a very small number of

AP classes. English, history, biology, calculus, and, perhaps, Spanish are the

most common AP courses in American high schools. Some of the less common

subject areas include art history and Latin. I say most high schools offer these

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 145

courses, but not all. My high school did not have any AP courses, so it depends

on the school that you attend.

High school students who take these AP courses have to study for an exam that

takes place at the end of the year. We might say they have to “gear up for” an

exam. To “gear up for” something is a phrasal verb, which means to get ready

for something. We sometimes will gear up for the holidays – Christmas,

Chanukah, or New Years – by buying gifts for our family and friends. AP

students gear up for the AP exam by studying a lot. Now, you don’t have to take

an AP course to take the AP exam, but it is helpful to have that entire year to

prepare for the exam under a teacher’s supervision, or guidance.

AP exams are usually given in the spring of each year. Students have to pay a

fee to take the exam. A “fee” is the amount of money you pay to do something.

When I was younger and single, I had a gym membership. I would go to the gym

every week – not to exercise, just to meet girls! I had to pay a fee every month.

The fee for the AP exam is currently about 80 dollars, but it is possible, if you

don’t have a lot of money – if you are what we may call a “low-income” student –

to get “financial aid,” meaning that they don’t have to pay as much. “Aid” is

another word for assistance. So, “financial aid” is help.

The AP exam, itself, is created by The Educational Testing Service, which is a

private organization – a company – that creates and grades the TOEFL test, the

Test of Spoken English, many different standardized tests, the SAT test, and the

AP exams.

More than one million American and Canadian students took the AP exams back

in 2006, and many of them took more than one AP exam. Now, you may be

asking, well, why should students study and take this exam – this test? The

reason is that in many places they can get college credit if they do well on the

exams. At a university, students earn “credit” each time they complete a course

successfully. Some courses may be three credits; some may be four credits;

some may be five credits. Students need a certain number of credits to graduate

from college. If a high school student does well on the AP exam, he or she can

get college credit for that subject area. For example, if a student does very well

on the AP biology exam, he or she can get college credit for biology. This helps

the student save money, because the 80-dollar AP exam fee is much less

expensive than paying for the complete biology course at the university. So,

what it allows students to do is to get credit for classes, but they don’t have to

take the class again when they get to the university. Students who takes a lot of

AP exams and earn a lot of college credit can actually graduate earlier from a

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2008). Posting of

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

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