#1013 You Should Come To Vegas, Welfare Cheat Busted, Powder Skis, Thrill

Show 1013 Tuesday 31 March
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today we’re studying a short scene from a movie called 21 which came out in 2008. I haven’t seen the movie but it doesn’t sound that great. It’s something about gambling.

Anyway, in this scene, a girl is inviting a guy somewhere and he refuses.

She invites him by saying: you should.
She says: I think you should come to Vegas.

In this scene, it’s a pretty strong invitation – or suggestion - mostly because of the emotional music and her body language. But using should doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a strong invitation.

Should is also used just to be friendly, like this:

We’re having a few drinks on Saturday night. You should come over.
Oh, I can’t this weekend. I’ve got a lot of work to do.
Oh well, maybe next time. I’ll let you know when we do it again.

And should can also be used to strongly suggest something, like this:

Oh, Matt called while you were out and he said it was urgent, so you should probably call him back asap.

STICK NEWS



Kia ora in Stick News today a welfare cheat in New Zealand was busted thanks to Facebook.

Lauren Kaney is a 22-year-old woman who lives in Mount Maunganui.
She has been living with the father of her 2-year-old son and was able to receive $140 a week in social welfare benefits.
But she wanted more money. So she lied and said that she was single so she could get $480 a week.
The NZ Herald reported investigators found the truth after checking her Bebo and Facebook pages.
She was sentenced to four months' home detention and 200 hours of community service.

And that was Stick News for Tuesday 31st of March.
Kia ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
with SAS Scott Adventure Sports

thanks to: David New

What’s the difference between powder skis and regular skis?

It’s basically the width of the ski. So, a, um, a slalom ski, my slalom skis are 67 cms at the waist. And what the means is whilst they’re on piste, they do a, they do a nice short turn for you because it’s got a, there’s a big, quite a big arc in the ski and, um, because it’s nice and thin at the waist what it means is the actual radius of the turn is shorter. So when we’re on piste it makes those short turns nice and, nice and easy. Um, but when we start to go into the deeper snow, into the powder, because the waist is so thin, it tends to sink very deep in the snow. Now the opposite of that of course is a powder ski where you have quite a wide waist, maybe, sort of, maybe, some of them are 120 cms at the waist. So we’re getting on for double the waist of a slalom ski. And when they’re on piste, they’ll really skate around. It’s very difficult to make short turns on them, particularly to try and use the edge of the ski to turn. Um, but when we start to go off piste into the powder, they float over the top. So you’ll see people can do those nice long turns into the powder. Whereas a slalom ski will start to sink further down. People have to move a lot to try and keep their skis on top. You can do some nice long turns and you’ll see those huge spray of snows from the big, fat skis.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is thrill.
A thrill is a sudden feeling of excitement and pleasure
In today’s conversation when the girl is inviting the guy to Las Vegas she says: Ben, you should feel the thrill of earning more money than you can possibly imagine.

conversations with sarah
#638 You should come to Vegas

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

Jill I’m actually not here for a tie Ben. I came to see you.

Ben You did?

Jill Ben, you should feel the thrill of earning more money than you can possibly imagine. I think you should come to Las Vegas. Cause I’m guessing that you could probably use a break from this place.

Ben I can’t. I’m sorry, I just can’t.

Jill OK. If you change your mind, you know where we meet. You’re welcome any time.

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: Hugo 'Droopy' Contini
album: Strikes Back !
track: On a Slow Boat To China
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
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.

#1012 Manu From New Zealand, USB Finger, Papua New Guinea, Tok Pisin

Show 1012 Monday 30 March
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show. Today’s guest is Manu. He’s from the North Island of New Zealand. He’s originally from a town called Kerikeri and he grew up in Auckland. And he just spent the winter here in Niseko snowboarding. I asked him why he came to Japan.

I came cause my brother was running a lodge and he needed some help and it was up in Hokkaido. And I’ve never been to anywhere in Asia, so Japan was the option and I thought, “Yeah, why not? Come investigate it.” Yeah. Had a great time since, eh, everyone’s been great. Food, cuisine … but more to the point, the powder of Japan is, ah, amazing. Never seen anything like it. Not in Australia, New Zealand, wherever I’ve been.

STICK NEWS



Kia ora in Stick News today a man in Finland has a USB finger.

