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ESL Podcast 977 – Parts of the Body
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GLOSSARY
life-size figure – a statue or another three-dimensional object made to be the
same size as the person or animal it represents
* The store uses life-size figures of celebrities to try to attract shoppers.
hand – the part of the body below the wrist; the part of the body that has five
fingers, as well as the square-shaped area the fingers are attached to
* At the beginning of the interview, be sure to make eye contact and shake
hands.
palm – the inner square-shaped area between one’s wrist and fingers; the front
side of one’s hands, excluding the fingers
* Mariah says she knows how to read palms, but I don’t believe she can really
know my future just by looking at the lines on my palms.
feet – the part of the body that one walks on; the part of the body below the ankle
* The kids’ feet are growing really quickly, so we need to buy some bigger shoes
for them.
toe – the first of the five finger-like parts on each foot
* These high-heeled shoes are pinching my toes, so they’re really uncomfortable.
ankle – the part of the body between one’s leg and one’s foot; the part of the
body that allows one to move one’s foot
* It’s hard to walk in ski boots because they don’t allow the ankle to bend.
head – the part of the body above the neck
* Watch out! Those arches are really low, so be careful not to hit your head!
ear – one of the two round or oval shapes on the side of the head, used to
capture sounds to hear
* Ollie bought some special headphones that will stay on his ears while he runs.
lopsided – uneven; with one end longer than the other
* Meghan tries to cut her sons’ hair, but it usually ends up being lopsided.
earlobe – the small piece of material at the base of the ear, where women often
have a small hole pierced for wearing earrings
* Kashira wants to pierce her earlobes, but her parents won’t let her do it until
she’s 15.
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ESL Podcast 977 – Parts of the Body
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2
disproportionate – not made to the same scale as something else; much larger
or smaller than something should be as compared to other things
* When Pete refused to say “thank you,” his mother sent him to his room for the
rest of the day. Doesn’t that seem like a disproportionate punishment?
facial feature – elements on a face that define how one appears to other people,
such as the nose, chin, eyebrows, cheekbones, and eyes
* The police asked the victim to try to describe any identifying facial features of
the man who had attacked her.
forehead – the section of skin above one’s eyebrows and below the hairline
* Takayushi placed his hand on his wife’s forehead to see if she had a fever.
chin – the part of the face below one’s mouth and above one’s neck
* Have you been eating a hot dog? It looks like you have some ketchup and
mustard on your chin.
leg – one of the two long body parts that one uses to stand and walk
* Shawn has really long legs, so he’s uncomfortable sitting in most airplane seats
and movie theaters.
kneecap – the round bone found in the middle and toward the front of the leg
above the knee (the part of the leg that bends)
* Terry’s kneecap was dislocated in a skiing accident.
anatomically correct – with the parts of the body placed where they should be
and with the proper sizes, especially when talking about art
* Many dolls made for girls are not anatomically correct.
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ESL Podcast 977 – Parts of the Body
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2014). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
3
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1. Where are one’s toes?
a) On the hands
b) On the feet
c) On the ankles
2. Which of these is a facial feature?
a) The head
b) Palms
c) Nose
______________
WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?
palm
The word “palm,” in this podcast, means the inner, square-shaped area between
one’s wrist and fingers, or the front side of one’s hands: “When I’m nervous, my
palms get sweaty.” The phrase “to have (someone) in the palm of (one’s) hand”
means to have complete control over someone: “I don’t trust that woman. She
seems to have your brother in the palm of her hand.” The phrase “to grease
(someone’s) palm” means to bribe someone, or to give someone money so that
he or she will do something: “The journalist is writing a story about how a
construction company greased the palm of the mayor.” Finally, a “palm tree” is a
tree that grows in warm, sunny areas: “I love seeing all the palm trees in
California.”
chin
In this podcast, the word “chin” means the part of the face below one’s mouth
and above one’s neck: “It looks like you missed a spot on your chin when you
shaved this morning.” Or, “Why do people rub their chin when they’re thinking
hard about something?” The phrase “keep your chin up” is used to encourage
someone and give someone confidence to do something that is difficult or
unpleasant: “Yes, this medication makes you feel awful, but keep your chin up
and you’ll be cured soon.” Finally, a “chin-up” is an exercise where one hangs
from a bar and pulls up the body until the chin is over the bar: “Wow, your arms
are huge! Have you been doing chin-ups at the gym?”
