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High School Reunion

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 96: High School Reunion.

You’re listening to English as a Second Language Podcast episode 96. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Now let’s get started with this podcast on High School reunions.

[start of story]

When I got home from work, I opened my mail. The letter turned out to be a bombshell. I held in my hand an invitation to my 10-year high school reunion. It was a shock because I couldn’t believe it had been 10 years. The first thing I did was to call my oldest and dearest friend, Maria. We had gone to high school together and we had been best friends.

Maria said that she had received her invitation in the mail, too. I told her that I was leaning against going. After all, why live in the past? I thought, but Maria convinced me that it would be a trip to see some of our old friends and to find out what had become of them. At the very least, we would get a chance to see each other and to talk about old times.

And, Maria said, Jeff McQuillan might be there. Ah, Jeff McQuillan. He was a senior when I was a sophomore, and I had a big crush on him. I thought he was so cute and he was smart, too. He was at the top of his class. He wasn’t the class clown, but he had a great sense of humor and was voted most likely to succeed. He never gave me a second look, but I always made sure I sat next to him in class. I wonder what he’s doing now and whether he’ll be there. Hmm, maybe this reunion will be more fun than I thought.

[end of story]

In this podcast we hear about a high school “reunion.” I should say, right from the beginning that I did not write this podcast, and you know this is not true for a couple of reasons. This is a work of fiction because first, I was not cute or good looking in high school and second, this is not my 10th year anniversary of my high school graduation. I wish it were. Anyway, we’re talking about high school “reunions” here and a “reunion” is when you have a meeting or a party with people from your old high school or college class. And in the United States, it is very common. Most high schools have reunions, sometimes every five, sometimes every 10 years, usually a 10-year, 20-year, 25-year, where you go back and you talk to the people and you have a small party with people who you went to school with either in high school or in college. Though college – because college isn’t so big, it’s not quite as common.

This is a story about Lucy getting a letter in her mail and she says the letter “turned out to be a bombshell.” When we say something “turned out to be” we mean it resulted in the – or we might say “it ended up being.” The idea is that you have some information or something happens and then you wait a certain amount of time and then you discover or find out what the actual event or what the result is. For example, the doctor finds a small bump or lump on your arm and they examine it closely and it “turns out” to be nothing serious, meaning they find out later it’s nothing serious. Here, she looks at the letter, she opens it and it turns out to be, she says, “a bombshell.” A “bombshell” is something that is a big surprise, an incredible surprise. It could be a good surprise. It could be a bad surprise. Lucy then says, “I held in my hand an invitation to my 10-year high school reunion,” That expression, “I held in my hand,” seems a little obvious, a little redundant, a little repetitive. When you hold something, it’s probably going to be in your hand, but we use that expression in English to give more emphasis, to make it seem more dramatic. “I hold in my hand the winning lottery ticket.” Well, not really, but that would be an example of using “in my hand” to give more drama to an announcement.

The high school reunion, we already talked about, is a meeting or a gathering of people, in this case, ten years after you graduated from high school. And Lucy says the first thing she did was call her “oldest and dearest friend,” Maria. The expression “oldest and dearest” means someone who I’ve known for many, many years and is a very, very good friend. To be a “dear friend” (dear) means to be a very good friend. “He’s a dear friend of mine.” He’s a very good friend of mine. It’s a little old-fashioned to say, “my dear friend.” It’s not quite as common anymore to hear that expression but “oldest and dearest,” you will still hear, which means very good, in this case, friend. The “oldest and dearest” would often be your “best friend.” Your “best friend,” you can guess, is the person you are closest with who is your friend.

Maria said – Lucy’s friend, Maria, said that she received her invitation, and Lucy said, she was “leaning against going” “To be lean against something” means you haven’t made a decision, you’re not sure if it’s going to be yes or no but your thinking is going towards a certain direction. “I’m thinking about not going.” “I’m leaning against not going, but I haven’t made a final decision.” Lucy says, “After all, why live in the past?” meaning why re-live or live again those old memories? Why think about what happened in the past? Maria convinced her, however, that it would be a “trip” to see some of their old friends and to find out what had become of them. The expression, “It’s a trip” (trip), or, “It would be a trip,” is an informal expression for mostly younger people and it means it would be a lot of fun. It would be very exciting or very interesting. Sometimes, we use the expression also to mean something incredible, something unexpected. “I was in the grocery store yesterday and I saw Tom Cruise, the movie star,” and someone else would say, “Wow, that’s a trip,” meaning that must have been amazing or interesting.