Last year Jerry lost half a finger in a motorbike crash. Now he has a prosthetic finger with a USB drive inside. Recently on his blog he explained that the finger is not attached permanently to his body. “When I'm using the USB, I just leave my finger inside the slot and pick it up after I'm ready,” he said.

And that was Stick News for Monday the 30th of March.
Kia ora.

conversations with sarah
#637 Why did you live in Papua New Guinea?

With special guest: Manu Ross

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

Sarah Have you lived in any other countries?

Manu Yes, I lived in Sydney. I lived there for two years working as account manager for a company. And, um, it was great fun, I lived in Balmain. I went to Rushcutters Bay, did some sailing. I like being on water, snow, any element … just enjoying myself. And then I lived in Papua New Guinea for about four years as well.

Sarah Why did you live in Papua New Guinea?

Manu Oh, my parents were international teachers. So they went there to teach and we just joined the international school. And, um, went there, made friends from everywhere - all over the world.

Sarah How old were you when you lived there?

Manu I was about 14 to 18 and, um, it was the teenage era, so, it was, it was good, you come into an international school. Lots of sports, lots of good education as well. It was, um, IB and IGCSE. And it was, it was very well done. You felt looked after. The teachers were very helpful in getting you through. But we were behind seven-foot fences with barbed wire and razor wire. You lived in a compound. And we had 14 security guards going around, cause we often had people wanting to break in, ah, rob us and, um, we even had incidents where there was, like, um, people shooting at each other, the police and some thieves that had just robbed a bank down the bottom of our school. And we got in trouble cause we were all supposed to run away from it, but we all ran to see where the gun firing was happening.

Sarah Was that in the capital?

Manu Yeah, capital, Port Moresby. Um, they’ve been independent since 1975. Great, great little country, really tropical. You have two seasons really – sunny and rainy season. Rainy season feels like a warm bucket of water being poured on your head continuously. And then you have the sunny season which is dry, dusty, no moisture in the air, and gets up to 40 degrees. And, um, our PE uniform, we used to dress really lightly and just go do our exercises on a 40 degree oval. Normally if you came from overseas, they’d tend to faint on the field, cause of the heat. It was quite extreme at times. But, lovely place.

Sarah What language do they speak?

Manu Pidgin English. They spoke this, um … cause they’ve got like over 157 different languages in such a small place. They’ve sort of got a broken English, broken their language and it sounds like it’s got a bit of German and Japanese from when they had the world war. Um, they’ve mixed up their language.

Sarah Can you give us an example?

Manu All right. “Mi ple (?) save long Tok Pisin. Nem bilong mi (+ emi ?) Manu”, is like, “I know how to speak the language Pigeon and my name is Manu”. It’s quite a flowfull language. But, once you speak it, you know, they really appreciate it that you’ve gone … (taken the) time … same as when you’re in any country if you learn their language.

Sarah Did it take a while to learn?

Manu I learnt it in the first year, um, some people were there for eight years and still didn’t pick it up. I guess it’s if you went out and met the people, talk with them, get out of your square, or get out the compound really and go behind those barb wire seven-foot fences, you’d meet a lot of people and they’ll teach you a bit of Pidgin. Bit by bit you pick it up and next thing you know you, you’re being able to say a few words and it gathers and you’re, you’re fluent.

Sarah What’s your plan after Japan?

Manu Well I, um, before I left New Zealand, I got myself upskilled in the boating industry. I, um, got my Boatmasters, Day Skippers, Powerboat Level 2 certificate, Diesel maintenance and a whole heap … I did, um, this course that was run by the Navy – well people who had left the Navy. And it just armed you with a lot of stuff in the boating industry. And then I move from Japan, when I leave, I to Europe, go to the South of France and there’s a big super yacht industry there. And we work hard but you get good jobs, good travel and you go all around the Mediterranean, you know, I’ll get to the Bahamas after that, but, next move is super yacht industry. I need a change, the um, I enjoyed the sales then, but after about, you know, eight years of it, I just needed something to be exciting and new. And travel was one and I love boats and so I thought, “I’ll, I’ll blend the two together”, and I came up with the super yacht theory. So I thought, “I’ll get some papers for that and off I’ll go.”

Sarah What’s your iwi?