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ESL Podcast 977 – Parts of the Body
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4
CULTURE NOTE
George Washington's Wooden Dentures
There are many “pervasive” (known by many people) “myths” (things that are
generally believed to be true by most people, but actually are not true) about
America’s “founding fathers” (the men who helped create the United States’
Constitution) and important political leaders. Some of those myths relate to the
individuals’ physical appearance.
For example, the first president of the United States, George Washington, “is
said to” (people say that something is true) have used wooden “dentures”
(artificial teeth, used to chew food and improve one’s appearance when one’s
own teeth are not present). In fact, “historians” (people who study the past)
believe that George Washington “indeed” (in truth; in reality) wore dentures, but
they were not wooden. They believe he had many “dental” (related to teeth)
problems and had several sets of dentures made from “ivory” (a white, rock-like
substance found in elephants’ “tusks” (body parts like horns)), gold, and lead.
Apparently George Washington’s teeth became “stained” (with marks that cannot
be removed) and “discolored” (with a changed, dirty color) over time due to the
wine he drank and a lack of cleaning, and they may have seemed to be wooden.
But why does the myth of the wooden dentures “persist” (continue to exist)?
Some people believe it is because they “point to” (emphasize) the first
president’s “frailty” (ability to be hurt or injured) and human nature. And others
believe that the myth persists because it reminds people that George
Washington “sacrificed” (gave up) his health in some ways in order to serve the
new country.
______________
Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – b; 2 – c
English as a Second Language Podcast
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ESL Podcast 977 – Parts of the Body
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5
COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 977 – Parts of the
Body.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 977. I’m your host, Dr.
Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in
beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is ESLPod.com. Become a member of ESL Podcast. Why not? If
you do, you can download a Learning Guide for this episode. Interested in other
kinds of English? Go to our website and look at our special courses in Business
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facebook.com/eslpod and like us.
On this episode, we are going to listen to a dialogue between Sonia and Nadir
about parts of the body. Let’s get started.
[start of dialogue]
Sonia: What in the world is that?!
Nadir: It’s a life-size figure of George Washington. It’s for Leon’s school project.
Sonia: Then why are you making it?
Nadir: I’m not. I’m just helping him.
Sonia: Uh-huh. Why does George Washington have really big hands and flat
palms?
Nadir: He cut down the family’s cherry tree. Remember? He probably needed big
hands to do that.
Sonia: And why does he have little tiny feet with six toes on each foot and no
ankles?
Nadir: I made a little mistake with those, but they’ll be covered up with shoes, so
no one will see them.
Sonia: And why is George’s head shaped like an egg? His ears are lopsided and
his earlobes are disproportionate to his other facial features.
English as a Second Language Podcast
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ESL Podcast 977 – Parts of the Body
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Nadir: That’s why I made the forehead and chin bigger, so no one will notice
those ears. We’ll probably put a hat on him anyway.
Sonia: But his legs look really thin on top and thick on the bottom, with kneecaps
that stick out.
Nadir: I’ll put pants on him, so no one will see those either.
Sonia: So it won’t matter if he’s not anatomically correct, right?
Nadir: Right.
Sonia: Good thing this isn’t for science class!
[end of dialogue]
We begin our dialogue with Sonia asking Nadir a question. She says, “What in
the world is that?” When someone uses that expression “in the world,” they are
trying to give you the idea that they are shocked or surprised about something.
“What in the world are you doing?” you might say to your child, for example, if he
is doing something that you don’t want him to do, or if you are simply puzzled.
You don’t understand why someone is doing something – you may say, “What in
the world are you doing?” There’s an implication in this question that you find
what they are doing as strange or unusual.
