#982 Messages For 1000th Show

Show 982 Saturday 28 February
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

Today’s show is just an announcement to say that in case you hadn’t noticed we’re coming up to the 1000th show.

So, I’d just like to say thank you very much for all your wonderful support so far.

For the 1000th show we were planning to put on a huge party on a pacific island and fly you all there. But because of the current state of the world economy we had to change our plans slightly. And instead we’re going to make a video to celebrate.

So if you’d like to say a short message of congratulations to The Daily English Show then please send it to me before the 17th of March and I’ll include it in the 1000th show.

Just try to keep the message short. About five seconds is fine.

And that’s about all I have to say today. So I hope you’re having an excellent day and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Bye!

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

bgm
artist: Reno Project
album: 1.0
track: Afterwork
from: Paris, France
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
MySpace
YouTube channel

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

#981 Have You Ever Been Low? Offensive Place Names, Eunkyung From Korea

Show 981 Friday 27 February
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

Today we’re studying a song called Low. It’s by Kelly Clarkson who is an American singer. She won the first American Idol series – if you’ve heard of that … it’s a kind of talent show.

A lot of songs – especially pop songs – have a few lines that are repeated over and over … and that can be really annoying. But it’s great if you’re studying English and those lines are useful to remember.
In this song she sings this line over and over: Have you ever been low?

The song is basically just another one of those songs lamenting a failed relationship.
By low, she means: depressed or feeling bad.

I don’t know if you’d ever actually ask anyone: Have you ever been low? – but have you ever been … is very useful. If it doesn’t roll off your tongue already, you should practice saying it over and over or listen to the song and sing along. Another good way to practice is to get together with a friend, or a teacher, or a classmate and spend about five or ten minutes just asking each other have you ever questions.

Have you ever been to Europe?
Have you ever tried snowboarding?
Have you ever broken a bone?
Have you ever been rafting?
Have you ever forgotten where you parked the car?
Have you ever lost your mobile phone?
Have you ever stolen anything?
Have you ever made a speech at a funeral?
Have you ever missed a flight?
Have you ever been to Disneyland?

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today LA County in the United States has requested to rename a mountain which is now called Negrohead Mountain.

This word is considered so offensive in the United States that it’s referred to by the euphemism: The N Word.
But that wasn’t always the case and there used to be many official place names containing the N word.
According to Wikipedia, in 1967, many of these place names were changed to another word starting with N.
This word is also now considered offensive – so place names are being changed again.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has requested that Negrohead Mountain be changed to Ballard Mountain.

And that was Stick News for Friday the 27th of February.
Kia ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
in The Annupuri Gondola

thanks to Eunkyung

1. Where are you from?
I’m from Korea.

2. Whereabouts in Korea?
I’m from Daejeon.

3: How long are you here for?
Until April.Three months in total.

4. How did you find out about Niseko?
My friend Lee brought me here.

5. How many times have you been to Niseko?
Last year was my first time and this is the second time.

6. How are the conditions today?
The snow’s a bit heavier than usual but it’s still good. Very good.

7. Where do you usually go snowboarding in Korea?
Muju Resort. There’s not much snow at Muju Resort. Not as much as in Niseko.

8. How long have you been snowboarding?
Three years.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is low.

Low has many meanings.
When Kelly Clarkson sings: Have you ever been low? she’s meaning: Have you ever been depressed?
But at the end of the song she sings: What you did was low.
This is another meaning of the word low. Here low means: unscrupulous or dishonest.

friday joke

* I found today's joke in the comments of this video.

Why do most people have trouble getting blood transfusions in Taiwan?
Because they only have type A.

conversations with sarah
#616 Don’t you think it’s cruel?

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

Tony Have you ever seen American Idol?

Sarah Mmm, I’ve seen clips online – but I’ve never actually seen a whole show.

Tony Do you like it?

Sarah Yeah, it’s kind of entertaining. Especially the judges’ comments.

Tony Don’t you think it’s cruel?

Sarah No, cause they’ve chosen to be there and they know what they’re up for – so I think it’s fair enough.

Tony Some people get really upset though.