Manu My iwi? I come, come from the … from about Auckland upwards, that segment is like an area called Ngā Puhi. And so I’m a Ngā Puhi boy. But, there’s a sub-tribe of Ngā Puhi, which is called Ngāti Hine. And, um, that’s, like, in the valleys of, like, the North Island. It gets so cold there in the mornings sometime’s you’ll get ice on cars. Not snow, but it will ice over.

Sarah Do you speak Māori?

Manu Um, we did, instead of kindergarten, we did kōhanga reo, which is like Māori
speaking for kids. And, um, our first language was English and then we started going to Māori schools. And then in schools we really got into the dancing, the haka(s), the, um … Toa lead, ah, the kapa haka group in Papua New Guinea. We even showed them our culture at a United Nations concert. We’d go in there in grass skirts and have taiaha(s) and we’ll, we’ll wield the taiaha(s) in front of people and let out some great song and some dance, just so they can have a little taste of the culture too.

Sarah Do you have any advice for people who are learning English?

Manu The best advice I can give is immerse yourself around it. If you can put yourself in a situation where you use it and you are interested in learning it, you’ll learn it a lot faster if you’re around it 24/7. It … of course, don’t be embarrassed if you get things wrong, because they, they’ll be happy that you’re … learning it. Just be proud that you’re actually doing something about it, learning it. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Try different things. Go ask for different things at restaurants. Enjoy the language. Get amongst it. Have fun.

filming notes

The interview with Manu was filmed on Sunday 8th March 2009 in Samurai Bar, Niseko Yurt Village, Hokkaido, Japan.

notes

upskill is a new word, so it may not be in your dictionary
origin
wikitionary

flowfull is not a word (not that I know of anyway) the adjective is flowing

immerse around - this is usually immerse yourself in


links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

example of a school in Papua New Guniea - video
Pidgin
List of English-based pidgins
Tok Pisin phrasebook
example of a Tok Pisin - video
boat courses

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: Hugo 'Droopy' Contini
album: Strikes Back !
track: On a Slow Boat To China
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
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.

#1011 Blueberry Breakfast

Show 1011 Sunday 29 March
Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Sunday Kitchen #133 Blueberry Breakfast



I made a delicious breakfast the other day with frozen blueberries.
I put some frozen banana and frozen blueberries in the blender with some soy milk.
I poured it into a glass.
Then I cut up a kiwifruit. And put the slices on top.

music

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

bgm
artist: Ludo et Remi
album: Compilation Piano
track: Complicite
from: Paris, France
artist at Jamendo
album 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.

#1010 Animal Sounds

Show 1010 Saturday 28 March
Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

What do birds do?
What do cats do?
What do chickens do?
What do dogs do?
What do ducks do?
What do frogs do?
What do horses do?
What do lions do?
What do pigs do?
What do snakes do?

links

list of animal sounds

music

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

bgm
artist: Ludo et Remi
album: Compilation Piano
track: Sourire Fragile - Tranquille
from: Paris, France
artist at Jamendo
album 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.

#1009 I Still Havent Found What Im Looking For, Hero Parrot, Pig Joke

Show 1009 Friday 27 March
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today I’d like to recommend a song called I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.
It’s by U2 and it came out in 1987.

I think it’s a great song for studying the present perfect tense.
Here are a few examples from the song:

I have climbed …
I have run …
I have crawled …
I have scaled …
I have kissed …
I have held …

In the song he’s saying that he has done all this stuff, but he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for.



Here are some examples of things that you could say with the same structure:
I’ve looked everywhere but I still haven’t found it. I have applied for more than 50 jobs but I still haven’t got a job. I have asked everyone I can think of but I still haven’t raised enough money.

I think this song is about religion. I was checking what people think it means on a site called Song Meanings and most people have written serious comments about what they think it means. Stuff like it’s about him going deeper in his relationship with Christ Jesus or it’s about a woman he loves.

But I thought this comment was pretty funny.
This song is about a household object that you lose and you spend half the afternoon looking for it on a weekend. He's wasted lots of perfectly good time, but he still hasn't found what he's looking for. Such a shame - I think we can all sympathize.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today a parrot in the United States has been given an award after saving a young girl’s life.

One morning in November last year a little girl in Denver, Colorado started to choke on her breakfast. The babysitter’s parrot, Willie, then alerted its owner by yelling, “Mama, baby”, and flapping it’s wings. The Associated Press reported the babysitter then saved the girl by performing the Heimlich Maneuver, but she insists Willie is the real hero.

