Learning English with CBC
Listening Lessons for Intermediate Students
Based on CBC Manitoba Radio Broadcasts
January 29, 2009
Lesson 39: Teacher’s Edition
Level:
Benchmark 5 and up
Topic:
The Story of Minnedosa’s Piano
Language Skills and Functions:
Listening – listening to a short interview for detail
and inference
Speaking – participating in a group discussion
Reading – read a text to guess meaning from context
Writing – writing a letter to ask for information
Language Competencies:
Language Tasks:
Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Listening and Speaking
Strategies, Sociocultural/sociolinguistic Competence
Completing a quiz to determine suitability to small town life
Discussing the advantages and disadvantages of urban and rural living
Listening for detail and inference in a radio interview with Stuart McLean,
host of the CBC radio program The Vinyl Café
Reading a newspaper article about The Vinyl Café and guessing the
meaning of words and expressions from context
Problem solving on how small towns can encourage newcomer
settlement
Writing a letter to a newcomer who has settled in a smaller or larger
community to ask for more information on what it’s like to live there
Essential Skills:
Worksheets1:
Reading text, working with others, problem solving, thinking skills, oral
communication
1. Is Small Town Life Right for You?
2. Vocabulary Match
3. Listen for Detail and Inference
4. Guess Vocabulary Meaning from Context
5. Help a Small Town Solve a Problem
6. Write a Letter to a Fellow Newcomer
Appendices: Transcript of the podcast
Hamilton Spectator article: On the Menu at The Vinyl Café
1
Answers to worksheets are in the self-study version of the lesson plan.
Manitoba Memo
Where is the best place to live? Where do we find the best quality of life? Is it in a large,
medium sized or small city? Is it in a city’s downtown area or in its suburbs? Is the quality of
life better in a small town or village or in a rural or remote area?
How we answer these questions is strongly linked to what is important to us. What do we
value most in our lives? Our answers may also be related to our age. We may look for different
things in our communities when we are in our twenties than in our forties or in our seventies.
Some will say life in smaller communities is best because the pace is slower and you get to
know everyone. Others will say that a slow pace is boring and that they prefer the anonymity of
a big city! But many of us are somewhere in the middle. We like the entertainment options,
career opportunities and diversity that cities have to offer but we also appreciate the safe, closeknit nature of small communities and the spirit of their residents.
Two-thirds of Manitobans live in cities. Winnipeg is by far the largest city in the province with
over 600,000 residents. Brandon is the second largest with approximately 45,000 residents.
The province’s seven other cities have populations of between 9,000 and 15,000. There are
over 70 towns and villages across the province and 62 First Nations communities. The
remaining population lives in rural or remote areas.
Yet despite the predominance of urban life in Manitoba, and across Canada, most urban
dwellers have a strong attachment to the towns, villages and communities where their parents,
grandparents and great-grandparents were born. Our appreciation for small communities, their
people and their stories is reflected in our country’s literature, theatre, television and radio.
Classics such as Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town and humorous
portrayals of everyday life in the Wingfield Farm plays, The Vinyl Café stories on CBC radio and
the television show Corner Gas entertain us all, no matter where we live.
Pre-listening activities
1. Complete the quiz: Is small town life right for you?
Review the instructions to Worksheet 1. Students can discuss the statements with a
partner, but each student should complete their own copy of the quiz.
When students are finished, ask for a show of hands. How many answered yes to at
least 9 out of 12 statements? Ask students to do the math. What percentage of the
class could be suited to small town life?
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2. Discuss these questions as a class
Discuss the following background questions on today’s topic with the class.




What do you see as some of the greatest advantages of living in cities? What
are some of the greatest disadvantages?
What do you see as some of the greatest advantages of living in small towns
or rural areas? What are some of the greatest disadvantages?
How do cities in your country differ from cities in Manitoba? How do small
communities and rural areas in your country differ from those in Manitoba?
In your country, do people find humour in everyday experiences? Can you
think of any examples of this?
3. Vocabulary
Elicit or present key vocabulary that students need to understand prior to listening to the
podcast (see suggested vocabulary and explanations which follow). You can write the
words on the board and elicit possible meanings from the class or break students into
groups and give each group a few words to review. Groups can then present the
vocabulary to the rest of the class. You can also ask students to mark the syllables and
stress for each word, identify word families and practise pronouncing the words. You
may want to ask students to think of sentences that use the new vocabulary. If your
students keep a vocabulary journal, they can copy the vocabulary into their journal.
AND/OR Have students work with a partner to complete Worksheet 2 and match
vocabulary words with their meanings.
