Shadowing Practice: 30 Minute American English Native Speaker Conversation - Learn English Speaking with Video

All right.

Hello.

Today I have a special guest.

Her name is?

Samara.

What's your middle name, Samara?

It's Danielle.

Danielle.

Samara, Danielle.

But we call her Samara.

Do you have any nicknames, Samara?

My friend calls me Ara.

I don't like Sam.

I'm not a Sam.

She's not Sam.

Don't call her Sam.

Nobody say Sam in the comments.

Yeah. Or Sammy.

I'm not Sammy.

Not Sammy.

What does your friend call you?

uh she calls me era era oh that's cute samara era nice i like it

and samara how do i explain samara's relation to me well it's a little complicated

but basically um her mom used to be married to my dad many years ago

so she was like my stepmom but now she's not married to him anymore.

And she had a daughter, Samara.

And now how old is Samara today?

I am 12.

12 years old.

So technically, she's not my sister.

But I think of her like, you know, like a half sister or something like that, because her mom was kind of like my second mom.

So that's kind of the relation here.

And she very kindly agreed to make a video with me and to showcase her natural English.

She is a native English speaker from where are you from?

What is the state?

Oh, Maine.

So you're from the state of Maine, which is where I'm from also.

Yes.

Where is Maine in the United States?

It's in the eastern part.

Yes.

And also it's like it's on the upper part of it.

It's northeast.

Yeah, northeast.

Definitely.

It's on the border of what country?

Canada.

Have you ever been to Canada?

No, I have not been to Canada, but I've heard me neither.

Yeah.

It's very strange that We're so close and we've never been there.

I know.

And I've been to places like further away. So yeah.

Samara has traveled to, she was in Puerto Rico where I just was.

She's been on cruises.

Yeah.

Where have you been?

I haven't been like a lot out of the state, but most of my out of state stuff has been on cruise, like going to Puerto Rico and like San Juan and that kind of stuff.

Have you been to, did the cruise stop at Mexico or no?

The first one I went on did, this one did not though.

So you've been maybe to some islands in the Caribbean?

Yeah, definitely.

Okay.

Would you like to travel somewhere else?

I don't know.

I really like where I've been.

But probably somewhere like Hawaii.

I'd love to go to Hawaii.

I haven't been to Hawaii.

I'd love to go there.

So you like tropical places?

Yes, I like tropical.

I don't want to go and travel somewhere cold.

What do you think about living in Maine in general, like with the four seasons and the winter?

I really like it because it's definitely like

when you start to get sick of one season the other

one comes along like you have winter is pretty cold

and snowy and I like winter but then I'm definitely sick of it

and I'm really happy for when spring and summer come along

so it's nice with the four season change

because you kind of get some of everything so you like it

but you do prefer when it's warm yes I don't like

when it's humid I'm not like I like warm

but I don't like like crazy hot

but yeah I definitely prefer like warmer seasons like me yeah I think most people in Maine do prefer

when it's warmer here

but they they tolerate the winter definitely you find stuff to

do in the winter you like to go uh snowshoeing with probably with your dad

and stuff yeah I go snowshoeing I really like I mean

my sister like makes snow forts this is it's really fun

and like obviously we have a tradition of like making snowmen and

that kind of stuff oh yeah she has a little sister

named Farrah who is seven right six six six years old I'll turn I will turn 13 in four months

and then she will turn seven in five months.

Your birthday is in August.

Yeah, August 23rd.

Yeah.

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So basically Samara is being very like nice right now and chill and stuff.

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She's trying to, you know, speak in a nice way for you guys.

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But sometimes Samara, when she gets, you know, excited about something, she talks really fast, super fast.

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And I told her that my students, they really like to be challenged with real English.

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So I told her just be normal, talk as fast as you want

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but you can let let me know in the comments how you what you think about samara's english

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if you think that it's easy to understand her it's difficult

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because yeah people always say that they understand me

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but i want to bring on guests on the show to see how easy

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or difficult it is to understand them

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so i'm going to pass you the mic and you can hold it

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and i want you to just tell me a little bit

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about about you about your your life here here on this this farm

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and what what you like to do and what are the things, you know, what do you do in a typical day here?

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I definitely really like it here.

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We have a lot of animals.

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So a typical day is definitely taking care of them.

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I go out and I feed the farm animals with my mom.

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I feed the cats and then I have to hold my parrot a lot because parrots need a lot of attention.