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

TDES Niseko Snow Report
in Niseko Annupuri

On the 15th of March there was an event in Annupuri called the Minami Ski and Snowboard Battle. It was a pretty windy day. At one point it was so windy that the riders had to be taken back up to the start on Pisten Bullys because the lifts weren’t moving fast enough.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is scale.

Scale has many meanings – and one of them is this:

v. climb up or over (something high and steep)

This is from today’s song:
I have scaled these city walls Only to be with you

friday joke

A man was sued by the woman next door because he called her a pig.
They went to court and the judge told the man he had to pay for emotional abuse.
The man asked, "Does this mean I can't call Mrs Harding a pig anymore?"
The judge replied, "Of course you can't, that's why we just went through this."
"Well”, the man said, "Can I call a pig Mrs Harding"
"Sure, why not", the judge replied.
The man then turned around, looked his neighbour and said, "Good Morning Mrs. Harding."

conversations with sarah
#636 What’s wrong?

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

Sarah Oh, this is so annoying!

Amy What’s wrong?

Sarah I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.

Amy What are you looking for?

Sarah Oh, it’s, um, somebody’s card. I’ve been looking for it for about five hours.

Amy Five hours?

Sarah OK, maybe not five hours, but a long time.

Amy More like five minutes.

Sarah Oh, here it is!

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: Triplexity
track: Afro Blue
artist at Jamendo
album 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.

#1008 Punctuation Recession, Farmers’ Market, Kiwifruit, Tremendous

Show 1008 Thursday 26 March
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today I recommend a video called: Hardly Working: Punctuation Recession.

It’s a funny video about punctuation marks. Punctuation marks, of course, are the symbols that you find in sentences that aren’t letters – stuff like: apostrophes, commas, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, hyphens, inverted commas.

In this video there’s a meeting in an office and the boss is telling the staff that to save money they have to use less punctuation marks.

This is what he says: As a lot of you probably know, right now we’re in recession. We’re going to have to cut some corners if we’re going to say afloat. So, as of today, we’re cutting back on punctuation. Question marks, commas, these things cost us money, money that right now we don’t have.

And then everyone starts trying to speak in a way that doesn’t use punctuation marks, but they’re not very successful because it’s quite hard to do, so it’s pretty funny. You should go and check it out.



Ricky: As a lot of you probably know, right now we’re in recession. We’re going to have to cut some corners if we’re going to say afloat. So, as of today, we’re cutting back on punctuation. Question marks, commas, these things cost us money, money that right now we don’t have.

Jake: How the hell can you budget punctuation?

Sarah: Jake, stop asking stuff, you’re going to cost us all our question marks.

Ricky: That’s the spirit Sarah.

Sarah: Thanks!

Ricky: You just cost us an exclamation mark.

Pat: Well, Miss Perfect who’s wasting punctuation now?

Jeff: Well at least she didn’t cost us two quotation marks, did she, Pat?

Sarah: Oh, Jeff, now you’re wasting question marks.

Amir: Wait, here’s an idea if we actually never cease to talk, then we never finish a sentence, thus we never use a punctuation because punctuations come at the end of sentences, sometimes …

Streeter: I would like to know about hyphens.

Ricky: That’s a great non-question, Streeter. You are no longer an Irish-American, moving forward, you are simply Irish.

Streeter: Jesus Mary and Joseph!

Pat: Dude, exclamation point!

Streeter: Fuck off with you!

Jeff: Forget hypens, we need to worry about commas.

?: Agreed. So no more lists of cars, food, places,

Jack: OK, you are listing things right now

?: Crap, so sorry, so remorseful …

Jeff: Stop!

Amir: … because earlier you dismissed my theory of never-ending sentences, but if you think about it, maybe it’s not so crazy …

Ricky: Guys! How’s this company going stay afloat if you guys can’t act like professionals?

Jake: Sorry Ricky.

Sarah: He’s right, let’s just get back to work.

Ricky: We can’t, we only have one question mark left.

?: What are we going to ask?

Streeter: Jesus Mary jumping leprechaun shamrock!

Ricky: Guys!

The Acadia Report
Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada

Acadia University is in Wolfville which is a small town in Nova Scotia – and one of the cool things about Wolfville is the Farmers Market which is on every Saturday morning. During winter it’s held inside the university and in summer it’s held in town. You can find out more at their website and they also have a YouTube channel.

