节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-08-12
难易度:Low
关键字:mall, binder, locker, volunteer, contribute, packet, enhance
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And you're joining us for a great lesson: Back to School.
This is something that excites... well, it excites some people.
And some other people aren't very excited about going back to school.
Personally, I enjoy learning things about many different things in life.
And so I enjoyed going back to school at the end of summer.
But what about you?
Do you like this idea?
Do you look forward to going back to school at the end of your summer?
Well, you know, the summer is a lot of fun; it's a really great break.
And you can do a lot of things, maybe go on vacation with your family.
But I really missed hanging out with my friends at school and being able to talk
about our lessons and learn things together.
So I always really enjoyed the beginning of the new school year.
Well, it can be exciting.
Maybe you see some old friends.
Maybe you'll meet some new friends.
You never know what's going to happen when you go back to school.
Well, we're going to join Pauline as she writes about this experience that her
daughter has going back to school.
Let's get started.
Back to School.
Summer vacation is coming to an end.
Despite warm days and laughter from the poolside, summer vacation is ending.
And everyone knows it.
The review packet for summer - still not opened - suddenly appears.
Sale signs at the malls, supermarkets and bookstores remind students and
parents.
Notebooks, folders, pencils and something special called binders are piled up in
stores.
In American schools, students must keep their book bags in their lockers.
So, most carry binders between classrooms.
A 3-hole binder holds handouts, homework and a pencil pouch.
Well, it sounds like there are a lot of things that we need to think about when
preparing to go back to school.
But going back to the beginning of this article:
Summer vacation is coming to an end.
And it is August, so this is very true.
Summer vacation will soon be over.
And we see that phrase "coming to an end." Gabe, what does that mean?
Well, if it's coming to an end, that means the end is approaching.
That means you will be doing something different very soon because the end is
here, it's coming to an end.
For instance, uh, you're at an exciting party.
But it's almost 12 o'clock, almost time when everyone should go home.
The party is coming to an end.
You could also say that once you go back to school, and oh, well, the school day
is almost over.
The day is coming to an end, or class is coming to an end.
But we are far from the end of this lesson, so let's look at the first part
here.
Despite warm days and laughter from the poolside, summer vacation is ending.
That's right. Despite.
That means "even though there are." So even though there are warm days and
laughter from the poolside, still, summer vacation is ending.
It's coming to an end, and everyone knows it.
All right. Our author says this because you can kind of sense when something is
happening or sense when something is about to change.
Everyone knows it.
That's right.
And she tells us why everyone becomes aware of this.
The review packet for summer - still unopened... still not opened - suddenly
appears.
So they had a review packet that they were supposed to be working on during
summer vacation to prepare them to keep them thinking about their lessons,
and it is not opened yet.
But now it has appeared, and you can begin working on it.
Yeah. Perhaps this packet of information, these couple of sheets or whatever
were lying under some other things at home.
And now they suddenly appear on the top because I need to look at this before I
go back to school.
Well, sale signs at the malls, supermarkets and bookstores remind students and
parents.
You can see it everywhere.
Students are going back to school.
That's right.
And you can see these signs at the mall.
And "mall" is one of the words from our Word Bank.
A mall is a place with many, many stores.
It's usually a large building or several buildings that contain many different
kinds of stores, restaurants and maybe even a movie theater.
That's right.
Actually my favorite mall has a movie theater.
And um, sometimes you can call these shopping malls.
Or you could just say I'm going to the mall to go shopping or just to look
around.
Well, there are supermarkets and bookstores and a lot of places reminding people
that it's time to go back to school.
And we see some of the things that they are selling.
Notebooks, folders, pencils and something special called binders are piled up in
stores.
So these are all things that students will be buying to go back to school for
the new year.
Well, let's take a look at our Word Bank word there.
It is "binder." And a binder is something that you might use, if you're a
student, to keep many different things together.
They're not your textbooks.
There may be your notes, and notes from different classes even, you can keep in
one binder.
And maybe you'll have some... maybe... some binders come with pencil cases
inside as well.
They're actually quite useful and practical for students.
They certainly are.
And in American schools, students must keep their book bags in their lockers.
So, this is a little bit different from schools in other parts of the world.
But the U.S. students all have "lockers," which is another word from our Word
Bank.
Now a locker is just a closed-off space probably with a lock on it that only one
person should have the key or combination to.
And you can store your things inside it for a short period of time.
Exactly.
So you have many textbooks for all your different classes.
You don't want to carry them around all over with you, so you keep them in your
lockers.
Carolyn, what else did you put inside your locker in high school?
Well, I definitely put my books and my book bag and all of my papers.
But I also kept maybe shoes and a change of clothes for gym class, and maybe a
picture or two to remind me of my family.
Yeah. So there are different things, sometimes fun things, you can keep inside
your lockers.
Well, it's time for us now to join Steve and Ken with more about high school in
the United States.
Hello, friends.
Have you ever wondered what it's like to attend an American high school?
How is it different from attending a high school in Asia?
Perhaps the biggest difference between the two is that in the U.S.,
students go from classroom to classroom instead of staying in one classroom
throughout the day.
So you must be wondering then: Where do I leave my stuff?
Well, the answer is "In your locker." That's where you keep all of your books
and personal effects.
You might also be wondering: Isn't there a classroom where I belong?
And the answer is homeroom, which is a very short period.
This is a time when teachers take attendance and make announcements.
In some schools, students are permitted to socialize, to do group activities or
watch television news during homeroom.
I have some fond memories of homerooms.
So do I.
And there is one final difference.
In the U.S., there tends to be longer but fewer periods in a day.
And school ends earlier than it does in Asia.
But that doesn't mean everyone just goes home at three o'clock.
There are lots of after-school activities involving music, sports, drama,
student government and other various clubs.
(Chinese).
Now earlier we had mentioned that students must put their book bags in their
lockers, and that a lot of students carry around binders.
And in our next sentence we see that so, most carry binders between classrooms.
So a lot of students take these binders with them and leave the rest of the
things in their lockers.
Now can you tell us a little bit about the binder, Gabe?
Yes. Here's a good description here.
A 3-hole binder holds handouts, homework and a pencil pouch.
So there is a place where you can keep your pens and pencils and erasers,
and even some other stationery and some homework and handouts that your teachers
give you.
That's right.
So binders are very useful for students to carry around instead of carrying a
very heavy backpack or a book bag to each of their classes.
Well, right now it's time for us to join Michelle in the Language Lab.
(Music).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.