Sarah Well … bad luck. I mean, that’s like enabling comments on your online video and then complaining when someone says it sucks.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

Kelly Clarkson - YouTube channel
Low by Kelly Clarkson - official video on YouTube

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

nsr bgm
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Bass Vibes
artist site
YouTube channel

WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

friday joke start
artist: AdHoc
album: Toutes directions
track: Sumbala
from: Annecy, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Antony Raijekov
album: See U
track: Lightin
from: Sofia, Bulgaria
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

#980 Milk, Plagiarism, Cheap Vices, Entire

Show 980 Thursday 26 February
Watch today’s show at YouTube.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

Today I’d like to talk about another Oscar speech.
It was by Dustin Lance Black who won the award for the Best Original Screenplay – and you can watch that video on the Oscar channel on YouTube.

I thought it was a really moving speech.

The award was for a movie called Milk which is the story of Harvey Milk who was an American politician and gay rights activist.

In his speech Dustin Black said a message to gay and lesbian kids. He said "... no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you ..." and he said that very soon they’d have equal rights in America.
No matter what … who, where, what, why, how etc. is an idiom.
used to say that sth is always true, whatever the situation is, or that sb should certainly do sth

And one of the examples here is: Call me when you get there, no matter what the time is.

The Acadia Report
Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada

The Acadia University Library is called the Vaughan Memorial Library.
This is their site.

Of course a lot of their resources you can only access if you’re a student of that university – but some of them are available for anyone to use.

And one thing that you might find useful is their tutorials. They have one about plagiarism – which is a very important thing for students to understand.

When I was teaching a high school class in Tokyo I had a problem with plagiarism and I ended up giving them a long, stern lecture about it … which I think was good for some of them … but I think it could have been even more effective if I’d have got them to do a tutorial like this as well.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today according to the New Zealand Herald despite the troubled economic times cheap vices are still popular in New Zealand.

Apparently almost all of the only companies in the United States that did well during the Great Depression were those that sold cheap vices like sweets and tobacco.
Now the same trend is being seen in New Zealand.
The New Zealand Herald reported that retailing has been flat overall – but some sectors, including junk food and alcohol are resilient.

And that was Stick News for Thursday 26th of February.
Kia ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
at niseko yurt village

with Sarah Latcham
Sarah was a guest on Show 977

When did you come to Japan?

Ah, the first time I came was last year. I came for a week to visit my partner who was doing a season over here. And then I got here on the 2nd of December this year and stayed for three months.

Do you ski or snowboard?

I’d skied before but I’m learning to snowboard this year. I bought a new snowboard and boots and bindings to come over. So, I’m finding it heaps more fun actually – enjoying it a lot more.

How have the conditions been recently?

The snow here has probably been … the best week of the season – apart from the wind. But I think the next few days are going to be the best of the season, which is a shame because I leave tomorrow, so I’m going to miss out on all of it. But … ah, I haven’t seen a lot of snow. I came back to Japan for the second time cause I really liked the snow last year. Ah, I’ve skied in Mt Buller in Australia and that’s got no comparison to Japan. It’s nothing like as good as the snow is here.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is entire.

Entire means whole or with no part left out and it’s used to emphasize that the whole of something was involved.

You could say: I spent the whole day working on it. Or: I spent the entire day working on it.

They mean the same thing but using entire has more impact.

In his speech, Dustin said he would like to thank the entire cast.

conversations with sarah
#616 What’s your vice?

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

Tony What’s your vice?

Sarah My vice. Hmm … I don’t know if I want to say.

Tony Cigarettes?

Sarah No, I don’t smoke.

Tony Ah, it must be something illegal.

Sarah No, no … it’s not illegal, it’s celebrity gossip.

Tony Do you read celebrity gossip?

Sarah Maybe. Occasionally. It’s usually work-related though.

Tony Riiiiight. You read Perez Hilton, don’t you?

