From the Net: The Sounds of Christmas (VOA Special English)

http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/The-Sounds-of-Christmas-112397699.html

The Sounds of Christmas

23 December 2010

Cover Art from Pink Martini's first holiday album.

Or download MP3 (Right-click or option-click and save link)

Doug Johnson: Welcome to American Mosaic in VOA Special English

(MUSIC)

I’m Doug Johnson.

The winter holiday can be beautiful and bright.  Christmas lights, boxes wrapped in pretty paper and excited children are everywhere.

But it can be a difficult and demanding time, too.  There is a lot of preparation for Christmas: shopping, cleaning, cooking and decorating.

So today on our show we invite our listeners to slow down while we play holiday music released this year.

(MUSIC)

That is “Pie Jesu” sung by ten-year-old Jackie Evancho of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Jackie was discovered earlier this year on the television show “America’s Got Talent.” She did not win the competition.  But she did get a record deal.

AP

Jackie Evanko sang at the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony with President Barack Obama and his family in Washington.

Her Christmas album, “O Holy Night,” came out November sixteenth.  The Recording Industry Association of America just rated the album platinum. That means it has sold one million copies or more.  Billboard magazine says Jackie Evancho is the country’s top-selling new artist.

“Carols and Christmas Songs” is the name of Bryn Terfel’s new album.  The Welsh opera singer sings a beautiful Austrian song called “Still, Still, Still.” The German words to the first verse mean:

Still, still, still

For the baby wants to sleep

The angels jubilate with beauty

Making music by the manger

Still, still, still

For the baby wants to sleep

(MUSIC)

The Putamayo World Music company’s seasonal album is called “World Christmas Party.”  The recording features songs and artists from Brazil, Cape Verde, New Zealand and many other parts of the world.

One of the performers is the Heritage Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans, Louisiana. The band has been playing traditional New Orleans jazz around the world for almost thirty-five years.  Here the band performs “Barra de Navidad Blues.”  Barra de Navidad is a beach town in Jalisco, Mexico.  It means “Christmas Sandbar” in Spanish.

(MUSIC)

Scottish singer Annie Lennox released her first holiday album this year.  However, she says she has been singing the songs on “A Christmas Cornucopia” since her childhood.  In fact, some of the songs were probably playing when was born -- on Christmas night, nineteen fifty-four.  Here she performs “Silent Night” which she recorded with the African Children’s Choir in South Africa.

(MUSIC)

One of America’s favorite television shows also has a record out for the holidays.  “Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album,” went to number three on Billboard’s special holiday sales chart.

Critics’ reactions were mixed.  Some praised the producers for trying new things with traditional Christmas songs.  Others said the producers did not choose the right singers for the songs.

However, most critics thought Matthew Morrison, who plays a teacher on the show, performed this song well.  Here is “O Christmas Tree.”

(MUSIC)

The number one album on Billboard’s Top Two Hundred is a holiday recording.  Scottish singer Susan Boyle’s “The Gift” has been in that position for four weeks.

Boyle launched her career in January of last year. She performed on the television show “Britain’s Got Talent.”  Her performance was posted on YouTube.  Her beautiful voice and shy personality got the attention of huge numbers of people.  She became famous almost overnight.

Here Susan Boyle sings “The First Noel” from her album, “The Gift.”

(MUSIC)

The O’Jays are a rhythm and blues group from Canton, Ohio.  They formed in the late nineteen fifties and have had seven studio albums on Billboard’s top twenty chart.

This year the O’Jays released their second holiday album, “Christmas with the O’Jays.”  It includes traditional songs, but also this danceable number, “Cause It’s Christmas.”

(MUSIC)

Finally, Pink Martini is a twelve-member orchestra from Portland, Oregon.  The group made its first holiday album this year.  “Joy to The World” includes songs for Christmas and Hanukkah.  There are also holiday songs from around the world like “Shehedryk (Ukrainian Bell Carol).” It is known in America as “Carol of the Bells.”  The song tells the story of a swallow flying into a family’s home to declare the good fortune they will have in the New Year.

(MUSIC)

I’m Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed this holiday program.  It was written and produced by Caty Weaver.  You can get transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our shows at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. If you have a question about American life, write to mosaic@voanews.com.  We might answer your question on this show. So please include your name and country.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

Podcasts : Americana from BBC Radio 4 – Baseball (17 October 2010)

Americana steps up to bat around the relationship between Americans and baseball. The historian, John P. Rossi, explains how and when baseball became so deeply intertwined with America's national identity. The sports writer, Frank Deford, reflects on the heroes of the game and the National Symphony Orchestra musician, Glenn Donnellan, performs a few songs on his homemade 'batolin', a violin made from a baseball bat.

