2010年ESL之就医和人际交往 14 Being a First-Time Parent

14 Being a First-Time Parent

GLOSSARY

birth – when a new child is brought into the world; when a baby comes out of hisor her mother’s womb and begins breathing on its own

* How many births happen in this hospital each year?

first-time parent – a person who has one child, perhaps with plans to have otherchildren in the future

* As first-time parents, we took our son to the emergency room for every littlecough or scrape, but once we had our second child, we were much calmer.

overwhelming – too strong and powerful, making one feel out of control,confused, and/or powerless

* He says his new job is overwhelming and he has to work 12 hours each dayjust to keep up!

newborn – a baby that has been born very recently, usually within the past oneto two months

* Newborns are supposed to eat every two hours, but that means the parentsdon’t get very much sleep.

from scratch – from the very beginning, without any initial knowledge orpreparation

* Have you ever made a cake from scratch, or do you always buy a box of premademix?

to breastfeed – for a mother to feed a child with the milk from her breasts; for achild to drink a mother’s milk by sucking at her nipples

* If your baby breastfeeds in the wrong position, you might experience pain oreven bleeding.

to bottle-feed – to feed a baby from a bottle (a glass or plastic container with aspecial nipple-like top)

* Doctors say it’s important to hold a baby close and look into his or her eyeswhile bottle-feeding the child.

to burp – to gently and repeatedly hit a baby’s back after he or she has drunkenmilk to help the baby push air that is in the stomach out of his or her mouth

* Always put a cloth over your shoulder before burping the baby, or she mightthrow up on you.

to put (someone) to bed – to get a baby or child ready for bed and calm him orher until he or she falls asleep

* Their routine for putting Samson to bed includes brushing his teeth, readingbooks, singing songs, and telling stories.

car seat – a special chair put inside a car for babies and very young children, tokeep them safe in an accident

* If the car seat is installed correctly, it shouldn’t move more than one inch fromside to side.

stroller – baby carriage; a small cloth seat on a plastic or metal frame withwheels, used by walking parents to push a child in front, often with room to storebags underneath the seat

* Once their daughter learned how to walk, she never wanted to ride in thestroller again.

feeding – one period of time when a baby is drinking milk from a bottle ornursing (drinking milk from a mother’s breast)

* How many feedings does a newborn need each day?

diaper – a piece of cloth or paper and plastic that is wrapped around a baby’sbottom to hold urine (pee) and feces (poop)

* It’s important to change a baby’s diaper frequently so that the skin doesn’tbecome irritated.

exhausted – extremely tired, usually from doing too much physical activity orfrom not sleeping enough

* Sandy was exhausted after running the marathon.

to doze off – to fall asleep for a short period of time, usually without planning todo so; to nap

* Professor Graves gets really angry when his students doze off during class.

to sympathize – to understand someone else’s problems or the difficult situationthat another person is in, feeling sad much like the other person is feeling sad

* I really sympathized with Patty when her mother passed away, because mymother had passed away just a few months earlier.

memory – what one remembers about something that happened in the past

* Do you have any memory of when humans first walked on the moon, or wereyou too young then to remember it?

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. What does Zuly mean when she says she’s “learning everything fromscratch”?

a) She’s learning how to treat the baby’s cuts and scratches.

b) She’s learning how to care for her cat.

c) She’s learning everything for the first time.

2. What does Zuly mean when she says she has been “dozing off at all hours ofthe day”?

a) She has been sleeping longer than usual.

b) She always wants to sleep.

c) She often falls asleep throughout the day.

______________

WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

scratch

The phrase, “from scratch,” in this podcast, means from the very beginning,without any initial knowledge or other preparations: “Did you build that table fromscratch, or was the wood already cut to the right size?” A “scratch” is normally asmall cut in someone’s skin: “The cat’s claws left several scratches on Noah’sarm.” A “scratch” can also be a small scrape or mark on another surface: “Thewooden floors have scratches where the furniture was dragged over it.” Or, “Themusic quality isn’t very good, because the CD has a scratch.” Finally, a “scratch”

can be the sound of two things moving against each other: “During the powerfailure, we couldn’t see grandpa, but we heard the scratch as he lit a match forthe candle.”