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So your parrot?

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Yeah, my parrot.

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Her name's Kiwi and she definitely needs a lot of attention.

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I like to hang out with the cats.

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So a lot to do with animals.

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And then I also am a gymnast.

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So I do gymnastics here, which is really fun.

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I kind of have like my whole little routine.

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Yeah.

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And I also really like doing art.

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I was actually just about to get into a paint project.

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So that's gonna be fun.

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You like gymnastics a lot.

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You're very passionate about that.

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And painting also.

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And being with your animals.

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How many animals do you have here?

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I think we have 46 or 47, which I cannot believe how little we have.

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I cannot remember the last time that we were in the 70s.

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And the number is so high because you have a lot of chickens, right?

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Yes, we have 29 chickens, but we are hatching chicks.

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We have five eggs.

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So fingers crossed, some hatch.

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They should hatch in like two days.

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So I'm really excited.

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Nice.

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Yeah, she loves the chickens.

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They all have names.

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And they're all very unique because they're all different kinds of chickens, right?

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They have different appearances.

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yes we have yeah they're mostly different kinds you have like a few the same breed

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but then with also like hatching chicks we have like some mixed breeds

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and yeah they're really cute

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and they all have their different personalities chickens are not just

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like a lot of people think chickens are pretty like dumb

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but they're actually they can be pretty intelligent

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and I love their little personalities yeah yeah I agree I agree do you think

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that they they have a bond with you like they they

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um feel something toward you um I would say some do some are a little bit more leave me alone.

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I think they definitely like us when we give them food.

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They're like, yeah, we love you and you have food for us.

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But some definitely are friendly and very affectionate.

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Some you pet and you hold them and you touch them.

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Yes, we have definitely a few who enjoy being pet and are very chill with being picked up.

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And then we have some that are total spazes and just want to like be like, feed me, but leave me alone, please.

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How would you describe What does a total spaz mean for someone who doesn't know English?

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It means like they kind of like are skittish or like nervous, a little bit like crazy.

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Like they like to kind of like run away from us and be like, leave me alone.

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They go crazy if you try to pick them up.

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Some some of them, maybe.

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Yeah.

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And you also have some goats and a pig.

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Yes, I have six goats and I have a pig and I love them so much.

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The pig is Pookie.

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And then I have the six goats and I love all the goats so much.

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The pig's name is Pookie, by the way, in case you didn't understand that.

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You have a couple of dogs and three cats.

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And yeah, I think that's a fish.

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I think that's all the animals.

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And I have two leopard geckos in my room, Nick and Lisa.

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Ah, Nick and Lisa, the geckos.

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Yes.

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In her room.

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Okay.

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They're like...

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I forgot about the geckos.

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Yeah, they're like...

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I think they're like eight.

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They're pretty old now.

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I named him when I was really tiny.

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So they have classic names.

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However, Nick may be a Nicole.

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We don't know.

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Oh, you don't know the gender.

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Yeah, we know we know Lisa's a girl, but we don't know about Nick.

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Okay, interesting.

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What do they do all day?

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Do they just chill out?

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Nick, he is kind of lazy.

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He's on the chubby side.

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He just like likes to lay around.

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And when it comes dinner time, he eats basically all the worms before Lisa can have any.

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But that's why he's fat.

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Yes, they definitely leopard geckos like chilling.

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But Lisa definitely likes to walk around the tank a little bit more and like adventure more than he does.

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Nice.

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Something interesting about you also is that you do homeschooling or you've been doing homeschooling up until now.

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And you are you're just completing now the end of the school year, like the sixth grade.

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Right.

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So next year, your plan is to do what?

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My plan is to go to school in the seventh grade.

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And I'm kind of nervous about it, but I'm also really excited.

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So she's going to go to an actual school, not being homeschooled.

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And you're going to like a small private school, right?

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Yes, it is a very small private school.

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I think there's only like 120 to like 160 students.

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Pretty small, like 10 to 15 students in each class.

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But I'm really happy because my best friend and little sister go there.

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So it's going to be awesome.

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And what was your reasoning for why you wanted to go there besides your friend

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and your sister? um well i'm thinking

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that once you go through school you can't try it

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so i think because i've never gone to school

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and i've always been homeschooled and i love homeschool so much

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but i'd love to try going to school and see

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if i like it and i'd love to have like a bigger friend group definitely

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so for the experience to try it because you can't go back

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and try it if you miss your chance

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and uh to maybe make more friends yeah definitely but right now you have um you have your best friend, Autumn, her name is, right?