And one of the interesting videos that I watched recently is called: Reflecting On Sixteen Years Of The Wolfville Farmers’ Market.

So the market has been going for more than sixteen years now and in this video they interviewed some of the people that have been involved with it for a long time. One guy says that he used to be able to read a newspaper from cover to cover but, as he says: … as time has gone on, the customers are getting in the way of my newspaper, so that’s what I consider progress.



1:02 Al Stewart

I remember year number one. We were down in, ah, in our summertime location. I used to bring, ah, a very little bit of produce and a Saturday newspaper and I got my newspaper read from cover to cover and my crossword crypti ? done. And as time has gone on, the customers are getting in the way of my newspaper, so, ah, that’s what I consider progress.

1:58 Pam Frail

We were always wishful, um, and it was growing, um, to the point that we realized we needed somebody to go around and collect the money. So we decided to hire, ah … it wasn’t a co-ordinator at that time, I think we called her a market manager maybe, I don’t even think she was a manager … I can’t remember the exact profile … title … but she was mainly hired to collect the money because no vendor wanted to be responsible for leaving their booth and getting the money and do some minor promotion. We went through two different co-ordinators before we got Kelly Marie and then things really took off.

2:47 Summer Fike

I’m Summer of Pumpkin Moon Farm and I have been here for fourteen years. I think Al Stewart and I are the longest time vendors now. And so I have seen this market grow from its infancy until what we have today, which is, um, a huge achievement for a small community in fourteen years. And what would I say? Um, I work in community development and I would say this market has been a tremendous example of what a small community can do when it rallies behind its local producers and the values of, um, fair wages for farmers, support for organic farming, support for small rural communities and put their money where their mouth is and make something happen.
So I’m tremendously proud to be part of this market and I think that we have, as a group of people who have committed to something and made it happen, we have a lot to be thankful for on this birthday day.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today the New Zealand kiwifruit export season has begun and it’s expected to be a bumper season.

New Zealand is the world’s second biggest producer of kiwifruit.
In New Zealand, most of the fruit is harvested in May and June.
The New Zealand Herald has reported the first shipment of kiwifruit has just left Gisborne almost two weeks ahead of last year’s season start.
The shipment is of 140,000 trays and is due to arrive Kobe, Japan on the 6th of April.
Kiwifruit marketing organization Zespri said they planned to capitalise on the early start to the season with aggressive campaigns.
They said the promotions will focus on the health benefits of New Zealand kiwifruit, supported by consumer competitions and nutritional campaigns in schools.

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

TDES Niseko Snow Report
in Hirafu

Thanks to: Daniel Yeo

Daniel was a guest on show 1005.

Have you spent seasons in any other countries?
I have. I’ve spent a season in New Zealand, ah, and in the US – a place called Winter Park. And then I’ve spent time in various resorts in Europe. This is my first season in Japan.

How does Niseko compare to the other places you’ve been?
The runs aren’t as steep or as long as the other places, but the snow here’s the best in the world. You can’t beat that, really, so … and plus Hirafu’s a great town to be in, so …

What’s been your best day on the mountain this year?
My best day on the mountain was about a month or so ago. It had just been snowing since the day before and it just bucketed down. Woke up and there was, you know, about half a meter or so of fresh stuff. And going up … went up through Miharashi and up to the top of Swinging Monkey and then came down through, through Rob Roy, or Roy’s Run, from the top there. And it was the deepest snow I’ve ever been in and the lightest snow I’ve ever been in and it was actually bottomless and it felt like I’d never, never hit the bottom. It was great.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is tremendous.

Tremendous means: very great, as in: a tremendous amount, or extremely good, as in: it was tremendous.
And the adverb is tremendously, as in: it was tremendously exciting.

In the video about the Wolfville Farmers’ Market one of the woman interviewed says the market is: a tremendous example of what a small community can do when it rallies behind its local producers.

And she said she was: tremendously proud to be part of the market.

conversations with sarah
#635 What’s a period?

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

Taka What’s the difference between a dot and a full stop?

Sarah A full stop goes at the end of a sentence but a dot goes above an i or a j …

Taka What about when there are three full stops at the end of a sentence?

Sarah Oh, then they’re called dots. Dot, dot, dot.

Taka You can’t say: full stop, full stop, full stop?

Sarah No. If there’s more than one full stop then they all turn into dots.

Taka And what’s a period?

