Shadowing Practice: Simplified Speech #186 – Christmas 2023 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hello there, everyone.

My name's Andrew.

And I'm Cassie.

And this is the Q -Lips English Podcast.

This is Simplified Speech, the Q -Lips series, which features clear, natural, and easy to understand English conversations about interesting topics.

And today I am joined by my co -host, Cassie.

Hey Cassie, how's it going?

Hey Andrew and hey listeners.

I'm doing super well and I hope you guys are too.

Cassie, what is our topic of conversation for today?

Well, the holidays are coming up so today's topic is Christmas 2023.

Yeah, so we'll get into our conversation all about Christmas and how we're planning to celebrate this year and Cassie,

I'm very curious to hear about how you're going to celebrate Christmas in Thailand in a hot place, but we'll save that for just a moment because before we start,

guys, I want to let you know that there is a study guide

and interactive transcript that is available for this episode if you are a Q -Lips member.

And in fact, we make study guides and transcripts for all of our episodes,

and they're created by our team of expert English teachers to help you get the most out of your time

that you spend with QLips and to help you in your English learning journey.

Now, as a QLips member, you'll also get exclusive bonuses and exclusive means member only that other people don't get, only you as a member.

So those benefits include invites to our monthly live streams, full access to our fluency file series and more.

So to sign up and become a QLips member, just visit our website qlips .com.

Now at the start of the show, we'd also like to give a shout out to one of our listeners who is tuning in from Canada, it looks like.

Cassie, my home country.

And this listener has the username plantlover406.

Okay, perfect.

And this is a very cute comment.

Cassie, would you do us the honors and read it for us?

Sure.

Plant Lover 406 says, Hi, Q -Lips.

My mom subscribed to the podcast and the rest is history.

I love Andrew's stories, Cassie's attitude, Anna's wisdom, and Suzanne's accents.

Thank you for the amazing content.

Even though I don't have an issue with my English level, I still tune in to find out about the lives of the hosts.

It is a lifesaver in this stressful world of a nine -year -old keep up the good work omg

that is so cute well plant lover 406 thank you

so much for that comment and cassie i wonder

if plant lover likes your attitude because it's cool or bad

or good i wonder what kind of attitude you have yeah i'm bad to the bone such a bad attitude dude.

No, I know what Plant Lover is trying to communicate there.

And yeah, so that is awesome.

I love it, actually, when people listen to the podcast because they find it interesting or entertaining.

Of course, we're here first and foremost to teach English and to provide amazing educational English lessons.

But I also feel very pleased when people like it because it's entertaining.

And I think that is what Plant Lover was trying to tell us.

So thank you so much again for the awesome review and the five -star rating on Apple Podcasts.

And thanks to everybody out there who is supporting what we do at Q -Lips by rating

and reviewing us on your favorite podcast app.

Please keep it up.

And with that said, Cassie, why don't we transition into our main topic of conversation for today,

which is Christmas 2023.

And I know you guys can't see it because you are listening right now, but Cassie and I are communicating with each other through video call.

Of course, I'm in Korea and Cassie is in Thailand.

And I changed the background of my video call to this wonderful Christmas background.

There's a huge Christmas tree and a fireplace roaring in the background.

So I feel very Christmassy right now, Cassie, but I don't really see any Christmas decorations in your background.

No, but yours is very festive.

I feel so cozy right now.

So maybe we could start there.

We could start by talking about decorations.

In general, Cassie, are you someone who tries to get into the Christmas spirit by decorating your house with a Christmas tree

or Christmas lights or decorations, anything like that?

Honestly, no, but my mother is a huge Christmas person.

Her three favorite things in the whole world are Christmas, Disney, and the beach.

So when those three things are coming up in her life, she just goes all out.

She has a huge tree, a train, a tree inside and outside, fireplace roaring every night.

It's like Christmas threw up around our house.

I wonder if your mom can combine two of her passions then, Christmas and Disney.

I'm sure she has like a lot of Disney Christmas ornaments on the tree.

Is that the case?

She does.

She used to have a shelf in our house specifically full of these limited edition priceless Disney ornaments as well.

