Shadowing Practice: It's my BIRTHDAY! | British English Podcast - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hello everybody and welcome back to British English Pod with me Lewis

and this week in class we've been speaking all about birthdays.

Why?

Why did I choose this topic?

Well the reason is because yesterday was my birthday.

So the 24th of September is my birthday and yesterday I turned

34 years young.

Normally we'd say 34 years old but you know despite being now in my mid -30s Ugh,

I hate saying it.

I feel relatively young.

You know, I'm just about to get married.

I haven't got children yet, so I still feel quite young.

So right now, as of yesterday, I am 34 years young.

Happy birthday to me!

But before I start having a chat about the topic birthdays, parties and teaching you some British English slang,

some colloquialisms, some phrasal verbs and some expressions, let me know in the comments.

When's your birthday and how old are you?

I know for some people it's not a very polite question

if you ask them how old are you

but for me it's normal there's nothing wrong with that so

if you feel brave enough confident enough tell me in the comments when's your birthday

and how old are you oh

and as i'm sure you will already recognize i'm still at my mom

and dad's house and i've got a cup of tea here just to keep me going.

But in fact, I'm speaking to you from the past because I'm recording this video on the 31st of August.

So technically it's not my birthday yet and I'm still 33 years old.

So thinking about future, Louis, hopefully I have a great time for my birthday.

And I'll be in Brussels for my birthday.

And I believe my plan will be to go out for a meal with my fiance somewhere nice.

It'll be a Thursday evening.

So, you know, for me, Thursday is the beginning of the weekend

so it falls on quite a nice day

and then on Friday I believe I already have plans

because my neighbors who live downstairs

and who are Spanish I think they have some friends coming over to visit them

so we're probably going to hang out with them and maybe go out for dinner together we will see.

And then on Saturday, I'm going to do my favorite plan, which is waking up, going out for a coffee and a nice walk.

Fingers crossed the weather will be nice and warm and sunny and at least not raining.

Then, you know, just playing it by ear, improvising, going with the flow for the rest of the day.

And well, knowing that it'll be my birthday, I hope to have a birthday cake as well.

You know, a nice chocolate birthday cake.

Or maybe a cheesecake.

Or perhaps a carrot cake.

Just give me all of the cakes.

All right, now let's go over a few first questions.

And the first question, which you will now see if you are watching this video, is how do you normally celebrate it?

How do you normally celebrate your birthday?

Well, I kind of just told you,

but usually I celebrate my birthday by going out for a meal with my fiance.

I don't ever expect big presents.

I'm not really a fan of material gifts.

I prefer to get experiences.

So sometimes we'll go away for the weekend, you know, looking for a cheap flight somewhere else in Europe,

renting a place to stay, a hotel in the city center, and then we walk, we eat, and we drink.

I'm a simple man and I have simple pleasures, just wandering around, going for a drink,

getting a little bit tipsy and eating some really high quality food.

So that is usually how I celebrate my birthday.

And in recent years, I'm not usually home with my family for my birthday

because I tend to be back in the UK in August or maybe the first week of September.

So sometimes we have a little bit of an early birthday meal to celebrate my birthday, but that's it.

Nothing major.

But what about last time?

So last year, how did I celebrate my birthday?

Well, kind of in the same way.

I remember that my fiancé had booked a night away in a hotel, and it was a surprise.

I didn't know where we were going to go, but I did manage to get an idea.

She gave me some clues, and she told me that, well, we weren't going to fly anywhere.

So being in Brussels, I was thinking, all right, maybe we're going to get the train.

We might get the train to Bruges or to Ghent or to Liège or to Antwerp.

And if we were to go even further afield, perhaps we were going to go to Cologne in Germany,

or Lille in France, or Rotterdam or Amsterdam in the Netherlands,

because all of these are cities that are relatively close to Brussels.

You can perfectly get a train and be there within an hour or slightly longer.

But no, we didn't go too far away.

We went to a very small town, which is called La Hulpe.

L -A space H -U -L -P -E.

And it's just outside of a forest on the outskirts of Brussels.

And as it happened, there was actually a local fair going on that day.

And the sun was out.

