You're listening to e. s. l. pod casts english cafe number two hundred and forty two. Oh god oh oh. Ah where're this is english as a second language pod cast english cafe number two hundred forty too. I'm your host doctor jeff well quill in. Coming to you from the center for educational development. In a beautiful los angeles california. Visit our website at e. s. l. p. o. d. dot com. Download this episodes learning guide an eight to ten page guide we provide for all of our current episodes that gives you some additional help in improving your english. On this cafe we're going to talk about a serious subject preventing violence in american schools. Especially after the nineteen ninety nine event in a high school in colorado. We're also going to continue our series. On american territories. This time we'll talk about the u. s. virgin islands. And there's always will interest you you're calling from but just started are uhhuh uhhuh uhhuh burnt rule we begin by talking about prevent tina violence. In american schools. A tragic. T r a g oh i see or very sad event. Occurred in april of nineteen ninety nine at a high school. In columbine colorado near the state capital of denver colorado colorado was located in the western central western part of the u. s.. One morning at the high school to friends entered the school. And started a campus massacre. A campus. C a m p. u. s.. Is the area and the buildings of the school also the buildings in the. Area around it we talk about it campus for a high school it could be for university. Some cos also talk about there. Headquarters or their offices as being on a campus. A massacre and a s. s. a. c. art need. Means and unnecessary and random killeen of many many people all at once. We used the word massacre only for very serious crimes. It could be something that happens during a war for example. On this morning that the to students came into the high school. There were twelve students and one teacher who were killed. Bye gun shots at columbine hi. Twenty four other people were injured. After these two young boys young man did this they killed themselves. The two friends were considered out cast. Ooh you teeth see a s. t. s.. At the school. Many people said that they were boyd by other students before this event happened. To cast see a s t it means to send someone away because he or she is no longer welcome in a particular group or a particular area that's one meaning of the word cast. And out to cast refers to the people who are not accepted by their peers the people around them. They probably don't have very many friends they feel unpopular. Okay us are sometimes bully in schools which means they are made fun of. We might say they are teased t. the a s p d. Or insulted by those students who are perhaps physically stronger or more popular the verb is to bully b. u. l. l. why. Bully can also be and now on to describe a person who bullies others. The massacre at columbine started a national or nation wide discussion about topics related to trying to prevent this from happening again. These topics include gun control laws. The possible role of violent movies and violence in video games. Bull eating at schools and the general issue of school security. We'll talk a little bit about each of these things that we're discussed after columbine. Gun control laws. Refer to how easy it is to buy you or to get a gun as we've talked about before on the cafe. The u. s. constitution allows people to own guns. But many people disagree about how easy or difficult it should be for someone to actually go and buy one. Miners for example people who are under the age of eighteen. Are not allowed to buy a gun but each state has different laws about this. There has been a debate about what kind of laws we should have to prevent this sort of tragedy from occurring again. Many people believe of that if we had a stronger gun control laws we would have prevented this problem in the state of colorado. There is no limit on the number of guns one person can own. A person who owns multiple guns. Might not immediately notice for example that one of them has been stolen in this case. V two boys stole guns from their parents. Other people believe that violence in movies and video games contributed to this school violence. They claim or believe. And say that plane violent video games for example makes children and teenagers less sensitive to real life violence meaning. That playing these games makes it easier for people to commit violence in real life. People who believe this think children should not be allowed to to watch violent movies or play violent video games. I have never played a violent video game in fact i haven't played a video game since nineteen eighty three. I guess there you have become more sophisticated since then. In any case there has been a a long debate about t. influence. That movies and video games have on children. Some people think watching certain movies is good for children. Then it would seem logical that watching some movies might be bad for children. But i have not looked at the research on it the scientific studies about it. Many of the students involved in these school shootings the use of guns at school. Have at one time been blow lead. They've been made fun of by other students. They generally were not accepted into the popular clicks of other students. Clicks. C l i. q. you b. s.. Are small exclusive groups of people like for example d popular kids in school. Of course a lot of people aren't part of the popular quick. Me for one i certainly was not. But they don't necessarily organize school shootings either. I did not organize any school shootings though some of my teachers might have wanted to shoot me. There are lots of things that kids can be bull lied about they can be bull lead. About their weight. How smart they are how they look how they act who their family is. When someone is bleed this way they may become