Let's Move!

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Not everyone in the United States is a fan of fast food,  First Lady Michelle Obama has taken an active role in improving the way we eat in America and more importantly the way our kids eat. 

Fast Food Commercials

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Today I have a bunch of funny fast food commercials for you to watch.  They are from different fast food restaurants that are in the United States.  There are 2 from McDonald's, 1 from Chick-fil-a and the last one is from Subway. 

English Central - Ray Kroc

This English Central video is of Ray Kroc the founder of McDonald's fast food chain.  He is talking about why he likes the name McDonald's.  It is rated hard but give it a try.  You might surprise yourself :)

Topic of the Week - Fast Food

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Hello and welcome to a new topic of the week.  This week we are going to talk about fast food in America. Why do Americans love fast food?   Well, here's a few reasons -
It's convenient.  You can drive thru. You don't even have to get out of your car.  You drive up to a speaker, you give them your order, and within like two minutes they have your order ready.  You pay and you are on your way home. 

It's cheap. It's cheaper than going to a restaurant where you sit down and order a meal.

And it's tasty!  It tastes good.    

Kids love fastfood because you can get things like a happy meal.  Doesn't that sound like fun. And it comes with a toy prize inside.  And a lot of fastfood places have bright colors, they have a jungle gym play ground for the kids to play in with slides and tubes to climb through, and big giant ball pits to play in.  

So, these are some of the reasons that Americans love fast food.  Tune in all week and we'll talk about different aspects of fastfood.

Thanks for listening.  This has been Cassie Brenn for fastfoodenglish.blogspot.com.

Now on Pinterest

In the United States, the refrigator is the heart of family communication.  It's the place we put pictures, schedules, notes, and momentos.   School work with gold stars and high grades gets posted on the frig along with hand made artwork.

At school we have bulletin boards to share projects and display information.

And now the internet has it's own pin board called Pinterest.

I'm really excited to try this new site so I set up a board for US National Parks.  I'll make a new board each week to go along with the topic. so check it out and let me know what you think.

http://pinterest.com/fastfoodenglish

Word Play

Time flies when you are having fun...
And time is fun when you're having flies!
-Kermit the Frog

Kermit the Frog is a familiar character in the US.  He is a Muppet (monster + puppet) from such TV shows and movies as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.  

This quote is fun because it takes a well known saying "Time flies when you are having fun."  and plays with the word Flies.    Flies can me moving fast or it can mean an insect that frogs love to eat.  

Yellowstone National Park

One of my favorite National Parks is Yellowstone.   It has amazing natural features like geysers that shoot water high into the air and abundant wildlife such as huge herds of American buffalo.   The area is so amazing and unusual that when the first explorers and hunters wrote about it no one believed them.  Their descriptions seemed too crazy to be true. These days we have cameras to support our descriptions and as we say in the US, "Seeing is believing!"  Take a look for yourself at this YouTube video of the park.


Language Link
"Seeing is believing" is an idiom that means that you can only know something is true if you see it for yourself.    A related phrase is "I'll believe it when I see it."  You can use this phrase if someone tells you something but you don't believe it.  For example, your friend says, "the cafeteria is serving ice cream for lunch."  You reply, "I'll believe it when I see it."

Why did I say too crazy?  Because too is an informal way of saying very.  Here is another example - I don't like this cake because it is too sweet.

Language Link - unusual, strange, rare, unique

In the last post I used the words unusual, strange, rare, and unique.  Let's take a closer look at these words.  They all are adjectives or describing words that mean something that is not common or something that does not happen everyday.  

Unusual or strange can also mean something that is odd or different.

Something that is rare is not common because it doesn't happen often.  You can also say it happens infrequently.

And unique is used for things that are one of a kind.  Although earthquakes are not unique, it was a once in a lifetime happening for me.  (At least so far in my life it has only happened once!)

Which brings me to my last grammar point - the word unique is an absolute and grammar rules say that  it can not be modified. You can not say that something is more unique or very unique because the word means one of a kind. However, this rule is often broken in everyday English.

Earthquake!

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One year ago today, August 23, 2011.  I was living in Falls Church, VA when something unusual happened.  I was sitting in my apartment when a strange rumbly feeling came from the floor.  It was a strange sensation and I tried to figure out what was going on.  Are they doing roadwork outside? I wondered.  Maybe someone is drilling in the apartment next door? But the rumbly feeling quickly grew stronger and stronger until the whole building was shaking. And then I knew - this is an earthquake! And just like that it was over.

Earthquakes in Virgina on the east coast of the United States are rare events. In the last 100 years, there have only been 2 earthquakes large enough to be felt.  Compare that to California on the west coast of the United States which have a couple large earthquakes every year.  

Luckily, no one was killed during this earthquake and there was very little damage. However,  the Washington monument in DC cracked in several place near the top and still remains closed until they can successfully repair it.

For me, it was a unique experience that I will always remember.