The expression “What had become of them” – Maria says they can find out “what had become” of their friends. To say or to ask “What had become of someone” means what happened to them. You haven’t heard about them or seen them in a long time and you don’t know what has happened to them, and that was when you would use this expression “what has become of.” “What became of my old friend John? Did he go to college? Did he get a job?” That’s the use of the expression, “what became of someone.” Lucy says that “At the very least,” she and Maria would get a chance to see each other and to “talk about old times.” “At the very least” here means even if nothing else interesting happens, even if none of the other things that they are expecting or hoping for happens, they will be able to do this, and it’s sort of another way of saying, the minimum, the very least that can happen, and if you think perhaps, that not everything that you plan on happening will happen, you might use this expression. “I’m going to go to the beach today and I want to swim but at the very least, I want to get a suntan.” So, even if I don’t swim, I’ll be able to do this. “Old times” – the expression “to talk about old times” simply means the past.

The final part of the story is Lucy talking about someone at the reunion that she wants to see. This happens to be someone named “Jeff McQuillan.” I don’t know him personally. Lucy says he was a “senior” while she was a “sophomore” and you probably know in American high schools and colleges, the first year – there are four years – the first year is the “freshman,” the second year is the “sophomore,” the third year is the “junior,” and the final year is the “senior” year, so someone who’s in their final year would be called a “senior” and someone in their “sophomore” year is obviously in their second year. Lucy said that she had a “big crush” on him. “To have a crush on someone” means that you like them romantically. We usually use that expression for teenagers or children. “My niece, who’s a freshman, has a crush on a movie star,” meaning they like them. They’re not in love with them but they like them romantically, they’re attracted to them.

Lucy says that this mysterious Jeff McQuillan was so “cute” and was smart. too. “To be cute” here is what a girl might say about a boy or a boy on a girl. “She’s cute,” meaning she or he is attractive, good looking. Lucy says he was “at the top of his class.” When you say someone is at the “top of their class,” we mean they’re one of the smartest. they’re getting one of the best grades or some of the best grades. He wasn’t, according to Lucy, the “class clown.” The “class clown” – a clown, of course, is someone who dresses up in a funny suit, often with a big red nose to make children laugh, but the expression, “class clown,” describes that person, and there’s always one, who tries to make everyone laugh, who tries to be funny all the time. That’s the class clown.

Lucy said that the fictional Jeff McQuillan “had a great sense of humor,” meaning he could laugh and liked to make jokes, and was voted “most likely to succeed.” The expression, “most likely to succeed,” means that he was voted most likely to be successful. In American high schools, it is common that they take a survey or a poll of all the senior class members before they graduate and people who vote for certain categories such as, I don’t know, best student or best looking or most athletic. It’s a very American high school – common American high school phenomenon. I don’t know if it’s common in other countries but – and then they take this list of people who are voted and they put it in the school newspaper or, perhaps, put it in what we call a “yearbook.” And a “yearbook,” all one word, “yearbook” is a book that has everyone’s picture in it and most high schools have yearbooks. Well, “most likely to succeed” means this is the person who would probably be most successful later on in life. That’s the idea. That was, of course, not true. Now, Lucy said that, “He never gave me a second look.” “To give someone a second look” means to pay attention to them, to look at them. In this case, “He never gave me a second look” means he didn’t pay attention to me. He wasn’t interested in me romantically.

Well, now that we’re done with that story, let’s listen to it again, this time at a native rate of speech.

[start of story]

When I got home from work, I opened my mail. The letter turned out to be a bombshell. I held in my hand an invitation to my 10-year high school reunion. It was a shock because I couldn’t believe it had been 10 years. The first thing I did was to call my oldest and dearest friend, Maria. We had gone to high school together and we had been best friends.

Maria said that she had received her invitation in the mail, too. I told her that I was leaning against going. After all, why live in the past? I thought, but Maria convinced me that it would be a trip to see some of our old friends and to find out what had become of them. At the very least, we would get a chance to see each other and to talk about old times.

And, Maria said, Jeff McQuillan might be there. Ah, Jeff McQuillan. He was a senior when I was a sophomore, and I had a big crush on him. I thought he was so cute and he was smart, too. He was at the top of his class. He wasn’t the class clown, but he had a great sense of humor and was voted most likely to succeed. He never gave me a second look, but I always made sure I sat next to him in class. I wonder what he’s doing now and whether he’ll be there. Hmm, maybe this reunion will be more fun than I thought.

[end of story]

That’s going to do it for this podcast. Thanks for listening. From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

ESL Podcast is a production of the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 2005. No part of this podcast may be sold or redistributed without the expressed written permission of the Center for Educational Development.