very sad very depressed. Or they may become very upset. And try to retaliate. Retaliate means to take revenge to get back at all there is to somehow. Pay them back make them suffer the way use suffered. At columbine be students who had been bully retaliated against other students through this violence. Another idea for preventing school violence. Is to have better school security systems. Many schools have security systems including. Metal detectors that. If you walk through them like at an airport. They will indicate if you have a gun on you. There are other systems as well including the security officers on campus. When i worked at a public school back in minnesota we had security officers on campus. Although my high school the one i attended did not have any security guards unfortunately none of these ideas has managed to put in and just school violence although. They may have reduced it somewhat. So school violence is a problem in american schools not just schools in what we call bad areas of the city where there's a lot of crime outside of the school. But it's also a problem at smaller roles schools or schools that are out in rich suburbs like columbine. We go no from that happy topic to our serious on american territories. Today we will talk about d u s virgin islands. This is a group of islands in the caribbean or carribean either pronunciation is possible. When we say the carribean were referring to the carribean see which is. So if and east of the u. s.. It's also east of mexico the carribean refers to the carribean see as well as the area in the southeast part of what it's called the gulf of mexico. The main islands that make up the u s virgin islands which are located in the carribean. Are saint croix state john and saint thomas. There are about a hundred an eight thousand people who live on the virgin islands so not very many. United states purchased or blocked these islands in nineteen seventeen from denmark the country of denmark for twenty five million dollars. In nineteen twenty seven the u s granted american citizenship to all of the island inhabitants. Inhabitants are the people who live and we would say reside in a certain place. The verb is to inhabit i and h. a. be i. t.. Today tourism is the primary economic activity for the virgin islands people coming to visit. To take a vacation on the islands. The u. s. virgin islands are a good place for tourism because like the islands. In the carribean see around it it has very warm climate some americans make considerate exotic he acts go t. i. c. meaning unusual unique. Interesting. Sometimes before and. The u. s. virgin islands are famous for their beaches. As well as the unique or different cultures that you will find in the different towns on the islands. Many people like to visit the virgin islands because they can see the beautiful blue ocean and the beautiful. Sandy beaches. Which are popular for vacations sandy comes from the word sand s. a. and d. which is what you find next to the ocean what you walk on or lay on. The virgin islands then are. Popular destinations for people who want to have a nice vacation. Diving is popular on the virgin islands. Diving refers to scuba yes see you be a diving. This is where you put on a mask and have a. Tank of oxygen tank is a container. Something that holds something else in this case oxygen so you can breeze and you can swim down below the water and look at everything that is. Below the water's surface on the bottom of the ocean in the case of the virgin islands. You can also see fish and under water plants that you can't normally see when you are swimming. I have never been scuba diving and kind of doubt i ever will. People who go to the virgin islands often go there for what some people call destination of wedding. They destination is a place to which you are traveling. If i am going from los angeles to saint paul my destination is saint paul it's where i am trying to get to. I destination wedding is when. A couple will fly to another place to. Perhaps even another country to get married. It's very popular for example if you go to hawaii to honolulu. You will off and see young japanese couples who fly there to get married that would be a destination wedding the virgin islands is also a. Popular place for destination weddings it's also popular for honeymoon the honeymoon is the period of time. Usually a week or two weeks after you get married when you go and relax and do what one does after you get married. There are also many cruises to the virgin islands. Cruises are vacations that happened on large ships called cruise ships. They typically travel between. Islands or from what we would call the main land united states the main land are the forty eight states that are on the north american continent that touch each other so. Not to hawaii or alaska. And of course not the territory such as the virgin islands which are islands. The climate of the virgin islands as i mentioned is very pleasant. The daytime temperature is usually around seventy eight degrees fahrenheit. The only bad time to be on the islands is during hurricane season. For a canes are large dangerous storms that go through that part of the world. In nineteen ninety five. Hurricane of maryland. Hit saint thomas i went to one of the three main islands and over ten thousand people were left without home. The official language of the virgin islands is. English as it is for all of the american territories. Although create a whole is spoken in informal situations create old. Is a language that is based on english but has west african words and grammatical structures. U. s. citizens can travel to the virgin islands easily. You can fly from many u s cities. And of course if you were u. s. citizen you don't need a passport to visit the islands. Sounds like a good place for all of us to go on vacation i'll see you there next week. Now let's answer a few of your questions. Uhhuh. Her