Shadowing Practice: Advanced Vocabulary and Accent Practice for Fluency - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B2
True English fluency means being able to understand news articles and being able to talk about a wide variety of subjects.
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True English fluency means being able to understand news articles and being able to talk about a wide variety of subjects.
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Let's learn some advanced vocabulary and let's practice the American accent by reading a news article.
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You will have a chance to repeat after me to make sure you're pronouncing the words correctly
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and that you're stressing the right words and that your English has the write melody and intonation.
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And then at the end, there will be a fill in the blank quiz to find out how many of the new words you remember.
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This article is from the Los Angeles Times.
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The title of the article is The Most Lucrative Majors?
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Some Community College Grads Can Out-earn Elite University Peers.
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The article contains some very useful words.
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It talks about the salaries that university students make after they graduate.
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Students who graduate from the top universities don't necessarily make the most money.
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Let's look at the headline again and let's learn the vocabulary.
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The most lucrative majors.
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What does lucrative mean?
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Lucrative means producing a lot of money, profitable.
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For example, you can say, the real estate market can be very lucrative if you invest wisely.
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Or you can say, he has a lucrative business.
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So the most lucrative majors means the university majors, the things that you specialize in, the subjects that you major in.
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Which majors paid the most money?
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And do you know the difference between a university and a community college?
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A community college is a two-year college that offers courses to local residence
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and it's typically at a lower cost than a four-year college or university.
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In the United States, many students choose to attend a community college before transferring to a four-year university.
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So, the first two years of their college education is at a community college and then when they transfer to a university,
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they only have two more years left.
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They don't have to start from the beginning.
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So it's still a four-year education and you get your diploma from the university.
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But for the first two years, you saved a lot of money because you went to a community college.
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However, some people don't plan to transfer.
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Some people just get an AA degree and that's a two-year degree.
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The article says community college grads.
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The word grad is a short form of graduate, meaning someone who has completed a degree.
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For example, we can say a high school grad or a college grad.
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The headline of the article says, some community college grads can out-earn elite university peers.
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To out-earn means to earn more money than someone else.
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For example, we can say, does a doctor out earn a lawyer?
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Who makes more money?
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Or we can say, with hard work, I was able to out earn my previous year's income.
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Or you can say, I can't believe he out earns me.
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I can't believe he makes more money than I do.
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I work harder.
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So, some community college grads can out earn elite university peers.
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An elite university is a prestigious university known for its academic excellence and they're usually very difficult to get into.
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For example, Harvard University or Stanford or MIT or Yale, Princeton, these are all considered elite universities.
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And do you know the meaning of the word peers?
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Your peers are people who are at the same age as you
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or maybe at the same level at work or maybe the same educational level.
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For example, you can say, the 10-year-old boy is taller than his peers.
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Or, he makes more money than his peers.
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He out-earns his peers.
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Or we can say, this scientist is very well respected by his peers.
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And that means by other scientists.
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And now, let's read the headline together.
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I will pause to give you a chance to repeat after me.
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The most lucrative majors.
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and look at the T of lucrative.
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Don't say lucrative.
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With an American accent, we say it like this, lucrative.
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Let's say that again.
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The most lucrative majors?
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Some community college grads can out-earn elite university peers.
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You say it.
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And now let's look at the first paragraph of the article.
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I will read it first and then I will explain the vocabulary and then we will read it together.
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Elijah Calderon, after a year-long training program at Los Angeles Trade Technical College,
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is poised to earn about $105,000 annually as a power lineman.
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Once he becomes a journeyman in three to four years,
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he stands to make about $165,000 and potentially much more with overtime.
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Let's look at the word year-long.
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Year long means lasting for the duration of a year, spanning the entire year.
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For example, we can say the project was a year long effort or they planned a year long trip.
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So the student Elijah just studied for one year.
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It was a year long training program.
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The article says that he is poised to earn about $105,000 annually as a power lineman.
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Quist to means ready or prepared to do something or about to start doing something.
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So when he graduates, he will start earning over $100,000 annually.
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We can say with her qualifications, she is poised to take on a leadership role in the company.
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Or you can say the company is poised to launch its new product in the market.
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Elijah is poised to earn over $100,000 annually as a power lineman.
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And this is a power lineman.
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A power lineman works on electrical power lines.
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You can say the power lineman worked hard to restore electricity after the storm.
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And Elijah stands to make about $165,000.
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And to stand to means to be likely to or to be expected to.