But Unfortunately, there was one year where the shelf broke and many of them smashed.

And I'm sure a little piece of my mom's heart also died with those ornaments.

I think I remember you telling me that story once before on a different Simplified Speech episode. So sad.

So then why hasn't that carried on to you?

Why aren't you following in your mom's footsteps and going all out with decorating your house for Christmas?

I think it's because I'm a bit of a nomad, Andrew.

I have never worked at the same job for more than two years, and I've never lived in the same house for more than two years.

So because of that, I just don't like having a lot of stuff

because then I have to bring it to the next place.

Yeah, yeah, I get that.

I'm in a similar situation to you, Cassie.

I grew up with parents who went all out at Christmas and they still decorate the house.

You know, I remember putting up Christmas lights outside with my dad on the roof and we had a big Christmas tree.

Well, when I was maybe in middle school or high school, we switched to an artificial Christmas tree.

But when I was a real little kid, we used to go and get a real tree.

We wouldn't chop a tree down in the forest or anything like that.

We weren't that extreme.

But there would be Christmas tree lots in the supermarket parking lot

and you could go and buy a real Christmas tree

and they would be like fresh cut from the forest or from a tree farm.

I don't know exactly where they came from, but you could pick up a tree

and it would always be a bit of a battle to take the tree home

because you've got this like big two meter long tree, right?

You'd have to attach it to the roof of your car

or put it in the back of your truck or something

and then you'd get it home and the tree would be a real fresh tree

and there'd be like sap coming out of it.

And sap is that really sticky liquid that comes out of a tree

100

if you perforate the surface of the tree trunk, right?

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If you cut a hole in the tree trunk.

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So it'd be really sticky and sappy and wet.

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And so what we would have to do is dry the tree out for a few days in the garage.

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We'd like put the tree up and just let it dry out a little bit.

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We never did that.

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We had a real tree too.

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That's smart.

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You had a real tree too?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And then ironically, once you would put the tree up in your house, you would have to put the base of the tree in water so that it wouldn't turn brown.

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Yep.

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You dry it out and then rehydrate.

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But listeners, as you can tell, that's a ton of work.

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And I don't blame my parents at all for switching over to an artificial tree.

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So there's been many years now that we've just had a fake Christmas tree.

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But yeah, the Christmas tree goes up, the ornaments come out, the lights go up, and my parents go all out.

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But yeah, Cassie, I'm the same as you.

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You know, I like Christmas.

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I'm not like a huge Christmas guy until maybe the week before.

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I like Christmas, but I think we celebrate it for too long.

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It's not a day of Christmas.

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It's a month or a month and a half of Christmas.

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Yeah, it's too long in my opinion.

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So I tried to save decorating and stuff until maybe, you know, the 20th, 19th, 20th, and then, you know,

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take it down on the 26th or 27th and move on to the new year.

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That works for me.

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That's my Christmas season.

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Maybe you'll get a few more decorations now that you have your own place.

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Yeah, that is exactly what I wanted to talk about, Cassie, because now I finally feel like I'm in a position where I could actually buy a Christmas tree

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and it wouldn't be a waste because I know I'm not going to move.

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Well, hopefully not going to move.

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You never can say never, right?

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But I feel like I'm in a permanent place now.

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So my wife and I were debating about buying a full -sized Christmas tree for our home this year.

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But then we saw how expensive they are and we decided, no, we'll just stick with the little mini Christmas tree.

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It's probably 25 centimeter tall mini Christmas tree that we've been using the last couple of years.

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I think we'll stick with that.

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Easier to decorate, easier to put up, easier to put into storage.

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It's a win, win, win.

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Exactly.

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But we did want to make our house look more Christmassy.

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So we bought a Christmas wreath and we hung it on our front door.

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and actually it's been a bit of a battle trying to hang the wreath

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because our front door is a metal front door it looks like wood

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but it's made out of metal but it's not magnetic

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so at first I thought oh this will just be easy

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we can hang like a magnetic hook on the front door

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and hang the wreath but that doesn't work

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so then my wife bought these like hooks

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that have a little sticky pad on the back and she stuck that on there.