feeding

In this podcast, the word “feeding” means one period of time when a baby isdrinking milk: “Do you and your husband share the nighttime feedings, or doesjust one of you wake up to warm the bottle each time?” The verb “to feed” alsomeans to give food to an animal: “Each morning, the farmer wakes up early tofeed the cows and pigs.” The verb “to feed” can also mean to provide enoughfood for a certain number of people: “This recipe is supposed to feed eightpeople, but our family of four finished the entire casserole at one meal.” Finally,the verb “to feed” can mean to put something into something else: “Eddy fedcoins into the payphone every few minutes as he spoke with his girlfriend.”

CULTURE NOTE

First-time parents are “eager” (wanting to do something) to learn how to takecare of their children. Even before the baby is born, many “expectant” (pregnant;expecting a baby) parents look for information by reading books andinformational websites.

One popular “book series” (a group of related books) is called What to “Expect”

(anticipate; believe will happen in the future). The first book to read is What toExpect When You’re Expecting. It is filled with information about what womenshould expect while they are pregnant. It “covers” (discusses; talks about)changes in the pregnant woman’s body, changes in the “fetus” (the developingbaby), “potential” (possible) medical problems, and how to prepare for theprocess of giving birth.

The next book, What to Expect the First Year, teaches parents many of thethings they need to know to take care of their babies. It includes informationabout “sleep schedules” (how often and for how long someone needs to sleep),breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, and bathing, as well as medical informationcovering “first aid” (how to treat minor injuries) and “vaccinations” (injections toprevent diseases). Other books in the series tell parents what to expect whenchildren are in the “toddler years” (ages 2-3), what the father should expectduring pregnancy, and more.

Websites are becoming increasingly popular sources of information for expectantand first-time parents. Many websites allow parents to “enter” (type information)their “due date” (the day when a baby is expected to be born) and receive weeklyemails with information “applicable” (related) to their stage of pregnancy and,later, their child’s “development” (how a child changes and matures over time).

These website have the “advantage” (good thing; benefit) of letting parentsinteract with each other, asking questions and getting answers from people whoare “going through” (experiencing) the same things.

______________

Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – c

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast episode 613: Being a First-Time Parent.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 613. I’m your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

We have a website at eslpod.com. If you go there, you can improve your Englisheven faster by downloading one of the 8- to 10-page Learning Guides that weprovide for this episode. It contains a complete transcript of everything I say, aswell as lots of other good stuff: vocabulary, cultural notes, that sort of thing.

This episode is called “Being a First-Time Parent.” It is a dialogue betweenRicardo and Zuly. They’re going to be talking about being parents, having ababy for the first time. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Zuly: Hello.

Ricardo: Hi, Zuly. How are you?

Zuly: Oh, Ricardo, it’s you. I’m doing okay. How are you?

Ricardo: I wanted to call and congratulate you on the birth of your new baby.

Zuly: Thanks a lot. Carla was born three weeks ago, and she was eight pounds,three ounces.

Ricardo: That’s great! How does it feel to be a first-time parent?

Zuly: It’s really overwhelming taking care of a newborn. I’m learning everythingfrom scratch, everything from how to breastfeed and bottle-feed, to burping her,to putting her to bed, to using a car seat and a stroller.

Ricardo: You sound overwhelmed. I remember when Adam, our first child, wasborn. There were the feedings in the middle of the night, and all of those diapers!

Zuly: Exactly. I’m exhausted all the time. In fact, I find myself dozing off at allhours of the day.

Ricardo: I really sympathize with you, but these days will pass quickly, and thenyou’ll have such great memories. Have you had much sleep?

Zuly: Zzzzzzzz!

Ricardo: Zuly? Zuly?

[end of dialogue]

Ricardo calls Zuly on the telephone. Zuly answers, “Hello.” Ricardo says, “Hi,Zuly. How are you?” Zuly says, “Oh, Ricardo, it’s you (meaning she recognizeswho is calling). I’m doing okay. How are you?” Ricardo says, “I wanted to calland congratulate you on the birth of your new baby.” “Birth” is when a new childis brought into the world; when a baby comes out of his or her mother’s womb –comes out of her body and begins breathing on its own, we call that birth. This isthe birth of Zuly’s new baby.

