Archive for January, 2010
Slang: Chicken!
Jan 31st
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Are you a chicken? In this episode we look at a familiar word but show you how it can be used in another way. Most of you probably know that a chicken is a kind of bird. And you can also probably imagine a chicken dinner. There is another funny way that we use chicken in English. Check it out here…or are you a chicken?
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Harp: Yes, our Catchword today is chicken.
Maura: Which for many of you listening out there…I’m sure you are thinking, “I already know the word chicken. It’s an animal.” But we do use it in another way.
Harp: Exactly, there is slang use for chicken.
Maura: Exactly. So you already know the original meaning of the word, which is the animal, but in English sometimes we use chicken to describe a person who is very afraid of something.
Harp: Yeah, someone who is scared of things.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Stephen Woods
Slang: Dude!
Jan 24th
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Dude! This word is very popular nowadays, especially with young people. You can often hear this word in movies and television shows, or with your Native English speaker friends. It has been around for awhile but young people are using the word dude, more and more. So…dude, what does it mean?
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Harp: Yeah, so dude is an old word.
Maura: Yeah, and it has had a lot of different meanings that generally refer to a man.
Harp: Yeah exactly. And dude became popular in the 60s and the 70s in surfer culture and then it made its way into mainstream.
Maura: Yeah, so dude was really first used in a popular way by surfers, I guess maybe in California, somewhere where they surf in the USA.
Harp: Exactly, but we’ll talk about dude in the surfer culture in the Lipservice.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Video: Dude – Bud Light
Canadian Food, Comfort Food and Potlucks
Jan 17th
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Everyone eats, but we all have different habits and favorite foods. The food you eat is often cultural. In this episode Harp and Maura try to explain what Canadian food is. They also talk about comfort food and what typical North American comfort food is. Potlucks are also a popular way to have a meal in a group. Harp and Maura love potlucks so they share their experiences with you. Are you feeling hungry yet?
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Maura: Yeah, so potlucks and comfort food, but first we’re going to talk about Canadian food.
Harp: Exactly, but that’s kind of weird because what kind of food is Canadian food?
Maura: Yeah, it’s a really hard topic actually. I remember I was in France, maybe five years ago, and someone there asked me “what is a typical Canadian dish?” And honestly Harp, I couldn’t think of anything.
Harp: Yeah, I’ve been in the exact same situation. The answer that I would give would be poutine…
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: meddygarnet / Morgan
Hat Head!
Jan 13th
Hey everyone!
Today (like most days in winter) I was thinking about hat head. I have hat head pretty much every day in winter…and I don’t like it!
Hat head is an expression we use in Canada (and the U.S.) to describe what hair looks like after someone has worn a hat for some time. After wearing a hat for a few hours, the hair is often flat underneath. If you have straight hair normally, the hair underneath may have a line in it. If you have curly hair (like me) when you take off a hat, some of your hair is flat and some is curly.
It is not usually a problem for me in the summer because I don’t wear hats but in the winter most people wear hats because it is so cold. At least others have hat head too and it’s not just me! Lots of Canadians have hat head.
Do you get hat head often?
Do you want to see my hat head? 
And do you know the Canadian word for winter hat? It’s toque (sometimes spelled tuque or touque)!
Pet Peeves
Jan 10th
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Everyone has personal pet peeves that bother you. Someone’s pet peeves are usually cultural. Pet peeves are usually small, day-to-day things. Are you curious about what pet peeves are now? Listen to this episode to find out what they are. All of the Culips members share their personal pet peeves too!
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Maura: Well, a friend of mine really hates when people chew and eat with their mouth open.
Robin: OK.
Maura: …when they are eating but their mouth is open and you can hear what is going on in there and maybe they are talking at the same time.
Robin: That’s definitely one of my pet peeves too.
Maura: Yeah, so some pet peeves are really common and they bother or annoy a lot of people but pet peeves are kind of individual, like some thing that is my pet peeve that really bothers me, maybe is something that doesn’t bother you Robin, right?
Robin: Absolutely, it all depends on the person.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Rennett Stowe
Culips declared ESL Site of the Year 2009 by EnglishClub!!!
Jan 8th
ESL Site of the Year 2009
Culips declared ESL Site of the Year 2009 by EnglishClub!!!
This week the Culips team learned that we are being honoured by EnglishClub as ESL Site of the Year for 2009!!!. We are very excited by this news as EnglishClub is a leader in the ESL world. The EnglishClub website is wonderful for both teachers and students of English. If you have never been to the EnglishClub website, go check it out! It’s a great site. If you are visiting us here from EnglishClub, thanks for checking out our site, we hope you like what you see and hear!
Culips was also the ESL Site of the Month in June 2009 – check out what Jessie said about the award here.
Harp
Of all the podcasts with 'real world' English examples, I like yours the best. Maybe its the fun you put into the lessons. The students can here that in your voices. And they also feel your dedication to what you are doing - it's just not a job you do, but a gift you give to everyone who listens. And while the students like the Lipservice PDFs for all the information it contains, as a teacher I am impressed by the professional effort put into making them. I give the Culips podcast and the Culips crew my highest recommendation, both as a teacher, and a listener. 
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