Sarah No comment.

notes

from today's Stick News pictures:

iconic depression picture
to hell in a handbasket

plagiarism tutorial
video about library tutorials

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

The Acadia Report start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Concerto
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
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: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Paolo Pavan
album: INSIDE
track: Blue Night Dance
from: Rome, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
MySpace

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

#979 Three Nine, Wordia, Drive Through Ganja, Flabbergasted, Kato Kunio

Show 979 Wednesday 25 February
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

Today is mistake day and I’d like to talk about Kato Kunio’s speech that he made at the Oscars and see if we can find any mistakes to learn from.

He’s a Japanese animator and he went to the States to pick up the award – and he even made a speech in English which I thought was pretty cool. I thought it was a brilliant speech too – very short, and funny and to the point. And very cute.

And there weren’t any mistakes at all actually. Just one think I would say if I was giving feedback, is about the pronunciation of the word staff. This is a Japanese word too – and he’s using the Japanese pronunciation, something like sutafu … but in English it’s a longer sound: staaaaaf. Well that’s with my accent of course, but even if you’re going for a different accent – it’s still a longer sound. If you pronounce it the same way as the Japanese word, it ends up sounding like stuff.

He also pronounces thank you Japanese-style. But this is actually a slang word in Japanese – so some people pronounce it like that on purpose. They say the words for three san and nine kyu. San kyu. So, just for fun, sometimes when I’m speaking English in Japan instead of saying thank you, I say: three nine!

click here

The site I recommend today is called Wordia.
It’s an interesting idea – they have a whole lot of videos of people talking about words.
You can check them out by going to their site – or on their YouTube channel as well.
Anyone can upload videos there too – so if you feel inspired you can go and make a video talking about a word. And some of the videos they’ve made themselves, or interviewed people in the street and asked them to talk about a word.

For example, this is what one guy says about the word chilly:

Chilly, definition of which is my nipples in this cold weather. Thank you very much.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today a man in the United States has been arrested for selling wacky tobaccy at a fast food restaurant.

This 27-year-old man was a fast food restaurant employee – and a drug dealer. He was selling marijuana at a drive-through window. He was busted after he sold ganja to some undercover cops.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 25th of February.
Kia ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
at MSK JR Apartment

Today I’d like to introduce you to the snow clearing machine that lives outside my apartment.
Isn’t it cute? Check out the tricks it can do.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is flabbergasted.

extremely surprised and/or shocked

There’s a video on wordia with a woman talking about the word flabbergasted.

This is what she says:

Flabbergasted. Adjective. Overcome with astonishment, amazement, astounded … or appalled with yourself at the amount of weight you’ve put on. Flabbergasted

I looked online for an example and I found a column where someone was responding to someone’s negative reaction about a political issue. This is what they wrote:

Am I living in a bubble when I say that I'm just flabbergasted by this reaction?

conversations with sarah
#615 I didn’t get the joke at first

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

Sarah I didn’t get the joke at first.

Travis What was it?

Sarah He said “domo arigato Mr. Roboto”

Travis What does that mean?

Sarah Well, domo arigato means thank you and roboto means robot … but I was like, why is he saying that?

Travis Why did he say it?

Sarah It turns out it’s the name of a song.

Travis A Japanese song?

Sarah No, an American song. I think it’s from the 80s or something. I’d never heard of it.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

Kato Kunio - Oscar speech
Kato Kunio - Wikipedia (Japanese only)
Kato Kunio - site

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

click here start
artist: #NarNaoud#
album: Green Vision
track: Oriental Standing
from: Gironde, France
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
artist site

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

nsr bgm
artist: i am this
album: BLAPP.
track: magnolia
from: Phoenix, United States
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo

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: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Paolo Pavan
album: INSIDE
track: Blue Night Dance
from: Rome, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
MySpace

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

#978 The Wrestler, Section 92A, Turn-on

Show 978 Tuesday 24 February
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today we’re studying a scene from a movie called The Wrestler.
I haven’t seen this movie – I don’t think it has been released in Japan yet.
But anyway, you don’t need to see a whole movie to study a scene from it.

In this scene a guy asks a girl to go and have a drink with him and she says no at first and then she eventually says yes.

He invites her by saying: Have a beer with me?
That’s the same as saying: Will you have a beer with me? Or: Do you want to have a beer with me? Or: Please have a beer with me.

And she refuses by saying: I’ve got to get going. Which means the same thing as: I have to go.