Sarah Oh, that’s the same as a full stop. It’s American English.

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: Triplexity
track: Afro Blue
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
artist site


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.

#1007 Pool Sign, OMGPOP, Dalai Lama Denied, Sick, Online IQ Test

Show 1007 Wednesday 25 March
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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


Today I’d like to show you a sign. You might have seen it before, I think it’s been around for a while. If you saw this sign by a swimming pool, you might think that it was a mistake, that perhaps they’d forgotten to write the P. Or maybe the P had fallen off.
But it’s actually a joke, as you can see if you read the rest of it, it says: Notice there’s no P in it – let’s keep it this way.

click here

Today I’d like to recommend a site called: omgpop.
Thanks to Thomas for telling me about this site. There is a game on this site called Letterblox, which is kind of like scrabble. You score points by making words out of six letters that you’re given. So that’s a fun way to play with words and it could help your vocabulary and spelling too.

And another game on the site which I love is called Draw My Thing. I think it’s hilarious. It’s kind of like Pictionary if you’ve ever played that. I think this is another way to help improve your English – you have to draw a picture and the other people have to guess what you’re drawing. It helps your spelling too because if you don’t spell the word correctly, then you don’t get it right.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today the Dalai Lama has been denied a visa for South Africa.

The Dalai Lama is a lineage of religious leaders of a school of Tibetan Buddhism
The current Dalai Lama is a 73-year-old man who lives in India.
Wikipedia says he’s a noted public speaker worldwide who has won more than a hundred awards – including the Nobel Peace Prize.
He was planning to attend a conference in South Africa this month.
But his visa was denied.
CNN reported the country was worried that if the Dalai Lama visited South Africa it would shift the focus away from the 2010 World Cup.

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

TDES Niseko Snow Report
at MSK JR Apartment

The other day I looked out my window to see that a special delivery had arrived in front of MSK JR Apartment. It was a massive box.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is sick.
Sick means ill as in: Ugh, I feel sick.

But it’s also a slang word which means great, cool, awesome … stuff like that.

For example: How was the party? Sick.

I hadn’t heard this word in ages, but then this winter I met a lot of Australian tourists who used it a lot. So maybe it’s a really popular word in Australia right now. And Amir from Jake and Amir really likes the word sick too.

This is a line from today’s conversation: Oh, yeah. That's the one I got wrong. So, 9 out of 10. That’s still pretty sick. He’s saying that it’s pretty sick or great that he got 9 out of 10 on the online IQ test that he just did.

conversations with sarah
#634 Did you deduct 50 points?

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

Amir I took an online IQ test. I got a 180.

Jake Did you deduct 50 points?

Amir No. Why?

Jake For being dumb enough to take an online IQ test.

Amir Psht, no. It didn't say that. It didn't say to.

Jake Ah, how many questions were there?

Amir Ten. It was so hard.

Jake All right, ask me one.

Amir If you turn a right glove inside out will it fit on your left hand?

Jake Yeah.

Amir Wrong!

Jake No, that's right.

Amir Okay, yeah. That's the one I got wrong. So, 9 out of 10. That’s still pretty sick.

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

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: Triplexity
track: Afro Blue
artist at Jamendo
album 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.

#1006 Over My Head, World's Cheapest Car, Preventing Injuries

Show 1006 Tuesday 24 March
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today we’re studying another scene from the movie Duplicity.
In this scene a man and a woman are discussing how suitable they are for a job.

And the woman says: This is way over your head.

Over sb’s head is an idiom which means: too difficult or complicated for sb to understand.

So she’s saying that this job is too difficult for him, or he’s not experienced or skilled enough to handle it.

Then she asks: How long have you been working for Equikrom?
Equikrom is the name of a company and that question is a very useful one to remember: How long have you been + ing?

How long have you been studying English?
How long have you been learning the piano?
How long have you been working on it?
How long have you been playing?

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today a car company in India has announced they’re almost ready to start delivering the world’s cheapest car.

Tata Motors is India's largest passenger automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturing company.
The company wanted to make the least expensive production car in the world and last year they unveiled the Nano.
To cut costs, the boot of the Nano doesn’t open, it has no power steering and the wheels only have three nuts.
Tata Motors has announced the cars are now being built and will start being delivered in July.
CNN reported the cars will cost $2000.