Vocabulary
The Vinyl Café
The Vinyl Café is the name of a CBC radio show.
The show travels to communities across the
country and host Stuart McLean gets to know the
community by dropping by local restaurants and
businesses. He shares the unique features and
stories of each community with the rest of Canada
on his show. In the show, Stuart tells short stories
about a fictional family and their neighbours. The
family owns a used record store called The Vinyl
Café and that’s how the show got its name.
touring
To travel from place to place to perform a show.
rehearsing
To practice a performance in advance.
lugged
To carry something around with you. If you are
lugging it, as opposed to carrying it, this implies it
is heavy.
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wrestled (with)
If you wrestle with something, it means you have
difficulty moving it. For example, you would
wrestle with a piano if you were trying to move it
out of your way.
moment of inspiration
A time when you are feeling inspired. You have an
idea about something.
painfully empty
Very empty or bare. For example, if your wallet is
painfully empty, it implies you have little or no
money in it, or in your bank account.
folding money
Bills or paper money, not coins.
handed over
To give to someone.
4. Predict what the podcast is about
In this story, Marilyn Maki interviews Stuart McLean, host of The Vinyl Café radio
program on CBC. The show is returning to Minnedosa, Manitoba for the first time in a
decade and it is returning for a special reason. Ask students to think of questions
Marilyn could ask Stuart about why they are returning. Use the W5 system and write
the following question starters on the board.
She could ask him:
Who is….coming with you on the trip?
What are you….
Where will you…
When will you…
Why are you….
While-listening activities
1. Introduce the podcast
Tell students that in this podcast, they will hear several speakers. They will hear:
Marcy Markusa – host
Marilyn Maki – interviewer
Stuart McLean – host of The Vinyl Café radio program
Play the podcast for the first time.
2. Listen for detail and inference
Hand out Worksheet 3. Review it with students and have them work in pairs to
complete it.
Take up the answers as a class.
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3. Listen for the aside
When students listen this time, draw their attention to lines 15 to 19.
And once we went to Minnedosa and it was the three of us, John Sheard
on the piano, I’m at I’m at John’s house right now, we’re rehearsing,
ah there was Chris Whiteley playing the guitar and myself driving this van
all through Manitoba.
Tell students that when Stuart inserts I’m at John’s house right now, we’re
rehearsing into his sentence, that’s what we commonly refer to as an aside. It’s a
remark that isn’t part of the main subject he’s talking about, although in this case, it’s
related. As soon as Stuart mentions John’s name, he thinks about where he is at that
very moment and adds in the line about the rehearsal. Then he jumps right back into
the midst of the thought he had previously started. You may also want to note that this
is a good example of the spontaneous nature of spoken English!
Post-listening activities
1. Review pre-listening predictions
Ask students to quickly review the W5 questions they thought Marilyn might ask. Were
they able to guess some of the questions that were asked in the interview?
Extension activities
1. Read a newspaper article and guess the meaning of expressions from context
Ask students to work in small groups. Hand out Appendix 2 and Worksheet 4 and
review the content and instructions with students. Assign each group 3 or 4 of the
expressions to work on and the corresponding paragraphs in the article.
Take up the answers as a class.
2. Practice your problem solving skills: How can small towns encourage newcomers to
settle in their community?
Hand out Worksheet 5 and review it with students.
Ask the groups to share their ideas with the rest of the class.
3. Write a letter to a newcomer in a larger/smaller community and ask for information about
living there
Hand out and review Worksheet 6. Students can work together on the activity with a
partner but they can write their own letter.
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4. Listen to a broadcast of The Vinyl Café
Unfortunately, the show from Minnedosa is not being broadcast. But you can download
a podcast of the weekly stories at:
http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/index.html?arts#vinylcafe
Or you can suggest students listen to the show at home. The program airs:
Saturdays at 10:05 AM across Canada (Radio Two)
Sundays at 12:05 PM across Canada (Radio One)
Tuesdays at 11:05 PM across Canada (Radio One)
If you need to check the CBC frequency for your area, go to:
http://www.cbc.ca/frequency/
Want to know more…
The website for the town of Minnedosa is: http://discoverminnedosa.ca/
For profiles of communities in Manitoba, go to:
http://www.communityprofiles.mb.ca/index.html
The Vinyl Café website is: http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/
Manitoba libraries have copies of Stuart McLean’s short story collections and audio
recordings of his stories. One story newcomers might enjoy is Christmas with
Rasheeda and Ahmeer. It’s a seasonal story that focuses on the challenges of
adjusting to new cultural traditions. It’s in The Vinyl Café Coast to Coast Story Service
collection.
