Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today I’m going to talk about a video by Michael Buckley. Michael Buckley makes an online show about American celebrities, called What The Buck Show. I’m not really too keen on that – but he also makes some personal vlogs which I enjoy watching.
And he made one recently talking about his memories of kindergarten. And that’s the video I’m going to talk about today.
The main things that he remembers are, firstly, that he cried a lot because he was homesick, even though he only went to kindergarten for about three hours a day.
He says: I was only there from like noon to three. So in retrospect, it’s like toughen up, you know, you couldn’t go to school for three hours?
In retrospect is an idiom which means: when looking back on a past event or situation.
Another way of saying it is: with hindsight.
He says that he used to do stuff like go to the nurse’s office and say he was sick to try and get out of kindergarten. I think this is funny, he says: I saw some kid wet their pants once and I thought I’m going to wet my pants because if I wet my pants I’ll go home. I didn’t do it, but these are things that went through my brain.
Another thing that he remembers is that his teacher "seemed out of sorts".
Out of sorts is another idiom. In my dictionary it says: especially BrE ill/sick or upset.
He means that she might have had a mental illness or maybe she was on medication or something. He says: years later I think I did hear through the grapevine that perhaps, yes, my teacher was a little out of sorts.
The grapevine means: the circulation of rumours and unofficial information.
So if you hear something through the grapevine it usually means that someone told someone who told you ... and it may or may not be true.
By the way, Micheal Buckley talks pretty fast, so this is very good practice for listening to a fast speaker. I wrote a transcript for you so you can check out the bits that you didn’t catch.
And, just out of curiosity, I also calculated how fast he was speaking in that video. And it turns out he’s speaking 220 words per minute.
And then I tried to find the average speed for speaking English, but all the sites I looked at had different averages, so I don’t know what the best answer is.
One site said the average was: 125 to 150. And another site said:155 to 160. But in any case, I think he’s speaking pretty fast.
STICK NEWS
Kia Ora, in Stick News today a celebrity chef from the UK has prompted Australia's parliament to recommend stricter rules about language used on television.
Gordon Ramsay is a chef who verbally abuses his staff on the cooking shows he stars in. Reuters reported his shows prompted outrage in Australia earlier this year when “one episode featured the volatile chef using a four-letter expletive more than 80 times in 40 minutes.”
The Australian Senate has now completed an inquiry which made 20 recommendations to television stations to review the way they rate programs, what they consider to be coarse language, and how they respond to complaints.
The inquiry chairperson told parliament that submissions expressed concern about Ramsay’s swearing and attitudes.
"People were offended by the way Ramsay directed his language toward restaurant staff in an abusive and aggressive manner.”
The Governor-General said that television programs glorify bad manners and foul language.
"There is a culture of crudeness. Crudeness in our language in high public life. The language you see coming out over the television, the language in political areas in some parts. It's a crudity which I don't think is a good thing."
And that was Stick News for Thursday the 19th of June.
Kia Ora.
Word of the Day
Today’s word is: diaper.
A diaper is a thing that babies wear in North America.
In other countries they wear nappies.
#472 Is he famous?
Step 1: Repeat Mari’s lines.
Step 2: Read Mari’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Sarah Have you heard of Gordon Ramsay?
Mari No. Who’s he?
Sarah He’s a chef from the UK.
Mari Is he famous?
Sarah Yeah, I think so. He has a few restaurants and a few TV shows. I was just watching a clip from of one of his shows and I’m so shocked.
Mari Why?
Sarah He verbally abuses his staff on the shows. It’s so nasty.
Mari You mean he swears at them?
Sarah Yeah, he does that. But I don’t think the swearing is so bad – it’s just what he says and the way he says it ... it’s, like, hard core verbal abuse.
Mari And it’s on TV?
Sarah Yeah, crazy aye. I can’t believe it’s even legal to do that. It reminds me of military abuse or what teachers used to be able to get away with.
Mari Someone will probably sue him, won’t they?
Sarah Mmm, I don’t know. But I guess he’ll get his trouble back eventually. You can’t go around treating people like that. Actually, it looks like he’s already suffering from his own stress. When I saw his photo I thought he was in his 60s or 70s, but in Wikipedia it says he’s only 41. But that could be a mistake I guess.