Nadir responds, “It’s a life-size figure of George Washington. It’s for Leon’s
school project.” When we say something is a “life-size figure” (and you might also
hear people say “life-sized” with a “d” at the end, “figure” – either one is correct)
we mean that they have some sort of statue or object that is the same size as the
person that the object represents. So, a “life-size statue” or a “life-size figure” of
George Washington would be something that looks like George Washington and
is as big as George Washington was. You may know that George Washington
was the first president of United States.
Nadir for some reason has a life-size figure of George Washington. Why? He
says it is “for Leon’s school project.” We’re guessing that Leon is Nadir’s son.
Sonia says, “Then why are you making it?” Why isn’t Leon making it, since it’s for
his school project or assignment. Nadir says, “I’m not. I’m just helping him.”
Sonia doesn’t believe Nadir. She says, “Uh-huh.” But she says it in such a way
that we know she doesn’t really think that Nadir is telling the truth.
English as a Second Language Podcast
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ESL Podcast 977 – Parts of the Body
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2014). Posting of
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7
She then asks, “Why does George Washington have really big hands and flat
palms?” Your “hand” (hand) is at the end of your arm and is used for grabbing
things and picking things up. “Palm” (palm) is the area of your hand which is
between the bottom of the hand and the finger. So, between basically your wrist
(which is the part of the body that connects the arm to the hand) and the fingers
of your hand – that flat area on the front of your hand is called your “palm.”
Sonia wants to know why George Washington has “really big hands and flat
palms.” “Flat” means there aren’t any bumps in it. It’s completely straight, if you
will. Nadir says, “He cut down the family’s cherry tree, remember? He probably
needed big hands to do that.” Nadir refers to an old story about George
Washington, who, when he was a boy, apparently cut down a tree, a cherry tree.
The story is that when his father asked him if he cut down the tree, George was
honest. He admitted, “Yes. I cut down that cherry tree.” This story was meant to
demonstrate the honesty of George Washington, how he was a good man. Nadir
thinks that since Washington cut down a tree, he must’ve had really big hands. It
makes sense, I think.
Sonia then says, “Why does he have little tiny feet with six toes on each foot and
no ankles?” Sonia says that this life-size figure of George Washington has “tiny”
feet, meaning very small feet. Your “feet,” of course, are the things that you walk
on. The figure also has six toes. Your “toes” (toes) are the “digits,” we might call
them, that are at the ends of your feet. They’re sort of like your fingers, but
they’re on your feet. We call those “toes.” There are normally five toes on each
feet, just as there are five fingers on each hand. However, this figure of George
Washington has six toes, and it doesn’t have any ankles.
Your “ankle” (ankle) is the part that connects your leg to your foot, just as your
“wrist” (wrist) connects your arm to your hand. Nadir says, “I made a little
mistake” – a small mistake – “but they’ll be covered up with shoes, so no one will
see them.” Sonia then asks, “And why is George’s head shaped like an egg?”
Your “head” is the part of your body that contains your brain (or, in the case of
my neighbor, no brain), your eyes, your nose, your ears, and so forth. And your
hair, if you have hair. Sonia is asking why George Washington’s head is “shaped
like,” or in the form of, “an egg.”
The ears, Sonia says, “are lopsided and the earlobes are disproportionate to his
other facial features.” Your “ears” (ears) are the things that you hear out of. When
we say something is “lopsided” (lopsided) we mean it is uneven. One side is
longer than the other, in this case. “Earlobes” (earlobes) are the bottom parts of
your ears, the part that is below the ear opening where you have the sound go
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ESL Podcast 977 – Parts of the Body
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2014). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
8
into your ear. Below that part, there is a small piece of flesh that we call the
“earlobe.” It’s where you would put earrings, for example, if you have earrings.
I don’t have any earrings myself. Maybe I should. Maybe I should get earrings.
What do you think? Well, back to our story here.
The earlobes, according to Sonia, on George Washington’s figure are
“disproportionate to his other facial features.” When we say something is
“disproportionate” (disproportionate), we mean that they look too big or too small
compared to the other things, in this case, on the figure. When something is
“disproportionate,” it is bigger than it should be. For example, if you draw
someone’s face and you make the nose five times bigger than the eyes, we
would say the nose is disproportionate to the eyes – it’s too big compared to the
size of the eyes. “Dis” (dis) here means “not.” So, “disproportionate” means not
proportionate.
