Shadowing Practice: 2661 - Splash Into Summer Part 1 Are You a Beach Bum? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Michelle, how are you today?
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Hi, Aubrey.
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It is getting warmer.
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I am excited.
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Everything is good.
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I hope you're doing well.
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Yes, I am.
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This is the hottest part of the summer, but we are spending a lot of time in the pool.
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We've gone to the beach and we are
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so excited to bring you this Splash Into Summer series here at All Ears English.
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We're sharing a few of our best episodes that are packed with phrases to help you connect in English this summer.
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That's right.
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So today, you are going to hear the first episode in this really fun summer series with amazing summertime expressions.
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All right.
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Are we ready for the episode, Aubrey?
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All right.
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Enjoy.
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Hello, Michelle.
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How you doing?
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Are you feeling summery?
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I am.
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Oh my gosh.
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You know how much I complain about the cold, Lindsay.
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You pointed it out before.
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What is actually your favorite season, Michelle?
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Would you say it's winter, summer, spring fall it's a good question um i guess i'm gonna have to go with like the month of
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maybe the month of may can i just choose one month
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yeah sure you can change the question okay no may is a really nice month i really like may
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and october i like october too
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because it's crisp you know it's really yeah it's like cooling down
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but it's not it's not too cold some days maybe
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and you're like oh a sweater and then like by the time you know you're past october you're like like, Oh, Oh no. Yeah.
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I also like it because it's like cool leather jacket, whether, you know what I mean?
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You can wear your leather jacket.
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You don't have to be in like a, you know, puffy, awful jacket and you don't, and you're not in a t-shirt suit.
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Right.
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Exactly.
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That's how I always feel.
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When I was little, I had, well, a teenager, I had like, it was a puffy silver, you know, one of those.
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And I just felt like an astronaut.
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That's true.
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Winter clothing is not, I don't know if it's really that fashionable, but I don't even know fashion to be honest.
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So maybe we should get off that topic.
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Nevermind.
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Um, yeah.
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So, um, so, but do you have a favorite season
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or are we just going with those two months for the two of us?
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Maybe the fall.
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Ah, no, I'm going to say summer because just because the possibilities are endless in the summer, you can travel abroad, you can stay home, you can do pretty much anything.
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It's also sometimes lighter work-wise.
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Like we try to take it easy in the summer.
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So I'd say summer is my favorite season yeah yeah I'd say okay overall I'll agree with you
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but I do get very hot anyway you do
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I don't like to be too hot
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and I don't like to get too cold yeah true true true um
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so but today well we're approaching uh July 4th already I know
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and I know Lindsay this is your favorite holiday I know
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this about you right you love the fourth of July of
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course I know after seven years you remember by now i
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know i do love it i love it in case you guys haven't heard i love it because it's
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so simple doesn't require buying any gifts doesn't require any politics
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of the family who's gonna go where right uh no flights
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unless you want it to be you could just go to
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the beach have a barbecue backyard sandals hot dogs hamburgers idea yeah it's you're right about that
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because it's not necessarily like some holidays are like family holidays
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where like Like it's thought of to be the family and you have to figure it out.
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And if you have a partner, you have to, you know, have that conversation.
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Yeah.
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Like, where are you going?
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And that can be tricky.
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So 4th of July is more like, all right, like we could be with friends.
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We could be with family.
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It's less pressure.
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Yeah.
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But you usually have the day off.
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Obviously it's, it's a holiday.
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It's a national holiday if it falls during a week.
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And so everyone just, it's just simple.
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I like things that are simple, you know?
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Yeah.
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I hear you.
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I definitely hear you on that. So yeah.
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Soon.
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It is 4th of July and we are in summer now.
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So we've been doing, you know, these, some, these season series,
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um, and it started in the winter, in the winter, right?
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Um, it was, uh, 1711 ugly sweaters and stuff, stocking stuffers for easy to only use in winter.
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And this was because we had done a YouTube series, right?
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And we realized that to call someone a Scrooge, like that's not something you really say in the summer.
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Right?
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So we decided to do this series.
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Yeah, it would just be weird.
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Like there are certain things that you generally say only in certain seasons.
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And we realized that.
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So we went ahead, so that was 1711.