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And you have your sister.

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Do you have any other friends that you hang out with or is that mostly it?

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Autumn is my best friend and she lives close.

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So she's the one I hang out with mostly.

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But I do have another best friend who lives, she sadly moved away.

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Her name's Annika.

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But we still see each other every once in a while, which is really nice.

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But yeah, Autumn's definitely my main best friend.

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All right.

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Nice.

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Yeah, I think it's good.

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The social situations at school, because I went through all of the years of public school, sometimes it can be really great sometimes it can be not

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so great depending on you know

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but I went to a public school with you know a huge amount of students

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and I think that a smaller private school I don't know

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if it has to do with it being private

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but just a smaller school with less people I feel like it's going to be better for for making friends

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because because it's smaller so nobody gets left out like nobody gets forgotten about

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and everybody like knows each other very well and stuff

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so i think it's a good idea what do you think yeah i definitely think

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that there's only like i walked around i got i got to see the sixth grade classroom

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and i saw everyone in it

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and it's a very small classroom there's only like i think it was like 10-ish people in it

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so it's i think it's going to be easier definitely to

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like you know what you said she said 10-ish we say

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ish it's like uh about 10 about 10 10-ish could be

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11 could be 9 somewhere around there you kind of round up to the closest number.

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Sometimes we add ish to say like about that, you know, like, oh, this is, this is like grayish color, this thing.

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It's a grayish, like kind of gray.

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Yeah.

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All right.

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And so if you, if you like it there and you want to stay, could you, could you see yourself?

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I mean, it's hard to know how you're going to feel, you know, in the future, but could you see yourself staying there, you know, up through until you graduate high school or, or what do you think?

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I definitely can.

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I think I'm going to see how this school year or like my the seventh grade goes, because my mom said, I want you to at least try out this year and then I'll see if I love it.

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I'll keep doing it.

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And if it's like, you know what, this was really like not for me.

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I'll go back to homeschool, but I'm really hoping it works out and I get to go to there for longer.

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Nice.

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How far away is the school?

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Is your is your mom going to drive you in the morning?

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I guess my mom and my dad will drive me depending on who I am with.

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It's like 20, 25 minutes away from my dad and it's like 30, 35 minutes away from my mom.

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So relatively close.

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Oh, yes.

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We forgot to mention her.

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Her parents are separated like mine are.

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We're at her mom's house right now.

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But her dad lives somewhere else like 30, 30 minutes away.

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I think about like 40, 45 ish.

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But yeah, pretty close.

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OK.

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Her mom is remarried to, I'll let you say.

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Daniel.

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I love him so much.

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He is the best bonus dad ever.

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Bonus dad.

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and he's been in your life since you were very little

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right yeah he's been in my life since i was like

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uh three maybe about to turn four right around there

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so yeah and he was just i immediately loved him

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so much he's just the nicest guy yeah daniel's pretty great he is definitely

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and he's the only one who he's the one giving you

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my squishies in my squishy obsession my mom's like no

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and he's like yeah i'll give you squishies yeah daniel likes to spoil everyone definitely Yeah, he likes to spoil my little sister too.

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And for those who don't know, can you describe what the squishy is?

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Squishies, there are several different kinds.

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It's like a toy and it's really fun to squish.

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They have like really nice textures, like slime.

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Like they may have like slime in them or just really different fun textures.

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May have like glitter or beads in them.

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And I really love them.

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And they're so cute and I love squishing them.

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And I'm having a little collection now.

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Are they all like dumplings or are they different things?

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I have six squishy dumplings.

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They're very viral right now.

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But the others, I have 12 and the other six are different.

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They can really be like they're probably every shape in the world.

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Some are just like a square or like a cube, while others are actual things like butter or cheeses.

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I love my cheese.

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I love my cheese.

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Okay, so they can be different things, but the dumplings are popular.

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Yeah, the dumplings are probably my favorite.

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Okay.

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So if you didn't understand, to squish is like to do this to something.

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It's like a specific kind of texture thing where you can go like this.

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And she has some, I wouldn't say that they're like stuffed animals.

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They're not like stuffed.

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They're just like, yeah, they're like rubbery little creatures that are full of something that you can squish.

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Yeah, the dumplings are full of water and they have like, well, some are full of water and have glitter in them.

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And then others kind of have this stuff, kind of a whipped creamy texture in it.

