درسنامه واژه ها

##Art Programs – Vocabulary Lesson

Hi, this is Kristin Dodds, one of the teachers and directors of Learn Real English. Welcome to this month’s vocabulary lesson for the conversation Art Programs. I have the text of the conversation and I’ve made some notes about some words or groups of words that you may have had difficulty understanding. So I’ll be explaining those groups of words or those words as they relate to this conversation. They could have a different meaning in another conversation, in a different context or another conversation, but I’ll be explaining them as they relate to this conversation.

So in the beginning I always talk about three words that you hear quite often in our conversations and the first one is actually two words combined together, two words put together to make one word actually, and it’s y’know, y’know. So that’s actually the two words of you and know. Sometimes when we’re speaking quickly it sounds like y’know instead of you know.

The second word is yeah. Yeah is a slang word for yes. And the third word is like. So like, as you probably know, means…one meaning is to have positive feelings for someone or something. But it can also be a filler word which means that it has no meaning. So sometimes if you hear, you might hear it a lot in conversations actually with native American English speakers and it’s just a filler word. It’s just said but there’s really no meaning for it. So let’s begin.

Joe says at the very beginning of the conversation, “I just saw some of Sophia’s newest artwork.” Sophia: this is the name of our niece. She is a daughter of one of Joe’s brothers.

And then Joe says, “Robin sent me a picture of a painting that Sophia did.” So Robin is the name of our sister-in-law, it’s Sophia’s mother. She’s married to Joe’s brother, one of Joe’s brothers. He has three brothers actually.

And then Joe says, “It’s a still of like a bowl of fruit.” So still: what this means, what he’s talking about is it’s a still painting. So you can either have a still drawing or a still painting and what it means is it’s a painting or drawing of common objects of things like fruit, animals, plants, rocks, shells, flowers, drinking glasses, books, flower vases, many other things. I think you get the idea. And then, actually, I said it would be animals, I included animals in the common objects, I didn’t mean to, everything else. Basically, an object that is not alive, like a person or an animal. It’s something that can’t move around, because an animal could move around and then it, if you’re trying to draw an animal or paint an animal, that wouldn’t be a still.

Okay, then Joe says, “She’s really got some talent.” So talent means natural skill.

And then Joe says, “I’m really glad to see that they’re encouraging her to explore it.” Encouraging means supporting. I’m really glad to see they’re supporting her. And to explore it: this means they’re supporting her to keep trying it, to explore it, to keep trying it to see if she likes it.

Okay, then I say, “It was some place where Robin was taking them because Anna was doing it, too.” So Anna: this is the name of another one of our nieces and it’s Sophia’s sister. It’s her older sister actually.

And then Joe says, “I remember that there were art programs and music programs in every elementary school in the United States back then.” So elementary school: this is generally first grade through fifth or sixth grade.

And then Joe says, “I was going to say the schools that are more affluent.” So affluent means wealthier, affluent schools, wealthier schools, schools that have more money in their budget. They have more money to spend on their classes.

And then Joe says, “They’re the ones who probably have these programs defunded.” So defunded, this means no money available from the school budget to support these types of programs.

And then Joe says, “I think in a lot of schools, they are being cut.” So cut here means done away with.

And then I says, “We had art classes and music, I think music, in middle school.” So middle school is generally sixth or seventh grade through eighth grade.

And then I say, “I don’t remember middle school as much but definitely high school, I remember there was the chorus group.” So high school is ninth grade through twelfth grade. And chorus group is a singing group.

And then I say, “He’s probably retired at this point actually.” So retired means no longer working due to a person’s age. Generally, it’s around 65 years of age that people in the United States, many anyway, tend to retire or stop working.

And then I say, “His position may have been cut.” So position means job, his teaching job, his art teaching job may have been cut. Cut, again, here means done away with.

And then Joe says, “Some of my first exposure to playing instruments was in a music class at school.” So when he says my first exposure, what he’s saying is my first time, my first time playing instruments. And instruments, this means musical instruments.

And then Joe says, “And I really wish I would have stuck with it.” So stuck with it means continued with it.

And then Joe says, “But at least I got the exposure to it.” So exposure here means introduction.

And then I say, “I was in the band in middle school and we met during school. That was a period.” So period here means class.