The earlobes, then, are not the right size compared to the other facial features.
“Facial (facial) features” are the parts of your face that are used to, basically,
identify you – the parts of your face that make you look the way you do. So, your
eyes, your nose, your mouth, your eyebrows – which are the lines of hair above
your eyes – all of these would be considered “facial features.”
Nadir says, “That’s why I made the forehead and chin bigger, so no one will
notice those ears.” The “forehead” (forehead) is the part of the head that is above
your eyebrows and below where your hair begins – below the top of your head, if
you will. It’s the flat part of your face above your eyes. The “chin” (chin) is the
part of your face that is below your mouth and above your neck, formed by your
“jaw” (jaw), which is where you find your teeth. That bottom part of your face,
then, is called your chin. Many men, for example, grow beards that cover their
chins. I don’t have a beard. Maybe I should get a beard – a beard and earrings.
Yeah. Why not?
Sonia continues, “But his legs look really thin on top and thick on the bottom, with
kneecaps that stick out.” Your legs connect your feet to the rest of your body, we
could say. You have two of them. “Kneecaps” (kneecaps) are small round bones
found in the middle of your leg towards the front of the leg, above your “knee,”
which is the part of the leg that bends. You could think of it as the part of the leg
that connects the top part with the bottom part. On your arms, you have what’s
called an “elbow” (elbow), which connects the top part of your arm to the bottom
part of your arm.
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ESL Podcast 977 – Parts of the Body
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9
Sonia says that George Washington’s legs are “thin on top and thick on the
bottom.” “Thin” is the opposite of “thick.” “Thin” would be very narrow, and “thick,”
in this case, would be very wide. Nadir says, “I’ll put pants on him, so no one will
see those either.” Sonia says, “So, it won’t matter if he’s anatomically correct,
right?” “Anatomically” comes from the word “anatomy” (anatomy), which is the
study of the human body, the physical aspects of the human body.
“Anatomically” refers to the parts of the body, the physical nature of your body. It
could be a human body. It could be a body of an animal. To say something is
“anatomically correct” means that it is just like a real body. We would use this in
describing perhaps a painting or, in this case, a life-size figure where it’s
supposed to represent exactly what the body contains. That’s why Sonia is
saying that it won’t matter if George is not anatomically correct. Nadir says, “Yes,
that’s correct” – that’s right.
Sonia says, “Good thing this isn’t for science class!” Sonia says “good thing,”
meaning it is a good thing, or it is fortunate, that this isn’t for science class. In a
science class, of course, you would want the figure to be anatomically correct so
that you know the student understands the different parts of the body and where
they go and how big they are.
Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
[start of dialogue]
Sonia: What in the world is that?!
Nadir: It’s a life-size figure of George Washington. It’s for Leon’s school project.
Sonia: Then why are you making it?
Nadir: I’m not. I’m just helping him.
Sonia: Uh-huh. Why does George Washington have really big hands and flat
palms?
Nadir: He cut down the family’s cherry tree. Remember? He probably needed big
hands to do that.
Sonia: And why does he have little tiny feet with six toes on each foot and no
ankles?
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ESL Podcast 977 – Parts of the Body
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2014). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
10
Nadir: I made a little mistake with those, but they’ll be covered up with shoes, so
no one will see them.
Sonia: And why is George’s head shaped like an egg? His ears are lopsided and
his earlobes are disproportionate to his other facial features.
Nadir: That’s why I made the forehead and chin bigger, so no one will notice
those ears. We’ll probably put a hat on him anyway.
Sonia: But his legs look really thin on top and thick on the bottom, with kneecaps
that stick out.
Nadir: I’ll put pants on him, so no one will see those either.
Sonia: So it won’t matter if he’s not anatomically correct, right?
Nadir: Right.
Sonia: Good thing this isn’t for science class!
[end of dialogue]
Our scriptwriter uses her 10 fingers to type out the wonderful scripts that we
listen to here. Thank you, Dr. Lucy Tse.
From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come
back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast was written and produced by Dr. Lucy
Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational
Development.