Ten Questions ESL Podcast

Hello as usual from Arkansas, a small state in the American South! The weather is still hot, which I like a lot, though I know that fall is around the corner. Here is a dialog about computers that I made 2 1/2 years ago. Since then I had to replace that old computer. A different student helped me buy a much better new one. I really liked it, but couldn't take it with me when I left China because it was a desktop and much too big and delicate to transport to the US. I sold it to a friend when I left. Here at my mother's house I use a nice laptop, though I do miss the big monitor I had with my desktop in China. I hope you like the vocabulary in this dialog and that you find it useful.   LnR 098 (Casual Language) Are you serious? (Replay)   A: Hey, thanks for coming over! B: Sure, no problem. A: Like I told you on the phone, I've got a problem with my desktop computer. B: What's wrong? A: I need a new video card. The old one is finally kaput. My laptop is fine, but I use my desktop for most of my schoolwork. B: OK. I'll check with a repairman on campus. [He speaks to a repairman in Chinese on the phone] Bad news. He said he couldn't replace it. A: Are you serious? What's he talking about? He can't replace it? B: Oh, wait, he just told me he figured out a way to fix it. I'll take your CPU to the repairman now. A: Thanks. You're a lifesaver.  

LnR 096 (Casual Language) Chores (Replay) It's still warm and humid in Arkansas, USA now! I like hot weather, so I'm not in a hurry for fall to get here. I'm enjoying living in the US and teaching English online. I specialize in giving mock IELTS exams. If you want a mock exam you can contact me at nancybuswell@yahoo.com. If you are in China you can find me on PalFish or KouYuXia (Language Master). I'm pretty sure that some of my online students have been downloading my podcast episodes, since I recommend them to those who need to improve their intonation. Here's a replay of a podcast episode from 2 1/2 years ago. It's about the kind of chores that children have to do at home. By the way, I talk about my YouTube channel. I haven't done much with my channel in a couple of years. I just lost interest in it.   A: What kind of chores did you have to do when you were a kid? B: I had to wash dishes after dinner, feed the dog twice a day, and take her for a walk.  A: Is that all? B: No, of course not. I also had to keep my room neat. You, know, make up my bed and put away my clothes and toys. When I was older, I had to vacuum the carpets and do my own laundry.  A: What happened if you didn't do all of your chores? B: Then I didn't get my allowance! But I always did all of my chores. My brother, on the other hand . . . . A: What did he have to do? B: He had to take out the trash, wash the cars once a week, and cut the grass. In the winter he had to use the snow shovel to clear snow from the driveway. What about you? A: I was raised on a farm! I had so many chores to do. I had work to do before I left for school, and then when I got home. I had to wake up at 5:30 every morning.  B: Did you get an allowance? A: Shoot, no! My parents expected all of us to work on the farm. If we didn't do our chores, we didn't eat. They were very strict. We always did our chores! B: Gosh, our childhoods were so different!

This podcast episode is from 2 1/2 years ago, just before I went on a two-week vacation in the country of Laos. I had a really great time there! Now, if you don't know, I'm living with my mother and working online. I don't live in China anymore. I teach for two Chinese apps, specializing in giving IELTS mock exams.   --------   LnR 092 (Casual Language) Vacation (Replay) A: Hi, Miss Buswell. What are you going to do during the Spring Festival vocation? B: "Vacation", not "vocation". A: Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot. B: Happens all the time! Anyways, I'm staying here for the first part, then I'm going to spend two weeks in Laos. A: In Laos? That sounds interesting. B: It should be. I'll stay at a nice place just outside the capital. I want to relax, read a lot, work on projects, and do some sightseeing. A: That sounds great. Me, I'm going home tomorrow. B: Will you travel during the holiday? A: No. Usually we go to my grandparents' town in the countryside, but this year the family is coming to our place in the city. B: Sounds good. Well, I hope you have a good trip home tomorrow and a great vacation! A: You, too! Bye.

Hi! I'm back in the US now. I spent two weeks in China, clearing out my apartment. I sold a few things, gave away and threw away a lot of things, and sent some things home by slow boat. It was a busy two weeks, filled with visiting friends and students, and figuring out what to do with my things. I thought that I had one year to prepare to move, but when I found out that I wasn't being rehired (they kept the younger teachers, not me) I had to go to China from the US and clear my apartment quickly. It wasn't fun, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was good to see my friends and students again! I got back from China about ten days ago, had a few days to rest, then went with my mother and brother to a family wedding in another state. My niece (my sister's daughter) got married. We spent a lot of time with family during the weekend and then came back. We had a great time. I hadn't seen my sister for over a year. Yesterday my brother left to go to his home in Georgia. He took his two cats with him. Now there are only three cats at my mother's house. I am teaching online now, with PalFish and Language Master. These are both Chinese apps. I specialize in giving mock IELTS exams. Now, here's a podcast episode from a few years ago. I hope you find it useful. ----------- LnR 090 (Casual Language) Say and Hey (Replay) 1. Say, could I borrow your pen? 2. Say, could you turn the volume down a bit? 3. Say, I've got a question for you. 4. Say, can you stop by the store and get a dozen eggs on your way home? 5. Say, why is she so upset? 6. Hey, how are you? 7. Hey Mike, I haven't seen you in ages! 8. Hey, what are you doing? 9. Hey, watch out! 10. Hey, get off my lawn!  

