Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Show 496 Tuesday 11 September


Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

Yesterday was the orientation for the English language students. So we went along and checked it out. It was fun - I met some of the teachers and students. Part of the orientation was a tour of the university so we went on that. And here’s some footage from the tour.

Well, once you get your ID card, which you’ll be getting later on today, if you have any medical problems, you go in this door here. They have a du-, a nurse on duty.
They do drama and music in here. And in the, in the, in the basement there are, I don’t know ... twenty, twenty pianos.
If you want to get a meal plan or, or change residence, you go and there and talk to them.
When you see a classroom you’re going to see letters in front of it and numbers, OK? Well, if, if you were in this building, it would say BAC room 107 or 108 or something like that.
This is the library. This is actually the noisy floor. People like me are very noisy.
Computer Services are downstairs. Come on down.
On Monday the 17th you get your computer. You’ll be in a room and they’ll, they’ll go through all the procedures for computers.
We’re over on this street here and ah, the, the downtown of Wolfville’s over here.
Actually once you become an Acadia student, they actually write exams on here. They ice is gone and they ... it’s used as an exam room.
Squash and handball courts there.
This gym is also available. In that gym down there, a lot of our students play basketball on Fridays.
See these crosswalks, here? The cars are supposed to stop if you come up to it, but make sure they do, OK?
This is other sciences. There’s ah, geology, nutrition.
Go in here to get to the CAEL exam, OK?
There’s also a series of wilderness trails up here.

I learnt a new word today: frosh.
Frosh means freshman. I think ... although I just looked it up on the Urban Dictionary and there’s a quite few different meanings. I’m not sure if it is used only in this area or all of North America. If you know tell me.

It’s definitely not used in New Zealand. In New Zealand we don’t use the word freshman. A person in their first year of university is called a first year student or a first year. For example you could say: They look like first years.

But in North America they use words like freshman and other terms too.

This is from Wikipedia:
In a four-year education setting, students are typically classified as freshmen (first years), sophomores (second years), juniors (third years), and seniors (fourth years), corresponding to their year of study. Beyond the fourth year, students are simply classified as fifth years, six years, etc.

This is something I saw on display here: I is a Frosh.

I’ve seen t-shirts like this in NZ saying: I is a university student. It’s supposed to be I am right, so it’s just a joke because university students are supposed to be intelligent so wearing one of these is kind of making fun of yourself.



STICK NEWS

Kia Ora in Stick News today, the meal service at Acadia University has changed and according to the student newspaper, many students are unhappy about the change.

At Acadia University, students have the option of eating at what they call meal hall.
This year meal hall has been renovated and the meal plans have been changed.
In Acadia’s student newspaper, the director of campus planning is quoted as saying the new plan offers more flexibility to students.
He said it was a “well rounded, balanced diet” for “a fairly reasonable amount”.
The renovations include new seating, plasma screen televisions and an area where students can do their own cooking called: “myPantry”.
However, some students don’t seem too happy about the change. Particularly about the loss of something called “the meal exchange program”.
One student said the change was “ridiculous”. Another said she was “outraged”.
“I’m so disappointed in meal hall,” she said. “They haven’t brought us convenience, they’ve taken it away.”


And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 11th of September.
Kia Ora.





conversations with sarah
#305 Who’s Maui?

Step 1: Repeat Jude’s lines.
Step 2: Read Jude’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Jude What do you think of the university?

Sarah It’s cool. It’s really pretty.

Jude Does it look like the university you went to?

Sarah No, it’s quite different. There’s a lot more space. More grass.

Jude Really? I thought New Zealand universities would be really green.

Sarah Yeah, maybe some of them are. But the university I went to was in the capital city. Victoria University, and it’s on the hill right next to the city. And yeah, there’s not a lot of space.

Jude How many students are there at Acadia?

Sarah About 4000. And there are about 25,000 at Vic so it’s quite a bit bigger.

Jude You call it Vic?

Sarah Yeah.

Jude Is it named after the queen?

Sarah Yeah. I just looked it up on Wikipedia to check how many students there are and there are like five Victoria Universities.

Jude Where are they?

Sarah NZ, Australia, Canada and Bangladesh. But my university has a Maori name too.

Jude What’s that?

Sarah Te Whare Wānanga o te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui. Which means the university at the head of the fish of Maui.

Jude Who’s Maui?

Sarah It’s kind of a long story. But he is the guy who fished up the north island of New Zealand. Because it’s actually a fish and the head is where Wellington is.



links


Acadia links

Study English at Acadia University
Acadia University
Acadia's YouTube channel

Acadia University bar: The Axe Lounge
Acadia University student newspaper: The Athenaeum

music

show start
artist: AdHoc
album: Toutes directions
track: La note en cage
from: Annecy, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: San Sebastian
track: Happy Sad
artist site

qa start
artist: Manu Cornet
album: Distance & Temps
track: Silk Road
from: Paris, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: AdHoc
album: Toutes directions
track: Sumbala
from: Annecy, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

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