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And then in the spring we did 1763, which was springtime love and english expressions
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so today in honor of july 4th coming up we are going to do summer i love it
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and again i mean yeah these words
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that we're going to show you today guys yeah you probably shouldn't say them in the winter
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so we're going to say that it's kind of it's
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because the words we choose come from a mindset
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that we have right and that mindset is usually based on the seasons
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so that's why this is perfect exactly exactly
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so some of these are kind of funny i realize the
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summer ones are kind of silly especially this first one i
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like this i know should we get into it yeah let's get into it
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so the first one guys is beach bod now i feel like i remember using the word bod more
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when i was like a teenager like commenting on guys like
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cute guys models you know what i mean in magazines well what is bod short for body short for body
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so if you have a beach bod it means you have a body for the beach right maybe
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if you're a guy you have a six pack right we say a six pack
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which means what michelle bonus it's like it's
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that abs it's a six pack abs exactly exactly
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but actually i guess people do start talking about this beach
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bod i need to get my beach bod ready before people
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start wearing yeah even in the office with your colleagues you
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might i mean don't bring it up wait until you hear it
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but some of your colleagues closer to you might say oh
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i don't you know i don't have a beach bod yet
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so i wanted to go to that party i got invited to
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but i can't you know things like that right yeah
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and it's interesting i wonder if this is going to get phased out
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because as we focus more on like things like body positivity
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you know it might yeah like you know just kind of being you know not not
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so critical of yes you know how people's bodies look um i wonder
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if like saying things like beach bod is going to start
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to sound kind of like old-fashioned i already think it's starting
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to sound a little 90s i would say yeah yeah yeah yeah
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but but it is important to know
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so body is yeah body is shortened sometimes to bod
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so that's kind of fun oh my god i'm sorry ah
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my phone is always ringing these days it's crazy all right
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oh what's the next one no i think spam calls actually i don't know oh oh that's a problem one way.
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Yeah.
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Hey, quick question.
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We're here five times a week to help you connect in English.
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Okay.
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Anyway, the next one is beach bum.
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Yeah.
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So what would that be?
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Who's a beach bum?
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I think a beach bum is like somebody who really likes to spend a lot of time at the beach, right?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So, so would you say you're a beach bum?
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Like, do you spend a lot of time at beach no i am
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so well first of all i don't live in a landlocked state first of all right that's true what does
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that mean what does that mean landlocked yeah that's a great expression a state
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or country right that does not have access to the water yep
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so uh we think about different countries like bolivia comes to
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mind is landlocked it's right in the middle there's no ocean ocean line right um yeah colorado's landlocked
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and even if i were living in mass
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or cal california no i wouldn't be a beach bum what
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about you michelle are you no no no okay okay we've i think we've talked about this before
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so i knew your answer it's funny i asked you a lot of questions
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and you know i often know your answer surprise you are these days
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but we've been talking well but we've been talking
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so many years we know a lot true um
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so beach bum yeah no i am not a beach bum
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i prefer i know i i prefer like like walking on the boardwalk.
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I like to be on the boardwalk.
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That's fun.
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Going to places like the Jersey shore.
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Um, that'd be a good time, but I don't like, I'm not like when I think of beach bum, I think of somebody like feet in the sand all day long,
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you know, and I can't, I just can't do it.
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Yeah.
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It's true.
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You walk past people on the beach and they've got these dark, dark tans and they've just been there all day.
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And you think, Oh, it looks painful.
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If I do that, I need to be under an umbrella.
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You know, I just don't want to have my son that expo my skin that exposed to the sun.
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I just feel like i'm gonna regret it someday
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if i do yeah exactly exactly so the next thing is work on my tan
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so lindsay are you someone who tries to get a good tan michelle i used to be i would say
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that i used to be
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and i even made the mistake this is going to date me
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and this is a little embarrassing i even made the mistake a few times of going tanning
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when i was in high school oh like to a salon a A tanning bed.
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Yeah.
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It was before we knew how bad it was, but maybe I still had a hunch that it was very weird.
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Uh, it was like 97, 98.
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And my friend Emma and I, she convinced me to go, you know, her mom was going all the time and we got the goggles.
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We went a few times, but you stand there and you just like look up at the, or you just like let the lights come on your, on your skin.
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Uh, I don't, have you ever been tanning?
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Uh, I've never been to like a tanning bed, but I have been spray tanning.
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Oh, geez.
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Spray tan.
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So that's not much better.
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Isn't there a funny episode of friend?
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Is it friends?
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Oh yeah.
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That's a good one.
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I was hoping you might say that.
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Yes.
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Yeah.
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That is the only episode of friends.
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My mom has ever laughed at.
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Laughed at.
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Are you, does your mom not have a sense of humor?
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Nope.
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My mom has an amazing sense of like, it's not funny enough for her.
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Yeah.
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She just like, doesn't find it funny.
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And as a kid, I mean, if she saw this, she would laugh.
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Like as a kid, I would get so excited about friends and I would be like, I would be looking for the episode that will finally like get my mom to be a fan.
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And we would just, we would just watch it.
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And I would be like laughing and I would always look over at her to see if she was laughing.
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And she'd just be like, interesting, interesting.
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Okay.