Hey everybody and this is the first in a series of at least twelve videos. Um, Michael Buckley, the school years. This one is called kindergarten. I am going to be making a vlog talking about each year of my life in school. Because I’ve found doing the live shows that people always ask certain questions. And it always triggers some memory. Um, and I just, I have specific memories of each year. And I just have such strong associations of my lunchbox or what I wore the first day of school. Or, you know, just what happened based on, oh, that happened in third grade, I remember it so well. So I’m going to make a series of videos. And this one is kindergarten. I would love for you guys to play along too. Make response videos for every year you want to. If you want to skip a year, if something was too painful ... I sure as hell didn’t like 9th grade that much. But, I’m going to do each year. So this is ... so that was a little background. But um, so kindergarten, Michael Buckley, what do I remember?
Wow. I remember going to kindergarten and being very excited to not be in preschool anymore. Um, preschool was a little rough for me. I was very emotional and very sad every day, I was very homesick, even though preschool was short. So I go to kindergarten and same thing. I thought it was going to be different, I thought I was going to enjoy it because I thought oh, I’m there and there’s you know first, second, third, forth, fifth… you know, there’s older kids that I can see. And um, we used to have half day kindergarten and I was an afternoon kindergarten person. So I didn’t have to go until noon. And so I was only there from like noon to three. So in retrospect, it’s like toughen up, you know, you couldn’t go to school for three hours pussy. Um, but I couldn’t. I would go and I would cry. And I would just go down to the nurses’ office. I would always pretend I was sick. I can’t tell you how many times I went down to the nurses’ office in kindergarten and just: my stomach hurts, my head hurts. And they would know. I saw some kid wet their pants once and I thought I’m going to wet my pants because if I wet my pants I’ll go home. I didn’t do it, but these are things that went through my brain.
Um, my other thing that I remember most strongly from kindergarten, was my teacher seemed out of sorts. And even as a child you kind of can tell when people are out of sorts. Um, and years later I think I did hear through the grapevine that perhaps, yes, my teacher was a little out of sorts. Um, but all I know is, I used to ... we used to have to say our address. Like, so every day she would like ask you: what’s your name? Michael Buckley. Where do you live? And I would say the street address where I lived.
I’m telling you know. I used to say the wrong address. And she sat there, Indian style, on the bench and said right, like glazed over. And so like two years later, in second grade, I wrote down my street address, and my mother said, what the hell’s that? And I’m like that’s where I live. And she’s like no you don’t. And I’m said, well blank said that I did. And she’s like um, no, you don’t live there Michael. I thought I lived on some ... oh you know what ... I can’t even .. I’m so embarrassed that I ... but she said that I live there ... so, maybe she wanted me to go there. I don’t know. Crazy!
Um, that’s what stands out in kindergarten. I don’t remember much in terms of academics. I do remember having nap time and laying there on the mat, and just … that was happy time. Like I remember laying there, looking over at other kids and thinking: I wonder if they’re having as much fun as I am? Cause I enjoy laying here as opposed to doing whatever work we’re supposed to do.
I also remember having a bathroom in the classroom. Which you know when you’re in first, second grade you don’t. So I remember having, you know, going to the bathroom ... and I remember a kid having a diaper. Cause I remember walking in on some kid once and being like what the … why does this kid have a diaper? What the hell’s wrong with him?
What else? Crazy teacher, walking in on a kid with a diaper. Crying often. My mother was a PTA room mother, I can’t remember if it was for me or for my twin sister. But every time she came in, I would just start crying. What an emotional person! What a sensitive person! Boys are like that, I swear, girls are you know ... let’s get to school. Boys are very attached to their mothers, well I was anyway. And I just remember being very sad that I had to go to school and leave. I wanted to be home with her. Um. So that’s all for now. Michael Buckley – kindergarten years. Um, first grade is fun. So look forward to first grade. Hopefully I’ll do it next week. I’m going to be motivated to do at least one a week – maybe more. But I hope you guys will play, make kindergarten ... or pick another grade. And um. Have fun. I think this will be a little YouTube fun thing we can do. So this video’s going to be called kindergarten, what’s yours going to be?
Pick a grade and let’s go!
links
today's STICK NEWS pictures
music
show start
artist: BrunoXe
album: aprendiendo desde 2004
track: Mandrake
from: Jerez, Spain
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
cws start
artist: San Sebastian
track: Happy Sad
artist site
qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack5
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
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