Dialogue

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Sadia: Hi from New York. This is Sadia.
Keith: Hey and I’m Keith. “A Conversation Mistake You Don't Want to Make.”
Sadia: In the last lesson, Lesson 3 - “Do People Understand Where You're Coming From?”, you learned how to get to know someone and tell more about yourself.
Keith: You also learned how to ask Who and Where using interrogative pronouns--question words
Sadia: And you learned how to answer questions about yourself using affirmative and negative statements, saying yes or no.
Keith: Well, in this lesson you’re going to learn about...
Sadia: getting to know more about people and talking about yourself.
Keith: Ok, and this conversation takes place, where?
Sadia: It takes place on a plane.
Keith: And the conversation is again between...
Sadia: The main character Zo and the girl sitting next to him, Michelle.
Keith: They’re friends though, I think, right?
Sadia: Yeah, I think they are.
Keith: Alright, well let’s listen in to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Michelle: (to flight attendant) Excuse me, may I have some water,
please?
Flight attendant: Oh, certainly, ma'am.
Michelle: Sorry. So, Cape Town is nice. It seems so…interesting!
Zo : (laughs) Los Angeles is nice, too! So, what do you do
in Los Angeles?
Michelle: I'm a nutritionist and personal trainer.
Zo: Once again, slowly please.
Michelle: I'm a (enunciating) nu-tri-tion-ist, and a per-so-nal
trai-ner.
Zo: Sorry, I don't understand.
Michelle: Nutritionist and personal trainer. I help people eat
healthy foods and exercise the right way!
Zo: Oh, I see!
Keith: One more time, slowly.
Michelle: (to flight attendant) Excuse me, may I have some water,
please?
Flight attendant: Oh, certainly, ma'am.
Michelle: Sorry. So, Cape Town is nice. It seems so…interesting!
Zo : (laughs) Los Angeles is nice, too! So, what do you do
in Los Angeles?
Michelle: I'm a nutritionist and personal trainer.
Zo: Once again, slowly please.
Michelle: I'm a (enunciating) nu-tri-tion-ist, and a per-so-nal
trai-ner.
Zo: Sorry, I don't understand.
Michelle: Nutritionist and personal trainer. I help people eat
healthy foods and exercise the right way!
Zo: Oh, I see!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Sadia: So, uh Zo is really cozying up to Michelle at this point,
huh?
Keith: Yeah, he is! He’s cozying up. He’s becoming a little more comfortable, I guess.
Sadia: Mm-hmm.
Keith: And he's doing a really great job of getting to know her!
Sadia: Right, a great job indeed-- he’s obviously has learned that
next to the weather, the second most popular topic of
conversation is jobs, or what people do for a living. Some people love talking about what they do. And others, I’d say most people, they hate it. Why do you think it's such a
popular topic?
Keith: Well, like the weather, EVERYONE can talk about their
jobs or jobs they've had in the past because they've
spent so much time working!
Sadia: Yeah, that's true. I know I've had my fair share of jobs
since I started working in high school.
Keith: Oh yeah? What was your first job?
Sadia: Actually, I was thinking about it and I never really had like a “job” job in high school. I interned at a magazine, so I wasn’t really getting paid. Is that still a job?
Keith: That’s still a job, I think.
Sadia: OK.
Keith: Intern at a magazine, so you were writing, right?
Sadia: Yeah, Getting coffee. [laughs]
Keith: [laughs]
Sadia: What was your first job?
Keith: Well, I worked at my aunt’s dry cleaner.
Sadia: Aah..
Keith: It was fun.
Sadia: Yeah?
Keith: Yeah. And kind of boring too. [laughs]
Sadia: [laughs] You probably had a lot of free time too though, to read, or do your homework.
Keith: A lot of free time to just sit. [laughs]
Sadia: [laughs] Well, I bet we could go on and on about jobs, right?
Keith: Yeah, we could definitely go on and on, but instead how about we take a look at the vocabulary?
Sadia: Let’s.
VOCAB LIST
Keith: The first word we shall see is...
Sadia: water [natural native speed]
Keith: clear liquid; rain, ocean, lake, stream; H2O
Sadia: water [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sadia: water [natural native speed]
Next:"
please [natural native speed]
Keith: used for polite requests
please [slowly - broken down by syllable]
please [natural native speed]
Next:"
Sadia: ma'am [natural native speed]
Keith: polite way to address a woman
Sadia: ma'am [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sadia: ma'am [natural native speed]
Next:"
sir [natural native speed]
Keith: polite way to address a man
sir [slowly - broken down by syllable]
sir [natural native speed]
Next:"
Sadia: everyone [natural native speed]
Keith: every person; each person
Sadia: everyone [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sadia: everyone [natural native speed]
Next:"
be [natural native speed]
Keith: to exist or to exist as
be [slowly - broken down by syllable]
be [natural native speed]
Next:"
Sadia: also [natural native speed]
Keith: in addition; besides; too
Sadia: also [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sadia: also [natural native speed]
Next:"
happy [natural native speed]
Keith: filled with joy; joyful
happy [slowly - broken down by syllable]
happy [natural native speed]
Next:"
Sadia: what [natural native speed]
Keith: used as an interrogative about the identity, nature, or
value of something
Sadia: what [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sadia: what [natural native speed]
Next:"
to do [natural native speed]
Keith: to perform; to make happen
to do [slowly - broken down by syllable]
to do [natural native speed]
Next:"
Sadia: you [natural native speed]
Keith: the one(s) being spoken to
Sadia: you [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sadia: you [natural native speed]
Next:"
Sadia: in [natural native speed]
Keith: place where
Sadia: in [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sadia: in [natural native speed]
Next:"
Sadia: understand [natural native speed]
Keith: to grasp the meaning of; comprehend
Sadia: understand [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sadia: understand [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Keith: Alright, well let’s take a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Sadia: The first phrases we’ll look at are,
Keith: "Yes, ma'am" and "Yes, sir."
Sadia: So after Zo and his new friend, Michelle, are settled
into their seats, they ask one of the flight attendants
for some water. To Michelle, the flight attendant
says, "Certainly, ma'am," and to Zo, she says, "Yes, sir." These
sound fancy, very fancy. Why?
Keith: Well, you're definitely right. They’re fancy words, because "Certainly, ma'am" (which is the same as "Yes, ma'am") and the phrase "Yes, sir" are very formal
ways of showing you agree or you will do something.
Sadia: Maybe if you’re at a restaurant or something, and I say, “Can I order now?”
Keith: And the waiter, because he wants to be polite, he’ll say, “Yes ma’am.” Well, what about when Michelle tries to explain her job to Zo, he says, "Sorry, I don't understand." Why does he
apologize? Why does he say he’s sorry?
Sadia: Good question. This is a useful phrase to use when you're in a
conversation, but don't understand what is being said. The "sorry" bit is a way of apologizing for making the person you're speaking to repeat herself.
Keith: So, "Sorry, I don't understand," is a very polite way
of asking someone to repeat herself. If your teacher said something in class but you didn’t hear it, you have to hear it one more time, what can you say?
Sadia: You’d say, “Sorry, I don’t understand.” Finally, let's take a look at "I see!" What's "I see!"
used for, Keith?
Keith: "I see!" is a nice, lively phrase that indicates that the person speaking understands what’s being said. It's usually said after the person speaking has trouble understanding what he or she is hearing and then, all of a sudden, that person understands.
Sadia: So it's a phrase that shows that the person speaking understands what’s being said. “I see” is usually said after the person speaking has trouble understanding what they were hearing and suddenly does understand.
Keith: Exactly.
Sadia: I see! So it’s an expression of surprise and of relief-- the speaker is happy that he or she can continue the conversation, right?
Keith: Right. When Michelle first tells Zo what she does for a living, the main character, Zo, doesn't understand. And after she explains her job slowly and clearly, Zo finally understands
what Michelle is saying--
Sadia: so he says, "I see!"
Keith: Precisely!
Sadia: I see!
Keith: [laughs]