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So there's a high bar.
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Okay.
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She's a high bar.
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Yes.
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That episode got her.
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And to this day, like even just a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about it. So yeah.
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If you guys don't what we're talking about is it ross
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or is it chandler it's ross right he goes to get tan spray tan
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and he just stands in the same place for too long he gets confused about the instructions
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and he ends up getting like a super heavy really really dark yeah
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that makes me never want to get a spray tan that's
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for sure yeah i don't know i didn't it didn't it didn't i i realized you know
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because you know in high school
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and everything people would want to work on their tan
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and this and that yeah and i would always you know i'm i'm rather pale
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if you didn't notice and i would always want to be tan
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and i don't know then i learned to embrace the paleness
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because i i've seen myself with a spray tan
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and i've seen myself
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when i get even a little bit of color it's not
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it doesn't fit you know like you're meant to be
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that makes sense fair enough
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and that's one of the gifts of getting older honestly is
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you know regardless of the trend i didn't need you to point
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that out yeah yeah you knew that already right you knew that
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yeah we can start to embrace ourselves absolutely i love
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that idea yes okay yeah thanks it's
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because i'm old no i'm just joking oh michelle come on don't worry i'm always going to be older
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so don't worry um okay
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so the last one we're going to teach is summer fling yes okay
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so do you think
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that summer flings are ever a good idea oh first of
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all what is a summer fling it's like a quick relationship
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that usually like it's not very realistic
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that oak will continue maybe it's in a maybe you're traveling
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or you know i don't know picking up a cruise
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or just like working at a summer camp together or something like
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that it's just like a fling you can use fling for other times of the year
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but summer fling it's like in that song from greece yeah summer fling yes
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yes i yeah generally i don't think they work out um
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but i'm sure there are some what do you think there
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are some examples of some i think it's i think summer has a certain
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and we can see it in these words summer has a
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certain lightness to it a lack of seriousness right i think in people's minds like between memorial day
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and labor day that's when you can kind of just goof off
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and have fun
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but as soon as labor day comes around it's like even
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in the economy the stock market people pull out of their stocks in the summer right
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and then they go back in in the fall and
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so it's it's shown everywhere we just kind of loosen up
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and relax so yeah summer flings can be fun
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but don't necessarily expect it to be something that's going to
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turn into yeah yeah i also think of like um
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if you're a lifeguard at a pool maybe someone else who's lifeguarding
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that kind of thing that kind of summer job fling right yeah right oh yeah life yeah exactly yeah Um, so guys, these are expressions
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that you will most likely talk about either slightly before the summer
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or during the summer
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but you're probably not going to be talking about summer flings unless you're telling a story about the summer uh when it's
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when it's snowing probably not like yeah unless you're going back
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to let me tell you about my summer fling last summer right
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that kind of thing right yeah exactly so should we do a role play?
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Yeah, let's do it.
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All right.
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So we are going to the beach.
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Oh geez.
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Okay.
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All right.
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I can't wait to get out there and work on my tan.
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Yeah, but don't get a sunburn.
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I'll sit for a bit, but I'm not really much of a beach bum.
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So I'll probably spend some time playing games on the boardwalk.
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Yeah.
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Tracy's coming too.
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And she won't stop talking about her summer flings beach bod.
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Oh boy.
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I'll be sure to take a walk for that discussion.
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Ha ha.
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Nice.
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So yeah, typical, we're getting ready to go to the beach.
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Michelle, do you think that you could ever live in a place like California, more of a beach culture?
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Could you ever live like in Santa Monica or on the coast, you know, Laguna beach?
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Um, I think maybe because I think there's still like a lot of nice things there.
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There really are.
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Yeah.
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I don't know it so well.
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I will say that when I, you know, when I do visit beach towns, um, even like the Jersey shore, I have this moment where I'm like,
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should I be living on the beach?
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Like it's so, it's so relaxing.
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Sometimes I think like if life could feel a little bit simpler or something like that.
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And then I always start looking up real estate and then things get complicated, right?
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Yeah.
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And then I think, and then I think like, maybe I could do like a month in the summer or something like that.
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But then I just, um, I think it's one of those things when you're there, when you're there, it seems like, oh, wow.
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But if I were to, I don't know if I could do it year round.
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Yeah.
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I know what you mean.
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It's something about the smell of the salt water, right?
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In the air, the salt air is really, really healing and relaxing for the body, the hair.
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It just feels great.