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

TDES Niseko Snow Report
with SAS Scott Adventure Sports

thanks to: David New

What do you recommend doing to prevent injuries when skiing?

Well the first thing is you need to, ah, adapt your skiing to the different surfaces. So if you’re in, if you’re in deeper snow then, um, you might find that, ah, if you’re falling over then it’s not so much of a problem, because the snow’s nice and soft and will give us a, a fairly soft landing. Um, if we’re on icier snow - and this is what your instructor should also be looking at, the danger if we fall over is the snow’s a lot harder so we can be bruised or we can cause more injury. So some of the exercise we do may not be so challenging or, ah, you know, may be focused on less, you know, you’re a bit more concern if somebody does fall over and injure themselves. So to adapt to a different, sort of, ah, snow conditions is important.
Um, always make sure you’ve got, ah, the right equipment as well. So don’t … I wouldn’t ever advise just borrowing a friend’s skis or pair of boots. You know, always make sure that you’ve got your own pair and you’ve been to the shop and they’ve, they’ve fitted them out for you. It’s very important. If the … if your skis aren’t on the right settings and they’re, they’re not … the boot isn’t set to release quickly enough, that’s when you can really cause injury.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is decorate.

You probably know that decorate means make sth more attractive by putting things on it. For example, if you’re having a Christmas party you might decorate your house with Christmas decorations.

Decorate also means to give someone a medal or an award.

In today’s conversation, the guy says: I’ve been promoted and decorated every place I’ve served.

He’s a spy and he’s saying that every place that he’s worked he’s been given an award or a medal.

conversations with sarah
#633 This is way over your head.



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

Claire This is way over your head.

Ray Over my head? Lady, I’ve worked Yemen, Athens and Cairo. I’ve been promoted and decorated every place I’ve served.

Claire Tell Duke to send someone else.

Ray Listen, I’m sure you know your way around a shoe store, but I did 12 years in the field.

Claire And how long have you been working for Equikrom?

Ray Long enough.

Claire How long?

Ray Three weeks.

Claire Three whole weeks? Like every day?

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: Triplexity
track: Afro Blue
artist at Jamendo
album 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.

#1005 Dan From The UK, Climate Change, The R Word

Show 1005 Monday 23 March
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show. Today’s guest is Dan. He’s from a place called Surry the UK and he’s been working here in Niseko this winter as an instructor – he mainly teaches snowboarding, and he also teaches skiing as well.

I asked him why he decided to be an instructor.

I used to work in an office job in London, um, and just got fed up with being stuck indoors, um, and dealing with lots of stress, ah, and generally feeling like I wasn’t getting the most from my life so I wanted to some here and do something I loved and try and make this work for me. So here I am.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today a group in the United States is running a campaign to stop the use of the word retard.

Retard is a derogatory word for a mentally handicapped person.
It’s commonly used as an insult, similar to the words stupid or idiot.
But an organization called the Special Olympics is running a campaign to encourage people to stop using the word.
They call it the R-word and they say the word is just as cruel and offensive as any other slur.

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

conversations with sarah
#632 What were you doing in London?

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

Sarah What do you enjoy about teaching snowboarding?

Dan Actually, my favourite sort lessons are probably first time lessons. Ah, because there’s a … you see the progression that people go through a lot quicker. Ah, and there’s a point that you … when you see someone suddenly start linking their turns and they really start to love the sport and start to really love sliding around. And that for me is the greatest thing, is being able to share something that I really love and watch other people learn it and be able to get the same joy out of it.

Sarah What were you doing in London?

Dan Um, I was a climate change consultant. Um, so I worked for government, for the UK government for a while, um, on climate change and particularly emissions trading. Um, so I was a consultant and mainly my clients were the European Commission, the UK government - but also some, ah, private sector companies.

Sarah How did you get into that?

Dan I did an engineering degree, ah, um, and focused it on, um, climate change. And then I ended up working for the government. Um, I worked for the Ministry of Defence and then the Department of Environment. Um, and just built up my expertees and contacts through that. Ah, and then got offered a job in a consultancy so I went and worked for them

Sarah So you believe in anthropogenic climate change?

