پادکست BBC شماره 24 – Does your name start with the wrong letter

پادکست BBC شماره 24

سلام  با بیست و چهارمین سری از پادکست‌های BBC 6 Minute English در خدمت شما هستیم.

در این قسمت درباره حروف الفبا و تاثیر صحبت میشه. تحقیقات نشون میده کسانی که فامیلیشان با آخرین حروف الفبا شروع میشه در مدرسه و زندگی دچار مشکلات و اثرات منفی میشوند. در واقع کسانی که فامیلی آنها با حروف واپسین الفبا آغاز میشه به خاطر اینکه اسمشان در پایان لیست معلم قرار می‌گیره کمتر مورد توجه معلم‌ها قرار می‌گیرند

در زیر کلمات کلیدی که باید با آن‌ها آشنا شوید برایتان توضیح داده شده‌اند:

to pay attention to something :to concentrate on something and not be distracted

to pay attention to something : تمرکز کردن روی چیزی و حواس پرت نبودن

intensity : strength

intensity : نیرو

engagement : involvement in a communicative situation

engagement : درگیری با یک موقعیت ارتباطی

diminishes : gets weaker

diminishes : ضعیف کردن

to drop out : to quit a college or university course without finishing it

to drop out : ترک دانشگاه یا کالج بدون اتمام

prestige : respect and social status

prestige : موقعیت اجتماعی و شخصیت

Transcript of the podcast

پادکست BBC 6 minute English – Does your name start with the wrong letter

Neil
Hello. This is 6 Minute English. I’m Neil.

Sam
And I’m Sam. 

Neil
Now Sam, I assume that you know your alphabet.

Sam
Of course, Neil – you mean my ABCs? We learn that at a very young age, you know?

Neil
Sorry to sound patronising. But you do you know why the letters in the alphabet are in that particular order?

Sam
No, I don’t. That’s really interesting. Why? 

Neil
I don’t know either, I was hoping you might! But seriously, no one really knows how the order became established. However, some research has shown that if your surname, your family name, begins with a letter later in the alphabet, you could be at a disadvantage at school and in life. Before we get in to that though, a question. Where does the alphabet come from in its earliest form? Was it…

a) Ancient Egypt
b) Ancient Greece
c) Ancient Rome

What do you think, Sam?

Sam
Well, we refer to the English alphabet as having Roman characters, so I’m going with Ancient Rome.

Neil
OK. I’ll have the answer later in the programme. In the BBC radio programme Fry’s English Delight there was a feature about the alphabet and how it can have a negative impact on your school life. Can you remember all those years ago when you were at school? What’s the first thing that the teacher would do at the beginning of the day? 

Sam
She would take the register – that’s what we call it in the UK. You can also call it the roll call. 

Neil
Yes, this is when the teacher calls out the names of the students to check that they are all there. This is where the problem starts, according to, ironically, Professor Jeffrey Zax, from the University of Colorado. The further down that list your name is, the less noticed you are by the teacher. Why is that? Here’s Professor Zax. 

Professor Jeffrey Zax
When it begins people are paying attention. As it proceeds, first the people who are already called, they no longer have any need to take things seriously. And the people who are waiting to be called, their attention is wandering as well. And so as you make your way through the roll call somehow the intensity of the engagement diminishes. 

Neil
So, what is the problem? 

Sam
Well, it’s a lot to do with paying attention. This means concentrating on something. At the beginning of the roll call everyone is paying attention – they are quiet and listening. But after the first names are called, those students don’t need to pay attention any more.

Neil
So they lose a bit of interest in what comes next, and the students later in the list are also now distracted and the teacher, him or herself, is not so focussed. 

Sam
And by the end of the list the relationship between the teacher and the students whose names are being called later is not as strong as those at the beginning of the list. 

Neil
Professor Zax describes this by saying that the intensity of the engagement diminishes. Diminishes means ‘gets weaker’, and the intensity of the engagement is the strength of the communication, the level of enthusiasm for being involved. So this is the start of the disadvantage which can subtly affect students throughout their school years and after. This was discovered after some research in the US in the 1950s. So what were these disadvantages? Here’s Professor Zax again.

Professor Jeffrey Zax
They were less likely to have enjoyed their high school courses, graduate from college if they applied. They were more likely to drop out. They had first jobs in occupations that paid less. They were more likely to go to the military and they were more likely to have jobs whose prestige was lower. 

Neil
So what disadvantages did they have? 

Sam
Well, Professor Zax says that the research showed they enjoyed school less, were less successful academically and more likely to drop out of college or university. This means that they left the course before it was finished. 

Neil
And he also said that they were more likely to find jobs that had a lower prestige. This means the jobs weren’t seen as high status or desirable. Let’s listen again. 

Professor Jeffrey Zax
They were less likely to have enjoyed their high school courses, graduate from college if they applied. They were more likely to drop out. They had first jobs in occupations that paid less. They were more likely to go to the military and they were more likely to have jobs whose prestige was lower. 

Sam
Well, Professor Zax seems to have done OK. Even with that surname! 

Neil
Indeed, I guess this doesn’t apply to everyone. Right, well before we remind ourselves of our vocabulary, let’s get the answer to the question. Where does the alphabet come from in its earliest form? Was it…

a) Ancient Egypt
b) Ancient Greece
c) Ancient Rome

Sam, what did you say?

Sam
Pretty sure it’s Ancient Rome. 

Neil
What does your surname begin with? 

Sam
A ‘B’, actually.

Neil
Well, you are wrong, I’m afraid. It’s actually Ancient Egypt – so well done to everyone who got that. OK, now it’s time for our vocabulary. 

Sam
Yes – to pay attention to something means to concentrate on something, to not be distracted. 

Neil
Then there was the phrase the intensity of the engagement, which is another way of saying the strength of the relationship, interaction and communication. 

Sam
And if your surname comes at the end of the alphabet you may find that the intensity of engagement with the teacher diminishes. Diminishes means gets weaker. 

Neil
If you drop out from a course, it means that you leave it before it’s finished. 

Sam
And the prestige of a job is the respect it has. If it is seen as important or desirable then it has higher prestige. 

Neil
OK, thank you, Sam. That’s all from 6 Minute English. We hope you can join us again soon. You can find us at bbclearningenglish online, on social media and on our app. Bye for now! 

SamBye bye everyone!

برای شنیدن دیگر پادکست ها، به بخش پادکست در مرکز آموزش رایگان مراجعه نمایید.