Thanks for listening.  This has been Cassie Brenn for fastfoodenglish.blogspot.com     

 

Education and Protecting the Environment

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Yesterday I gave a talk about National Parks in the United States followed by group discussions.  Everyone agreed that protecting natural areas is a good idea and that educating people is the way to do it.  As one of the audience members pointed out, it's the people who will follow the ideas of conservation and protection of the environment whether or not their country has laws in place for those protections. So, it's up to us all to set a good example and to inspire and teach others to do the same.  

Need more inspiration? (and more practice listening to English) Watch this series of videos with Harvard Professor, Dr. Edward O. Wilson as he talks about the importance of protecting the environment and the role of the US National Parks in that effort.  As Dr. Wilson says if you have the chance to experience nature in the national parks you will want to know more.  As he says, "It allows people to see it, understand it, love it."  

The link to those videos is in the blog post.
http://nature.nps.gov/multimedia/EOW01/index.cfm 

Thanks for listening.  This has been Cassie Brenn for fastfoodenglish.blogspot.com.

Topic of the Week - US National Parks

This week we will explore some of the United States most beautiful places - our National Parks.  There are 58 National Parks all over the United States including Denali National Park in Alaska.  Take a look -



This video was made by a Park Ranger for the National Park Service (NPS).  The parks are protected and cared for by the National Park Service.  You can explore their websites and videos at the following links -
http://www.nps.gov/index.htm
NPS YouTube Channel

Why learn English Movie Quotes?

Hi everyone.  This week I am on vacation so that means no Topic of the Week.  However, I wanted to leave you with something fun to read and talk about.  That's when I came across this great post at PhraseMix entitled The 25 Most Famous English Movie Quotes.  

Why learn English Movie Quotes?
Answer - because Americans use these famous lines all the time in everyday speech.  For example, the other day when I was talking about the National Zoo,  I said "lions, and tigers and bears, oh my!"  I was quoting the movie The Wizard of Oz.  

Here is another example.  People often say "I'll be back"  when they leave a room.    This might not seem out of the ordinary but if they do it with a funny Austrian accent, they are quoting actor Arnold Schwarzenegger from the movie Terminator.  If you didn't know about the movie, you might think they were being weird.  Now you understand.

Read the whole list at the link above.

The Lincoln Memorial

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Today we are continuing our tour of Washington, DC with a stop at the Lincoln Memorial.  

If you have ever attended any of my conversation hours you probably know 2 things about me.  I know American Sign Language and I'm obsessed with Lincoln's hands!  

Now before you call me crazy...  Let me explain. 

Crazy English

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While surfing the web I came across this list of sentences   entitled Why the English Language is So Hard to Learn.  Each sentence contains 2 words that are spelled exactly the same but pronounced differently and have different meanings. 

For example, The bandage was wound around the wound.

Wound and wound are spelled exactly the same but in the sentence I just read they are pronounced differently and have different meanings.  

 It's crazy right!?  How can you tell the difference?  Well, the answer is context - the other words in the sentence help you understand what the words are and the meaning.  Of course, this takes lots of practice.  

Let's read the list together...  

Visit the National Zoo

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Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  The National Zoo in Washington DC has them all.  And you can see them for free.  

Museums in Washington, DC

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One of the best things about a visit to Washington, DC is that many of the attractions are free.    

That includes all of the museums and art galleries of the Smithsonian Institute. and with 19 of them to choose from you can spend several days visiting them all.  

English Central Video - The Top Ten Travel Attractions of Paris

Sorry English Central doesn't have a video about the The Top Ten Travel Attractions of Washington, DC so I'm giving you Paris and Kyoto instead.  Enjoy!

Tour the White House

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The first stop on our tour of Washington DC is the White House.  

English Central Video

Our flight is about to leave for Washington, DC.  Time to get on the airplane and buckle your seat belt.  Here is an English Central Video of a flight attendant explaining some of the rules.  It is rated as Hard because he is rapping but it's a fun video so give it a try.

Topic of the Week - Visit Washington, DC

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Hello everyone.  Sorry I haven't posted in a long time.  As I've mentioned in the past, I live in Vietnam and sometimes it's impossible to get on certain websites like facebook and blogger.  


But we won't worry about that today because I'm able to get on my blog again!! I would like to thank everyone for your past comments and staying with me through all of these ups and downs.  


"Ups and downs" is a way to describe alternating periods of good times and bad times.  Life is full of ups and downs so we must continue to move forward to the best of our abilities. 

So, Let's do that...


This week join me on a virtual tour of Washington, DC.  I'm going to show you the sites of my hometown.  We'll visit the White House, The Smithsonian Institute, The Zoo, The Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.  And maybe a few other places too.


What are the top 5 places to visit in your hometown?  Leave your answer in the comments.


Thanks for listening.  This has been Cassie Brenn for fastfoodenglish.blogspot.com