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For example, we can say, if you invest wisely, you stand to make a big profit
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or you stand to lose a lot if you don't act quickly.
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He stands to make a lot more than $165,000 if he works overtime.
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And overtime means extra time at work, more than the usual amount of time, more than 40 hours per week, for example.
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We can say, I earned extra money by working overtime on weekends.
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And the money that you make for working overtime is called overtime pay.
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And make sure you stress the first word.
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Don't say overtime.
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You say overtime.
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Overtime.
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I worked overtime.
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My boss asked me to work overtime.
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Does your boss ever ask you to work overtime?
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Okay, let's read the paragraph again.
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This time I will pause to to give you a chance to repeat so that you can practice your accent.
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Elijah Calderon, after a year-long training program at Los Angeles Trade Technical College,
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poised to earn about $105,000 annually as a power lineman.
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And we didn't say man, we didn't say power line man,
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we said lineman because we stressed the first word and we reduce the A of man.
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Let's say that again.
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Lineman.
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Once he becomes a journeyman in three to four years,
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he stands to make about $165,000.
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And potentially much more with overtime.
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Let's Let's look at the next paragraph.
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I will read it and then we will talk about the vocabulary.
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He had to let go of his high school dream of attending a four-year university because of family finances,
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but his chosen field in the community college system will propel
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him to the top 5% of wage earners among recent California college graduates,
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out earning many who attended the most prestigious universities in the state and the nation.
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Let's look at to let go of.
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He had to let go of his high school dream of attending a four-year university.
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To let go of is to stop holding on to something.
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You have to release it.
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You have to forget it.
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You have to let go of it.
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You can say, you need to forgive him.
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Let go of your anger.
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You need to let go of that.
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Or, it's important to let go of the past and move forward.
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Let's look at the verb to propel.
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The article says, his chosen field will propel him to the top 5% of wage earners among recent California college graduates.
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To propel is to push forward or to cause something to move in a particular direction.
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For example, you can say, the strong wind propelled the boat across the lake, or his ambition propelled him to success.
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Let's look at wage earners.
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The career that he chose propelled him to the top 5% of wage earners.
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A wage is the money that you make from work.
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So a wage earner is someone who earns money through employment.
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Someone who receives a regular salary or an hourly wage.
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As a wage earner, he relied on his job to support his family.
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Let's look at the verb to out-earn.
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The prefix out usually means something is larger than, more than.
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For example, you can say to outlive.
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To outlive someone means to live longer than someone else.
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Or to outsmart someone, to do something more intelligent than someone else.
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He really outsmarted me.
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I didn't realize that he was going to do that.
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He outsmarted me.
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Or you can say to outperform.
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When someone performs better than you, they outperformed you.
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Or to outnumber.
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For example, you can say this group outnumbers that group.
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That means there are more people in that group.
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They are outnumbered.
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So to To out-earn?
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To make more money than someone else.
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The article says out-earn many, but many is not followed by a noun.
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Many what?
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Many people, many students.
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Sometimes the noun is not necessary in this kind of construction.
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We understand that to out-earn many means many students.
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So, it's not necessary to always include that noun after the word many.
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For example, you can say, this restaurant is better than many.
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You don't have to say this restaurant is better than many other restaurants because it's understood.
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Let's read the paragraph again so that you can practice your accent.
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I will pause to give you a chance to repeat.
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He had to let go of his high school dream of attending a four-year university because of family finances.
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But his chosen field in the community college system will propel
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him to the top 5% of wage earners among recent California college graduates.
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And how did you pronounce that last word?
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Did you say graduate or did you say graduate?
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pronunciation is different depending on if it's a verb or if it's a noun.
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In this case it's a noun so we say graduate.
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We reduce the a graduate.
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But if it's a verb we say to graduate.
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Graduate.
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He graduated.
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The graduate graduated.
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So let's say that again.
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Recent California college graduates.
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out earning many, who attended the most prestigious universities in the state and the nation.
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And now it's time for a quick review quiz.
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Let's find out how many of these words you remember.
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Let's look at the first question.
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What's another word for producing a lot of of money.
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For example, you can say, you can make a lot of money in that profession.
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That profession is very what?
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It's an adjective.
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Lucrative.
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Did you get that one right?
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Let's go on to the next question.
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To make more money than someone else.
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For example, he makes more money than his friend.
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So he blank his friend.
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What's the verb?
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Out earns.
