Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast
number 40. You're listening to English as a Second
Language podcast number 40. My name is Dr. Jeff
McQuillen coming to you today from the Center
for Educational Development. here in Los Angeles,
California. For more information on this podcast,
visit our website at www .eslpod .com. Today's
topic is homecoming. Homecoming is a traditional
American celebration in schools usually during
September and October. Now let's get started.
Fall is once again upon us and that means that
homecoming celebrations are just around the corner.
Homecoming is an American tradition each September
and October for high schools and colleges where
they celebrate their school spirit with a football
game and other celebrations. I remember the homecoming
events when I was in school. First, there was
the election of a homecoming king and queen.
Each class had its own representative, one boy
and one girl, usually the most popular jock and
the cutest cheerleader. Needless to say, I was
neither, so I never stood a chance of being elected.
The king and queen, though, were always from
the senior class. All the events led up to the
big game, played on a Friday night or Saturday
afternoon, always a home game, for the school
celebrating their homecoming. In my school, we
had a pep rally the day before the game, where
the cheerleaders and dance team would do their
thing on the stage. We also had a small parade
before the game, where all the homecoming royalty
and the marching band would go around the track
of the stadium where the game was held, cheered
on by alumni, parents, and students. Then we
would watch the football game, which at my school
we usually lost. Our topic today was homecoming.
Homecoming means literally when someone comes
back to their home or their house, but here it
refers to a usually a football game and other
celebrations that a school has when their graduates
people who have gone to that school and have
left come back to support the school to show
their interest in the school and we call this
homecoming every high school and university or
college has a homecoming celebration in the fall
I began talking about homecoming by saying that
fall is once again upon us The expression upon
us here is used when we talk about events or
time For example The spring is upon us means
we are now in spring We can also say for example
Christmas is upon us means It is now time for
Christmas. It's a slightly more formal way of
saying, now it's fall. Fall is upon us. I said
that the homecoming celebrations are just around
the corner. When we say something is just around
the corner, We are not talking about physically
where something is located, but time. When we
are very near in time to something, for example,
next week is just around the corner, means it's
just a few more days or a short amount of time
before that happens. I said that one of the purposes
of homecoming is so that those who are students
at the school and those who have graduated from
the school can show their school spirit. School
spirit means interest or enthusiasm about your
school. It is sort of like loyalty to your school
and usually means that you do something to encourage
members of a sports team or the school to do
better at some activity. To show your school
spirit then means to support your school or your
former school. the school you used to go to.
In the United States we have the homecoming celebration
which is almost always associated with a big
football game or an American football game you
might call it. Not soccer, but traditional American
football. I said that in a homecoming celebration,
the students in the school select a homecoming
king and queen. I mentioned that these are usually
the boy who is a popular jock. A jock is an informal
expression referring to someone who plays sports.
football, basketball, hockey, tennis, and so
forth. To say he's a football jock or a baseball
jock means he plays those sports. It's a informal
expression. Usually refers to boys or men, but
it could refer to a girl, I suppose. The cutest
cheerleader a cheerleader is someone who you
probably know dresses up in the colors of the
school and jumps up and down Yelling and shouting
to support the team Usually it's a girl, but
it can also be a boy cheerleader they stand on
the playing field, usually a football field,
and they do their cheers. Cheerleaders and jocks
are often very popular in American high schools
and colleges and so they usually are the ones
who get elected to be the representatives for
the homecoming celebration. I said that I was
not a popular jock, and I certainly was not a
cute cheerleader, so I didn't stand a chance
of being elected homecoming king or queen. To
stand a chance means to have a chance, to have
the possibility of being something. The expression
can be used in a positive or a negative way.
For example, here I said, I don't stand a chance
of being elected. If I were a popular jock athlete,
it would be the opposite. I stand a good chance
of being elected. So either way, is possible
to stand a chance is to have a good chance or
good possibility of something happening. There
is a homecoming king and queen. The king and
queen are usually, I said, from the senior class.
You probably know that there are freshmen, sophomore,
junior, and seniors. There are four years of
a traditional American high school and four years
of a traditional undergraduate or bachelor's
degree college. The first year is freshman, the
second year is called sophomore, the third year
is junior, and the fourth or final year is senior.
When we say the senior class We aren't referring
to a group of 30 or 40 students with a teacher
To say the senior class means everyone who is
a senior at that school So you can say for example,
I'm in the sophomore class That means I am a
sophomore. It is my second year at the school
We also also use this expression class when we
say for example I am starting school in 1977
and I am going to graduate four years later in
1981 I'm in the class of 1981. To say you're
in the class of a year means that's the year
you graduate. If you enter college in 2001, you
will be in the class of 2005 because it will
be four years before you graduate. I said that
the events of a homecoming celebration lead up
to or are anticipating the big game. Here the
big game is the big football game. I said that
this game is a home game. A home game means where
the game is played in the stadium. or on the
field of that school. So if the University of
Minnesota has a home game against the University
of California, Berkeley, well, that game would
be played in Minnesota, not in California. A
few other terms I used today. One was a pep rally
a pep rally spelled P E P pep a pep rally is
a gathering where all the students come together
usually in the school gymnasium or the school
gym and they Cheer or they encourage the team
that is going to be playing in the game or the
football game for homecoming. So you have the
cheerleaders and what's sometimes called a dance
team or a dance line. These are usually girls
that do special dances to music and they have
this big rally or meeting and all the students
get excited about the game that's coming up.
This is called a pep rally. I said that the dance
team and the cheerleaders go up on usually to
the stage of an auditorium or in a gym and they
do their thing. To do your thing is an informal
expression. It means to do what you are supposed
to do. So if you are a dancer, to do your thing
is to dance. I said that at the homecoming game
there is often a parade of cars and people who
march that's the verb we use for a parade to
march a parade is a celebration on a street often
or sometimes in a stadium or a place where a
game is being held you can have sometimes a parade
around the playing field Part of a parade at
a homecoming celebration would include the marching
band to march means to walk and The marching
band is a band that plays music while it is walking
Usually they have special uniforms I'm sure you've
seen marching bands. If you have ever watched
an American football game for college, there
is always a marching band from the college there.
So they play music and cheer on the team. To
cheer on the team means to encourage the team,
to yell, to shout the name of the team, to support
the team. Finally, I use the term alumni in talking
about who goes to a homecoming celebration. Alumni
is anyone who graduates or completes schooling
at a certain place. So I graduated from the University
of Minnesota. I am one of the alumni. Alumni
is a Latin word. It is plural. It means more
than one. The singular for a man is alumnus.
So I am an alumnus of the University of Minnesota.
A girl would say I am an alumna. A -L -U -M -N
-A for a girl. or U .S. for a boy, alumnus, alumna.
If you have more than one, that's alumni, with
an I at the end. It comes, of course, from the
Latin word. That's going to do it for today's
ESL podcast. As always, we encourage you to email
us. Tell us who you are and where you are listening
from. Our email address is eslpod at eslpod .com.
I'm Jeff McQuillen from Los Angeles, California.
Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time
on ESL Podcast. This podcast is copyright 2005.