节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-03-14
难易度:High
关键字:enroll, over (one's) head, summon, flake
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
I'm Carolyn.
And I'm Nathanael.
And you are here for day two of our lesson Difficulties in German.
We're enjoying quite a good story by Jo about her experiences learning German,
and we're going to continue today.
But I do wonder about different ways to learn a language.
There are so many different ways.
We talked about book knowledge yesterday about learning things from a book.
Carolyn, what's another way that you can learn a new language?
Well, when I was in high school, I was very interested in learning Japanese.
So I decided to enroll in a summer program and go to Japan.
It was very challenging since I had all Japanese classmates who didn't speak any
English.
Wow! That would be quite intimidating for me.
I would be on edge the entire time I was there.
Nathanael, what about you?
What's another way to learn a new language?
Well, you know one thing that is available now are certain computer programs
that are supposed to help you learn languages.
And some of them say that they can teach you pretty quickly, too.
All right.
So there are many different ways to learn a language.
I think songs really help, too.
If you know a song, you can sing it in another language.
Then that could help you learn a language as well.
Well, let's get started with the rest of Jo's story for today.
Difficulties in German.
(Music).
Difficulties in German.
I had enrolled in four classes - literature, grammar, reading and writing, and
history.
All were in German and difficult, but the history lecture was the worst.
The professor spoke fast; almost everything he said flew right over my head.
I sat in the front, took notes and even recorded the lectures, but nothing
helped.
I had no idea what the class was about.
At the end of the semester, I summoned all of my courage and asked my history
professor for a form saying I'd attended the class.
He said yes and told all the foreign students who wanted this form to meet at
his office at a certain time.
I'd like to say I got the form and took it back to my university for class
credit... but I didn't.
(Music).
It sounds like Jo is having a very difficult time in her history class. Oh.
But let's go to the beginning of the article and we see that: I had enrolled in
four classes - literature, grammar, reading and writing, and history.
And right in that first sentence we see a word from our World Bank - the word
"enrolled." If you enroll in something, then you sign up for it.
In the introduction today, I said that I enrolled in a program to go to Japan
for a summer.
Nathanael, how would you use this word "enroll"?
Well, another place you could enroll is for some kind of contest.
You enroll to participate in a contest.
That's right.
Have you ever enrolled for a contest, Gabe?
Enrolled for a contest?
Well, not really.
I do like competing, and I like races.
Um, I enrolled... I guess I... you could say I enroll for in a race.
I don't know if that counts.
That's a kind of contest.
Um, but I've been thinking of maybe like a spelling bee, a spelling contest.
You might enroll for that kind of a contest.
Or maybe there's a speech contest or a drama contest, you can enroll in that
kind of contest.
Carolyn, have you ever enrolled in anything?
Well, I have.
I enrolled in many classes when I was in college.
You enroll for your classes.
And I know many people who also enrolled in the Army.
So they joined the military.
Now if we continue in our reading, we'll learn a little bit more about these
classes that Jo enrolled in.
Nathanael?
All were in German and difficult, but the history lecture was the worst.
I'm sure it would be hard to go to classes in a completely different language
than the one that you're most familiar with.
Right, especially maybe if it was a lecture format.
That's where the professor or teacher talks the whole time, and the students are
taking notes.
I prefer discussion format where the teacher encourages discussion and questions
a lot more.
I prefer that over lecture format, but I know that many classes are with
lectures.
That's right.
And we see here that the professor spoke fast; almost everything he said flew
right over my head.
Oh.
And we see a phrase here "over my head." And it's also from our Word Bank today.
If something is flying over your head, Gabe, what does that mean?
Excuse me?
Uh, I don't understand.
Oh! Yeah, that's right.
If something flies over your head, it means you don't understand something about
it.
There's something maybe a little too difficult to understand.
It goes right over your head.
It's kind of a fun idiom.
How could you use that phrase, Nathanael?
Well, I can have a conversation with someone in Chinese.
But sometimes if I'm watching TV like the news, the Chinese goes right over my
head.
I don't understand very much.
That's right.
And it's pretty easy to get confused when you're having conversations in a
different language.
And things just go right over your head, you miss the point.
So it sounds like Jo is having a very difficult time in this lecture class.
Gabe, would you like to continue?
Of course.
Jo says: I sat in the front, took notes and even recorded the lectures, but
nothing helped.
Nothing is working for Jo.
Of course if you are really attentive and focused, and you want to learn a lot,
then you sit where in the classroom?
You sit in the front so you can try to get everything.
But this did not help Jo.
That's right.
And we see she says: I had no idea what the class was about.
So she didn't even know the topic of the class other than it's a history class.
Oh. It sounds like she's having a very difficult time.
Well, continuing on we see:
At the end of the semester, I summoned all of my courage and asked my history
professor for a form saying I attended the class.
So she wants to at least prove to her teachers that she went to the class even
if she didn't understand it.
And in this sentence we see another Word Bank word "summoned," to summon
something.
Nathanael, can you explain this word for us?
Well, if you summon something, you're calling it and you have authority or you
have the power to call it.
So I might say that my boss summoned me to her office to discuss something.
You use it in that kind of way.
Right. And it can also mean to call together, bring many things together.
So she summoned all of the courage she had, oh, to ask her history professor for
a form.
Have you ever had to summon something, Gabe?
Well, Jo talks about summoning courage.
I think maybe you could summon strength as well.
You don't think you have a lot of strength, but really you're summoning all the
strength that you have to do something.
I also think about maybe the president, maybe he summons some advisors for a
decision that he has to make.
So Jo is summoning the courage that she needs to talk to her professor.
That's right.
And we see that he said yes and told all the foreign students who wanted this
form to meet at his office at a certain time.
So it sounds like she didn't need to be afraid; he said it would be OK.
Unfortunately, we see that Jo: I'd like to say I got the form and took it back
to my university for class credit... but I didn't.
Oh. So she didn't actually get the form.
She would like to say this.
And that is a phrase we'd like to discuss: I'd like to say... but.
Uh, Gabe, can you tell us about this phrase?
Well, sure. Maybe something you regret, maybe something didn't happen and you
regret it:
I'd like to say that I used my time wisely, but I didn't.
I wasted my time.
You could say I'd like to say I passed the test, but I didn't pass.
There's usually a "but." I'd like to say... but.
Nathanael, how would you use that phrase?
I'd like to say that we had more time to talk about this, but it's time to go to
the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.