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And I really like that one.

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So yeah, they can definitely have a lot of different textures in it.

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And they're really fun to squish.

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Okay.

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They feel like fun to play with.

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It's like a texture thing.

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Yeah.

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All right.

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Nice.

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Well, I'm going to take a look at my list here of some random questions to ask Samara.

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We are filming outside.

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It's pretty warm and my camera tends to overheat.

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So it might just randomly shut off at some point.

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So if that happens, it's okay.

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We'll just cut it there.

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We'll just end the video there.

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So if the video ends abruptly, that's what happened.

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But yeah, so I'm just going to ask you questions until maybe it dies

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or maybe just a few questions until we get tired.

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And yeah, so I'll ask you a question

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and then you can take the mic and you can answer as long as you want.

341

Okay.

342

What's a movie or show you can watch over and over?

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oh okay um there's this show series and it's called gymnastic academy

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and i love it so much i've probably watched it like eight times over

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and over again like i said i'm a gymnast

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and it's all about gymnastics so i really love that

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and it's it's really fun because it's like teenagers around my age

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so that's when i can just like watch over and over again

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and i love it

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so much it's like one of my favorite shows that's cool it's like uh they're like competing or something um it's

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The main character is named Kyra Berry, and she goes from the U.S to Australia for a three-month

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training process to try to get a scholarship at the Gymnastic Academy for three years.

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But is it like real life or reality show, or is it like fiction?

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It is not cartoon.

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It is like real reality kind of thing.

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But I think it's based off a true story, but it's not actually like a true story.

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Okay, I see.

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So it's like a movie, maybe like there's a script, but it's based off a true story.

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Yeah, it's a script because there was one before it.

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It's called Gymnastics.

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It's like a, it's the same thing, but it's just called Second Chance instead.

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And that one was based off a true story.

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I'm not sure if Gymnastics Academy is, but I think it might be.

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Do you recommend that people watch it?

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Is it entertaining?

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Is it good?

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Yes, I definitely recommend it.

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It's probably more of a girl show, but I think anyone who wants to watch it, definitely watch it because it's really awesome and I love it so much.

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All right.

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And it inspires you to do gymnastics.

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Actually, the whole reason I got into gymnastics was actually completely because of that show.

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I had had no interest in gymnastics my entire life.

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And then I watched that for the first time like six months ago

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and now I'm just like got super into gymnastics and like trained myself and learned a bunch about it.

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Amazing.

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Yeah.

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Before she started gymnastics class, she basically just trained herself a lot.

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She taught herself a lot of things based off like YouTube videos and just practicing and stuff, right?

379

Yeah.

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Like people telling me stuff, YouTube videos, that show definitely a lot.

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I taught myself almost everything I know, but gymnastic classes have definitely helped me get correct posture and that kind of stuff.

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And you're only in the beginner class, but like there's other levels you're going to you're going to keep advancing.

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Yes, there's beginner advanced pre team and then you're actually on a team.

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Yeah.

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And I'm really I'm definitely really loving it.

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And you told me that you're one of the best ones in your beginner class.

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I don't want to brag, but I am one of the better ones in the class, which was really thanks to my training,

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because if I hadn't, I would have been the worst one there.

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And then because of the training, I came in being one of the better ones.

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But there are definitely people who are better than me in the class.

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And have you made friends with any of them, like to the point where you would hang out outside of gymnastics or not yet?

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They're Elin.

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I would have hung out with her because we were like we're best friends in the class.

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But she went away.

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She's going away to summer camp for four months.

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So that kind of ended that.

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But she's coming back or she says she is.

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I hope she will.

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Nice.

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Cool.

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Is there something like some other hobby or anything that you if you would like to try or you're interested in, but you haven't done it yet?

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I don't know if there's another hobby that I haven't tried that I'd like to do.

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My other hobbies are like I do soccer.

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I love soccer, but I've done that.

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And then like, yeah, most of my hobbies, I think I've already done that I'm interested in doing.

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All right.

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Nice.

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And anything else like in life in general doesn't have to be like a like a hobby

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or something it could be like oh I you know I would like to see New York City

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or what like anything

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that you would like to do I would like to learn how to bake a pie I don't know anything

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that you would like to do at some point in the

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future baking is one of my hobbies I love baking

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so I'll become a better baker but then a lot of the things

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that I would like to learn how to do have to do with gymnastics like I am

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so close on a back walk over or like a front walk over

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or front handspring and I'd just love to learn how to do those that'd be really awesome.

