S01 - E10- Moving to the USA, TOEFL and American Idioms - Linna
In this episode, I speak with my former student Linna. She studied for the TOEFL test with me and I am very proud to say passed with a great grade. Linna has since moved to the USA and is now living the American dream. At the end of the episode, we also discuss some great American idioms that you can use in your day to day life.
S01 - E10- Moving to the USA, TOEFL and American Idioms - Linna
Full Intermediate level ESL Podcast transcript
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Rich: Hey Linna, how are you?
Linna: Hey, Richard. I'm doing all right. How about you?
Rich: I'm very good too, so it's great to speak with you today. Um, and I'm really interested to hear how life is in the U.S for you.
Linna: Alright, it will be a pleasure to share that with you.
Rich: So, what is life like in the U.S at the moment? Are you enjoying it?
Linna: Oh yes, definitely. I'm grateful for the opportunity and you know the U.S is a huge country and it has many realities in it, but we are very happy to be here in the South. We are center South in Texas, and it's simply….yeah, very, very good. People are lovely and we are actually just to...to let you know, we're in Houston Texas and it's...it's the most international city in the U.S, and (I) 1.52 recently found out about it. And, uh, maybe because of the medical center which is the largest in the country, and also because of the oil and gas business, which is the main thing here, like economically. So, there are people from the whole world, which is amazing, which is very good.
Rich: And tell us a bit about where you're originally from then.
Linna: Alright. So, I am from the...from Brazil, from the North of Brazil. I was born and raised there. I spent a couple of...a couple of years in...in a city close to San Paolo. It's called Campiness.
NOTE - born and raised is an expression used to state that you were born in the same city that you grew up in.
Rich: Mhmm…
Linna: But, um, so my husband is in the medical field and he had an opportunity to move to the U.S in order to improve his training. So, he's doing a fellowship here, and this is the reason why we came to Houston.
Rich: So, you came just as a result of your, your husband's career, but I'm guessing you always had some ambition to live in the U.S? Did you always think about living in the U.S.
Linna: To be honest with you…
Rich: No…?
Linna: Me? Myself, no. Like my family is all there in Brazil and the North of the country.
Rich: Yeah…
Linna: And coming to the U.S, it was a huge surprise for me. I was...I was fine in my career. And, um, I'm a lawyer and I was working for a governmental agency in Brazil, and I was really fine. But then a few years ago, I'd say like five, six years ago, my husband came and had another observer fellowship here, and then the end or so ??? 3.48 , uh, so he went completely, you know, he fell in love for it. It's like it's another world, another structure and the possibilities, the chance that you have to offer to your patients. It's something else. So he...from that moment on, like the idea of coming to the U.S never left his mind. And I was so resistant about it. But then, you know, life has many surprises and brought us here. And thanks be to God. We are...we're very happy to be here.
NOTE - it is something else is an expression used to state that something is incredible or amazing.
Rich: So, I'm interested to hear a bit about your journey then to the U.S. So, how did you get to go? Right, cause you have to go through a process right?
Linna: Oh yeah, yeah, definitely. So, it's not easy coming here and especially, you know, every case is a different one. Everybody has their own realities. But in our case, like he had a postdoctoral position offered to him in order to come to this, specifically to this hospital…
Rich: Yeah...
Linna: ....and then the firms wouldn't come in a year, and he had this offer and we were ready to come. We are selling our furniture stuff, and then the funds didn't come, and then we had to wait until the next year. So, he had the position offer, the documents were sent from here to Brazil, and from this moment on it was kind of simple. We just got the documents. We schedule a moment to go to the embassy then, I'm sorry I would say the Consulate, and then we just showed it because it was, everything was set, you know, even his salary, everything was set. So, we came in a J Visa for purposes of work and study.
Rich: Yup.
Linna: He's J1 I am a J2. Uh, and there was a…
Rich: Can you just explain, so what's the difference between a J1 and J2? Cause I'm sure some people will be interested.
Linna: Oh yeah...sure, definitely. So the J1 is the main visa.
Rich: Yeah.
Linna: The visa that is coming for this specific purpose, which is working here or….or doing like research or some kind of study.
Rich: Yeah…
Linna: And then I am a J2 because I come like...my visa comes from....from his, so it's a family...a family visa. Like, uh, imagine if we had kids, they would have a visa as well, coming from the main one.
Rich: True. Okay. Um, so that's how that works. So as part of this process you also had to take a test, right? The T. O. E. F. L. or TOEFL test, correct?
Linna: Correct, yes. But the TOEFL test happened later on. Like we came here, we got adapted. I was coming back and forth. I was had...as I mentioned before, I had my job in Brazil. So, something happened. And of course, as a couple, we wanted to be together. So I came definitely last year, and so I was figuring out like I'm still young. I had so many things to develop, so I want to persuade a career here as well.
Rich: Pursue.
NOTE - To pursue a career is to try and get a job in a particular field.
Linna: Pursue..Okay. Good to know. Pursue. So we know that for me to get my, to have my master here, a Master’s in Law, which is called LLM. Which is a master something in Latin. It's a Master's degree in Law.
Rich: Yeah..
Linna: I need to have...I needed to take the TOEFL test and in a grade above a hundred. So, it happened last year. I started having classes with you.
Rich: Yes, you did. You're a very good student.
Linna: Thank you..