Presumably because there’s something that she has to do.

That’s a pretty natural way to refuse an invitation. If someone asks you to go for a coffee or a drink or something – it’s pretty strange to refuse by saying: No, I don’t want to.
Instead people usually say things like: No, I can’t. I have to go home, or: I have to do ... something else.

If you use have to it sounds like you don’t have a choice and you regret not being about to do it. Even though really, of course, you usually do have a choice.

Then she says: I got a kid. And he replies with: You have a kid?

I got means the same thing as I have got or I’ve got or I have.

I got is informal – so don’t go writing it in your university essays or in business email.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora this is Stick News. Yesterday in New Zealand there was a blog black-out to protest a new law.

Last year a law was passed in New Zealand called the Copyright Amendment Act No 27.
Most of the act has already taken effect – but Section 92A has now been delayed after protests including website black-outs and an online petition.
According to the New Zealand Herald, Section 92A … requires that ISPs implement policies for warning and ultimately disconnecting internet users accused of copyright infringement.
They said it was widely agreed that the act will be costly for ISPs, be unenforceable and probably won't work.

And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 24th of February.
Kia ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
with SAS Scott Adventure Sports

Thanks to: David

Have you ever had any students that just couldn’t do it?

I’ve never had a student that never got it in the end. We always … we often find that everybody gets to a certain point and they hit a, hit a barrier. And some people hit that on the first day. It might be … some people, for instance, struggle with stepping up the hill, we call it side-stepping. And, um, and some people, you know, they, they seem to struggle a lot at that, sort of, that point.
And it’s about trying to, sort of, you know, sometimes you have to take people away from that. Sometimes it involves, you know, just going down, sitting down and having a coffee. Other times it’s taking a break or just trying to make things a little bit more enjoyable, cause, to get people out of that, sort of, they get stuck on that, sort of, part of it. But usually I’ve always found that, um, so far, we’ve got people through and then they, sort of, when they get passed that they start to, you know, really enjoy it and they improve at a different rate doing other sort of things.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is turn-on.
You probably know to turn on, as in: Can you please turn on the light?

But a turn-on is a noun.

a person or thing that people find sexually exciting

The woman in this scene is a stripper and she says she doesn’t tell customers that she has a child because: It’s not a turn-on.

conversations with sarah
#614 I’ve got to get going

* Watch this scene here.

Step 1: Repeat Randy’s lines.
Step 2: Read Randy’s lines and talk to Cassidy.

Randy Have a beer with me?

Cassidy I’ve got to get going.

Randy One beer.

Cassidy I really … I got a, I got a kid.

Randy You have a kid? Well … what do you have – a boy or a girl?

Cassidy Boy. Jamieson.

Randy How old?

Cassidy Nine.

Randy Wow. Who would figure, huh?

Cassidy Well, it’s not something I usually tell the customers.
Not exactly … it’s not a turn-on.

Randy Hold on. Wait a second. I want you to give this to your little guy. It’s a, it’s a Randy the Ram action figure. Tell him not to lose it - it’s a 300 dollar collector’s item.

Cassidy Really?

Randy No. Come on, hey, one beer.

Cassidy OK.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Paolo Pavan
album: INSIDE
track: Blue Night Dance
from: Rome, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
MySpace

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

#977 Sarah From Rockhampton, Australia, Cop Tases Himself

Show 977 Monday 23 February
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today’s guest is Sarah. She’s from Rockhampton which is in Queensland in Australia.

I just looked it up in Wikipedia and I found this sentence:
Rockhampton experiences over 300 days of sunshine each year …
Isn’t that amazing? 300 days! I wouldn’t mind going there right now. I think I’ve just about had enough of winter.

Anyway, Sarah spent the winter here in Niseko working and snowboarding. She’s actually gone back to Australia now, but we caught up with her just before she left to do an interview.
I asked her what kind of work she’d been doing in Niseko.

I was working for, ah, the Samurai Bar and also Kabuki restaurant and also doing some journalism for Powderlife.

What kind of journalism?
I did an article on, ah, Kutchan cultural tours and I was also doing the snow reports in the mornings.