It was a lovely day.

So when we got there, we saw that there were lots of food stalls and even like some town fair activities.

So, you know, we were quite lucky because we hadn't planned that.

We had only planned on going to this small town, staying overnight in a hotel, and that was it.

And in the end, the weather was lovely and there was a local town fair.

So I had a blast.

I had a ball.

I had a whale of a time.

That's how I celebrated my last birthday.

Now question number three.

Is turning 18 a big deal in your country?

So some people don't realize this, but in the United Kingdom, when you turn 17, that's when you're allowed to drive.

That's when you get your driving license, or at least you are in your right to do your driving lessons and sit your driving test.

So you get a little bit of freedom and independence a year before you are 18.

But of course, when you're 18, it's the big one because officially you become an adult.

From that point, you are allowed to vote, and you are allowed to drink alcohol.

So suddenly, overnight, you become an adult and gain this freedom.

So I'd say that turning 18 is quite a big deal in the UK.

And I think it's the same in many different countries.

But I know in some countries in South America,

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they celebrate your 15th birthday, especially girls, I think.

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If we have anybody from South America, let me know.

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Is it a big deal when you turn 15, especially as a girl?

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I've heard and seen on some American TV programs that you have La Quincena or something similar to that.

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So please clear that up for us if you know about it.

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Now, number four, have you ever pretended to like a present?

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Yes, I have definitely pretended to like different presents, and that's probably one of the reasons why I never really request.

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presents from my fiance or my family anymore because I'm a minimalist.

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I don't need a lot of things.

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With black t -shirts, that's all.

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That's enough.

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So there are times when people get me a new shirt or new trousers, you name it.

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And I have to smile, receive the present and say, oh, thank you so much.

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That's so thoughtful of you.

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I really appreciate it.

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I really needed these new gloves.

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And I'm often not that appreciative.

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Maybe I should be, but it's hard for me to get excited about physical gifts.

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So just to be nice and to show that I'm grateful, I do pretend to like a present,

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even if I'm never going to wear it in my life.

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Now, number five, has anyone ever thrown you a surprise birthday party?

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And in English, we can also use the phrase throw a party to say like to organize a party, to have a party.

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But no, I don't think anybody has ever thrown me a surprise birthday party, and I'm quite happy about it.

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I don't really want anyone to throw me a surprise birthday party because I feel under pressure, like all eyes are on me.

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I wouldn't be very, very comfortable, to be honest.

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I know some people absolutely love it when their best friends or their partner throw them a surprise birthday party.

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But for me, it's just not my thing.

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I'd rather know what's going on.

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And for me, it's already enough of the surprise if I don't know which restaurant I'm going to go to.

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With that surprise, that is plenty, more than enough.

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Now, question number six is an interesting one.

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If you could invite any five people, living or dead, to your birthday, who would you invite?

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Well, who would I invite?

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Let me think.

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Let me have a bit of my cup of tea whilst I'm thinking. Do you know what?

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Right now, maybe I'm feeling a bit emotional because I no longer have any grandparents.

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Unfortunately, all of my grandparents have passed away.

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My granddad and my grandma, well, granddad from mom's side of the family and grandma from dad's side of the family,

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both of them passed away almost 10 years ago.

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and then my grandma from my mom's side of the family

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and my granddad from my dad's side of the family have passed away within the last year

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so of course they were very very old they no longer really had a high quality of life

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and they passed away peacefully so it made sense I accepted it Of course, I got a little bit emotional,

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but it wasn't a shock.

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It was their time.

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They had had wonderful lives.

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But whenever you say goodbye to a family member, you always think back to the good old days.

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And you think back to memories of what you did as toddlers, young children, teenagers.

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so for that reason I think I would choose all four of my grandparents

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and all of them are dead but I would invite them to my birthday

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and have a meal with them and have a chat with them

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and ask them questions that maybe I didn't ask them

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when I was kind of too young to realize or I didn't ask them about their childhood,

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when now it'd be so interesting to hear what they had to say and hear their experiences.

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So for that reason, I'd choose my grandparents.