An Ontario teacher has put together a book of lesson plans based on Stuart McLean’s
stories. The Educator's Guide to The Vinyl Café with Stories by Stuart McLean
includes the original Dave and Morley stories as well as related activities, reading
assignments, discussion topics, and project ideas. It’s for grades 6 to 10, but the ideas
could be adapted for an EAL classroom. You can order the book for $30 from:
http://members.shaw.ca/artbookbindery/vinylcafe.html
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external websites)
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Worksheet 1: Is Small Town Life Right for You?
Whether you enjoy living in a small town or rural community is related to what you value and
enjoy most in life. It’s not for everyone, but many small town dwellers wouldn’t want to live
anywhere else.
Select your response to the following statements to get some sense of whether small town life
could be right for you!
My Priorities
Yes
No
1.
I like to get to know my neighbours well.
Yes
No
2.
I like to live my life at a slower, more relaxed pace.
Yes
No
3.
I like to spend a lot of time outdoors.
Yes
No
4.
I enjoy driving on country roads and highways.
Yes
No
5.
I like becoming involved in organizations in my community.
Yes
No
6.
I don’t mind if my community knows things about how I live my life.
Yes
No
7.
I’d rather hear frogs and birds outside my window than vehicle horns
and traffic.
Yes
No
8.
I’d rather live somewhere where crime rates are low and I feel safe.
Yes
No
9.
I like to volunteer to help out my community.
Yes
No
10. I don’t mind living in a community where there is less cultural diversity.
Yes
No
11. I would like my children to attend a small school.
Yes
No
12. Making money is less important to me than how I live and where I live.
Yes
No
If you answered yes to 9 of the 12 statements, you might want to consider small town
life!
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Worksheet 2: Vocabulary Match
If you learn some of the new vocabulary before listening to the interview, it will be easier to
understand what you are hearing. Can you match the vocabulary words with their meaning?
The first one is completed for you as an example. You can use an English Language Learners
dictionary to help you.
Vocabulary Word
Meaning
1. _c decade
a) go from place to place
2. __ touring
b) to try to move a large or awkward
object
3. __ rehearsing
c) 10 years
4. __ lugged
d) practicing for a performance
5. __ wrestle with
e) carried
6. __ moment of inspiration
f)
7. __ a painfully empty wallet
g) bills (not coins)
8. __ folding money
h) to give to someone
9. __ hand over
i)
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you have an idea
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3: Listen for Detail and Inference
When you listen this time, listen for detail and/or inference. Decide whether each statement is
true or false or whether there isn’t enough information for you to be able to answer the
question. If there isn’t enough information, underline unsure. The first one is completed as an
example. You may have to listen to the audio more than once.
1.
The name of Stuart McLean’s show is The Vinyl Café.
True False Unsure
2.
Stuart McLean will make a return visit to Minnedosa this winter.
True False Unsure
3.
He is keen to return to Minnedosa.
True False Unsure
4.
The community arts centre did not have a piano the last time he
was there.
True False Unsure
5.
Stuart likes to play the piano.
True False Unsure
6.
Stuart was in the middle of a rehearsal when CBC called to
interview him.
True False Unsure
7.
The Vinyl Café performers discussed helping Minnedosa raise
money for a piano amongst themselves before they offered to
help fundraise.
True False Unsure
8.
They raised $300 to $400 for the piano at performances across
Canada.
True False Unsure
9.
They handed the money over to an ex-Mountie from Brandon.
True False Unsure
10. It will be a very special moment for the show when The Vinyl Café
returns to Minnedosa and John plays the piano.
True False Unsure
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Worksheet 4: Guess Vocabulary Meaning from Context
We don’t need to understand every word of a newspaper article to get the gist of the
story. And when we read, we can guess the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary and
expressions by taking hints from the context
Your teacher will assign you several paragraphs of the article in Appendix 2. With your
group, brainstorm possible meanings of the phrases or words which are in bold in these
paragraphs. Use the context to help you. Write your best guess on what the word or
phrase means on the chart below. The first two are completed for you as examples.
Paragraph
title
Word or phrase
What your group thinks it means
the article is about what happens on the
show and what listeners can expect to
hear
the host has a special bond or connection
with his listeners
on the menu
1
extraordinary bond
2
like a warm winter blanket
and a cup of hot chocolate
4
brave the elements
7
a radio phenomena
7
the latest goings on
7
a good dose
8
without a doubt
11
back-up band
12
invigorating
12
unpalatable
12
more engaged
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Worksheet 5: Help a Small Town Solve a Problem
Problem solving is part of everyday life. Sometimes we are solving problems that involve our
family or home life. Often, we solve problems at work or at school. Or we may solve problems
that face an organization or a friend.