Zuly says, “Thanks a lot. Carla (the name of her baby) was born three weeksago, and she was eight pounds, three ounces.” It’s common for parents to oftentell someone about their baby and include how big it was – how much it weighed.

This baby weighed eight pounds, three ounces. I weighed, I think, nine pounds,four ounces. I was a big baby – mostly my head!

Ricardo says, “That’s great! How does it feel to be a first-time parent?” “Firsttime”

means, as you can guess, that it is the first event – the first occasion forthis particular thing, in this case for being a parent. So, they are first-timeparents. It could mean that they are going to have more children in the future,we don’t know, but definitely it means that this is their first baby.

Zuly says, “It’s really overwhelming taking care of a newborn.” Something that is“overwhelming” (one word) is very strong, too strong, too powerful, somethingthat makes you feel that you don’t have control, it may be something thatconfuses you. If you go to Phoenix, Arizona in the middle of summer – and I donot recommend it – you will be overwhelmed by the heat. It is very hot inPhoenix, Arizona in the summertime. Zuly says that it is overwhelming takingcare of a newborn. “Newborn” (newborn – one word) is a baby that has beenborn very recently, usually within the past month or perhaps two months.

Zuly is saying that her child is a newborn; she was born recently. She says, “I’mlearning everything from scratch.” The expression “from scratch” (scratch)means from the very beginning, without any preparation, or any knowledge in thiscase. The term is often used cooking. “I’m going to make a cake from scratch,”

meaning I’m not going to use any prepared ingredients, I’m not going to go to thestore and buy a box that says “lemon cake” on it. I’m going to get the lemons,get the flour get the eggs and so forth. That is to make something from scratch.

You can use it for anything; you could make a table from scratch, taking a bunchof wood and putting it together, I guess. I don’t mean I could do that, but youcould do that. And if you want to do that you can give the table to me because,see, I need a new table here in my room. Anyway, Zuly is learning everythingfrom scratch, from the very beginning. By the way, “scratch” has other meaningsin English, very different. Those, you can only find in our Learning Guide…and adictionary…and on the web…but most importantly in our Learning Guide!

Zuly says she’s learning everything from how to breastfeed and bottle-feed, toburping her, to putting her to bed, to using a car seat and a stroller. Well, theseare all common words when talking about taking care of a baby. Let’s begin withmy favorite: “breastfeed” (breastfeed – one word). “To breastfeed” as a verbmeans that the mother feeds the young baby with the milk from her breasts,which are those two things that make up the chest of a woman. The end of thebreast is called a “nipple” (nipple); we also use that same word when we have abottle of milk that we are feeding the baby with. That’s the other way to feed thebaby, to “bottle-feed” the baby. A “ bottle,” of course, is a small, usually glasscontainer – could be plastic, I guess. In any case, these are the two ways ofgiving milk to a baby: one is to breastfeed and one is to bottle-feed. Somepeople believe breastfeeding is better for the baby. In any case, Zuly is learningto do both.

She’s also learning to burp her baby. The verb “to burp” here means that youtake the baby, so I’m told, meaning I don’t do this, but you, again, could take thebaby and you very gently, very softly hit the back of the baby after the baby hasdrunken milk to help the baby push air out of the stomach into his or her mouth.

This usually produces what we would call “spit up” (spit up). This is somethingthat mothers or fathers will do for their baby after they have been fed with milk.

That’s one of the things Zuly is learning how to do. She’s also learning how toput the baby to bed. “To put (someone) to bed” is a phrasal verb meaning to geta baby or a child ready to sleep, try to calm him or her until he or she falls asleep.

Sometimes mothers and fathers will move the child back and forth very slowly,gently. They may sing a song; we call those songs that you sing to a baby to putthem to sleep a “lullaby” (lullaby). A common lullaby in English is called “Lullaby and Goodnight,” using music from the classical composer Brahms: Lullaby andgoodnight. I don’t know the rest of the words; when my mother sang it to me,that’s all I needed and I fell asleep. Sorry!