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And then the only living person that I would choose to invite to my birthday party would be my fiance,

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of course, because for her as well, I think it would be beautiful

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because she didn't really know a couple of my grandparents who passed away about 10 years ago.

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She had met them once or twice, but that's it.

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So it would be great for her to share this time with them and with me.

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So yeah, I haven't prepared this answer.

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But I'm quite happy with my response because sometimes with these questions,

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these hypothetical questions, you think maybe I would invite Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, maybe not Michael Jackson,

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but you know, you get the idea.

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Famous, influential people throughout history.

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But I think it would mean a lot more to me if I invited loved ones who unfortunately are no longer here.

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So yeah, what about you?

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Would you do a similar thing?

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Would you invite your parents or grandparents or maybe cousins?

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Who would you invite to your ideal birthday party?

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But now we're going to look at some words and phrases.

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So I encourage you to watch the screen and you can see some images with some questions.

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The first question is just, what's he doing?

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So what is this boy doing?

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Well, I can see a boy.

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It looks like he's wearing his pajamas and the lights have been turned off and he's holding a cake.

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And the cake has, I think, six different candles on it and all of the candles are lit.

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So what do you do on your birthday?

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You blow out the candles.

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So this boy is blowing out the candles.

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Do you blow out the candles on your birthday?

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And if you do, I imagine that maybe you close your eyes at the same time and you make a wish.

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At least, I think this is the culture in most of Europe.

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I know in Spain they do it, in the UK we do it as well

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when you blow out your birthday cake candles you always close your eyes and make a wish

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now the next question

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and the next image you can see a group of people

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in a house with some lights up with some food on

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the table it looks like they're having a chat they're mingling

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so this one's not necessarily related to birthdays but hey it's interesting what's the first party in a new home called?

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You know, when you move into a new flat or home and you invite your friends.

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What's this party called?

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Well, it is a housewarming party.

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So if in the future I buy my own house, I think I'd invite people around for a housewarming party.

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Now the next one, we can see a little girl

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and she's got a present in her hands and the present is wrapped up.

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And you know, a lot of little children, they struggle to do this.

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They're like, they're trying to open the present.

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So she is unwrapping this present.

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She's trying to open it.

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And by the way, I am terrible at wrapping up presents.

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Every Christmas, my mum and dad laugh at me because I put the wrapping paper on a table, put the present in the middle,

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and I fold it over, get a bit of sallow tape, and then job done.

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I don't really take much care in making sure it looks beautiful with a ribbon and everything.

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Now a phrasal verb, we can see an image of somebody maybe at work giving a present to somebody else.

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So how do you say contribute financially to buy a gift?

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Contribute financially to buy a gift?

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Well, it is chip in.

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A lot of colleagues chipped in to buy this gift.

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They all contributed a little bit of their money.

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Now the next phrase, what about relax and enjoy oneself?

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Is there an expression that means relax and enjoy yourself?

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In particular, it's common with women because it's related to long hair

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so this friday i'm going to let my hair down so

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if you let your hair down you either chill and go out with your friends partying

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well yeah that's what you do letting your hair down is you know your hair is up it's tied

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and And then you let it down to go out, have fun, and stop worrying about things. And...

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How about go out partying in a city?

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What is an expression that means to go out partying in a city?

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Well, you can say go out out.

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This weekend, I'm going to go out out, like out until late.

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But maybe a more old -fashioned expression is paint the town red.

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This weekend, I'm going to meet up with my friends and we're going to paint the town red.

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When was the last time that you painted the town red?

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For me, it's been ages.

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Maybe it's my old age.

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And a bit of British slang.

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What's a British synonym for party?

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I'm having a party but you can also say, I'm having a do.

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Yes, a do, like the verb to do.

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And if you think about bachelor party and bachelorette party, in the UK, we say a stag do or a hen do,

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because a do means a party.

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Good.

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And how else can you say hungover?

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Well, I have a hangover, or I am hungover, but quite a common British phrase,

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if you've drunk too much alcohol, the next day you are hanging.

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Oh, I'm going to be hanging tomorrow morning.

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Oh, I feel a bit worse for wear.

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And then related to this, a really, really British, super advanced phrase.

