Thursday, November 06, 2008

#878 First US African-American President, Comfy, Unyielding Support, Happy Kenya


Show 878 Thursday 6 November
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


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

Today I recommend two videos. Barack Obama’s victory speech and John McCain’s concession speech.

Our kids and grandkids will probably be studying Obama’s speech in their history classes – but we get to study it while it’s hot off the press.

I thought they were both great speeches - very well written and delivered.

One of the special things about this election, of course, is that Obama’s dad was from Africa. And because of that in the past a lot of people wouldn’t have wanted him to be president.

It’s amazing to thing it wasn’t really that long ago that Rosa Parks was expected to give up her bus seat just because of the colour of her skin. That was in 1955.

The fact that Obama won was moving enough for me – and I wasn’t alive then and I’ve never even been to the United States. So it must be so much more significant for people who actually lived through those times. And in his speech, Obama talked about a 106-year-old woman who voted in the election.

Her name was Ann Nixon Cooper and Obama said:

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the colour of her skin.

In John McCain’s speech, he also talked about the significance of Obama being the first African-American president of the United States.

A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters.
America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States.

Of course bigotry and racism, prejudice and all kinds of nasty stuff still exists in the world … but I think in most parts of the world we’ve come a long way.
In his speech Obama said the true genius of America is that America can change.
Of course he was talking about America, because it was an American election – even though it kind of felt like a world election. But I that’s the great thing about people and societies in general … is that we can change. And we should all be happy when things improve in another country, because it affects us all as citizens of the world.



The Acadia Report
Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada

When we were at Acadia last year, they had a homecoming parade. Homecoming is a tradition at North American universities. It’s a kind of reunion weekend they have every year when former students come back to visit.

Keep it comfy for everyone. I have no idea what that means … but I like the word comfy. It’s short for comfortable.



STICK NEWS


Kia Ora in Stick News today the Kenyan government has declared a public holiday to celebrate Barack Obama’s victory.

Barack Obama was born in 1936 in Kenya.
When he was 23 he moved to Hawaii to go to university.
At University he met a student called Ann. They got married and had a baby. The baby was born on the 4th of August 1961. They called him Barack Obama.
Barack Obama’s parents ended up getting divorced.
Then, after studying at Harvard University, his father went back to Kenya.
Obama’s father had eight children with four different women before he died in a car crash in Kenya at the age of 46.
The US President-elect now has members of his extended family living all over the world – including Kenya.
CNN reported that people in the village where Obama’s father grew up partied in the streets when they found out Obama won.
Obama's 86-year-old grandmother Sarah did a victory dance.
And the Kenyan Prime Minister said the entire country was proud of Obama's presidential victory.
He said it offered hope for Kenya and the world.

And that was Stick News for Thursday 6th of November.
Kia Ora.





Word of the Day

Today’s word is unyielding.

To yield is to give way to demands or pressure.
If something is unyielding it means it doesn’t bend or break when pressure is put on it.
So, unyielding support – is very strong support.

This is from Obama’s speech:

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady, Michelle Obama.



conversations with sarah
#546 The world has changed

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

Jake Do you really think Obama’s going to change the world?

Sarah Yeah. He already has.

Jake You think all the world’s problems have suddenly disappeared?

Sarah No, of course not. But the world has changed. The world changes all the time.

Jake But what difference will it really make?

Sarah Many things … people’s image of America has changed for a start.

Jake Mine hasn’t changed.

Sarah Well not everybody’s image – but mine has, for sure.



links

today's news and here
today's STICK NEWS pictures

Barack Obama - Wikipedia
Obama Family

Acadia University
Study English at Acadia University, Canada

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

The Acadia Report start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Concerto
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Ambient Dance
from: Switzerland
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

#877 Obama Won! President-elect, Puppy Boom, Lang-8


Show 877 Wednesday 5 November
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


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

So, he won. President Obama. Awesome.
I didn’t do much work today … I was just staring at my computer screen excited and moved by the speeches and the footage … it was great seeing how happy and excited everyone is in the US. Well, not everyone but …

I’ve been enjoying reading what people are saying on Twitter about the election. Twitter has a section called “hot topics” and one of them is President Obama and if you’re in that section, new posts that mention President Obama pop up all the time.

At first people were saying they were shocked and happy and excited and moved and crying .. and then they went to bed and then they woke up …

And here are a few “tweets”, as they’re called, from the morning after the election.

Wow. This seems like a dream. Congrats President Obama.

Woke up to Obama as our new president...inspired both by his speech in victory and McCain's in defeat.

I fell asleep early and awoke to Obama elected president. I wish every morning was that great! :-D

Waking up, with a smile on my face. Obama is our President!

Getting ready to shower... Still super excited. Obama is our next President.

President Obama! For the first time in a long while, I'm proud to be an American.

I just woke up. Had to turn on the news to make sure it wasn't all a dream. Yes, Barack Obama is the 44th President of the USA. YES WE CAN!



click here

Today I recommend this site which is very cool so you have to go and check it out. And thank you very much to the nice person who emailed me to tell me about it. It’s a kind of social networking site for people who are learning languages - so you can write a blog entry and other people can come and correct your writing. Brilliant idea.

Today I went and read some posts about Obama to try and find a mistake to talk about today. And I found one by a guy in Korea talking about the election.

He says: while I was on my way home, I suddenly wondered who was elected as a president of America.

That should be the – because there’s only one president of the United States of America … and that is Barack Obama … yes.



STICK NEWS

Kia Ora in Stick News today Barack Obama has won the United States presidential election.

The United States of America is one of the biggest countries in the world with a population of over 300 million.
Every four years there is a presidential election in the US.
The first president was George Washington. He became the president in 1789.
Yesterday Barack Obama won the election.
He will be the 44th President of the United States of America.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 5th of November.
Kia Ora.





Word of the Day

Today’s word is: president-elect.

n. a person who has been elected to be president but who has not yet begun the job

Barack Obama is now the president-elect and apparently he will officially become the president on the 20th of January 20.



conversations with sarah
#545 There’ll probably be a puppy boom

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

Sarah All the kids are going to want puppies now.

Bob Because Obama said his kids were getting a puppy?

Sarah Yeah, they’ll be like Daaaaad Obama’s kids are getting a puppy, why can’t I have one?

Bob There’ll probably be a puppy boom.

Sarah Yeah.



link
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

click here start
artist: #NarNaoud#
album: Green Vision
track: Oriental Standing
from: Gironde, France
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Ambient Dance
from: Switzerland
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.