شکر گزاری

Thanksgiving

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 91: Thanksgiving.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 91. I’m Dr. Jeff McQuillan, your host, from the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles – in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Today’s podcast is about Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, a holiday celebration in the United States. Let’s get started!

[start of story]

Thanksgiving reminds us to be grateful, but for a lot of people, the holiday also means a weekend of eating a lot and watching football, and my family is no exception.

My family likes to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner each year. We invite people from our extended family. We also invite close friends, especially those who don’t have family in town. When it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, our motto is “The more the merrier.” Our dinner, of course, starts with a big turkey, baked in the oven. I always carve it before it’s served. Then we have the fixings. We always have mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, cranberries, and corn on the cob. Some years, we go wild and have other vegetables and sides. And for dessert, we have pumpkin pie. My wife is not a big fan of pumpkin pie so for her, we also have ice cream.

After we have a really big meal, we usually watch football on TV. Things usually get pretty rowdy since there are always fans on both sides rooting for their own team to win. Last year, my uncle almost got into a fistfight with my nephew. Luckily, no one‚ and no furniture, was harmed. That was a relief!

[end of story]

We’re talking about Thanksgiving in this podcast. “Thanksgiving Day” is a celebration in the United States. It’s an “official holiday,” which means all the government offices are closed. The post office and schools are closed. Most people have the day off; they don’t have to work. It is a celebration that, according to the traditional story, celebrates “the pilgrims.” “The pilgrims” (pilgrims) were some of the first settlers or colonists to come from Europe to the United States back in 1620 – 1620’s, I should say. And the “Thanksgiving Day” celebrates the first, or one of the first “harvest festivals.” A “harvest festival” is a celebration that you have in the fall. When the end of the growing season – so, you gather in all your food and you have a festival. Many cultures have a “harvest festival” and in the United States, it’s Thanksgiving Day. It’s always the fourth Thursday of November.

In other countries, there is also Thanksgiving Day. In Canada, there’s a Thanksgiving Day on the second Monday in October. But here in the United States, it’s in November. “Thanksgiving” means, of course, to give thanks, to be grateful, and to be “grateful” (grateful) means that you are thankful or that you are appreciative of all the good things that you have. In my family – in most families, it’s a day to get together with your family in the afternoon or evening and to have a big meal and I said that my family is “no exception,” meaning we are not an exception. We’re not unlike other people. We are like other people. We also have a big meal and a celebration.

In my family, we have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and I’ll tell you what that is in a second. We invite people from our “extended family,” and your “extended family” is your aunts, your uncles, your nephews, your nieces. Your “immediate family” is just you, your brothers and sisters, the children and so forth. “Extended family” includes grandma and grandpa and aunts and uncles and cousins and so forth. We always invite people who don’t have “family in town” and to say I have “family in town” means I have members in my family who live here. We often use the expression “I have family back in Minnesota.” Some of my family members are I Minnesota. Well, I say that. You wouldn’t say that probably.

The Thanksgiving dinner, I said, we have a “motto.” A “motto” (motto) – a “motto” is a slogan. It’s a saying, usually an official expression. For example, in the United States, if you look on our coins, our money, you’ll see the “motto” “In God We Trust.” That’s one of our official, if not our official, “motto.” Our motto for Thanksgiving dinner in my family is “The more the merrier.” The expression “the more the merrier” means the more people that come, the better it is, so we want as many people to come as possible. “The more the merrier.” “To be merry” (merry) means to be happy, so the more people, the happier we are. I said our dinner is a “traditional Thanksgiving dinner” and that usually means, in the United States, a turkey, a big 10, 15, maybe 20 pound turkey, which, of course, is a bird, and you put the big turkey in an oven and you “bake” it. That is, you cook it in an oven. “To bake” is to cook in an oven. And after it’s ready, you take it out and you “carve” it. “To carve a turkey” means to cut the meat off of the turkey. We use the verb “to carve.” Normally, “to carve” means that you take a knife to wood, for example, and you put letters into the wood. That would be “carving into the wood” or “carving the wood.” This is a verb we use for cutting turkeys.