Listen to the program :

 

To download and subscribe to this podcast, click on the above image to visit the website.

Interesting Internet Sites : Books Should Be Free (Free Audio Books!)

For those of you who want a good and enjoyable listening challenge, you should take a look at www.booksshouldbefree.com ! The site has tons of free audio books from the public domain. You can download the mp3 files for each chapter of the books in one zip file. You’ll also find links to the full text of the books.

From ESL Pod : Halloween (30 October 2005)

I’ve featured this website and its podcasts in the past. This is a great site you should all check out. The podcasts themselves are free, however if you want the option of a downloadable learner’s guide, you’ll need to subscribe. This isn’t free but worth the investment! To go directly to their homepage, click on the their logo above.

This podcast on Halloween dates from 2005. Listen to the podcast streamed from ESL Pod.

To download this podcast and read the dialogue, go to : http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=1243077

From VOA Special English : A Scary Story to Get You Into the Halloween Spirit

http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/a-23-2009-10-26-voa2-83142527.html

Broadcast on 26 October 2009

To Listen Right Click and Choose Save Link/Target As: Download

What happens when a girl goes too far with lies about her classmates. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. October thirty-first, this coming Saturday, is Halloween. Millions of children will dress as ghosts, witches, skeletons, superheroes, princesses -- all sorts of costumes. 

VOICE ONE:

Then, with parents usually nearby, they will walk through their neighborhoods. They will go door to door, yelling "trick or treat." This threat of a trick, all in good fun, quickly brings a treat, usually some candy. Then the trick-or-treaters will go off to the next house.

VOICE TWO:

But, you know, there is a reason people in ancient times were careful to honor evil spirits and the dead with a night of their own. The masks that people wore on All Hallows' Eve were meant to hide their identity, so they would avoid a most frightful trick. But now, do you want to know a story that is even scarier than that?

VOICE ONE:

Do you mean the story of my mother? That story? It makes me shake just to think about it!

(To read the rest, go to : http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/a-23-2009-10-26-voa2-83142527.html)

Featured Podcast : Words and Their Stories - Where Did 'OK' Come From? (VOA Special English)

  http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/OK--85357622.html

Listen or download MP3 HERE ! (right click to save to your computer)

A look at what may be the most commonly used word in the world.

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Millions of people all over the world use the word OK. In fact, some people say the word is used more often than any other word in the world. OK means all right or acceptable. It expresses agreement or approval. You might ask your brother, "Is it okay if I borrow your car?” Or if someone asks you to do something, you might say, “Okay, I will.” Still, language experts do not agree about where the word came from.

Some people say it came from the Native American Indian tribe known as the Choctaw. The Choctaw word okeh means the same as the American word okay. Experts say early explorers in the American West spoke the Choctaw language in the nineteenth century. The language spread across the country.

But many people dispute this. Language expert Allen Walker Read wrote about the word OK in reports published in the nineteen sixties. He said the word began being used in the eighteen thirties. It was a short way of writing a different spelling of the words “all correct.” Some foreign-born people wrote “all correct” as “o-l-l k-o-r-r-e-c-t,” and used the letters O.K. Other people say a railroad worker named Obadiah Kelly invented the word long ago. They said he put the first letters of his names -- O and K -- on each object people gave him to send on the train.

Still others say a political organization invented the word. The organization supported Martin Van Buren for president in eighteen forty. They called their group, the O.K. Club. The letters were taken from the name of the town where Martin Van Buren was born — Old Kinderhook, New York.

Not everyone agrees with this explanation, either. But experts do agree that the word is purely American. And it has spread to almost every country on Earth.

Then there is the expression A-OK. This means everything is fine. A-OK is a space-age expression. It was used in nineteen sixty-one during the flight of astronaut Alan Shepard. He was the first American to be launched into space. His flight ended when his spacecraft landed in the ocean, as planned. Shepard reported: "Everything is A-OK.”

However, some experts say the expression did not begin with the space age. One story says it was first used during the early days of the telephone to tell an operator that a message had been received.

There are also funny ways to say okay. Some people say okey-dokey or okey-doke. These expressions were first used in the nineteen thirties. Today, a character on the American television series, “The Simpsons,” says it another way. He says okely-dokely.