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What about the cure, you know, to cure a hangover by drinking more alcohol?

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Let me paint a picture for you.

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So imagine that I've just gone out the night before and I'm hanging, I'm worse for wear.

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But now I'm having breakfast with a couple of friends.

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And we're all in the same boat.

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We're all in the same situation.

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And one of my friends goes to the bar and he's asking if any of us would like to buy a drink, an alcoholic drink.

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And when he asks us, he says, all right, does anyone fancy a pint?

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You know, hair of the dog.

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Hair of the dog.

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So there is an explanation for this phrase, and we'll get on to that.

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But you say it when you're feeling hungover, when usually you're with other people,

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and you know that just drinking a little bit more alcohol will cure your hangover.

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You will get over it.

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So we use this expression quite a lot in the United Kingdom.

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We're not alcoholics, but it's quite commonly used.

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But let me explain the origin of it, because I've heard of it before,

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but I never remember the origin of this expression.

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So I'm looking it up as we speak. So let me explain.

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A morning drink may be the last thing you want after a night of boozing, but that's exactly what this quirky English expression means.

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Originally, the expression referred to a method of treating a rabid dog bite.

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Hair from the dog was placed in the wound.

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So in that sense, having another drink or any drink is like taking hair from the dog that bit you.

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So it's kind of like how vaccines work.

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You're taking a little bit of the poison in order to build up your immune system.

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Something along those lines.

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So hair of the dog.

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Okay.

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Now let's get on to this dialogue.

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This little chat between two people using all of these phrases.

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So hopefully you've been paying attention to these phrases.

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So now understanding the dialogue will be a piece of cake.

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It'll be easy peasy.

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Now let me have a little bit of my cup of tea.

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And I'm looking outside that it was nice and sunny a couple of hours ago.

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And now it's all cloudy.

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And as I said earlier, we're still in August in the UK.

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So genuinely, after such a great, hot, dry, kind of worryingly hot summer in the United Kingdom,

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we're back to normal, back to British weather.

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Hey, luckily, I'm used to it.

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So no problem, no problem at all.

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Now on to this conversation, this dialogue.

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So the two characters are Emma and Jack, and I'm going to start with Emma.

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Emma, hey, are you doing anything this weekend?

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Jack, yeah, actually, it's my sister's birthday on Saturday.

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She's going to turn 30, so we're having a big birthday do.

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Emma, oh, nice.

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Is it at her place?

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Jack.

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No, we're hiring a little venue in town.

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Apparently, she's invited about 40 people.

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Emma.

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40?

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That's quite a party.

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Jack.

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Yeah, she wants to let her hair down.

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She's been working loads recently, so she deserves a good night out.

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Emma.

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Definitely.

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Are you organizing anything special?

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Jack.

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Well, we're trying to keep it a surprise.

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We're going to decorate the place, order loads of food, and get a massive cake.

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Then, at some point, she'll have to blow out the candles while everyone sings, Happy Birthday!

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Emma.

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Classic.

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What are you getting her?

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Jack.

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A weekend away.

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It's pretty expensive, though.

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So the whole family is going to chip in.

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Emma.

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That's a good idea.

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How much is everyone putting in?

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Jack.

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About 20 quid each.

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My parents are paying for most of it, though.

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Emma.

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Lucky her.

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I bet she'll love it.

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Jack.

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I hope so.

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After dinner, we're going to unwrap presents, and then we're planning to go into town.

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Emma.

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Sounds like you're going to paint the town red.

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Jack Exactly, although I'm not looking forward to Sunday morning Emma Why not?

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Jack Because knowing my sister will probably still be out at 2

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or 3 in the morning I'll be absolutely hanging the next day Emma

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You could always try hair of the dog Jack Absolutely not That's the last thing I need after a night like that.

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Emma.

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That's what everyone says.

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Jack.

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Well, we'll see.

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Maybe I'll just stay in bed all Sunday and recover.

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Emma.

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Fair enough.

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Have a great time at the birthday do.

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Jack.

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Thanks.

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And if you don't hear from me on Sunday, you'll know why.