Problem solving has a few basic steps. For example:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
We define the problem.
We gather information related to the problem.
We brainstorm possible ways to solve the problem.
We recommend a solution.
We implement the solution.
Sometimes, we aren’t required to undertake all the steps. The problem may already be
defined, or it may be up to others to determine or implement the solution. In this case, your
group is being asked to focus on steps 3 and 4 of the list above.
The problem: A small town in the province has decided it would like to encourage newcomers
to Manitoba to come to settle there. But the town’s organizing committee is not certain what
newcomers are looking for, or how they should go about telling newcomers what the town has
to offer. They are asking you to help them with this problem.
Your task: Using the chart on the next page, discuss the specific problems the town has
identified with your group and read the additional information. Make notes of your thoughts
and ideas in column three and of possible solutions in column four.
When you have completed the chart, discuss what other advice you’d like to give the town on
encouraging newcomers to settle there. Make point form notes of your advice below.







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Problems the town
has identified
Additional
information
Thoughts and ideas
Possible solution(s)
1) The town does not
offer EAL classes.
The town is not certain if
language classes are
needed.
 It’s likely that some EAL instruction will
be needed.
Recruit volunteers in the
beginning. If the newcomer
population continues to grow,
then consider offering
classes.
There are several retired
teachers in town.
 The town could ask the retired teachers
to tutor newcomers and they could look
for language partners in the community.
A nearby town has EAL
classes. It is a 30-minute
drive away.
 Getting help from a nearby town makes
sense.
2) In addition to
language training, the
town doesn’t know
what other settlement
issues are most
important to
newcomers.
The town has job openings
in such areas as health
care, retail and agriculture.

3) The town doesn’t
think newcomers
know what the town
and the region has to
offer. They also don’t
know the best way to
communicate this
information to
newcomers.
The town has schools, a
hospital, an arts centre,
recreational opportunities
and a business district.

Housing is available.

It is located in a
picturesque area of the
province.



Agriculture is an important
part of the local economy.
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Talk to teachers in the nearby
town to see if their classes
have space for more
students.
Worksheet 6: Write a Letter to a Fellow Newcomer
Scenario: You and your family are thinking about moving to a community in Manitoba
that is much smaller (or larger) than the one where you presently live. Your teacher
knows an EAL teacher in that community. That teacher has given him/her the address
of a newcomer family that has settled in that community, and has lived there for two
years. You are writing to them to find out more information about what it is like to live
there.
Who are you writing to?
Dear ____________________________
Start with why you
are writing the letter.
Thank you for helping us! My family and I are thinking about
________________________________________________.
I have a few questions I hope ____________________
_________________________.
Ask for information about
the community.
First of all, can you tell me
_______________________________
________________________________? I would also
like to know if___________________________________.
My family really enjoys ___________________________.
Will we be able to ___________________________ in your
community?
Say what’s most
important to you when
you consider moving.
In addition to the things I have already mentioned,
what’s most important to me is _________________________
________________________________________. How would
you rate __________________________________________
in your community?
Thank, close and sign
your name
I really appreciate _______________________________.
I look forward to hearing from you.
___________________________________
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Appendix 1: Transcript
January 29, 2009
Speaker
Podcast
Line
Marcy
Hi I'm Marcy Markusa and you're listening to Learning English with
CBC. Well have you ever listened to The Vinyl Café on CBC
Radio? Host Stuart McLean takes his show to small communities
across the country. He explores and gets to know rural towns and
cities and the people who live there. Well this winter, he’s
5
returning to Minnedosa Manitoba for the first time in a decade.
Radio noon host Marilyn Maki finds out what’s bringing him back.
Marilyn
So are you looking forward to coming back to Minnedosa?
Stuart
Yes very much, ya, we were there about a decade ago I think.
Marilyn
Tell us the story about why you’re coming back.
10
Well in the early days of The Vinyl Café, we began the touring
shows of The Vinyl Café in Manitoba, and we used to, ah for two
seasons, that’s just about the only place we went. We travelled
around Manitoba in a little van and went to places like Boissevain
and Neepawa. And once we went to Minnedosa and it was just
15
three of us, John Sheard on the piano, I’m at I’m at John’s house
right now actually, we’re rehearsing, and ah there was ah Chris
Whitely playing the guitar and myself driving this van all through
Manitoba. We got to Minnedosa, went to the the community arts
centre I think where we um were going to do the show and there
20
was no piano on stage. John plays the piano and we said, well,
well where’s the piano and they said oh, we’re going to get it. And
they went over to somewhere else, a school or somewhere and
got this upright piano in the back of someone’s pick-up truck and
they lugged it over and wrestled it onto the stage. And then they
told us that they were they were trying to raise money to ah buy a
baby grand for the for the town and John piped up and he says
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25
Stuart
oh I’ll donate some money, I’ll give fifty bucks. And then everybody
(continued) looked at me and I thought, hey, wait a minute, have I gotta donate
too? So then I in ah a moment of inspiration, in a desperate
30
attempt to keep my hand out of my wallet which was painfully
empty in those days, I I said, I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do,
we’re gonna raise money at all The Vinyl Café concerts we do.