(MUSIC)

This program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Visit VOA Special English

Internet Sites For Improving Your English : Storynory

Storynory (www.storynory.com) is a great and fun site you can use to improve your listening comprehension. You can download audio stories (new stories, fairy tales, myths and histories) in MP3 format and read the transcripts on the site. AND IT’S FREE ! !

While reading the story on the website, if you double click on a word, you’ll be given an option of languages to choose from for a translation.

Here are links to the classic King Arthur tale of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Part One (right click and save)
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Part Two (right click and save)

For the transcript of these two stories, visit www.storynory.com

Featured Podcast : Words and Their Stories – The Cold, Hard Reality (VOA News Special English)

Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days. The end of this year has been hectic! In honor of this frigid cold that has struck Alsace, here are some idiomatic expressions from Words and Their Stories by Voice of America’s Special English site. You can download the MP3 file from this page or directly from their site at :

 http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2009-12-10-voa2.cfm

Listen to Show: (Tip: Left-click, or right-click and choose "Save...") Download  (MP3)

English expressions that will leave you out in the cold.

Transcript of radio broadcast: 12 December 2009

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

(MUSIC)

Cold weather has a great effect on how our minds and our bodies work. Maybe that is why there are so many expressions that use the word cold.

For centuries, the body's blood has been linked closely with the emotions. People who show no human emotions or feelings, for example, are said to be cold-blooded. Cold-blooded people act in cruel ways. They may do brutal things to others, and not by accident.

(For more of the transcript, go to the above link!!)

Featured Podcast : Somewhere a Language Dies Every Two Weeks (VOA News – Special English)

Over half of the world's 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing.

Transcript of radio broadcast: 01 December 2009

Listen to Show  - (Tip: Left-click, or right-click and choose "Save...") Download (MP3)

VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we travel far and wide to learn about some of the rarest languages in the world. Experts say over half of the world's seven thousand languages are in danger of disappearing. Every two weeks one language disappears.

As the last speakers of a language die off, the valuable information contained within a language also disappears. Join us as we learn about the cultural value of language and why endangered languages must be protected.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

What would happen if you were the only person left who spoke your language? Who would you share stories with, sing songs to, or exchange jokes with? Who would understand your names for local plants, animals and traditions? This is the example David Harrison and Gregory Anderson use to explain the situation of many people around the world whose local languages are disappearing. Mister Harrison and Mister Anderson head Living Tongues, an organization that studies and protects endangered languages.

VOICE TWO:

Sometimes a language disappears immediately when the last person speaking it dies. Or, a local language might disappear more slowly.  This happens when an official language is used more often and children stop learning the local language of their parents. This is not a new process. Official languages often represent a form of control over a group of people.

Throughout history, the language spoken by a powerful group spreads across a civilization. The more powerful culture rarely respects the language and culture of smaller ethnic groups. So, smaller cultures lose their local language as the language of the culture in power becomes the stronger influence.

TO READ MORE OF THE TRANSCRIPT, GO TO : http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2009-12-01-voa1.cfm?renderforprint=1

Featured Podcast : Half of US Jobs Now Held by Women (VOA News)

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report. (19 Nov 2009) - http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2009-11-19-voa3.cfm

To download the MP3 audio file to the report, right click with your mouse HERE

 

Women are on their way to holding more than half of all American jobs. The latest government report shows that their share of nonfarm jobs nearly reached fifty percent in September. Not only have more and more women entered the labor market over the years, but the recession has been harder on men. In October the unemployment rate for men was almost eleven percent, compared to eight percent for women.

Industries that traditionally use lots of men have suffered deep cuts. For example, manufacturing and building lost more jobs last month. But health care and temporary employment services have had job growth. Both of those industries employ high percentages of women.

Thirty years ago, women earned sixty-two cents for every dollar that men earned. Now, for those who usually work full time, women earn about eighty percent of what men earn. And women hold fifty-one percent of good-paying management and professional jobs.

Yet a study released Thursday said men still hold about nine out of every ten top positions at the four hundred largest companies in California. The results have remained largely unchanged in five years of studies from the University of California, Davis.

Also, a new research paper in the journal Sex Roles looks at the experiences of women who are the main earners in their family. Rebecca Meisenbach at the University of Missouri in Columbia interviewed fifteen women. She found they all valued their independence and many enjoyed having the power of control, though not all wanted it.