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To out earn.
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He out earns his friend.
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Let's look at the next question.
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A well-known and well-respected university is called what kind of university?
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For example, Harvard, Stanford, Yale.
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An elite university.
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Elite.
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Let's look at the next question.
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What do we call people who are the same age as us or the same level as us.
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For example, other students in your class, they are called your what?
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Peers.
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Your peers.
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She is one of my peers.
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We went to school together.
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She's one of my peers.
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Or we have the same job or a similar job.
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We are professional peers.
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Let's go on to the next question.
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Something lasting a a whole year.
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For example, the training program lasts a whole year.
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It's a blank program.
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Year long.
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Year long.
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It's a year long program.
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Make sure you stress the first word, year long.
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Let's look at the next question.
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If you're ready to do something, you're prepared to do it, you can also say you are blank to do it.
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Poised.
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To be poised to do something.
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Let's look at the next question.
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If we want to say, he needed to stop holding on to something.
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He needed to stop dreaming about something that he really wanted.
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He needed to do what?
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Let go of.
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He needed to let go of his dream.
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Let's go on to the next question.
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If something pushes you forward or causes you to move in a particular direction, it blanks you in that direction.
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What's the verb? To propel.
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It propels you.
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Okay, one more question.
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If you work extra hours, if you work more than 40 hours per week or more hours than you're supposed to work, you work what?
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Overtime.
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You work overtime.
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To keep learning advanced vocabulary, I suggest that you get my online course.
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400 advanced words you must know for fluent English.
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All of the words in that course actually come from the news.
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They come from various newspaper articles that I used in my classroom when I was teaching advanced communication skills.
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My students are mostly professionals.
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They're already quite fluent in English, but when it comes to really knowing how to communicate about a wide variety of subjects, they feel insecure about that.
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And this is the reason I created this course.
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You get a chance to practice using the words by making your own sentences,
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and there are many practice quizzes and lots of downloadable PDFs and seven hours of video lessons.
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Plus, you get a chance to practice your American accent.
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I talk a lot about pronunciation rules and linking rules and word stress and intonation and American vowel sounds and consonant sounds,
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so you also get a chance to practice your accent.
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Make sure you go to accurateenglish.com to get the course.
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Thanks for watching and keep practicing.
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Take your English to the final level of fluency with my online courses.
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American Accent course, the 400 Advanced Words You Must Know for Fluent English course,
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and the phrasal verbs for fluent English course.
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Go to AccurateEnglish.com.
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Why practice speaking with this video?
Engaging with the advanced vocabulary and accent practice presented in this video is essential for anyone aiming for true English fluency. The context of discussing various subjects, such as the job market and educational paths, allows learners to broaden their speaking skills. By shadow speaking along with the content, you can enhance your ability to discuss a wide range of topics, making you more versatile in conversations. This kind of IELTS speaking practice not only helps you memorize new vocabulary but also improves your overall confidence in speaking. Moreover, through repetition and shadow speech techniques, you can master the American accent, ensuring your English sounds natural and fluid.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Several key structures and expressions are used in the transcript, which are crucial for enhancing your speaking abilities:
- To out-earn: This phrase means to earn more money than someone else. For instance, you might say, "With diligence, I hope to out-earn my peers in the coming years." This expression is valuable in discussions about salary and job performance.
- Lucrative: Used to describe something that produces a lot of profit, such as "a lucrative career." Understanding how to use this adjective can help you express your thoughts on employment opportunities effectively.
- Grad: This informal term for graduate can help create a more casual tone when discussing educational qualifications. For example, "As a college grad, I realize the importance of internships."
These phrases, when practiced in context, can greatly enhance your fluency. Utilizing a shadowing app can be an excellent way to reinforce these structures in your speaking practice.
Common Pronunciation Traps
While practicing speaking, you'll encounter several tricky words and phonetic nuances that could challenge even advanced learners:
- Lucrative: Note the stress on the first syllable. Misplacing the stress can lead to misunderstandings or make your speech sound less natural.
- Out-earn: The hyphenated form may lead to hesitation when speaking. Practicing this word in sentences will help you pronounce it fluently.
- Community college: Remember to connect the words smoothly; this will help your speech flow and sound more cohesive.
By being aware of these common pronunciation traps and practicing through shadow speech techniques, you can significantly elevate your speaking skills. This method is not only helpful for daily conversations but also for preparing effectively for any speaking examinations, such as the IELTS.
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.
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