And then I say, “Yeah, I mean creativity is so important.” So creativity is the use of the imagination or original ideas in the production of artistic work.

And then I say, “It’s really necessary to nurture that in kids and even teenagers.” So nurture means support the growth of, to support the growth of that, that meaning creativity. And teenagers is generally thought of as ages 13 to 19 years old.

And then I say, “But it’s very telling when you see that in my high school there was one art teacher for the entire school.” So when I say it’s very telling, I’m saying it explains a lot. And entire, entire school means the whole school, all of the school.

And then Joe says, “It usually meant you had to pursue it outside of school.” So pursue means to continue with it.

And then Joe says, “My father was really into helping us do things with pottery.” So pottery is making things from clay and clay is something that comes from the earth. And it can be kind of hard, you put water in it to make it softer and then you can make things with it like a pot or a bowl, y’know, some kind of container is generally what…if you use pottery in another description, it can be thought of in general as containers or bowls.

And then Joe says, “But we bought a kiln so we could fire the things that we made.” So a kiln is an oven for heating up things that you make, pottery. Things that you make from clay, you put them inside this special oven. It’s different from what you would cook food in and it gets really, really hot and it makes the pieces, the clay pieces hard so that they’ll last for a really long time. And when you say you’re going to fire something in a kiln means you’re going to put the item in the kiln where it gets really hot to make it hard. That’s called firing.

And then Joe says, “And we had a wheel to spin things on.” So a pottery wheel is what he’s talking about here and it’s a machine that you actually sit at and you control it by pushing something with your foot that makes it turn around and you put the piece of clay on it and as you’re using your foot to make it go around, you’re using your hands in a particular way to make something like a bowl or a vase, y’know, which you would put flowers in, some kind of container. It looks very easy but it’s actually quite difficult to learn.

And then Joe says, “Sometimes we would buy things that were already made and we would fire them in the kiln and we’d paint them or put decals on them.” So decals are stickers.

And then Joe says, “And that kiln, to this day, is still working. John has it.” So John is the name of one of Joe’s three brothers.

And then I say, “He thought she’d start throwing pots and she hasn’t.” So throwing pots means making pottery, making a pot or a bowl or some kind of container, making that on the pottery wheel. It’s a slang term when you say throwing pots but it just means using the pottery wheel to make some sort of pottery.

And then I say, “When he does sculptures, he actually just builds by scratch from hand.” So sculptures: this means making something out of clay or wood or stone, for example, like making an animal or making a tree. And I use those two examples because my dad likes to make animals and trees, usually, sometimes by wood, either by wood or by clay. That’s how he usually likes to make his sculptures, with those two things. And when I say he actually just builds by scratch from hand: builds by scratch from hand, what I’m saying is he makes objects with his hands as opposed to putting them on the pottery wheel to make them. So he doesn’t use any kind of machine like the pottery wheel. He does it all by hand.

And then I say, “Oh yeah, absolutely.” So I’m agreeing with Joe and when I say absolutely I’m meaning definitely.

And then I say, “We were living in Michigan and he was teaching art in a high school.” So Michigan is a state in the northern part of the United States. It’s actually shaped like this, like a hand, with the fingers together though. And there’s many lakes around it and it’s up, it touches actually Canada, the country of Canada.

And then I say, “I can remember going there and making a Darth Vader face out of clay.” So Darth Vader: this is a character in the Star Wars movies.

And then Joe says, “It’s really unfortunate that he’s no longer teaching that class at the senior center.” So senior center is a place where older people, usually retired people, can go to for activities, to come and be around each other to spend time together so that they’re not just sitting at home alone. And there’s all kinds of activities, games, all sorts of things for these older people, or what we call sometimes senior citizens, to do. So, for example, my dad was teaching art classes at the senior center in the town where he and my mother live.

And then Joe says, “What a great way for him to connect with other people and share some of his expertise and also have some people really have a creative outlet that maybe they never had before.” So expertise means knowledge, share some of his knowledge. And creative outlet, so some people really have a creative outlet that maybe they’ve never had before. A creative outlet is, these are ways to express themselves, ways for people to express themselves.

Alright, this is the end of our vocabulary lesson for the conversation Art Programs and I’ll be right back with the commentary.