How was that?
Yeah, it was really interesting actually, except for the, ah, 6:30 starts, but apart from that, no, it was really good – and great experience for when I get back home.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today a police officer in Australia shot himself with a taser.

Early on Sunday morning police in Sydney were called out to a nightclub brawl.
Apparently an officer was trying to taser a 27-year-old man, but he accidentally shot himself instead.
The officer was taken to hospital where he received treatment for minor burns.

And that was Stick News for Monday the 23rd of February.
Kia ora.

conversations with sarah
#613 What does a radio producer do?

with today's guest: Sarah Latcham

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

Sarah What do you do in Australia?

Sarah Ah, I’m a qualified high school teacher. I teach English and physical education. But I’m looking at getting into journalism so at the moment I’m working as a radio producer for ABC Capricornia, ah, which is one of the biggest radio stations in Australia. And hopefully getting back into that and more into television broadcast when I get home.

Sarah How did you become a radio producer? Did you have to study … ?

Sarah Yeah, I’m studying, ah, a Bachelor of Arts specialising in journalism at home. But I just kind of fell into it. My lecturer said he wanted me to … he works at ABC and he wanted me to go and do some work for him. So it just kind of worked out that way.

Sarah What does a radio producer do?

Sarah Basically we source stories from other media outlets – so the internet, other newspapers, television. And we, sort of, follow them up and find talent to interview for them on air, write the stories and then programme them so that they go to the air at the right time.

Sarah What are your favourite news programmes in Australia?

Sarah My favourite is National Nine News. I’m not really a fan of, like, A Current Affair and Today Tonight and all those, sort of, expose ones. I like more hard news stories rather than soft news and exposes.

Sarah What’s the most interesting story you’ve worked on so far?

Sarah About two months before we came there was a man who got, ah, attacked in … by a crocodile in … we have a lot of crocodiles around where I live … he got attacked by a six metre crocodile and it was a pretty big story because it was quite close to where I live at home.

Sarah Why did you decide to be a teacher?

Sarah Ah, I had a really good English teacher when I was going through grade 11 and 12. And I’ve always been really interested in sport, I play a lot of tennis and a lot of netball. And, just, yeah, it was something that I really wanted to do and teaching was a way that I could play sport all day and get paid for it.

Sarah How long did you teach for?

Sarah I taught for three and a half years after I graduated.

Sarah Why did you decide to change careers?

Sarah Just for something different I guess. I … when I was in high school, I always wanted to be a writer. And I think this sort of allows more for writing than, than teaching does. And I’ll probably still think about going back to teaching maybe when I have, after I’ve had kids, for the hours and the holidays and those sorts of things.

Sarah What do you most enjoy about teaching?

Sarah Oh, I love the kids. I love my kids. So I teach high school which is grade 8 to grade 12, so about 13 to 17 year olds, I really love the, the senior school students they’re … yeah, get along with them really well.

Sarah What’s the most challenging thing?

Sarah I think the grade 9 to grade 10 girls who just … are starting to develop that little bit of attitude and don’t really want to talk to a younger female teacher. The boys are always quite good, but, um, sometimes the girls are a little bit harder to deal with.

Sarah What do you think makes a good teacher?

Sarah I think patience is the main one and also really caring about your students. If you don’t really care, then they’re not going to learn anything from you. But if you care and you put in the effort, then, that’s what makes a good teacher.

Sarah Have you learnt any languages?

Sarah My Dad was Italian, Italian English so … I should know a lot more Italian that what I do. But I know a little bit of Italian and, ah, just a little bit of Japanese from being over here.

Sarah He was born in Italy and moved to Australia?

Sarah Yeah, he was born in Italy and then he moved to England for a while and moved back to Italy. And then met my mum. He used to work on cruise ships and he met my mum on a cruise ship and then moved to Australia to be with her

Sarah When you were little did he ever speak Italian to you?