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And then the weather went from being really warm one day to really cold the next day.

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And I guess the sticky pad didn't like that because we woke up and the wreath was on the ground. So sad.

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So now we've been trying some other methods.

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We tried like gluing the hook to the front door and also the wreath fell down again.

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So we're trying our best to have like a Christmassy vibe for our front entrance to the house.

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But yeah, so far, no luck

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but I think we just need to use maybe some super glue or something and just attach it really seriously.

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You'll never get the wreath off again.

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Yeah, it might be Christmas, not just for one week at our house, but for 365 days.

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I'm not sure.

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Exactly.

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And we also bought a little step ladder and when the step ladder arrives, we just bought it online.

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When the step ladder arrives, then I'm going to get some Christmas lights and I'm going to go up onto the roof and hang some Christmas lights, which I think will be really cool.

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Because although Korea is a country where Christmas is celebrated, and just going around Seoul these days, you can see lots of Christmas decorations,

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many Christmas trees, lots of stores and cafes are all decked out.

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There's Christmas music playing in cafes and stores.

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But one thing that you don't see is people hanging Christmas lights to decorate the exterior of their houses.

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So now that I have a house here, that's what I'm going to do.

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I'm going to put some Christmas lights outside, and I think I'll be the only house, not even on our streets, but the whole neighborhood.

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You can light up your neighborhood.

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Yeah, that'll be great.

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Exactly.

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Yeah, so I'm excited for that.

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Cassie, what is your plan for Christmas Day then?

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How are you going to celebrate?

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and does it feel more difficult for you to get into the christmas mood

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when you're in a place like i imagine it's not an official holiday in thailand is that true

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or tell us a little bit about spending christmas in thailand it's true it's not an official holiday

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but there are so many expats living in thailand especially from europe and the u .s like more western cultures

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So you definitely see a lot of decorations on the streets or in the big shopping malls in Bangkok.

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So it's still there, but even though it's not like an officially celebrated holiday,

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you can still see it around with like the tourists that are there, the expats that are there, and the stores that want to make money from Christmas shopping.

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yeah oh they have christmas markets too where you could buy some gifts

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and then also our school is an american school

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so high school not so much

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but the elementary school they really go hard on the christmas festivities leading up to winter break that's awesome

188

and do you have any special plans for how you're going

189

to celebrate the day honestly we're kind of skipping christmas this year my cousins

190

and my aunt and uncle from Sweden are coming to visit for three weeks.

191

Yeah, and I think on Christmas Day, we're going to be in the middle of Kauyai National Park outside of Bangkok a few hours.

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And I think we're going on some sort of jungle tour.

193

So not your typical Christmas, but we'll be having fun together.

194

Yeah, that's awesome.

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As for me, my wife and I don't really have anything special planned.

196

We'll probably just have a pretty laid back Christmas.

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I don't think we'll really do anything out of the ordinary, to be honest.

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But the one thing that we will do is we're going to go see the Nutcracker Ballet.

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My wife bought tickets to that.

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That's really cool.

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Yeah.

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So I'm not sure if that is on the 23rd, the 24th, or the 25th.

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I know it's sometime around Christmas.

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But yeah, right around Christmas Day, we're going to go and see the Nutcracker and then we'll probably go out for like a nice dinner afterwards.

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You know, Christmas Eve in Korea is a big date day.

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It's like a day to hang out with your girlfriend or boyfriend or in my case, my wife.

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And we'll go out and just, yeah, have a nice dinner on that day.

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And I think that'll probably be it for Christmas for this

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year for us you should get some of those delicious scones from

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that shop near your old place those were so good

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yeah listeners last time

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that cassie was in korea we went to this amazing scone

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shop it's like a bakery they bake their own scones

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and it's really good

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so cassie i think that's a wonderful idea i should pick

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up some scones then i can wake up on christmas morning

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and just have a nice cup of coffee and a scone and just enjoy my Christmas that way.

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I love it.

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Well, everyone, I think we will end this episode here.