Zuly is also learning how to use a car seat. In the United States it is the law inmost states, you are required to place your baby in a special I guess we couldcall at a chair that goes inside the car. It is to keep them safe in an accident. So,Zuly is learning how to use a car seat and a stroller. A “stroller” (stroller) is alsocalled a “baby carriage.” Basically, it’s like a small chair that has wheels on itthat you can push in front of you. So, if you want to take a walk you could put thebaby in the stroller. When I was growing up, strollers were very small.

Nowadays, at least here in the United States, you see some parents that havestrollers that are like the size of a small car – they’re huge! And they put all ofthese things that they think they need for the baby; it’s kind of amazing.

But anyway, getting back to our story: Zuly is learning to use a car seat and astroller. Ricardo says, “You sound overwhelmed. I remember when Adam, ourfirst child (Ricardo’s first baby), was born. There were the feedings in the middleof the night, and all those diapers!” “Feeding” (feeding), a noun, comes from theverb “to feed,” which means to give food to someone, in this case to give thebaby milk, either from a bottle or, we would say, “nursing,” which is another termreferring to breastfeeding. So there are feedings in the middle of the night;young babies wake up in the middle of the night and want to eat. You could tellthem just to wait until morning, but they probably won’t be too happy, and youprobably won’t sleep because they’ll be crying, you see! He also talks about allof the diapers they needed for their little child. A “diaper” (diaper) is a small pieceof cloth or, more commonly in the U.S. now, paper and plastic that is wrappedaround the baby’s bottom in order to hold in – to catch, really, their urine, whatwe would informally called their “pee” (pee) that comes out the front end; out theback end comes what we technically call their “feces” (feces), but for a babyinformally we would say “poop” (poop), “poop.” Isn’t this fun?

Zuly says, “Exactly (she agrees with Ricardo). I’m exhausted all the time.” “Tobe exhausted” means to be extremely tired, typically from doing a lot of physicalwork. Zuly says, “I find myself,” meaning sometimes, “I find myself dozing off atall hours of the day.” “At all hours of the day” means anytime during the day, atdifferent times during the day. “To doze (doze) off” means to fall asleep for ashort period of time, usually something that you weren’t planning to do. You justsort of accidentally, if you will, fall asleep because you are so tired. We mightalso use the verb “to nap” (nap): “I was napping at my desk the other day whenLucy came into the office and woke me up and said I should start working again.”

Zuly says that she finds herself dozing off at all hours of the day. Ricardo says, “Ireally sympathize with you,” I really understand your problem or your difficultsituation; I feel sad for you, “but,” he says, “these days (these early days) willpass quickly (they will not seem like they took very much time), and then you’llhave such great memories.” “Memories” are the things that you remember.

Ricardo then asks Zuly, “Have you had much sleep?” and Zuly is sleeping; shegoes, “Zzzzzzzz!” Ricardo says, “Zuly? Zuly?” trying to wake her up.

I hope you didn’t doze off during this episode. Now we’ll listen to the dialogue ata normal rate of speech.

[start of dialogue]

Zuly: Hello.

Ricardo: Hi, Zuly. How are you?

Zuly: Oh, Ricardo, it’s you. I’m doing okay. How are you?

Ricardo: I wanted to call and congratulate you on the birth of your new baby.

Zuly: Thanks a lot. Carla was born three weeks ago, and she was eight pounds,three ounces.

Ricardo: That’s great! How does it feel to be a first-time parent?

Zuly: It’s really overwhelming taking care of a newborn. I’m learning everythingfrom scratch, everything from how to breastfeed and bottle-feed, to burping her,to putting her to bed, to using a car seat and a stroller.

Ricardo: You sound overwhelmed. I remember when Adam, our first child, wasborn. There were the feedings in the middle of the night, and all of those diapers!

Zuly: Exactly. I’m exhausted all the time. In fact, I find myself dozing off at allhours of the day.

Ricardo: I really sympathize with you, but these days will pass quickly, and thenyou’ll have such great memories. Have you had much sleep?

Zuly: Zzzzzzzz!

Ricardo: Zuly? Zuly?

[end of dialogue]

All of our scripts here at ESL Podcast are written from scratch by our very ownDr. Lucy Tse.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Comeback and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan, copyright 2010 by the Center for EducationalDevelopment.