Sarah When he would work on the cruise ships, we’d go and visit him for, sort of, two months of the year. And everyone … all the staff spoke Italian so they would always converse in Italian, but to me, it was always English.

notes

attacked by a 6 metre crocodile - maybe it was this story

"Don't tase me bro!" (In the Stick News drawing) - do you know where this comes from?
Read this.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

cws start
artist: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Paolo Pavan
album: INSIDE
track: Blue Night Dance
from: Rome, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
MySpace

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

#976 Urui

Show 976 Sunday 22 February
Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Sunday Kitchen #128 Urui

I found another vegetable in the supermarket to experiment with.
It says urui on the packet.
I think it’s a kind of lily or similar to a lily …
Anyway, I did a few different things with the urui.
I fried some with a bit of sesame oil and soy sauce.
I put some into a kind of risotto dish.
And I stirred some into potato soup.
It was very tasty.




music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

bgm
artist: Pel de Noz
album: Ensaio 16 de abril de 2008
track: O Pindo
from: A Coruña, Spain
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
MySpace
YouTube channel
track on YouTube

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

#975 Colours

Show 975 Saturday 21 February
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

red
orange
yellow
green
blue
pink
grey
black

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

bgm
artist: Pel de Noz
album: Ensaio 16 de abril de 2008
track: O Pindo
from: A Coruña, Spain
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
MySpace
YouTube channel
track on YouTube

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

#974 Comfortable, Mr Prawo Jazdy, Bryn From Queenstown, Artsy, Fires

Show 974 Friday 20 February
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

The song I recommend to study today is called Comfortable. I think it could be a good one to study because it tells a story and it’s also very slow and clear so you can easily hear the words.

The song is a guy singing to his old girlfriend and remembering the time that they were together and comparing her to his new girlfriend who he doesn’t like very much. He wants his old girlfriend back.

Here are a few lines from the song that I quite like:

She thinks I can't see
The smile that she's faking
And poses for pictures
That aren't being taken
I loved you
Grey sweatpants
No make-up
So perfect

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today Irish police have solved the mystery of the Polish person who committed 50 traffic offenses but was never caught.

Polish Drivers licences have these words printed on them (Prawo Jazdy). They mean “drivers licence”. But some police officers in Ireland thought that was the licence holder’s name.
Irish newspapers recently quoted from an internal police memo which said that a person called “drivers licence” had clocked up 50 traffic offenses.

And that was Stick News for Friday the 20th of February.
Kia ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
on The Annupuri Gondola

thanks to: Bryn

Where are you from?
Ah, I’m from Australia originally … but I’ve been living in New Zealand for the last few years, in Queenstown.

How many times have you come to Niseko?
Ah, this is my first, first visit … but I’ll definitely, definitely be back, for sure, yeah, it’s beautiful.

Where do you usually go snowboarding?
Ah, usually in Queenstown in New Zealand at the Remarkables, Remarkables ski field. But it’s nowhere as big as … nowhere near as big as this. It’s a lot bigger.

What are the differences between the Remarkables and Niseko?
Ah, Niseko is a lot wider, lots of trees, there’s no trees at Remarks. Ah, longer runs. Definitely a lot more powder snow. Way more than in New Zealand.

How long have you been snowboarding?
About six or seven years, I think. Most … all of, all of … in Queenstown. And then a few seasons, I’ve been to Europe a couple of times, to France and Austria and … but this is my first trip to Japan and I think I’ll definitely be back.

Can you describe today’s conditions?
Ah, today’s conditions, we had some snow for the last day. But, um … it’s a little bit heavier than I expected. But, the snow’s good. The runs are fast. The light’s good. Plenty of visibility which I think is a bit rare today. So it’s quite nice you can see, you know, see everything around … but, it’s good fun, it’s always, always good fun.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is artsy.

Artsy and arty mean the same thing – apparently arty is British and artsy is American.
I’ve heard both in NZ.

adj. (informal, usually disapproving) seeming or wanting to be very artistic or interested in the arts

For example: She hangs out with the arty types she met a drama school.

You can also say: arty-farty or artsy-fartsy.

I think people use these words when they’re talking about people who are interested in art in a pretentious way – like the (photographer) husband character from Lost in Translation, if you’ve seen that movie. He was pretty pretentious.