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We're going to keep going for a little while longer for our Q -Lips members.

221

So if you are a member of our Q -Lips member community, then guys, you can access more of our conversation.

222

You can listen to more of our conversation just by going to the Q -Lips dashboard.

223

You have to log in on our website, go to the dashboard and listen to the episode through there.

224

That's where you'll find the extra bonus content.

225

But if you're not a Q -Lips member, well then guys, we are going to end our conversation here.

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So thank you so much for listening.

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And please remember that you can support Q -Lips by becoming a Q -Lips member.

228

All the details are on our website, qlips .com.

229

You could also support the work that we do here by following us on social media, by joining our Discord community, which is free to join,

230

or by telling your friends who are learning English to check Q -Lips out.

231

So Merry Christmas, everyone, and we'll talk to you next time.

232

Goodbye.

233

See ya.

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel B1 se basa en el vídeo “Simplified Speech – Christmas 2023”. Las palabras que más se repiten: christmas, tree, cassie, Lips. Este vídeo tiene 233 frases y 2842 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 16:55. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 168 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. El 84 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
decorate verbo	/ˈdɛkəɹeɪt/	decorar, engalanar
decoration sustantivo	/ˌdɛkəˈɹeɪʃən/	decoración
scone sustantivo	/skoʊ̯n/	scone, scon
listener sustantivo	/ˈlɪs(ə)nɚ/	oyente, escucha
lover sustantivo	/ˈlʌvɚ/	amante, enamorado
ornament sustantivo	/ˈɔɹnəmənt/	ornamento
sticky adjetivo	/ˈstɪki/	pegajoso, pegadizo
podcast sustantivo	/ˈpɑdˌkæst/	podcast, pódcast
ladder sustantivo	/ˈlæd.ɚ/	escalafón
dashboard sustantivo	/ˈdæʃˌboɹd/	tablero de instrumentos, salpicadero
fireplace sustantivo	/ˈfaɪɹpleɪs/	chimenea, hogar
transcript sustantivo	/ˈtɹæn.skɹɪpt/	transcripción
roar verbo	/ˈɹoɹ/	rugir
attach verbo	/əˈtæt͡ʃ/	adjuntar, atachar
glue sustantivo	/ɡlu/	cola, goma

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
go up verbo		subir
put up verbo		colgar
come out verbo	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	revelarse, salir a la luz
come up verbo		salir a relucir
go around verbo		cundir
go out verbo		salir
keep up verbo		continuar con, continuar así
light up verbo		iluminar

Frases que vale la pena repetir

Frases cortas y completas del vídeo que puedes reutilizar en la conversación diaria:

Cassie, what is our topic of conversation for today?
Cassie, would you do us the honors and read it for us?
So then why hasn't that carried on to you?
You had a real tree too?
How are you going to celebrate?

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

Estructura	En el vídeo
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — una acción que empezó antes y continúa	we've been using · we've been trying
“Used to” used to + verbo — un hábito o estado pasado que ya no es cierto	used to have · used to go
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	have never worked · there's been · it's been
Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa	someone who tries · community, which is · friends who are

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 82 contracciones y formas reducidas, como I'm, don't, we'll. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: decoration /ˌdɛkəˈɹeɪʃən/, dashboard /ˈdæʃˌboɹd/, shelf /ʃɛlf/, artificial /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, shout /ʃaʊt/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: decoration /ˌdɛkəˈɹeɪʃən/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, artificial /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, festivity /fɛˈstɪvəti/, ironically /aɪˈɹɑnɪkli/

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: scone /skoʊ̯n/, sticky /ˈstɪki/, stressful /ˈstɹɛsfəl/, smash /smæʃ/, skip /skɪp/
/v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: lover /ˈlʌvɚ/, festivity /fɛˈstɪvəti/, lifesaver /ˈlaɪfˌseɪvəɹ/, festive /ˈfɛstɪv/, vibe /vaɪb/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como decorate, decoration, scone.

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →

Shadowing Practice: Simplified Speech #186 – Christmas 2023 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Frases que vale la pena repetir

Gramática en este vídeo

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?