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so there we have the dialogue between jack

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and emma organizing her birthday do and they are siblings they are brothers

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and sisters and it sounds like they're going to paint the town red

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and emma is gonna let her hair down so as a result the next day both of them are gonna be hanging.

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So let's see if they use the old method of hair of the dog.

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But from there, let's, you know, just have a chat using some of these phrases, some of these expressions.

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So I've got some really short, simple questions that encourage you to use these phrases.

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And this is a reminder, as always, this is the content that I use in my classes with all of my students.

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And we have a laugh and we let our hair down.

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So if you're interested in joining my classes, I will leave a link in the video description.

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So the first question, when was the last time you let your hair down?

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Well, the last time I let my hair down was

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when I met up with my friends a few weeks ago

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because I hadn't seen them in a while and it was nice to catch up with them.

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So We went out during the day and we found a nice bar next to the canal.

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And then later on that night, we went to another place which had live music on.

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So we were singing and dancing and we all let our hair down.

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The second question, have you ever been hanging after a party?

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Yes, absolutely.

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But I'll tell you what.

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The difficult thing, usually, is that when I'm hanging and I'm worse for wear and I'm back here in England,

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it tends to be that the next day my family come around for a big meal

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and to spend some quality time together.

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And that's quite unfortunate because I usually go out the night before and then I'm hanging the next day.

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So I'm a bit miserable when I'm hungover.

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So it means I'm not very sociable seeing my auntie and my uncle and my cousin.

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But it is what it is.

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Sometimes the best solution is hair of the dog.

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Okay, next question.

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What's the best birthday do you've ever been to?

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The best birthday party you've ever been to?

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Well, I'm not sure, but I'm thinking now about when I was at university, because when you're at uni,

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suddenly you've left your parents' house,

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so there were lots of birthday dues in student accommodation or shared houses,

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and because you didn't have to worry about parents anymore and you're a little bit carefree because you're young and foolish.

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We had some amazing birthday do's where we'd have pre -drinks,

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then we'd go out partying and we'd have an amazing time.

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So of course I've had some great birthday do's in more recent years as well

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but right now I'm thinking more than anything about my party days whilst I was at university.

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Now I'm going to skip the next couple of questions

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and move on to the one which includes the phrasal verb chip in, which is to contribute financially.

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So do you normally chip in when buying presents for friends?

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I don't.

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In my group of friends, we never get each other presents.

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I know some friendship groups will set up a WhatsApp group.

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And weeks before somebody's birthday, they'll start brainstorming and thinking about what they can get,

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the birthday boy or birthday girl and they'll say, okay, this jacket costs a hundred euros.

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So everybody needs to chip in a tenner, 10 euros.

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But I don't really like this.

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And it's not only because I'm stingy, but I've never done it with my best mates.

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So then there are times when some other friends will add me to one of these WhatsApp groups.

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And they won't ask if I'm interested in participating before.

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They'll just add me to the WhatsApp group.

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And then I feel a bit uncomfortable having to say, I don't really want to do this because I don't do it with my own friends.

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So I don't really understand why I should do it with another friendship group.

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and then i feel like they're not doing the same for me

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so it's a bit unfair so maybe it is

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because i'm tight -fisted i'm stingy but i don't really like chipping in

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when buying presents for friends like

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if you want to buy a present just buy a present

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you do you you don't have to drag other people into

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the same situation in order to be able to afford something a bit more impressive.

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So no, I don't usually chip in when it comes to buying presents for friends.

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Sorry.

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Okay, now from there, let's keep moving on.

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Let's keep progressing.

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And we've only got a couple of things that we're going to go over now.

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But there is one interesting question that I'd like to ask you.

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Because in English, we have an expression, which is your birthday suit.

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Do you have any idea what your birthday suit could mean?

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If you know, bravo, I will be clapping and applauding you.

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But I'm going to give you a clue because the image I show you will give it away.

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It will reveal the answer.

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Your birthday suit, as we can see in this image, means...

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naked, nude.

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So if you are in your birthday suit, it means you are naked.

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Another example could be that the postman was walking past my house and as he was dropping off some letters,

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he saw that I just got out of the shower and I was in my birthday suit, meaning I was naked.