first question comes from ricardo are oh i see a r d o in spain. Ricardo wants to know the difference between all little. And even though. Both although and even though. Mean. But. However in spite of the fact that. It's possible to use these two interchangeably one for the other. But there is a general rule about win we use one and wind we use the other that we follow most of the time in english. Old little is used when. The part of the sentence the part that comes right after the word also is positive. And the result is a negative for example. Although i studied for my test last night. I did not pass it today. So the first part with volvo that's positive i did something but i didn't pass my test anyway here's another example there is not any more room on this bust. Although another one is coming in two minutes. Although is on the second part of the sentence but after it is a positive statement there was another bus coming that's the good news. The bad news is that there isn't any room on this box so once again although with the positive condition the other part of the sentence with the negative condition. Even though is just the opposite. Even though is followed by something that is negative but the result is still positive for example. Even though my brother did not study for his chest. He got a good great he passed his test. So what follows even though is a negative he didn't study but the second part of the sentences positive he did get a good grade. Or i could say this cake turned out great it ended up tasting good. Even though i did and follow the recipe i didn't follow the instructions. Once again. After even though is a negative statement i did and follow the recipe. But the result was still positive again those are very general rule sometimes we don't always follow them. Close it and that's you. G o s c i g n a c i oh in chile. Wants to know the meaning of the word light spelled l. i. t. he. Light is a different spelling for l i n g h t. L i t e when it's spelled that way is usually referring to something that is less than the full version. Of a product for example. If you alike to drink beer. I don't i don't like there but if you like to drink beer you can buy certain light beers. These beers have less calories then the regular beers they're not as strong usually. Light when it refers to software for your computer or for your phone means that it is not the full version of the software. You're getting part of it but not all of it. For example. You might only get certain features. You might not be able to get tech support technical support help from the company that made it if something goes wrong there might be advertisements. On the product these are typical all light to versions of software for computers sometimes the word is used to describe something that is last. Important less meaningful all lacking a certain substance sometimes it can be used as a criticism as a negative way to describe something. Today's newspaper. Is really a newspaper light it's not what it should be a slow lacking something it doesn't have something. Light l i t e can also be used to describe a softer kind of music. So those are the various meanings of the word light when it is spelled l y t e. Finally austin y o s s in israel. Wants to know the difference between the words rate are a t. v.. And rank are a and ok. Both rate and rank have some common definitions. They can both mean to decide on the value of one thing compared to another. Or the worse of one thing compared to another. If there is a competition or a contest sometimes there are judges who will rate. The people competing at the olympics there are judges for figure skating that rate the skaters they give them points or in the summer olympics for gymnastics. You can rates or rank almost anything that can be compared. How do you rank that song. I rank it about a five out of ten meaning i don't rank it very high why don't rated very high. There are some special meanings of these two words however rank is especially used when we are talking about the position of something compared to another. My car. Is ranked higher then your car in this car magazine for example or. He is test scores were ranked above the ones of the other students in the class. So what's his position. It's not merely comparing him it's saying where he is more precisely. Compared to others sometimes we give a specific position for example. California ranks number one in the united states in murders. Probably pretty close to that if it's not number one. Iowa rank fiftieth of the states that you would want to visit meaning it's the last day you would ever want to visit. I'm just kidding. No seriously you don't wanna go to iowa for anything. Great. Means. Specifically to think about and make a decision about someone. I rate timed with my family as very important. I think about it and i decide it is very important compared to everything else. Raped as and now on. Can be used to talk about the quantity of something. For example if you go to an english tutor you may ask what his rate is meaning how much money does he charge. Per hour or for every thirty minutes we can also talk about rate sometimes to mean percentage. What is the rate of unemployment in the united states. What percent of the people do not have a job. We hope that you rank e. s. l. pot cast number one in your list of english language learning methods. You can email us at e s l p o d at e. s. l. p. o. d. dot com we don't have time to answer all of your comments and questions. But we will try to get to as many as we can. From los angeles california i'm jeff will call and thank you for listening come back and listen to us next time on. English cafe. Itself i guess english essay is written and produced by doctor jeff mclellan and doctors or something off right two thousand ten by the center for educational development yeah ah uhhuh
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