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I love it.

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And she sends me videos, you know, because most of the time I'm not here right now.

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I'm visiting, but most of the time I'm, I'm out of the country and Samara texts me.

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She sends me videos of her at her gymnastics classes and doing the different things.

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And yeah, it's very entertaining for me.

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I love it.

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I love getting the videos.

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I'm glad.

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Yeah.

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I sent you, I remember I sent you, I was like, yeah, I got that polo from the bar because I was so happy.

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Yeah, it's awesome.

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It's my favorite reality show I watch.

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I'm so glad.

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All right.

432

What quality do you most value in a friend?

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I, in a friend, value probably kindness.

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I definitely love, like, that's something I look for in a person.

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But I really like one of the best qualities is if they're funny.

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I love funny friends, but funny in a kind way.

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But I love when you get comfortable enough of them where you can make jokes that are, like really funny.

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But yeah, kindness, funniness, creativity.

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Like I like creative friends and my friend Autumn definitely is.

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We like the same stuff.

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We both love swimming and we always come up with all these very creative, fun games that we do and we're always like laughing so hard.

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You think Autumn has these traits that you value in a friend?

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Yes, I would definitely say she is funny, kind and creative and she is also strong and smart and she's amazing.

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Oh, that's so cute.

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I wish I had a best friend like that.

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I don't have one.

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Well, it's partially my fault because I always travel around so much.

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I never stay anywhere to make friends.

449

Next one is who has influenced you the most in life?

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Well, so many people, so many people.

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I'd have to say my parents, like my mom, my dad, Daniel, Kelly, definitely.

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Kelly is your dad's partner.

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Yes, Kelly is my dad's partner.

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They definitely have all inspired me so much.

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And then like coming back to gymnastics, like Simone Biles, she's like such a great gymnast and she's definitely inspired me to be a better gymnast.

456

Simone Biles is cool.

457

Yeah, she's awesome.

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She's like won so many Olympic medals.

459

Yeah, it's amazing.

460

Yeah, gymnastics is super cool.

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Also, it's very good for us, I think, to stretch, to be flexible, to be mobile, move our bodies.

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I think as we get older, as we age, to be able to move our bodies still like in those ways, I think is very good for our health.

463

So this is this is a great thing for you to practice your whole life, even if it's like not, you know, not competitively, but even just like by yourself at home.

464

I mean, a lot of adults, they do yoga, which is like has similar things.

465

So, yeah, it's a really cool hobby.

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I'm glad you like it.

467

Thank you.

468

All right.

469

Maybe we'll do one more question and then we'll end it.

470

All right.

471

Unless there's anything else you wanted to talk about or anything that crossed your mind.

472

All right.

473

What is, oh, this is a funny one.

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What's something you believed as a kid or when you were younger that turned out to be totally wrong?

475

If you can't think of anything, don't worry about it.

476

Um, let's see.

477

Like, for something, I think when I was little, I believed in, like, lying a lot, I guess.

478

I was definitely a fibber.

479

Now I, like, can't even lie.

480

But, like, yeah, I like to sneak around a lot.

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I remember one time there was a peanut butter cup, this really yummy candy on the island.

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And I was like, oh, if I eat it, someone's going to notice.

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So I took a bite out of it and then left it, which was like way more noticeable.

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And I was so sneaky.

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I thought I was like so awesome.

486

And it was like, that's pretty obvious.

487

That's just one of my mischievous things I do.

488

So you used to tell some fibs.

489

A fib is a little lie, like a small lie, white lie, we say.

490

So you used to be a fibber, used to lie a little bit.

491

Yeah, I used to do like harmless little lies, but I thought it was like so clever back then.

492

Now, now I really can't lie.

493

It makes me feel sick.

494

Yeah, same.

495

It's very hard to lie.

496

But yeah, a lot of little kids, they don't realize that the parents can obviously see that it's a lie.

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And they think they'll get away with it.

498

So they tell little lies.

499

It's funny.

500

Yeah, it's cute.

501

Then when you get older, you also have like the conscience that makes you feel guilty when you lie.

502

And when you're little, you don't really have that.

503

That's good.