But they also felt pressure, worry and guilt. Partly that was because of cultural expectations that working women will still take care of the children. Also, men who are not the main earners may feel threatened.

The job market continues to suffer the effects of last year's financial crash. Now, a judgment has been reached in the first case involving charges of criminal wrongdoing on Wall Street.

Last week, the government lost its case against two managers at Bear Stearns, the first investment bank to fail last year. A jury found Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin not guilty of lying to investors.

The hedge funds they supervised lost their value in two thousand seven. But jurors said there was no clear evidence that they meant to mislead investors.

The Justice Department continues to investigate other companies.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

Featured Podcast : Words and Their Stories - More Terms About Money (VOA News)

Working hard to bring home the bacon. Transcript of radio broadcast:
15 October 2009

MP3  - (Tip: Left-click, or right-click and choose "Save...") Download (MP3)

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

(MUSIC)

Most people enjoy working for several reasons. Their job might be fun, or they like their employer and the other people at work. Most people I know, however, work for the money. I do not know anyone who is loaded, or extremely rich.  Most of my friends work to earn enough money to live. They have to make ends meet. They have to earn enough money to pay for the things they need. Some even live from hand to mouth. They only have enough money for the most important things.

They struggle to earn enough money to bring home the bacon. It can be difficult to earn enough money for a family to survive. Sometimes, poor people even get caught short. They do not have enough money to pay for what they need.

Or they have to spend or lay out more money than they want for something. When this happens, poor people have to tighten their belts and live on less money than usual. I hate when I have to live on less money. It takes me longer to get back on my feet, or return to good financial health.

However, other people are on the gravy train. They get paid more money than their job is worth. These people make a bundle. They really rake in the cash. In fact, they make so much money that they can live high off the hog. They own the best of everything and live in great ease. Sometimes they pay an arm and a leg for something.

Because money is no object to wealthy people, they will pay high prices for whatever they want. Sometimes, they even pay through the nose. They pay too much for things.

I am not rich. I did not make a killing in the stock market when my stocks increased in value. Yet, I am not poor either. When I go out with friends, I do not want to shell out or pay a lot of money. Often, my friends and I will chip in or pay jointly for a fun night out. When we go to restaurants the meal is Dutch treat.  Each person pays his or her own share.

Once, the owner of a restaurant gave us a dinner on the house. We did not have to pay for our meals. However, I admit that we had to grease someone’s palm. We had to pay money to the employee who led us to our table. The money was for a special request. Yes, it was a buy off. The employee put us at the top of the list for a table instead of making us wait like everyone else. We had a great time that night and the meal did not set me back at all. I did not have to pay anything.

Because of that experience, I will always remember that nice things still happen in a world that is driven by money. But, that is just my two cents worth. It is just my opinion.

(MUSIC)       

WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, in VOA Special English, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOA News - Words and Their Stories: More Terms About Money

Featured Podcast : Words and Their Stories – Money, Part 1 (VOA News)

What does it take to have a rich life? Transcript of radio broadcast: 01 October 2009

MP3  - (Tip: Left-click, or right-click and choose "Save...") Download (MP3)

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

(MUSIC)

I think people everywhere dream about having lots of money. I know I do. I would give anything to make money hand over fist. I would like to earn large amounts of money. You could win a large amount of money in the United States through lotteries. People pay money for tickets with numbers. If your combination of numbers is chosen, you win a huge amount of money – often in the millions. Winning the lottery is a windfall.

A few years ago, my friend Al won the lottery. It changed his life. He did not have a rich family. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Instead, my friend was always hard up for cash. He did not have much money. And the money he did earn was chicken feed – very little.

Sometimes Al even had to accept hand-outs, gifts from his family and friends. But do not get me wrong. My friend was not a deadbeat. He was not the kind of person who never paid the money he owed. He simply pinched pennies. He was always very careful with the money he spent. In fact, he was often a cheapskate. He did not like to spend money. The worst times were when he was flat broke and had no money at all. 

One day, Al scraped together a few dollars for a lottery ticket. He thought he would never strike it rich or gain lots of money unexpectedly. But his combination of numbers was chosen and he won the lottery. He hit the jackpot. He won a great deal of money.

Al was so excited. The first thing he did was buy a costly new car. He splurged on the one thing that he normally would not buy. Then he started spending money on unnecessary things. He started to waste it. It was like he had money to burn. He had more money than he needed and it was burning a hole in his pocket so he spent it quickly.

