Hello and welcome to English as a Second Language
podcast number 26. Hello again and welcome to
English as a Second Language podcast. My name
is Dr. Jeff McQuillen coming to you from Los
Angeles, California and the Center for Educational
Development. If this is the first time listening
to our podcast, please go to our website at www
.eslpod .com for more information and for the
text or script of the first part of our podcast.
Today's podcast is going to be about daily errands.
we need to do usually personal things that require
us to go outside of our house. I'm going to talk
about some of my daily errands. Let's get started.
I've had a really busy day today. I rolled out
of bed at around 7am, like every morning, and
jumped in the shower. After brushing my teeth
and shaving, I picked up my morning paper from
the front sidewalk and started reading it. I
like to eat breakfast when I read the paper,
so I poured myself a bowl of cereal. At around
7 .30, I went into my office and sat down to
review my to -do list. First, it was off to the
post office to check my P .O. box. Then, I went
to the public library down the street to check
out some books I've been meaning to read. Next
stop, the supermarket. My wife had given me a
grocery list as long as your arm of things to
pick up. I grabbed a shopping cart and got down
to business. After I checked off everything on
my list, I headed to the checkout stand to pay
for my items. But I wasn't done yet. I zipped
over to the bank where I had to make a deposit
and withdraw some money from the ATM. Fortunately,
the line wasn't too long and I was able to get
in and out quickly. My next stop was the pharmacy,
where I needed to pick up my prescriptions. Finally,
I headed home. Now I have to go to my real job.
Now let's talk about some of the expressions
that I used. I started off by saying that I rolled
out of bed at around 7 a .m. To roll out of bed
is an informal expression. It means to get out
of bed, but somewhat reluctantly. When you're
very tired, when you're very sleepy, and you
don't want to get up out of bed, but you have
to. We sometimes use that expression. I rolled
out of bed. After getting out of bed, I said
I jumped. in the shower we use this expression
sometimes to indicate how we quickly we do something
I jumped in the shower usually means I went there
very quickly it's also used for example with
your car I jumped in my car to drive to the gas
station so to get in to go in Here is expressed
by jumped in We don't literally jump of course
up and down. It just is one of those idiomatic
expressions After I got my newspaper I sat down
to read and Because I like to eat my breakfast
when I read my morning newspaper I poured myself
a bowl of cereal The verb here to pour is what
we use for Usually any sort of liquid I poured
some milk. I poured some orange juice into a
glass but we occasionally use it also for Something
like cereal that goes with the liquid so I poured
myself means I took the box I Tipped it over
and I put some of the cereal into a bowl I also
mentioned that I went into my office, sat down,
to go over my to -do list. To go over something
is to review something, to look at it. I need
to go over my schedule for tomorrow. Means I
need to look at my schedule for tomorrow. We
can go over information in a classroom. For example,
a professor may say, today we are going to go
over what we talked about last week. It can be
any way of presenting or looking at information
to go over. The to -do list is, as the word implies,
things that I need to do. We sometimes use that
expression my to -do list. After looking at my
to -do list, I said that it was off to the post
office. To be off to somewhere means to be going
to somewhere, to be headed in the direction of
somewhere. Where are you off to? Well, I'm off
to the supermarket. I'm off to school. I'm off
to work. All of those mean I am going to. I used
the expression after when I went to the post
office. I checked my P .O. box. P .O. stands
for post office. But we sometimes use that. Your
P .O. box means you have a box at the post office
where you can pick up your mail. Many businesses
and some individuals have PO boxes. In the United
States it's also very common to have private
PO boxes, companies that set up a place where
you can get your mail. I went to the public library
down the street. To be down the street usually
means to be close to something. The post office
is one block from the library. So we could say
the post office is down the street from the library.
It implies a short distance. In going to the
library, I needed to check out some books. To
check out books is the word we use particularly
for libraries. I need to check out a book means
I need to take out a book. I give the librarian
my library card and she or she gives me my book.
To check out also can mean to investigate. I
need to check out that movie. Means I need to
look into it or I need to go see it. So to check
out has a broader meaning. But here it just means
to get, to get a book. I said that the books
that I was checking out were ones that I've been
meaning to read. I've been meaning to here means
I've been wanting to but I haven't done yet.
I've been meaning to call my mother means I've
been wanting to call my mother but I haven't
done it yet. Usually we use this expression when
it's something that we should have done or that
we are late in doing. When we procrastinate,
when we wait too long for something, we often
use this expression. I've been meaning to call
my friend. After going to the post office, I
said that next stop, the supermarket. Next stop
means next place that I'm going to go. Like a
train, when a train goes from one city to another,
it sometimes has more stops in between. So if
I were to take a train from New York City to
Washington DC, The train might make a stop in
Philadelphia. Philadelphia is one of its stops.
So we talk about stops for trains, for buses.
The bus, in fact, the term we use where a bus
stops in the street is called the bus stop. That's
where you wait for the bus. But we also use this
expression stop to be more general. My next stop
is the grocery store. Means the next place I'm
going to go is the grocery store. I said that
my wife had given me a grocery list. A grocery
list is a list of course of things of food to
buy at the supermarket. I said the list was as
long as your arm. This is a colloquial or slang
expression. For something to be as long as your
arm means very long. We often use this expression
when we are talking about a list. It's a list
as long as my arm. I went into the grocery store,
grabbed a shopping cart, what we use to push
around in the grocery store to put our groceries
in, and I got down to business. To get down to
business means to get started at your work, to
start doing what you are supposed to do. I went
to the cafe yesterday and I was reading the paper.
Finally, I decided to get down to business and
work on my homework. That would be an example
of getting down to business. After I went to
the post office, I went to the bank and at the
bank I made a deposit, meaning I put money into
my bank account and I also made a withdraw. I
said I had to withdraw some money. To withdraw
means to take out. We usually nowadays go to
a machine a bank machine which we call an ATM,
which stands for automatic teller machine. A
teller is the person who works in the bank, but
now everyone has a ATM card where they can go
to a machine and get their money or deposit their
money. The line wasn't too long and so I was
able to get in and out quickly. To get in and
out of somewhere is to be able to go Do what
you need to do and then leave I was able to get
in and out of the grocery store in under or Less
than ten minutes means I was able to go do what
I needed to do and then come out very quickly
That's going to do it for today's English is
a second language podcast Many of you are new
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Our email address is eslpod at eslpod .com That's
eslpod at eslpod .com or visit our website to
get more information and to listen to some of
our previous podcasts. That's all for today.
Thank you for listening. This is Jeff McQuillan
from Los Angeles, California. We'll see you next
time on ESL Podcast. ESL Podcast is produced
by the Center for Educational Development in
Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright
2005.