504

You developed the conscious conscience to not lie that's good

505

because some people don't ever develop

506

that some adults are out here lying yeah some people gets

507

worse slowly the lies build they just get better at lying

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and it gets crazy yeah i didn't rob the bank exactly

509

so i'm glad that um that's not you all right well i said

510

that was the last question but i want to do one more

511

so i'm fine what's a challenge you're proud to have overcome there's definitely a few one is

512

that when i was younger i was very not okay with being left alone at all

513

and i've definitely overcome that where i'm okay to be like yeah i'm fine

514

if i like left a home alone with farrah like it's

515

okay now another one definitely with gymnastics getting better gymnastics i overcame a lot there overcoming

516

that when i was younger i struggled with reading a little bit.

517

Not like badly, but I'm the kind of person that I have to want to do it.

518

And if I don't want to do it, I'm not going to try to do it.

519

And then it just like, I found a book that I loved and it took off.

520

And now I'm like, like I read way above my grade level.

521

So yeah, it's awesome.

522

Wow.

523

So you went from not wanting to read

524

or having resistance to reading to being like a better reader

525

than than normal for your for your age yeah yeah it

526

was kind of way in steps where I wouldn't read

527

and then I was definitely not that good at reading

528

and then I was kind of like average

529

and then I just there I found came across some books like Wings of Fire I love the Dragon books

530

and then like Keep It Together Keiko Carter Just Be Cool Jenna Sakai

531

and those are long chapter books and I just fell in love with them

532

and now I just like read all the time like ninth grade level So, wow, that's awesome.

533

That's amazing.

534

And I know, well, when I was here in past years, you were always listening to the audio books.

535

You always liked that.

536

You always liked, I think you always liked books, but you would spend more time maybe listening to them.

537

Maybe now you read more of them.

538

And you also always liked writing.

539

You like to write your own stories, right?

540

Yes, I love the audiobooks.

541

And my dream job, which I hope will become true, is I want to be an author.

542

100%.

543

Language arts is my favorite subject in school.

544

I love writing so much.

545

I'm currently working on two books.

546

One, somebody said, hey, I want you to make a story out of this.

547

It's called Gnome's Adventure.

548

And then the other, I am like 70 pages in.

549

I'm writing it by hand.

550

And I just came up with this.

551

It's about a girl called Paisley, like managing middle school, kind of.

552

And I just I love writing.

553

I don't know what it is about it, but I love it so much.

554

Wow.

555

Amazing.

556

I love it.

557

I'm excited to read your book someday.

558

Yeah, I will buy your books as soon as they're published.

559

Well, even before they're published, I'll buy them.

560

I'll read them.

561

Yes.

562

You'll have the privilege of being from the first ones before they're even published.

563

Yeah.

564

Before anyone knows her, before she becomes famous, a famous author, I will read her books.

565

That's awesome.

566

My mom was like that.

567

She always wanted to write books, but but she well, she wrote one she had one

568

but um i think she wanted to do more but

569

but yeah i think you got the you got

570

that spark you got that fire

571

and you should definitely do it thank yeah thank you everyone always says like you have

572

that talent that you can really bring it to life

573

and i can picture it perfectly and i hope that's really true

574

because yeah like i said is i love writing i definitely

575

want to make more books um the one i'm working on

576

right now with paisley um it's going to be a series

577

of three i'm only on the first book right now

578

and i'm really happy it's going to be like it's going to be called bffs

579

and And the first one's going to be like starting middle school.

580

And the second one's going to be managing middle school.

581

And then the last one's going to be pro at middle school.

582

So you have big plans.

583

You already got it all planned out.

584

Amazing.

585

Yes.

586

Yeah, I definitely have the names planned out.

587

I plan a lot, but I'm one of the kind of authors

588

that more of I have an overall vision of where I want the book to go.

589

But I'm more right in the moment.

590

I don't plan things out like as much as some authors would.

591

See where it goes.

592

Yeah.

593

Nice.

594

That's that's amazing.

595

You have you have a vision and I'm here for it.

596

I love it.

597

Awesome.

598

Well, hopefully one day I'll be able to announce on this channel

599

that she has a book available to read and you guys can read it and practice your English reading.

600

So that's it.

601

I think we'll end it there.

602

Thank you, Samara, for coming on the show.

603

Thank you for inviting me.

604

Oh, sorry.

605

I didn't put the mic.

606

It's okay.

607

Thank you for inviting me.

608

What was she saying?

609

She didn't put the mic.

610

Thank you for inviting me so much.

611

It was such an honor.

612

Thank you.

613

Oh, isn't she great?

614

Can you believe she's 12 years old?