Lesson focus
Sadia: The focus of this lesson is asking, “What do you do?” and talking about jobs.
Keith: Yeah. In this dialogue, Zo asks Michelle, “What do you do in Los Angeles?”
Sadia: And she responds, “I’m a nutritionist and a personal trainer.”
Keith: Pretty fancy jobs.
Sadia: Uh-huh.
Keith: Well, “What do you do” is probably one of the most commonly used phrases in the English language, particularly among those who have just met.
Sadia: For sure. In many English-speaking countries, especially America, I think, talk about jobs and work can steer, they can drive, entire conversations. Luckily, asking what someone does is quite easy.
Keith: It’s very, very easy. You simply say, “What do you do?”
Sadia: Mm-hmm. After Zo discovers that his new friend Michelle is from Los Angeles, he asks, “So, what do you do in Los Angeles?”
Keith: But actually adding the place name is not really necessary. You don’t have to say the place.
Sadia: If Michelle had said she was from Detroit, say, or Miami, Zo could’ve asked, “What do you do in Detroit?” or “What do you do in Miami?”
Keith: Right. You can always change the place name. But you can always just say, “What do you do?”
Sadia: That’s true. Let’s take a look at how Michelle responds. She says she’s a nutritionist and a personal trainer. Pretty snazzy work.
Keith: Very, very snazzy, but what’s the deal? What does “snazzy” mean?
Sadia: “Snazzy” means kind of fancy or maybe glamorous or exciting to some degree.
Keith: Yeah, pretty exciting, I think.
Sadia: Zo doesn’t understand at first, so Michelle explains that a nutritionist helps people kind of figure out what foods to eat and that a personal trainer helps people exercise the right way.
Keith: Yeah, that’s not a bad way to make a living.
Sadia: Not bad at all.
Keith: If someone asks, “What do you do?” answering is very, very easy.
Sadia: Yeah, it is pretty easy.
Keith: And of course the list of jobs is endless. There’s so many.
Sadia: Yeah, there are so many jobs. So there are so many answers to the question, “What do you do?”
Keith: So you may hear or you may say, “I’m a doctor” or “I’m a bartender.”
Sadia: Right. Or even, “I work with children,” or “I teach,” or even, “I’m a professional wrestler.”
Keith: [laughs] You, Sadia? I don’t think so. [laughs]
Sadia: [laughs]
Keith: Maybe you can also hear, “I clean houses,” “I’m a writer,” or “I sell wine.”
Sadia: It’s endless. But tell us, what do you do?
Keith: Yeah. Now you, our listeners, know how to answer the question.
Sadia: And you also know how to ask others, so get ready for some pretty interesting conversation.

Outro
Keith: That’s right. Alright, that’s going to do it for this lesson. Thanks for listening.
Sadia: Thanks for listening. Buh-bye.

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