This is from the song:

Life of the party
And she swears that she's artsy
But you could distinguish
Miles from Coltrane

* Here from 2:19

friday joke

What fun does a monk have?
Nun.

conversations with sarah
#612 How did they start?

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

Tom Have those fires stopped yet?

Sarah In Australia?

Tom Yeah.

Sarah No, I think they’re still going.

Tom Really? That’s awful, isn’t it?

Sarah Yeah, it’s so sad.

Tom How did they start?

Sarah I think there are many fires, and they started in different ways … but some of it was arson.

Tom Arson? What does that mean?

Sarah It means that someone lit them deliberately. On purpose. So, it wasn’t an accident.

Tom Why would someone do that?

Sarah I don’t know. I guess there are many reasons, like … maybe they could have a disorder like pyromania. Or maybe it’s revenge or for insurance.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

nsr bgm
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Bass Vibes
artist site
YouTube channel

WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

friday joke start
artist: AdHoc
album: Toutes directions
track: Sumbala
from: Annecy, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Innvivo
album: This Noise
track: L'homme robot
from: France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

#973 Rhys Darby, Acadia Farm, The Odd Girl, Car Danchi

Show 973 Thursday 19 February
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

The video I recommend today is a video of Rhys Darby doing stand up. If you’re a Flight of the Conchords fan you’ll have heard of Rhys Darby. He plays the character of Murray. And he’s also been doing stand up for many years.

This video is of him performing in London in the year 2000. So some of the jokes are about him being from New Zealand which is a country with a very small population.

He talks about Rainbow’s End which a theme park in New Zealand – I think it’s the only one.
He says: It’s great. It’s huge. Imagine this room … and then he just stops. And the joke is that normally when you start a sentence like that, you’re using the room you’re in as a comparison and so you’ll finish with something like: It’s about ten times as big as this room.

My favourite line in this performance is: Take your shoes off, it’s socks only.

* Watch here from 5:03

He’s talking about a bouncy castle. Do you know what a bouncy castle is?

In Wikipedia it says it’s also called a whole lot of other things, like:

Moonbounce
inflatable playground
Astrojump
Moonwalk
Bounce house
SpaceWalk
inflatable castle
jumping castles

The Acadia Report
Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada

In The Acadia Report today I wanted to tell you about a project that started at Acadia University in September last year.

It’s called the Acadia Farm and basically some students started a farm to grow vegetables to sell to the university cafeteria – so that students could eat organic vegetables and learn about organic farming.
I think it’s a really good idea. And if you’re interested and want to find out more, you can watch a video about it on the Acadia channel – and you can also check out their site.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today Facebook announced it would revert back to its old policy on user information after thousands of people complained.

Facebook has more than 175 million active users worldwide.
According to Wikipedia, it’s the most popular social networking site in several English-speaking countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom.
Recently Facebook changed its Terms of Use policy
CNN reported that the company deleted a sentence from the old Terms of Use which said Facebook could not claim any rights to original content that a user uploaded once the user closed his or her account.
They replaced it with this sentence: "You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. ... (H)owever, you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content."
Thousands of members were not happy about the new rules and cancelled their accounts or created online petitions.
Apparently more than 64,000 people joined a group called The People Against the new Terms of Service.
Facebook has now decided to revert back to the old Terms of Use.

And that was Stick News for Thursday the 19th of February.
Kia ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
at Niseko Yurt Village

thanks to: Annie

Where do you normally go snowboarding?
In Germany, in the Alps. Like where I’m from we’ve got Middle Mountains (?) It’s like 1000 meters high. But it’s not as great for snowboarding. So usually we drive to the Alps which is like six hours driving.

How does that compare to Niseko?
The Alps is like, a little bit like New Zealand. It’s more stony, it’s heaps higher. The resorts are bigger. But here it’s more powder and it’s really nice with the trees. I never had that before in my life so it’s really nice.

How are the conditions in Niseko?
From what I experienced when I came first, I was amazed. Cause I never had so much snow in my life before. Cause the season, last season, I did in New Zealand, it was pretty bad. And even in German, in the Alps, we don’t have that much powder. And with the trees it’s absolutely amazing, like I find it really, really good. But now it’s a bit icy and windy and rainy, it’s not so good. But I’m still, I’m still really happy to be here, to enjoy the snow.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is odd.