Rich: So there's a lot of students who will be listening to this that will be doing the TOEFL test. So obviously you had classes with me, but I'm sure they'll be interested to know how you studied for it, and what you found difficult, what you found easy. What was your experience with TOEFL?
Linna: Alright.
Rich: That’s a lot of questions. Maybe…
Linna: I know. I know, but it's also interesting to know. I'd love to hear that before going through the process. I'm glad I had you to guide me through it. But anyways, the TOEFL test is... it's a hard test. And the first tip I would give you is to try to get immersed in the culture, in the society. Try to not isolate yourself. Try to, you know, like, I didn't have a permission of work, which is called a work permit here. So I couldn't work. And then I was….oh my God. Like it's easy for you to be, you know, by yourself or speaking Portuguese with your family in Brazil or your friends. But no, you definitely need to avoid that.
Rich: Yeah..
Linna: So I started doing voluntary jobs here, which they give you many credits for that. It's part of their culture. So, um, then after beginning our sections for TOEFL, I just...you know...I just got some of the books, the resources that you sent to me, you sent me. And I was reading, I was going through it and I was trying to practice as much as I could with native people, like trying to speak English with them or with my friends, whoever I’d meet on streets or the market, whatever. I'll try...I'll do my best to communicate and you know to learn, to get the best experience as I could here.
Rich: Yeah. I just want to talk about maybe two of those books cause some people might be interested to know what they are. So, I will put some links to these books in the description of this podcast. But the two books that you used in particular were cracking the TOEFL and there was another one, 400 words for TOEFL as well. So I'll link, I'll put a link for those two in the description here. So, going back to the TOEFL then, was there anything in particular that you wished you, that you wish you had done differently?
Linna: Well, my TOEFL test was a kind of surprise. It was scheduled for one day, and then it happened on another day because of a storm that was coming. So, I was so much in a pressure that it had to work out. Otherwise, I would miss a year. So, what I would have done differently, I would try to write more, to have more opportunities to do the essays and you know get it corrected.
NOTE - Linna should have said “I was UNDER so much pressure”.
Rich: Yeah.
Linna: Because it's, it's so, it's available ??? 11.54 too. It's so important. And you know, all those skills that you need to do the TOEFL test, you're going to develop in a while, and it comes naturally, but you have to force yourself.
Rich: Yeah..It takes a long time. Right.
Linna: Yes..It's not from one day to the other 12.14
Rich: Yeah. The general skill stuff like the general, the general English level, that takes months. If not, depending on your level, on what your goal is, can take even years for some people. So, I think now I would like to talk about three great idioms that people can use while they're in the U.S as this is an American special today.
Linna: Mhmmm..
Rich: So, the first idiom I'd like to introduce everyone to is ‘To give props to something or someone’. So, that's to give props to something or someone. So do you have any idea what this means, Linna?
Linna: Oh, yeah in a certain way...
Rich: Yes and no..
Linna: It’s to be appreciative to give thanks to somebody that is helping you out.
Rich: Yeah. To give props for someone or something is kind of to show them appreciation, to be thankful, to recognize that they've done something cool or something good. So, you could say, for example, you'd like to give props to your husband for being such an amazing husband.
Linna: People love to hear that.
Rich: You've got an idiom as well that you wanted to introduce. You really liked this one so..
Linna: This is so me too. My idiom for today is ‘disco nap’.
Rich: So what is the disco nap?
Linna: So the disco nap is whenever you have something like late at night and you'll be awake, of course. At that time, you're not used to it. So you have your disco nap, which is a short nap. Maybe in the middle of the afternoon, beginning of the evening for you to rest a bit before going to, you know, do your night program.
Rich: Yeah. So,it's a nap to take before the party. Right. So you're...you know that you're not going to sleep until late, so you take a disco nap in preparation.
Linna: Oh yeah…
Rich: Okay. So we have one more idiom for today, and this last one is to ‘hit me up’. So, this is quite an informal idiom. Actually, all of them are informal I think today. But to hit me up as something you might text someone. Um, I think most commonly. Any ideas what this means Linna?
Linna: So hit me up, it will be like, let me know, give me a message. You know, make me aware of that. Like, it's really communication.
Rich: Yeah. It's saying communicate with me. Send me a message. So hit me up doesn't mean actually hit me. It means send me a message, start communicating with me. It's yeah, send me a message. Let's do something sometime, something like that. So it's normally texts to people. So I think that's everything for today, Linna, but thank you so much for being a special...special guest, and hopefully, I'll see you again Linna.
Linna: Oh yeah definitely. Thank you so much, Richard for this opportunity.
Rich: Take care..
Linna: Bye-bye, take care.
If you notice any errors or would like me to add something to the transcription please email me at info@lovetolearnenglish.com
Linna's review of my TOEFL classes -
Richard's guidance was essential to help me achieve my professional goal. I had only five weeks to take the TOEFL test and my score needed to be 100 or more to be admitted in an LLM (Master of Laws) program at the University of Houston, in the USA. I contacted Richard and he accepted the challenge immediately, providing me with the best prep material, tips, and strategies. He had encouraged me many times and was always extremely open to reading my essays, simulating oral tests, and working on my weaknesses. He even helped me to write my Personal Statement - an important part of the application process to the University. Thank you so much, Richard, I don't have words to truly express my appreciation for your professionalism and competence!.
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