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But yeah, I'm not sure if I would necessarily want to live full-time at the beach,
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but yeah who knows maybe another lifetime right who knows maybe maybe anyway guys uh well let's go through this
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so i said uh so you said i can't wait to get out there
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and work on my tan very common right work on my tan again
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that right there is a chunk you're gonna hear this from
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your colleagues on a friday before a summer weekend right work on my tan okay really common guys
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and then i'm not really much of a beach bum is
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what i said meaning i don't spend an entire day at
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the beach i have to do other things right exactly exactly
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and then i said she won't you said she won't stop talking about her summer flings beach bod right
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so this person she has a fling with this person's body yeah
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and their six-pack maybe exactly and
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if you guys are on the app you're going to be
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able to see this in the transcripts i could see how this little chunk could be a little confusing
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because we're combining two of the key word right keywords
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so summer flings that person's beach bod okay
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so just to be clear guys um good stuff any takeaway for our listeners today should they go out
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and just have a crazy summer have a great summer have a great time
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and enjoy and these uh you know listen for these expressions
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and yeah enjoy the enjoy a good weather all right good
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stuff enjoy it guys happy summer happy summer bye bye All right.
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So my favorite expression from this episode is definitely beach bum.
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So my favorite summertime activity is being a beach bum, hanging out all day on the beach,
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playing in the waves, building sandcastles with my kids, playing sand volleyball and spike ball.
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That's my favorite.
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Sand volleyball and spike ball is all I want to do when I'm on the beach.
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It's so fun.
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And we, although I will say that I will say that I am practicing these phrases, but that is actually not true.
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Oh, that's so funny.
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Listeners are like, is that true, Michelle?
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Yeah.
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They're like, we've heard you probably talk about the beach before.
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Those were example sentences for Michelle.
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All of that is true for me.
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I love sports on the beach, hanging out on the beach.
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And we hope that you guys are able to be a beach bum this summer and maybe have a summer fling.
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That was another fun phrase from this episode.
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But like Michelle said in the role play, don't get a sunburn.
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Use sunscreen, everyone.
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That's right.
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That's right. Be careful.
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And also be sure to hit follow to get the rest of this Splash Into Summer series.
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All right.
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See you next time.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 358 sentences and 3612 words to shadow. The speech runs for 18:14. The speaker talks fast, about 198 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

  • tan /tæn/ (verb) — To change to a tan colour due to exposure to the sun.
  • spray /spɹeɪ/ (noun) — A fine, gentle, dispersed mist of liquid.
  • necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ (adverb) — Inevitably; of necessity.
  • sand /sænd/ (noun) — Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in…
  • jacket /ˈd͡ʒæk.ɪt/ (noun) — A piece of clothing worn on the upper body outside a shirt or blouse, often waist length to thigh length.
  • phrase /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ (noun) — A short written or spoken expression.
  • relax /ɹɪˈlæks/ (verb) — To make something loose.
  • colleague /ˈkɒliːɡ/ (noun) — A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate, a workmate.
  • ross (noun) — A swamp.
  • connect /kəˈnɛkt/ (verb) — To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object.
  • leather /ˈlɛðɚ/ (noun) — A tough material produced from the skin of animals, by tanning or similar process, used e.g. for clothing; often denotes leather from cattle when no qualifier…
  • shore /ʃɔɹ/ (noun) — Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond.
  • embrace /ɛmˈbɹes/ (verb) — To clasp (someone or each other) in the arms with affection; to take in the arms; to hug.
  • teenager /ˈtiːnˌeɪ̯d͡ʒə/ (noun) — A person between thirteen and nineteen years old (inclusive).
  • spike /spaɪk/ (noun) — A sort of very large nail.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

  • talk about (verb) — Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
  • work on (verb) — To apply mental or physical effort to (something) in order to shape, form, improve, investigate, solve it, etc.
  • live in (verb) — To reside on the premises of one's employer (used especially of domestic staff such as nannies, cooks, maids, etc.)
  • come on /ˌkʌm ˈɒn/ — Come along with me; join me in going.
  • get into (verb) — To move into (an object), such that one ends up inside it.
  • get out (verb) — To leave or escape.
  • go with (verb) — To choose or accept (a suggestion).
  • come around /kʌ.məˈɹaʊnd/ (verb) — To change one's mind, especially to begin to agree or appreciate what one was reluctant to accept at first.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 117 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • The “th” sounds: leather /ˈlɛðɚ/, clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/
  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shore /ʃɔɹ/, instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, fashionable /ˈfæʃənəbl̩/, shorten /ˈʃɔɹtn̩/
  • Long words — get the stress right: necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, memorial /məˈmɔːɹi.əl/, positivity /ˌpɑ.zɪˈtɪv.ɪ.ti/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like tan, spray, necessarily.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

StructureIn the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going onwe've been doing · we've been talking
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its resultif she saw this, she would laugh · if you didn't notice and i would always
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer trueused to be
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters nowWe've gone · haven't heard · we've talked

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →