WEBVTT 00:00:00.460 --> 00:00:04.980 Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast 00:00:04.980 --> 00:00:16.879 number 33. You're listening to English as a Second 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:24.059 Language podcast number 33. My name is Dr. Jeff 00:00:24.059 --> 00:00:29.219 McQuillen coming to you from the Center for Educational 00:00:29.219 --> 00:00:34.100 Development in Los Angeles, California. Please 00:00:34.100 --> 00:00:37.759 visit our website for more information on this 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:50.539 podcast at www .eslpod .com. Today's topic is 00:00:50.539 --> 00:00:55.920 special talents, abilities that people have. 00:00:56.170 --> 00:01:00.630 in music or in sports. Lucy is going to talk 00:01:00.630 --> 00:01:04.890 about special talents and her ideas about it. 00:01:06.049 --> 00:01:15.870 Let's listen in. Would you want to have a special 00:01:15.870 --> 00:01:22.849 talent in something? Maybe as a musician or an 00:01:22.849 --> 00:01:30.140 athlete? I'm of two minds about this. Sometimes 00:01:30.140 --> 00:01:37.319 I watch TV or read about someone who has a special 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:44.680 talent. This was true during the Olympics. Some 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:50.780 of those athletes I saw were very talented. Whether 00:01:50.780 --> 00:01:56.599 it was playing soccer running track, ice skating, 00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:02.519 or doing gymnastic routines, you could see how 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:07.579 gifted they were and how well -trained and focused 00:02:07.579 --> 00:02:13.740 they were. I get the same feeling when I see 00:02:13.740 --> 00:02:18.680 musicians who can sing well or play an instrument 00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:26.300 easily. or listening to them can take your breath 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:33.300 away. I sometimes wish I had a special gift like 00:02:33.300 --> 00:02:40.080 theirs. On the other hand, I also read about 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:45.620 stories of children who are singled out as having 00:02:45.620 --> 00:02:53.129 talent early in life. Some of these kids begin 00:02:53.129 --> 00:02:59.710 training or practicing at the exclusion of other 00:02:59.710 --> 00:03:05.710 things kids do like hanging out with friends 00:03:05.710 --> 00:03:12.270 or learning things in other subjects Some of 00:03:12.270 --> 00:03:16.610 these kids don't go to school, but are taught 00:03:16.610 --> 00:03:22.229 at home with tutors instead. They may be sent 00:03:22.229 --> 00:03:27.969 away to teachers or trainers in other cities, 00:03:29.110 --> 00:03:36.530 sometimes even without their parents. And sometimes 00:03:36.530 --> 00:03:42.270 they spend so much time developing their talent 00:03:42.270 --> 00:03:48.180 they don't have much time to develop other parts 00:03:48.180 --> 00:03:55.300 of their lives. These kids often live under a 00:03:55.300 --> 00:04:00.840 lot of pressure to perform. I envy these kids' 00:04:01.020 --> 00:04:07.939 talent, but I don't envy their lives. I guess 00:04:07.939 --> 00:04:13.719 maybe it's not so bad being mediocre after all. 00:04:14.219 --> 00:04:18.959 At least, That's what I'll keep telling myself 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:31.040 when I practice this week. Lucy talked to us 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:34.800 today about people who have special talents. 00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:40.540 A talent is the ability to do something such 00:04:40.540 --> 00:04:46.040 as music or athletics or anything really. that 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:52.920 you are very good at Lucy said that she was of 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:57.720 two minds about whether having a special talent 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:02.339 was a good or thing or a bad thing to say you 00:05:02.339 --> 00:05:07.060 are of two minds means you're not quite sure 00:05:07.060 --> 00:05:12.379 which side of the question or which opinion you 00:05:12.379 --> 00:05:17.589 have if you can think of the good things and 00:05:17.589 --> 00:05:21.490 the bad things, you might be of two minds. Well, 00:05:21.490 --> 00:05:25.029 maybe this is what I want to do or maybe that's 00:05:25.029 --> 00:05:30.610 what I want to do. So, not being able to decide 00:05:30.610 --> 00:05:34.410 is sometimes, we sometimes use that expression 00:05:34.410 --> 00:05:38.750 of two minds. The opposite of that is to make 00:05:38.750 --> 00:05:43.470 up your mind. I've made up my mind means I've 00:05:43.470 --> 00:05:48.980 decided. Lucy talked about athletes in the Olympics, 00:05:50.379 --> 00:05:56.560 and she mentioned some sports. She used the expression 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:02.100 playing soccer. We generally, for sports, use 00:06:02.100 --> 00:06:06.459 the verb to play, and you can use that for almost 00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:10.879 every sport, but not every sport. You can say 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:14.939 play basketball, play football, play soccer. 00:06:15.180 --> 00:06:20.120 play tennis. So play is used most of the time, 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:24.980 but there are a couple of sports or athletic 00:06:24.980 --> 00:06:29.779 activities that we use a special verb for. Lucy 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:33.540 talked about running track. Track, of course, 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:38.259 is when people run a hundred meters or they run 00:06:38.259 --> 00:06:46.180 a marathon a long whole day. The verb there is 00:06:46.180 --> 00:06:52.660 run. We run track. We run a marathon. Some sports 00:06:52.660 --> 00:06:55.680 have their own verb made from the name of the 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:00.779 sport. Ice skate. To ice skate is a verb. So 00:07:00.779 --> 00:07:04.699 we don't say playing ice skating. We say ice 00:07:04.699 --> 00:07:09.019 skating. That's the verb. A couple of sports 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:15.269 such as gymnastics also don't use the word play 00:07:15.269 --> 00:07:21.829 we say we do gymnastics or do gymnastic routines 00:07:21.829 --> 00:07:28.029 or the exercises and activities that you do in 00:07:28.029 --> 00:07:33.850 gymnastics. Lucy said that many of these young 00:07:33.850 --> 00:07:39.110 athletes were gifted and well trained. To be 00:07:39.110 --> 00:07:44.389 gifted at something means to Have a special talent 00:07:44.389 --> 00:07:48.930 a special ability to do it We sometimes say that 00:07:48.930 --> 00:07:53.490 someone is gifted in Mathematics or gifted in 00:07:53.490 --> 00:07:57.389 music. It's the same as having a very special 00:07:57.389 --> 00:08:04.230 talent to be well trained is to be well prepared 00:08:04.230 --> 00:08:10.509 to Practice a lot to know how to do your sport 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:14.600 your talent very well, to use your talent very 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:19.620 well. Lucy said that these athletes and musicians 00:08:19.620 --> 00:08:24.920 are focused. To be focused means to pay attention, 00:08:25.139 --> 00:08:28.680 to have all of your attention on what you are 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:33.799 doing. The opposite of focused is distracted. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:38.200 I was distracted and I didn't hear what you said. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:43.259 Well, If you are focused, you are paying attention 00:08:43.259 --> 00:08:47.860 and you hear. Lucy said that watching these athletes 00:08:47.860 --> 00:08:53.220 or special talented people can take your breath 00:08:53.220 --> 00:08:58.779 away. To take your breath away means to be very 00:08:58.779 --> 00:09:05.220 impressed, to say to yourself, wow, that is really 00:09:05.220 --> 00:09:11.000 good. We can say this about someone's performance 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:14.700 in music or in athletics. We can also say it 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:19.700 about, say, a beautiful picture or a beautiful 00:09:19.700 --> 00:09:25.720 person, a woman or a man. You can say they took 00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:29.980 my breath away. They were so beautiful I forgot 00:09:29.980 --> 00:09:34.240 to breathe and I held my breath. They were so 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:40.779 beautiful or they were so talented. Another expression 00:09:40.779 --> 00:09:44.720 that Lucy used in talking about children who 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:49.120 have special talents is that they are sometimes 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:54.220 singled out. To be singled out means to be selected 00:09:54.220 --> 00:09:58.279 from a group. It can be a good thing or a bad 00:09:58.279 --> 00:10:05.600 thing. The boss singled me out for failing to 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:12.129 finish my assignment or my task or my job. So 00:10:12.129 --> 00:10:14.889 single doubt means that there is a group and 00:10:14.889 --> 00:10:19.610 that you select one person. Lucy said this can 00:10:19.610 --> 00:10:23.389 happen with children and they begin to practice 00:10:23.389 --> 00:10:28.029 at the exclusion of other things. To