One of the funny lines Rhys says is: I take home the odd girl.

* Here from 5:25
(Joke starts from 5:16)

Odd is an adjective which means occasional for example: We go out for the odd meal together.
When most people hear this sentence, they would think it means: Occasionally I take home a girl.

But odd also means: strange.

conversations with sarah
#611 Where did you get it?

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

Lee Nice T-shirt.

Sarah Thanks.

Lee Where did you get it?

Sarah Ah, I won it actually.

Lee You won it?

Sarah Yeah.

Lee How?

Sarah In a photography competition.

Lee I didn’t know you were a photographer.

Sarah Oh, I’m not. Not at all. It wasn’t really a photography competition, actually - it was more like a, a draw. You just had to send in a photo of a car covered in snow.

Lee What does it say?

Sarah It says Car Danchi. It’s for a snowboarding DVD.

notes

* Is it correct to say revert back?
Read this.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

Thanks to Powderlife for the T-Shirt.

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

The Acadia Report start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Concerto
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
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: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Innvivo
album: This Noise
track: L'homme robot
from: France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

#972 Innocent English, Celebrity Gossip, Wasted Politician, MSK Stadium

Show 972 Wednesday 18 February
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

I was looking a site called Innocent English – which posts things like funny English signs, ads and videos. And I saw one sign with a funny mistake on it that I thought I’d tell you about.
It was a sign made by the mayor of a small town in Illinois in the United States.
The mayor sounds like he was annoyed that some immigrants or tourists don’t speak English very well, and so he made this sign demanding that people learn English.
The sign says: English is our language no excetions learn it. Which is pretty funny – that word is missing the p. It should say: exceptions.

click here

The site I recommend today is called People.com.

I think it’s a really good idea to study English by reading about things that you’re interested in. So if you’re interested in American celebrities – like musicians or movie stars – then I recommend this site.

It seems to have slightly more class than the other celebrity gossip magazines or websites. It’s less of the harassing celebrities for putting on a few kilos or losing a few kilos - and mostly stuff like photos of celebrities at events, talking about their outfits or announcing that someone has got engaged or married or whatever.

Here’s an example from their Star Tracks section. It’s a photo of Angelina Jolie leaving a hotel. And the caption says:

OUTWARD BOUND
Angelina Jolie has a rare solo moment without her brood as she steps out Monday in New York City, where the Oscar nominee reportedly checked out apartments.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today the Japanese finance minister has resigned after facing criticism for his odd behaviour at a press conference in Rome.

Nakagawa Shoichi is the Japanese finance minister. Recently he answered some questions at a press conference at a G7 meeting in Italy. The Guardian reported his performance was bumbling and at times incomprehensible. Nakagawa said he had only had a sip of wine at lunch and blamed his behaviour on cold medicine.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 18th of February.
Kia ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
at MSK JR Apartment

One of the great features of our apartment is the car park which doubles as a soccer field.
Some pretty exciting matches get played here at MSK stadium.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is brood.

n. a large family of young animals, especially birds, produced at one hatching or birth

In the quote I mentioned from People.com they used the word brood in a humerous way – because as you know if you keep up to date with American celebrity gossip, Angelina Jolie has six young children.

conversations with sarah
#610 What are you watching?

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

Bob What are you watching?

Sarah Ah, The Daily English Show.

Bob Can you watch anything on there?

Sarah At the moment you can only watch certain content that they provide through
UP Link.

Bob What’s that?

Sarah It’s kind of like iTunes.

Bob Did you figure out what the wiper function is?

Sarah Yeah, it’s, um, to keep your eye focused on the screen.

Bob Ah, so it’s not to clean the screen?

Sarah No.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

UP - Media Port - by Nikon

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

click here start
artist: #NarNaoud#
album: Green Vision
track: Oriental Standing
from: Gironde, France
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
artist site

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

nsr bgm
artist: i am this
album: BLAPP.
track: magnolia
from: Phoenix, United States
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo

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: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Innvivo
album: This Noise
track: L'homme robot
from: France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.