I'm in my old apartment in Nanning, China now! I came back for about 12 days to clear the apartment of my things because I won't be working here anymore. I have a lot of work to do, figuring out what to do with all my stuff! I taught English in China for 19 1/2 years. I also have a lot of people to say goodbye to, and that will be hard. I'm honored right now to have two of my former students from about 12 years ago come down from Xi'an to spend a couple days with me, to say goodbye and to help me pack. Here's a podcast episode from 2 1/2 years ago: ............................... LnR 088 (Casual Language) Loan, Lend or Borrow 1. Could you loan me your pen for a minute? 2. I'd like to borrow your pen for a minute. 3. She borrowed my laptop last week. 4. I loaned her my laptop last week. 5. I'm going to the bank today to borrow money to start my business. 6. The bank is going to loan me money to start my business. 7. My daughter borrowed money from me. 8. I loaned money to my daughter. 9. Many American students borrow money from the government to pay for school. 10. The government loans money to college students.

This podcast episode is from December 2016. Now my brother Ken has two cats of his own, Lucy and Jackson. When he comes home at Christmas and for a couple weeks in the summer, there are five cats in my mother's house! ---------- LnR 086 I call Ken (Replay) Nancy: Hey, Kenny, when did you (whendidja/whenja) get home? Ken: Oh, about two hours ago. N: Did you (didja) have a good drive? K: Yeah, no problems. I drove through Atlanta before their morning rush hour, so that was OK. The highways through Alabama and Mississippi were fine, too. It rained a little when I hit Arkansas, but not for long. N:That's good. Did you (didja) enjoy Mom's surprise? K: Yeah, that was so funny! I couldn't believe that Mom had gotten a new cat! I was so surprised! N: You've got to (gotta) send me some pictures. K: Yeah, sure will. N: Well, I'd better let you go (letcha) go. K: Yeah, it's getting late here. Almost time for bed. N: Sleep well. Tell Mom I love her. Love you, too. I'll call again on Christmas Eve.

LnR 084 Accent and Dialect (Replay) A: Where are you from? I don't recognize your accent? B: South Africa! What about you? You sound American. A: Close. I'm from Canada, but I don't have a typical Canadian accent. I lived in the U.S. for several years when I was a kid. B: OK, I see. I can't really tell the difference between Canadians and Americans. A: Sometimes there's not a big difference. Unless the person is a French-Canadian. B: I have trouble understanding people from Scotland. I have a friend from Glasgow, but sometimes I think he's speaking another language. It's Greek to me! A: Have you heard that old saying? I think Mark Twain said it: "The U.S. and Britain are two countries separated by a common language."

Hi! Here's a podcast episode I made in December 2016. I hope you find it useful. Nancy Buswell www.missbuswell.com nancy@missbuswell/com --------- LnR 082 15 or 50? (Replay) A: My son is 13 years old. B: Oh, is he married? A: I said, 13, not 30. 1-3. B. Oh, of course! Sorry 'bout that. Say, how many orders did that company place for our new product? A: 14. B: 40! That's great! A: No, 14. 1-4. B: Oh, too bad. We need the business. A: How many orders did you get for our older product? B: 60. A: 16. That's not too good, either. B: No, 60. 6-0. They really like that product. A: Is that the company that's been in business for 90 years? B: No, they've been in business for 19 years. You are thinking of another company. A: Oh, yeah. Right. C: Hey, you two! Why are you late for the meeting? A: We're not late. The boss said yesterday that it would start at 10:50. C: No, he didn't. He told us it would start at 10:15. We are waiting for you two. A: Oh, shoot! We are on our way.

Here's an episode from 2 1/2 years ago. It highlights a common problem: getting "too" and "very" mixed up. Last week I experimented by posting six podcast episodes at the same time. I wanted to see how many people would download all six. Here's the result: As of today, May 18, there have been 322 downloads of the last one uploaded, Gift of the Magi 6; 213 of Gift of the Magi 5; and then down to 157 people who downloaded Gift of the Magi 1, which means that 157 people downloaded all six of the episodes, while twice that amount only got the last one uploaded. That's actually a bit better than I expected. ---------- LnR 080 Too or Very (Replay) A: Let's go out to eat tonight. B: Sounds good. Where do you want to go? (Where d'ya wanna go?) A: How about that place on the corner? It's my favorite. B: Yeah, but there's always too many people there. A: There's a lot of (lotta) people, but I don't think there are too many. B: Their food is also too spicy for me. A: Their food is very spicy, but that's how I like it. B: You know (Ya know) what, I've changed my mind. It's too cold outside to go out to eat. A: What do you (Whaddaya) mean? It feels great outside! B: What don't we stay here and order a pizza?

This is the last episode in this series. I have posted all six episodes tonight. I haven't done this before. I used to try to post three podcast episodes a week, but since I've been at home recovering from surgery I have changed to posting only once a week. For me this is an experiment to see how many people download all six of the episodes! Every night I check my podcast statistics. I love seeing where all of you live! The statistics tell me the country and state/province where each download came from. The top ten countries are: USA, China, Brazil, Iran, Japan, Russia, UK, Poland, Germany, and Korea. (It's very likely that many of the downloads that say they are from the USA are actually made by people using VPNs in China, Iran or other countries.) My statistics show the results from the last three months. In those three months I have had downloads from 109 countries! I love it! Thanks for listening and I hope you find my podcasts useful. ------------ LnR 087 Gift of the Magi 6 For there lay The Combs--the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims--just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone. But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!" And then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!" Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit. "Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it." Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled. "Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on." The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.