exclude 00:10:28.029 --> 00:10:33.110 something means to not do it, to not include 00:10:33.110 --> 00:10:38.250 it. Exclude is the opposite of include. So when 00:10:38.250 --> 00:10:42.590 we say I'm doing something at the exclusion of 00:10:42.590 --> 00:10:47.110 other things or of all else, to do something 00:10:47.110 --> 00:10:50.269 at the exclusion of means that you only do that 00:10:50.269 --> 00:10:54.629 thing and not the other things. One of the things 00:10:54.629 --> 00:11:00.669 that kids who are gifted sometimes miss is hanging 00:11:00.669 --> 00:11:04.629 out with friends. To hang out means to spend 00:11:04.629 --> 00:11:09.669 time with. It's an informal expression. Lucy 00:11:09.669 --> 00:11:15.370 said that these children try to develop their 00:11:15.370 --> 00:11:19.129 talent. To develop their talent means to make 00:11:19.129 --> 00:11:23.710 it better, to take your talent or your gift and 00:11:23.710 --> 00:11:29.669 improve upon it. Nevertheless, Lucy pointed out 00:11:29.669 --> 00:11:33.070 that children like this sometimes live under 00:11:33.070 --> 00:11:38.419 a lot of pressure. To live under a lot of pressure 00:11:38.419 --> 00:11:42.940 or to work under a lot of pressure means that 00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:48.639 many people are expecting much from you and There 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:52.360 is a lot of stress. There is a lot of worry and 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:59.039 anxiety to live under pressure means that You 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:04.190 are uncomfortable Lucy said that she envies other 00:12:04.190 --> 00:12:10.330 people's talents To envy means to want to have 00:12:10.330 --> 00:12:17.049 It's a little more though than just desire to 00:12:17.049 --> 00:12:23.649 envy means to want something in a way of Taking 00:12:23.649 --> 00:12:27.230 it away from the other person so that the other 00:12:27.230 --> 00:12:33.940 person doesn't have it This is the negative side 00:12:33.940 --> 00:12:38.059 of envy. We also use this expression though in 00:12:38.059 --> 00:12:43.139 a more neutral or even positive way. For example, 00:12:43.799 --> 00:12:47.360 you can compliment someone by saying, I envy 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:52.360 your intelligence. Meaning, I want to have your 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:56.720 intelligence because you are so smart. So it 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:59.360 can be used in a negative way or in a positive 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:06.230 way to envy. Lucy said that maybe it wasn't such 00:13:06.230 --> 00:13:11.289 a bad thing, being mediocre. To be mediocre means 00:13:11.289 --> 00:13:15.210 to be not very good at something. It's somewhere 00:13:15.210 --> 00:13:21.110 in between good and bad. I'm good at tennis, 00:13:21.529 --> 00:13:26.830 I'm bad at basketball, and at golf, I'm mediocre, 00:13:27.289 --> 00:13:31.539 somewhere in between. But not very good. Finally, 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:36.639 Lucy said that she will keep telling herself 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:41.000 that when she practices this week that it's not 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:45.159 so bad being mediocre. To tell yourself something 00:13:45.159 --> 00:13:49.000 or to say I'll keep telling myself means I'll 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:53.100 keep reminding myself. Sometimes we say this 00:13:53.100 --> 00:13:58.940 when it isn't really true. For example, I'm not 00:13:58.940 --> 00:14:05.460 very good at chess at playing chess but I keep 00:14:05.460 --> 00:14:11.419 telling myself it's because my father didn't 00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:18.059 teach me so we use this as an excuse just keep 00:14:18.059 --> 00:14:22.059 telling yourself that means you are using an 00:14:22.059 --> 00:14:26.480 excuse that isn't really true That's going to 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:29.460 do it for today's English as a Second Language 00:14:29.460 --> 00:14:33.279 podcast. As always, we ask you to email us and 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:37.340 tell us who you are and where you are. Our email 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:48.019 address is eslpod at eslpod .com. I'm Jeff McQuillen 00:14:48.019 --> 00:14:51.559 from Los Angeles, California. We'll see you next 00:14:51.559 --> 00:15:00.669 time on English as a Second Language. ESL Podcast 00:15:00.669 --> 00:15:03.470 is produced by the Center for Educational Development 00:15:03.470 --> 00:15:07.090 in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 00:15:07.090 --> 00:15:08.570 2005.