When we got together for a meal at a restaurant, Al paid every time. He would always foot the bill, and pick up the tab. He told me the money made him feel like a million dollars. He was very happy.

But, Al spent too much money. Soon my friend was down and out again. He had no money left. He was back to being strapped for cash. He had spent his bottom dollar, his very last amount. He did not even build up a nest egg. He had not saved any of the money.

I admit I do feel sorry for my friend. He had enough money to live like a king. Instead, he is back to living on a shoestring -- a very low budget. Some might say he is penny wise and pound foolish. He was wise about small things, but not about important things.

(MUSIC)     

WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, in VOA Special English, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2009-10-01-voa2.cfm?renderforprint=1

Interesting Sites For Improving Your English : Listening Downloads from the British Council

 

If you want to work on your listening skills, you should check out the Listening Downloads page from the British Council!

There, you will find stories in MP3 format along with the text and online language activities. AND IT’S FREE!!!

 

GO TO : http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-listening-downloads-stories.htm

Interesting Sites For Improving Your English : Lit2Go - MP3 Stories and Poems

Downloadable audio books with pdf files of the literature you can use to follow along!!

This is a must for practicing your listening comprehension!!

Visit the site at : Lit2Go: MP3 Stories and Poems

Featured Podcast : Dreams From My Mother (BBC Documentaries)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/09/090915_dreams_from_my_mother.shtml

Barack Obama made history on 4 November 2008 when he defeated Republican rival John McCain to become the first black president of the United States.

The son of a Kenyan man and a white woman from Kansas, he was named after his father who grew up herding goats but gained a scholarship to study in Hawaii.

There the Kenyan met and married Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, who was living in Honolulu with her parents.

The president has famously written of the influence exerted on him by his charismatic but absent father in his memoir, Dreams of My Father, but what of his mother, Ann Dunham?

The world knows very little about her, but how did she affect his formative years and help to shape him in his political rise?

Or download MP3 file HERE ! (Right click with mouse)

She was christened Stanley Ann Dunham because her parents yearned for a boy.

Born in Kansas, she was the only child of hard working middle class parents who kept moving to improve their lives.

She married Barack Obama Snr whom she met in a class at the University of Hawaii at the age of 18.

It was a time of racial tension in America in the early 1960s and mixed marriages were not very common.

When Barack Jr. was still a toddler, his father decided to take up a scholarship at Harvard, turning down a more financially generous offer from New York University which would have supported the whole family. So Ann and young Barry, as he was then known, remained in Hawaii.

He later returned to Kenya alone, where he worked as a government economist, and the couple divorced.

When President Obama was six, his mother married an Indonesian man, Lolo Soetoro and the family moved to Jakarta.

But life proved too conventional for Ann and as she and Lolo became estranged, she moved to Yogyakarta the ancient capital of Java and began a study of indigenous craft industries and their community structures - which she pursued to the end of her life.

As a mature student, she was accepted into a PhD programme at the University of Hawaii and she chose to research the archaeology and anthropology of agricultural blacksmiths. She was the first woman admitted into the inner sanctum of this ancient all-male trade.

As she learnt about the ceremonial dagger making and the ritual power the smiths imbued into each instrument they forged, she also gained an appreciation of all Javanese crafts and culture.

In an effort to alleviate the hardship associated with these peasant industries, she constructed a model of micro-financing which is now the standard in Indonesia, a country that is a world leader in micro-credit systems.

With grants from the Ford Foundation and loans from the World Bank, she worked with many NGO’s to help rural people get loans to launch small enterprises.

In this programme Judith Kampfner talks to Ann’s 80 year old feisty professor and mentor, Alice Dewey.

She also speaks to field workers and executives at the People’s Bank of Indonesia, the Ford Foundation, and the USIA and to anthropologists and crafts workers who knew Ann Dunham.

Listen as the life of this unconventional and idealistic woman is revealed and whether her importance has been deliberately downplayed in the story of Barack Obama.

First broadcast Wednesday 16 September 2009

Featured Podcast : English Café 49 by ESL Pod

In this podcast from www.eslpod.com, you learn about some cultural and societal aspects of the United States. In this podcast dated from September 2006, you’ll learn about Labor Day in the United States and American charitable organizations. To listen to or download this MP3 lesson, go to: ESL Café 49

Featured Podcast : ESL Podcast 402 – Buying Back-to-School Supplies

Well, it was back to school this week and I’m sure all you parents had to go out spend tons of money to buy school supplies for your kids. So today I’m featuring another podcast from www.eslpod.com dated August of 2008 concerning the purchasing of above mentioned supplies. In it you’ll find some simple vocabulary in English for describing some of these items.