615

Well, she's going to be 13 in August.

616

Yeah, she's so grown up.

617

I can't believe it.

618

Because last time I was here, you know, she was like a couple years younger, a few years younger.

619

And so I'm amazed every time I come here to see the growth.

620

And so, yeah.

621

So we're going to go.

622

I'm going to let Samara go and get back to her life.

623

And thank you for being here.

624

Tell me in the comments what you thought about her English, like how easy or difficult it was for you.

625

I think it was pretty good.

626

Samara has like, I would say she has a standard American English accent, which I think that I have too.

627

A lot of young people, younger generations, they have this accent.

628

Our grandparents have like a more like traditional main accent, but the younger generations I think don't really have it so much anymore. So strongly.

629

Yeah, definitely.

630

Do you agree?

631

Yeah, I'd say I don't think of myself having an accent because everyone talks, but obviously from someone who speaks another language, probably sound like an accent.

632

But like, I definitely think of my grandma having an accent, very manner accent.

633

Yeah, we a lot of the young people, what we have is the I call it the standard American English accent.

634

You know, it's the accent you hear when you turn on the TV.

635

And it's, you know, what what most people have, like younger people and what they have on the news.

636

But yeah, a lot of our a lot of our older generations are grandparents and stuff that, you know, have spent their whole life in the state.

637

And they they are from a different time before the Internet and before, you know, certain things in the modern world, they have a more...

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “30 Minute American English Native Speaker Conversation”. This video has 636 sentences and 5988 words to shadow. The speech runs for 29:25. The speaker talks fast, about 204 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% 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

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
samara noun	/ˈsæmərə/	The winged indehiscent fruit of trees such as the ash, elm or maple.
gymnastics noun	/d͡ʒɪmˈnæs.tɪks/	A sport involving the performance of sequences of movements requiring physical strength, flexibility, and kinesthetic awareness.
accent noun	/ækˈsɛnt/	A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to…
hobby noun	/ˈhɑ.bi/	An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time.
squishy adjective	/ˈskwɪʃi/	Yielding easily to pressure; very soft.
texture noun	/ˈtɛkst͡ʃə(ɹ)/	The feel or shape of a surface or substance; the smoothness, roughness, softness, etc. of something.
dumpling noun	/ˈdʌmp.lɪŋ/	Specifically, a ball of dough used in stews and other sauced dishes; a thick noodle.
gecko noun	/ˈɡɛk.oʊ/	Any lizard in the infraorder Gekkota.
gymnast noun	/ˈd͡ʒɪm.næst/	One who performs (the sport of) gymnastics.
homeschool verb		To educate children at home, that is, at a private domestic place, in lieu of sending them to a public school or private educational institution.
parrot noun	/ˈpæɹət/	A kind of bird, many species of which are colorful and able to mimic human speech, of the order Psittaciformes or (narrowly) of the family Psittacidae.
hatch verb	/hæt͡ʃ/	To emerge from an egg.
goat noun	/ɡoʊt/	Any ruminant of the genus Capra.
chill verb	/tʃɪl/	To lower the temperature of something; to cool.
overcome verb	/ˌəʊ.vəˈkʌm/	To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
come along verb	To accompany.
come up with verb	To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
plan out verb	to plan, organize, make a plan for something
walk around verb	To walk with no planned destination; to meander.
walk over verb	To gain an easy victory.
watch over verb	To guard and protect.
come across verb	To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

What does your friend call you?
Would you like to travel somewhere else?
How many animals do you have here?
What's a movie or show you can watch over and over?
Do you recommend that people watch it?

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to be · used to tell · used to do
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if i like it and i'd love · if I hadn't, I would have
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have not been · we've never been · I've been
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be challenged · being picked · being homeschooled

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 175 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: northeast /noːˈθɪjst/, seventh /ˈsɛvənθ/, ninth /naɪnθ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: squishy /ˈskwɪʃi/, grayish /ˈɡɹeɪ.ɪʃ/, snowshoe /ˈsnoʊʃu/, conscience /ˈkɑn.ʃəns/, relation /ɹɪˈleɪʃ(ə)n/
Long words — get the stress right: affectionate /əˈfɛkʃənət/, audiobook /ˈɔdi.oʊbʊk/, competitively /kəmˈpɛtɪtɪvli/, creativity /kri.eɪˈtɪv.ᵻ.ti/, technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/

How to practise with this video

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

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 →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?