A Radio Performer at the Minnesota State Fair

The Minnesota State Fair is a big event in the Upper Midwest. For 10 days, people from Minnesota and the surrounding states come to eat, listen to music, look at prize-winning farm animals and agricultural exhibits, and go on amusement park rides. In this short video, Kevin Kling, a writer and performer, is reading from one of his books and telling a story about what it was like to learn that school is closed for the day because of a snowstorm. In this part of the country, schools have to close sometimes because there's just too much snow or ice or it's too cold for children to go outside. It's one of the great joys of childhood in this part of the country to wake up to two feet of newly fallen snow and then find out that you don't have to go to school.

In the video, when he says "public and parochial," that means that the public schools are closed and so are the private and religious schools. "Parochial" is used to refer to a school that teaches religion as part of the curriculum.

September

Starting in September (I don't know when yet), I'll return to the Blue Level and concentrate more on helping new students who don't have a lot of experience with English or who know some English but want to learn the basics again. This is good also for intermediate learners of English because they sometimes forget the rules, especially when it comes to making the negative and questions in the present tense and the past tense (using "do" and "did").

I've been teaching English for 20 years, and it is very clear to me how important it is to review basic rules in English. But how do you do that without boring everyone?

Obama Picks Biden

Barack Obama has chosen Joe Biden, a Senator from Delaware, to be his running mate. Good choice! Biden has strong foreign policy experience and he has been in the Senate for 36 years. He's a good speaker (like Obama), he's tough, and he has great appeal to working-class Americans. Obama lacks that appeal a little because he's so well-educated and when he communicates to people he can't hide that fact. Americans like someone who's smart but not too smart. You want to know why Bush got elected twice? That's why.

Here's another advantage to choosing Biden: In the U.S. system of government, the Vice President is also the President of the Senate, and there are times, such as when there's a tie (50 Senators in favor of something and 50 Senators against it) and the Vice President can cast the deciding vote. How many tiebreakers will there be? It depends on how well the Democrats do in the general election. I think they're going to do very well for reasons that have to do with Bush's mismanagement of two wars, the economy, and a complete disregard of the environment.

working class = a person who works for hourly pay. This is generally used for people who do manual labor and work with their hands.

appeal = attractiveness; a quality that other people like; beauty, intelligence, physical strength, determination, etc.

tiebreaker = an event that ends a tie, when two sides are equal in number.

disregard = the decision to ignore something; the do nothing; carelessness �

It's Payday!

Today is Friday. For many people in the U.S. that means it's payday--the day employees get their check from their employer. Most are paid every other Friday. Some get a check every Friday. It's also the 15th of August. Some companies pay employees just twice a month, on the 15th and on the last day of the month. Bars and restaurants are very busy on this day because of this. People are more likely to spend money in the middle of the month than at the end of the month because they've already paid their rent or mortgage. Of course, like everything else, this observation doesn't apply to everyone. �

Who will be Obama's V.P.?

So who will Barack Obama pick to be his running mate? This is the question that hangs over both candidates, but it's likely that Obama will present his choice first because the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado is before the Republican National Convention in St. Paul--which I intend to go to, not as a supporter but as a protester. I'll be blogging on the event when it happens in early September.

And why is the choice of Vice President so important? There are two main reasons. First, if anything happens to the President while he (or she) is in office, the Vice President takes the position and holds it until the next election. Also, it's much easier for the Vice President to run for the Presidency, especially after a successful four or eight-year term for the party holding the position. It was easy for Al Gore to be picked as the nominee in 2000 because he had worked so closely and effectively with Bill Clinton, who most Americans considered to be a good President despite his bad personal behavior.�

A Trip to the Farmers Market in Minneapolis

This is a short video of a recent visit to the Farmers Market in Minneapolis. A written transcript follows the video, so if you want to read and listen at the same time, you may do that. There's just a small difference in the transcript between what you hear and what you read, of course, because spoken American English is full of little mistakes and we often run our words together--even I do do that! Also, when I'm speaking with the farmer, he's helping his customers at the same time, so you'll hear him say "thank-you" a few times to people off screen, and he tells someone the price of some cilantro while talking with me.


Click here for the transcript.

It's interesting to note that the farmer I'm speaking with was born in the United States, but his family is from Laos, so he's a first generation American. He's bilingual in two cultures and two languages. Immigrant families can adapt very quickly here, but I think those who come here as adults have the hardest time adjusting to their new lives. I'm sure the parents of the young man featured in this video are very proud of their son.