And we we had an old um Kodak ah plastic um lunch cooler, like a
little plastic lunch cooler that Shoppers Drug Mart was giving away
35
at a premium at the time and we lugged that little bag to all the little
towns all across all across the country actually. And at the end of
every show we would tell everybody about Minnedosa where they
were trying to buy a piano and we passed the bag and John would
play the piano and ah we’d only collect we said we wouldn’t take
40
any folding money and I think we raised three or four thousand
dollars ah which we then ah handed over to a a Mountie, an exMountie, from Minnedosa, um in a in a strip mall in Brandon a year
later after one of our shows in Brandon. And ah so we’re coming
back to Minnedosa so that John can play the piano.
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Appendix 2
On the Menu at The Vinyl Cafe
Grant Rockingham
The Hamilton Spectator
(Dec 20, 2007)
1 An extraordinary bond exists between Stuart McLean and the hundreds of thousands of
fans of his radio show, The Vinyl Cafe.
2 The CBC program has become like a warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate on a cold
winter's day.
3 So in the middle of Sunday's blizzard when the decision was made to postpone two live
Vinyl Cafe shows at Toronto's Convocation Hall, McLean knew he owed the fans
something more than a handwritten sign on the door announcing the shows would be
postponed until Jan. 13.
4 It was the first time in 10 years of touring that McLean had been forced to cancel or
postpone a live show. He knew that while many wouldn't be able to make it, many others
would still brave the elements.
5 He couldn't make it for the matinee, but his producer, Hamilton native Jess Milton, did,
greeting fans at the doors to Convocation Hall and handing out free copies of Vinyl Cafe.
McLean was there himself to catch people arriving for the evening show.
6 "I met people at the theatre," McLean said in a phone interview this week from his tour bus.
"I brought CDs and everyone who showed up got a free CD and a little visit with me."
7 It's that kind of loyalty that has made The Vinyl Cafe a radio phenomena in this age of high
definition TV. Every weekend some 700,000 listeners tune in to hear the latest goings on
in the fictional lives of Dave, the proprietor of The Vinyl Cafe, his wife, Morley, and their
children Stephanie and Sam. As well, listeners receive a good dose of Canadian music
they probably hadn't heard before. Vinyl Cafe books have won three Stephen Leacock
awards and regularly occupy the top of the bestseller list.
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8
Without a doubt, McLean's Christmas stories are the most popular. There's the one when
Dave decides to give Morley a break and cook the Christmas dinner himself. And the
episode where Sam take home the school ferret for the holidays. Last Sunday we heard
about how Arthur, the family dog, became buddies with Trouble, the live turkey Dave was
keeping in the garage for Christmas dinner.
9 Tonight, McLean will deliver one old favourite -- The Christmas Pageant -- plus two new
stories that haven't yet made their way to radio.
10 "Dave promises Morley that indeed she'll have a white Christmas," McLean says about
one of the new stories. "So he assembles a snow-making machine and sets out to make
snow for Morley's Christmas."
11 McLean also prides himself on the quality of music he has on the show. He has a strong
back-up band consisting of multi-instrumentalist Chris Whiteley, pianist John Sheard and
bassist Dennis Pendrith. On this tour his musical guests are singer-songwriter Danny
Michel and Allison Russell, lead singer of the roots trio Po' Girl.
12 "We made a decision about five years ago that we would play only Canadian music on the
show and focus on young people," McLean says about the musical selection. "It's been
wonderfully invigorating for me. For most people, their musical education stops
somewhere in their 20s or 30s, it becomes the music of their life. Now I'm being led by my
music producer Julie Penner and my producer Jess Milton, both of whom are in their 20s.
At first I found the stuff unpalatable almost, it wasn't what my ear was used to. But then I
started listening the way I used to listen as a teenager. I'm enchanted by it now. I'm more
engaged with the music of the shows than I ever have been. And I'm loving it. I'm a very
lucky man in that way."
Source: http://www.thespec.com/printArticle/298871
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