As in the other podcasts from this site, you’ll first hear a short, slowly spoken dialogue followed by a clear and precise explanation of the vocabulary. At the end of the lesson, the dialogue will be repeated but at native speed.

The MP3 download is free but there is also a Learning Guide available for which you would have to become a paid subscriber. In the Learning Guide you’ll find extra notes, the vocabulary, exercises and the entire transcript of the podcast. I highly recommend subscribing but if you can’t, you will still learn a lot from the MP3 file!!

To access this podcast, go to: http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=5739071

Featured Podcast : British Council Learning English - Beaches

The summer break is coming to end and the new school year starts up this week. I’m sure you’ll want to talk all bout your summer vacation (in English of course!).

Today I’m featuring a themes podcast brought to you by the British Council’s Learning English website. On the link below, you’ll find not only a podcast about beaches, but articles and online exercises you can do to reinforce the vocabulary. Explore the site for other themes among some of the most recent themes are parts of the body, indigenous peoples, India, etc..

I highly recommend this site. Here’s the direct link to today’s featured podcast:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-podcasts-themes-beaches

Featured Podcast : ESL Podcast 489 – Talking About Wealth

I have featured this podcast site on several occasions due to its wealth of vocabulary and cultural information about the United States. It is definitely one of the best out there, if not the best. The mp3 podcasts are free. However, if you want the learning guide you need to subscribe. The learning guide includes not only the dialogue but the transcript of the entire podcast plus further vocabulary explanations and exercises. Visit their homepage for further information: http://www.eslpod.com/website/index_new.html 

Today, I have chosen one of their podcast discussing terms to talk about wealth! It is rich in idiomatic expressions!  To visit the page where you can read the dialogue and download the podcast, go to: ESL Podcast 489 – Talking About Wealth

In each podcast, you’ll hear a dialogue spoken at a slow speed followed by an extensive explanation of the vocabulary. At the end, you’ll hear the dialogue again spoken at native speed. Each podcast is like having your own private English lesson! I very highly recommend this site.

Featured Podcast : BBC World Service Documentary – Death Diminishes Me

Five men from New Zealand paint a soundscape of memory, loss and regret as suffered by those living with HIV. They relate stories of loneliness and deep isolation - as most HIV positive Kiwis don't know anyone else with the virus.

Visit the page at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/07/000000_global_perspective_death_diminishes.shtml

Download (mp3) (Right click with your mouse to save to your computer)

DEATH DIMINISHES ME

Fifteen funerals within five years – that's the situation Shane found himself in the early 1990s when his friends started dying from AIDS related illnesses.

Shane is one of five HIV positive men from New Zealand who share their personal reflections and stories in Death Diminishes Me as they work towards self-acceptance.

The men have been living with HIV for over 20 years - coping with both the physical and psychological implications. Some of the shared experiences include the dramatic loss of confidence, having to 'come out' a second time and dealing with the stigma of being diagnosed HIV positive. "Who do I tell, what do I tell?" asks Shane.

"Through their openness we begin to glimpse unspoken truths about how homosexuality and HIV are dealt with in New Zealand society," says producer Gareth Watkins.

Death Diminishes Me asks the listener to consider what isolates people from, and what connects them to their friends, family and each other.

Symbol of hope

Throughout the work we hear excerpts from Michael Parmenter's A Long Undressing - an autobiographical theatre/dance-work that premiered in 1995 to great acclaim:

"We use memory as a way of reclaiming what has been taken away. To value even the feeling of loss, is to value life itself - and so to begin to live again"

Prose, interview and reflection all form the foreground, while fragments of half-remembered sounds form the background - a school yard, a summer's day, the beep-beep-beep of a machine that sustains life.

"Even though there is a lot of apparent darkness in Death Diminishes Me, there's also a lot of burning hope" says Gareth.

"The very fact that most of these men are still here after 20 years with HIV is a strong symbol of hope. The fact that they have coped and become stronger while watching friends and loved-ones die. The fact that they still stand tall is a testament to their will and hope to live.

"Ultimately death does not diminish us. It makes us, and those around us have greater insight into who and what we are."

First broadcast on Friday 17 July 2009