节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-03-15
难易度:Medium
关键字:unpopular, weird, tag along, excel, get rid of, reach out
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
I'm Carolyn.
And I'm Nathanael.
And you're joining us for our lesson called Sitting Alone.
So whether you are sitting alone or whether you are enjoying our time with
friends, you have a lot to learn here at Studio Classroom today.
Now my first question for you is:
What would you do if you saw someone sitting alone at school?
It's lunchtime, everyone's at the cafeteria, and you see someone sitting alone.
Nathanael, what would you do?
Well, it really depends who they are.
If I know who they are, I might sit with them.
If I don't know who they are, I don't want to assume that they're lonely either.
So it kind of just depends who they are.
It depends on who they are.
What about you, Carolyn?
How would you feel about this?
What would you do?
Well, if I saw someone sitting alone, I might walk up to them and ask if they
had anyone sitting with them, or if it would be OK if I sat down and joined them
for lunch.
I think that's a very polite thing to ask.
Well, friends, we're going to enjoy a conversation between two friends Mary and
Jane.
Let's see what they're talking about right now.
(Music).
Sitting Alone.
How should you treat an unpopular student?
Mary and Jane are eating lunch in their school cafeteria.
It looks like Sally is sitting by herself again today.
Let's invite her to eat with us.
I think our table is full.
We could pull up a chair and make some room.
Yeah, but people might notice and think we're friends with her.
What's wrong with that?
She's so weird.
If we sit with her, people will think we're weird, too, and won't want to be
friends with us.
I don't think everybody will quit being our friends just because we're nice to
her.
Today we're looking at a POINT OF VIEW article.
And here's the topic; it's in the deck.
How should you treat an unpopular student?
Many of us have had to think about this - how we should treat someone who is
unpopular.
And we want to talk about this word today, unpopular, because it's in the Word
Bank.
Unpopular.
Let's talk about how we can use this word.
Of course, it is the opposite of popular.
Something that is popular is something that everyone enjoys, everyone seems to
like, or most people, anyway.
But how could we use this word "unpopular," Carolyn?
Well, if something is unpopular, then it is not popular.
The "U-N" at the beginning of the word shows us it is not something.
And you might say: Oh, well, that band was really popular a few years ago, but
now they're kind of unpopular.
No one really listens to them anymore.
How else might you use this word, Gabe?
Well, maybe someone has a... an idea that everyone likes.
It's a popular idea.
Or you might say that... that's kind of a strange idea.
It's an unpopular idea around here.
So there are different things that can be popular or unpopular.
And if you're talking about people that are unpopular, it could just mean that
not many people know them or it could mean that people actually don't like them.
It could mean different things here.
That's true.
And I think Carolyn made a good point.
Something that's popular now, after a few years or even after a few months may
not be popular later.
OK. Let's look at the setup of this conversation.
The first sentence in this article says Mary and Jane are eating lunch in their
school cafeteria.
So that's what's going on.
And now we're going to review what Mary and Jane said.
Now today let's have... Carolyn, you can be Mary.
And Gabe, are you comfortable playing Jane?
Well, yes. Nobody else can... I mean, it's either you or me, Nathanael.
I'll be Jane. I'll be Jane.
Better that it's you, yeah.
OK.
Please, let us get started, Carolyn.
Ah, yes, Mary.
It looks like Sally is sitting by herself again today.
Let's invite her to eat with us.
I think our table is full.
Oh. We could pull up a chair and make some room.
OK. Thank you both very much.
It's a very good start, but we have reached our first phrase that we need to
talk about.
First, though, I do want to mention that at the beginning, Mary says it looks
like Sally is sitting by herself again.
So they have seen Sally several times, which is important about this POINT OF
VIEW article.
They know who she is, and they notice that she sits by herself.
But right now we want to talk about this phrase, make some room or to make room.
It sounds kind of strange to "make room," but we do use this phrase, and we use
it quite often.
How could we use this phrase, Gabe?
Well, when you make room for somebody, like Mary and Jane might make room for
Sally,
that means they move their chairs a little bit so that there is another space
where Sally could sit.
I could also use it to talk about food.
Maybe I feel like I'm full, but then dessert is coming soon.
I'll make room for dessert.
I can always make room for dessert.
How might you use that phrase, Carolyn?
Well, if you make room for something, then you are making extra space to put
something there.
So you can make room for dessert.
You could also say: Oh, this table is so full, but I need to make room to sit my
books on it.
So you have to move things out of the way.
Sure. Both of these usages are very likely usages.
And you might also have it in a more non-literal way if you need to make room
for something in a program, to add another little bit to your program.
You can also make room for that.
OK. Let's continue with the dialogue.
I think it's Jane. OK.
Yeah, but people might notice and think we're friends with her.
What's wrong with that?
She's so weird.
OK, Jane, thank you.
Your attitude is not very good, but it's not why I'm interrupting you.
It's because we need to talk about this word "weird." Weird.
You might have heard this word "weird" before, and it's in our World Bank today.
"Weird," It kind of means strange or odd or unusual.
When can we use this word, Carolyn?
Well, maybe you had a very strange dream last night.
You could say that "Oh, I had this really weird dream. I was flying.
And then there was an elephant.
And I don't know what's going on.
It's very weird." So you can have a weird dream.
How else might you use this word?
Well, I was just going to talk about my weird dream where I was in a room with
President Barack Obama and Condoleezza Rice.
I don't know what we're talking about, but that situation was just kind of
weird.
It was a weird situation.
When would that ever happen?
Only in a weird dream.
That's true.
And it is weird to think of Gabe in American politics.
But I think we're all weird in our own way.
So it's OK.
Jane, if you would continue.
Ah, yes. I'll say that again.
She's so weird.
If we sit with her, people will think we're weird, too, and won't want to be
friends with us.
I don't think everybody will quit being our friends just because we're nice to
her.
OK. Thank you both very much.
This is an interesting POINT OF VIEW article.
Who do you agree with?
Do you think that it would be good to sit with Sally, or do you think you would
be like Jane and would rather not go?
What do you two think so far?
Carolyn?
Well, I think I'm very similar to Mary.
So I... I would like to invite her, so I'm... I'm very glad to be reading Mary's
part.
OK. It's good that you are playing Mary's part.
How about you, Gabe?
Well, I think that many people do also understand Jane's perspective on the
situation.
So far they're both saying things that are pretty understandable.
But I hope that I would also be more like Mary.
OK. We're going to continue with this later.
But right now we're going to see Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.