Dan Yes, in a word, yes. Um, our climate is changing faster than it’s ever changed before. Um, there is enough scientific evidence out there now to show that it is happening and that it is anthropogenic, so it is caused, ah, by, by human activity. Um, and the modelling has progress a lot in the last few years. Um, and a few years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, which is the UN, which is the international body that, that’s been tasked to look at climate change, agreed that, um, that it is definitely happening. Basically what they do, is they, they peer review all of the work, all of the research that’s been done on climate change, ah, whether it’s, you know, saying that it’s happening, or whether it’s saying that it’s not happening. And a result of that they’ve decided that it is. And that’s an agreement amongst, um, a couple of hundred different countries around the world and all their scientists. So it’s pretty definitive evidence.

Sarah What do you think about the UK’s response to climate change?

Dan Yeah, I think the UK is certainly, um … the UK and the EU as a whole is certainly trying to lead the way, ah, and doing an awful lot of the right thing in terms of policies and the attention that is being paid to, ah, being paid to climate change. But there’s always a long way to go, ah, and there’s always things they could do better.

Sarah What do you think about the plan to expand Heathrow Airport?

Dan I think that’s something that needs to be looked at quite carefully. I think, with all of these issues it’s particularly, there’s a lot of, um, there’s a lot of factors that needs to be thought out. Um, cause obviously that’s … there’s the environmental impacts related to that but there’s also the economic benefits of, of airport expansion. Um, and the jobs that it creates for the area. So there’s a lot of things to weigh up, um, and it’s hard to say, without looking into all the details, um, as to, you know, what I’d go for on that.

Sarah How do you feel about snow sports, being a climate change consultant?

Dan It’s an interesting place to be because obviously, I mean, this, this season we’ve … the snow has not perhaps been as good as what it might be … for Niseko normally. And it’s hard to directly attribute that to climate change. But certainly that sort of effect is going to increase over time. It’s an industry that is hit first by, by climate change. And it’s also an industry that contributes a huge amount to climate change. Because, you know, I’ve flown all the way over here from the UK. All of these people are flying from Hong Kong, from Australia, from New Zealand – ah, and they have an impact on the environment. Plus the energy usage for running lifts, um, and the fact that forests have to be cleared to run a lift on. Um, so it’s a difficult, it’s a difficult to sort of … it’s an interesting industry to be in, um, I think there’s great benefits in terms of getting people to appreciate the environment and, um, sort of tune into their environment a bit more. Um, but it obviously has, has a lot of negative impacts. And I think it would be interesting for me to anyway, to get involved more on that side and to see what are the ways and more creative ways we can, um, address some of those issues and try and link the two together.

Sarah Where are your parents from?

Dan My parents are Malaysian-Chinese but I was born in the UK so I guess that makes me a global citizen.

Sarah When you were a child what language did they speak to you?

Dan Oh, they mainly spoke English to me cause they wanted me to have a, an English accent, ah, which, which has worked well, but, um … and then … um, they speak a little bit of Hokkien, ah, and Malay, so … but I don’t speak those fluently.

Sarah Have you learnt any languages?

Dan Ah, yes, I speak French. Um, I speak a little bit of German and a bit of Spanish. Ah, I’m trying learn Japanese at the moment. I’m slowly getting there.

Sarah How did you study French?

Dan Um, I did it at school. Um, so I studied it for seven years at school. And then I did it as part of my degree at university so I did engineering with French.

Sarah Do you feel any special connection with Malaysia because your parents are from there?

Dan Yeah, I do. So when I, when I go back to Malaysia I always feel at home. I absolutely love the food there and culturally I feel I fit in there. Um, yeah, so, I do. I was just in Malaysia in December.

Sarah In Japan do many people think you’re Japanese?

Dan Hai (yes). Everyone thinks I’m Japanese, which gets me into trouble. Cause, um, they start talking to me and I last for about a minute, ah, before they realise that I’m not Japanese and then I have to say, wakarimasen (I don't understand).

Sarah What are you planning to do after winter?

Dan That’s a very good question. Um, at the moment I don’t have any plans. But, um, some of my options are going to New Zealand to instruct down there. Um, my girlfriend is living in Bangladesh and I could go and live in Bangladesh for a while. I’d very much like to stay here in Niseko, but it depends if I can get work. Um, or the last option, which is the least favourite, is probably going home, back to London and trying to find some work there.

special thanks to

Daniel Yeo

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

filming notes

The interview was filmed on Sunday 8 March 2009 at Samurai Bar, Niseko Yurt Village, Hirafu, Japan.

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: Triplexity
track: Afro Blue
artist at Jamendo
album 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.