Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Show 278 Monday 5 February


Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
This week I’m going to introduce some resources for studying English.

There is a site called Real English which has some really good ESL videos. It’s a commercial site so it does have some stuff you have to pay for – but there are also a lot of videos you can watch for free.

The ones I saw look like they were made in the 80s so the fashion is pretty funny. But the language hasn’t dated so they are still really useful.

What I like about them is that they are asking a lot of different people the same question. I think that kind of repetition is really good because you get to see how a lot of different people answer the same question.

For example there is one video asking people in England: “What are the Americans like?” And there’s another video asking people in America “What are the British like?”

From all their different answers you can get a general idea about all the stereotypes that exist for British and American people. I think those videos would also be useful for learning some adjectives that are used when describing people.

These are some of the adjectives that people in England used when describing American people:

loud
warm-hearted
friendly
pleasant
outgoing
helpful
pushy
generous
domineering
self-centered
overpowering
brash
colourful
confident
over-confident
likeable
hospitable
bossy

And these are some of the adjectives that people in America used to describe British people:
aristocratic
formal
family-orientated
fair
nice
witty
reserved
homey
stiff
fun
cold
pompous
stuffy



STICK NEWS

Kia ora this is Stick News. The final of the National Football League in the United States was played yesterday. The Colts beat the Bears.

American Football is called football in the United States and Canada. In New Zealand it’s usually called gridiron.
The game uses a ball which looks like a rugby ball. But there are many differences between the sports.
In American Football you can throw the ball forwards, players also wear helmets and humungous shoulder pads.
Wikipedia says “American football is the most popular spectator sport in the United States.”
The Final of the NFL is called the Super Bowl.
Yesterday the 41st Super Bowl was held at Dolphin Stadium in Florida.
The Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears 29-17.


And that was Stick News for Monday the 5th of February.
Kia Ora.



the snow report

Today the landlord cleared the snow for us again which was cool. The general lack of snow is a bit of a worry though.



conversations with sarah
#168 What do you think Americans are like?

Step 1: Repeat Ted’s lines.
Step 2: Read Ted’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Ted What do you think Americans are like?

Sarah I think there are all kinds of Americans.

Ted Some people say they are loud.

Sarah Mmm, yeah, I’ve met some loud Americans but I’ve met some really quiet Americans too. I think there are all kinds of different people in every country.

Ted What kind of negative stereotypes do people have of New Zealanders?

Sarah New Zealand is a really small country so I think most people in the world have never heard of it – or even if they have they don’t care enough to have an opinion about it.

Ted I guess they wouldn’t tell you anyway.

Sarah Yeah, exactly. But I remember one guy from France visited New Zealand – he was an ambassador or something – and he said that New Zealand women are ugly or have no style or something. That caused a bit of an uproar.