I also said that at our traditional dinner we have “fixings.” “Fixings” is all of the other things besides the turkey, besides the main course. All the – what we would call “the sides” – that is the “side dishes,” the dishes in addition to the main dish, which is the turkey. Some “sides” that are common for Thanksgiving are “mashed potatoes.” “Mashed potatoes” – “potato,” of course, is a round white, usually, inside, and you “peel” the potato. You take the skin off. “To peel” (peel) is to take the skin off of the potato. And you usually bake it or you boil it in water and then you mash it up with a fork, put a little milk and butter. Hmm, I’m getting hungry just talking about it. “Stuffing” – “stuffing” is bread crumbs, usually with some other spices, onions. Everyone has a different recipe for “stuffing.” It’s what you put inside the turkey. It bakes inside the turkey. It’s like a bread side dish. You can also make stuffing or what we would probably call “dressing.” That’s the same thing but you cook it outside the turkey. “Yams” are also common. “Yams” (yams) – I don’t like yams myself but many people do and it’s – another name for a “yam” is a “sweet potato.” It’s a type of – think of it as a type of potato. “Cranberries” are traditional for Thanksgiving. “Cranberries” are small red berries. “Corn on the cob” is – some families have “corn on the cob.” The “cob” of corn is what the corn grows on. It’s the middle that you don’t eat but you take the corn off of the cob or you can cook it on the cob and then eat it. Put butter and salt or something and then you can eat the corn right from the cob.

Sometimes, I said, we “go wild” and have other vegetables and dishes. “To go wild” can mean a lot of things but normally it means you’re going beyond what you normally do. It could also mean getting very excited. “Don’t go wild.” Don’t get too excited. But here it means – it’s used somewhat comically, somewhat as a joke, to mean that we do more than what we normally would do. For dessert, or the least meal – part of your meal, the sweet part of your meal, the traditional pie is a “pumpkin pie.” A “pumpkin pie” – “pumpkins,” of course, become ripe or ready to eat in the fall – a big round orange “pumpkin” – and people make “pumpkin pie.” My wife is not a “big fan” of pumpkin pie. To say you’re a “big fan of” means you really like it. Well, my wife is not a “big fan” and so, for her we have ice cream.

Normally on Thanksgiving, there are “football” games and here, we mean American football and it’s traditional to – for some families, to sit around and watch football games on Thanksgiving Day. I said that my family can get a little “rowdy.” “Rowdy” (rowdy) means noisy and loud and making a lot of noise because there are people who are rooting for their own team to win while they’re watching it on TV. “To root” (root) – “to root for” someone or some team means that you are hoping that they will win. So, I graduated, for example, from the University of Southern California and I’m “rooting” for them to win the national football championship.

My uncle, I said, almost got into a “fistfight” with my nephew. A “fistfight” – well, first of all, a “fight,” you know, of course, is – two people have an argument and they start hitting each other. Your “fist” is your hand, but your hand when you put it in a position like a ball to hit someone. That’s your fist. So, a “fistfight” is when two people are hitting each other with their “fists” (fist). Finally, I said, “No one was hurt,” and, “That was a relief.” When we say, “That was a relief,” we mean that something bad could’ve happened but it didn’t. For example, “My sister almost missed her flight from San Jose,” means she almost didn’t make it to the plane but she made it and “that’s a relief,” something that could’ve happened but it didn’t.

Now let’s listen to the story this time at a native rate of speech.

Thanksgiving reminds us to be grateful, but for a lot of people, the holiday also means a weekend of eating a lot and watching football and my family is no exception.

My family likes to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner each year. We invite people from our extended family. We also invite close friends, especially those who don’t have family in town. When it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, our motto is “The more the merrier.” Our dinner, of course, starts with a big turkey, baked in the oven. I always carve it before it’s served. Then we have the fixings. We always have mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, cranberries, and corn on the cob. Some years, we go wild and have other vegetables and sides. And for dessert, we have pumpkin pie. My wife is not a big fan of pumpkin pie so for her, we also have ice cream.

After we have a really big meal, we usually watch football on TV. Things usually get pretty rowdy since there are always fans on both sides rooting for their own team to win. Last year, my uncle almost got into a fistfight with my nephew. Luckily, no one‚ and no furniture, was harmed. That was a relief!

[end of story]

From Los Angeles, 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.