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I hadn't put on any clothes yet.

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So that's another expression just to be aware of.

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And to finish, let me answer a few final questions.

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The first question, are you good at memorizing friends and family birthdays?

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Yes, I'm quite good at memorizing friends and family birthdays.

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I know perfectly my sisters,

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my nephews, my parents, my brother -in -laws, my fiancés, of course.

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So really, really close people, I know them off by heart.

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And my best mates from school, I also remember them perfectly.

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So yeah, I'd say overall, I'm quite good at memorizing friends and family birthdays.

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Yeah.

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the next question do you normally dress up for a birthday do this could mean a fancy dress a costume

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or it could mean to dress up formally

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so i don't normally dress up formally for a birthday do i'm quite casual

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and informal in the clothes that i choose to wear but there are times when some people love fancy dress parties,

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costume parties.

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And I quite like it as well.

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I haven't been to one for a couple of years now, but I quite enjoy going to a fancy dress party.

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So I wouldn't mind if somebody else chooses to do that in the near future.

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But I don't normally do it, no.

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next question if you forget somebody's birthday do you say happy belated birthday

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let me explain this the phrase happy belated birthday is used

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when you forgot somebody's birthday or it's not their birthday anymore

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but you still want to wish them a happy birthday you say happy belated birthday

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so if you are still watching this podcast until this point it's not my birth anymore

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so what you should be telling me is lewis happy belated

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birthday thank you now let's do a last question should employers companies bosses get given a day off for their birthday?

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Should employers get given, well, should employers give a day off for their birthday?

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Hmm.

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I remember in my first company, we had this privilege that whenever it was your birthday,

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all the other teachers would try to cover your classes so that you had a day off.

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And it's quite a nice thing to do.

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It's a nice little perk of the job.

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But as soon as the company gets bigger, then I don't think it's that possible.

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So I believe your boss or your employer should try to get you a present, maybe an Amazon voucher or something like that.

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But actually giving you a day off work, I think is wishful thinking.

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It's being very, very optimistic.

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But if they do do this, then thumbs up.

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Good for them.

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And anyway, I'm going to finish my cup of tea and I'm going to make myself some brunch.

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So thank you so much for watching this podcast

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and happy belated birthday to me and

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if you did enjoy this please leave a thumbs up and i'll see you next time bye

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Speaking Goals for This Clip

This video is perfect for boosting your conversational fluency in everyday topics like birthdays. It targets natural, relaxed speech—how to share personal plans, express preferences, and use casual language. Whether you’re practicing speaking practice or prepping for real-life chats, you’ll learn to sound more like a native by mimicking the speaker’s tone and flow.

Phrase Bank

"years young" – A playful way to say "years old" (e.g., "34 years young").
"keep me going" – To help stay energized (e.g., "a cup of tea to keep me going").
"hang out with" – To spend time casually (e.g., "hang out with neighbors").
"playing it by ear" – To improvise, not plan (e.g., "playing it by ear for the day").
"fingers crossed" – To hope for good luck (e.g., "fingers crossed the weather is nice").

Fix Your Weak Spots

The video shines for pronunciation practice and rhythm. Notice how the speaker shortens words like "I'm" and "it'll" in casual speech—this is key to sounding natural. Try the shadowing technique: repeat phrases aloud right after the speaker, matching their pace and intonation. Focus on "mid-30s" (not "mid thirtys") and "fiance" (correct stress on the first syllable). These small tweaks will make your language learning progress feel tangible. Practice daily, and you’ll soon chat about birthdays (and more) with confidence!

Grammatica in deze video

De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:

Structuur	In de video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — iets dat eerder begon en nog bezig is	we've been speaking · you've been paying · She's been working
Voorwaardelijke zinnen if + zin, will/would + werkwoord — een voorwaarde en het gevolg	If you know, bravo, I will be
Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt	I've heard · have definitely pretended · has ever thrown
Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet	is called · are allowed · have been turned

Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?

Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.

Shadowing-techniek: lees de volledige stap-voor-stap-gids →

Shadowing Practice: It's my BIRTHDAY! | British English Podcast - Learn English Speaking with Video

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