Shadowing Practice: British English Conversation for Advanced Speakers - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hello, everybody, and welcome back once again to another British English chit chat with a new guest.

So, without further ado, Hayley, introduce yourself.

Who are you?

Hi.

Thanks for having me.

My pleasure.

So, I'm Hayley.

I'm the teacher and founder of I Speak English.

You can catch me on YouTube as well.

And I usually focus mainly on C1 and C2 exams, so advanced level, proficiency level exams.

And I've been teaching for, I think, about 14 years now.

So I originally started in Italy when I lived there, teaching in schools, and then I moved online maybe 10 years ago, I think.

So it was pre -COVID I was online before everyone else was. And

everyone ended up online as well but

and why did you go online before everybody else

because there were very very few people who taught online classes before the pandemic

and as you mentioned then everything changed

so how come you did it before everyone else um

I think I just kind of fell into it really um I left my job at the school

because I didn't really like the management

And I love teaching, but it was, you know, management wise.

I was like, this isn't for me.

So I tried to go it on my own and it's kind of difficult.

You need a lot of word to mouth in Italy, word of mouth, excuse me.

And that was tricky.

So I was just looking for other options.

And then I found a school online.

I thought, oh, I'll do that.

And then it just kind of went from there, really.

It was nice.

Yeah.

But it was hard because it was, there was no video.

It was only calls.

So you were teaching on Skype, but only using voice.

It was very tricky without the feedback from the student.

It was quite hard.

But eventually we got to video and it was good.

So you persevered.

You kept going.

I persevered.

Technology caught up with you.

It did eventually.

Okay, we'll dig a little bit deeper into this, but first, Italy.

Whereabouts in Italy did you live, and how would you sum up the experience?

Well, I was on the south coast in Puglia, which is like the heel of the boot.

It's like the kind of gem of Italy, the beautiful beaches, amazing food,

all the northerners go down to puglia in uh in summer take over the place

and you know enjoy the the beach life um but before

that i was in a place called molise

which is in the middle of nowhere that was my erasmus year

because i studied italian at university

so i was in italy on erasmus for one year but

that was in the middle yeah middle of nowhere mountains there's a joke in italy

that it doesn't even exist like the entire region doesn't exist um

so nobody knows anyone from there nobody nobody's ever been there

so that was quite uh that was quite difficult but again

that was a great way of immersing yourself in the language

because if you go to a place where there's hardly any other foreigners then you've got no choice

but to really immerse yourself in the language, right?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And there was no other English people there, no other foreigners.

I actually did a teaching assistantship there with the British Council.

So you could choose to either study at a university or do a teaching assistantship.

And I chose teaching.

And we had a meeting in Turin for all of the teachers, the assistants for that year across the whole of italy

and they said okay

when you hear your region stand up not your city your your whole region stand up

and then you can talk to the other people in your region

and they shouted molise and i was the only person in the room

that stood up there was not even another english person in the whole region let alone um the city

that i was in so i was very isolated

but um the people are very friendly and yeah they took me in

and i was able to make friends language wise yes it's a very good uh thing to just immerse yourself

and not have the option to speak your native language makes a huge difference no it sounds great

and of course if people are welcoming and they're nice

and friendly you use this phrasal verb they took you in

so it's kind of like they welcomed you they accepted you

but I imagine after a

while being kind of in the middle of nowhere it might get a little bit boring

so is that why you moved to Puglia?

No, it wasn't.

My Erasmus year ended.

It was only a year.

The fact that I was isolated was great because I actually ended up traveling all over Italy because I was bored.

I was only teaching something like 10 hours a week, so I had lots of opportunity to just hop on the train and go somewhere.

But no, I went back to the UK and finished my degree.

I had I think I was just looking for jobs in Italy, and this job popped up,

and I thought, oh, see if they'll take me on, another phrasal verb.

And they did take me on.

I got my job, and then I stayed there for two years.

Okay, lovely.

You mentioned this phrasal verb.

You might notice that I'm taking some notes, and that's just because at the end of this conversation,

I'll be doing a little bit of a recap of some of the expressions

and phrasal verbs so bear with us as we keep going over some more of these words

and phrases so they took you on they hired you they gave you a chance

and i love speaking about food i think everybody loves speaking about food

and you mentioned that pulia had yummy delicious scrumptious food

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so do you have any favorite dishes from pulia god that's a hard question there's so many um they do um

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Orecchiette with Cima di Rappi, which is a type of pasta, and they're like, yeah, the little ears with,

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it's kind of, Cima di Rappi, you can only find it in Puglia, but it's like a kind of broccoli slash spinach vegetable.

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It's got a very unique taste to it.

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I think some people love it, some people hate it.

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It's a bit like Marmite um but yeah that's one of my favorites

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and octopus that's their their main thing uh both raw

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and cooked octopus i prefer the grilled octopus is better

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but yeah nice octopus sandwich with a beer that's perfect it sounds delightful

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and there's another dish that i think has popped up on my feed before

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which is weird when you see how it's made

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because it's essentially burning pasta

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and i think it's called the murderers pasta the murderers spaghetti where they'll cook

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it with a little bit of like tomato sauce really really high heat

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so then it gets a little bit crispy on the edges

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of the spaghetti um yeah are you a fan of this dish

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or not yes i do like it yeah

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and they put a little bit of spice in there as well

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when they put the little chili pepper in there yeah very nice

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but i assume whoever created that it was an accident

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they just burnt the spaghetti and said oh well i'll eat it anyway

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but oh it turned out perfect it's even tastier than normal

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and if anybody ever wants to say

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that something is a little bit hot a little bit spicy you can use a nice phrase

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which is it's got a kick to it it has a nice kick to it like oh it kicks you

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and kind of wakes you up when you eat it

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and in my case

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when i eat spicy food i get a little bit sweaty

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i get sweaty for a lot of reasons i mentioned this on the podcast many times

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that doing exercise get sweaty i'm feeling embarrassed i get sweaty

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i eat spicy food i get sweaty you're just sweaty in general i'm a sweaty guy

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it's got a kick to it a little bit of spice to it yeah i've just realized

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because i i teach a lot of c1

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and c2 learners i don't really slow down my speech

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and i do tend to use a lot of phrasal verbs

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and idioms so i don't know

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if your um audience is more of a lower level

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or a higher level but i'll try and slow it down a little bit

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because i've realized i'm talking no no no you don't have to keep

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it normal keep it natural of course

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i have all sorts of levels who will tune in to this podcast i naturally speak quite slowly

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so it's nice to have that difference

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so feel free to speak at normal natural speed okay

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so now that's probably enough about italy let's move forward

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because you don't live in italy now do you i do not know i live in spain okay uh why the change?

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I wanted to learn Spanish.

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I'd already got to kind of, I would probably say I was about C2 level Italian by the time I left.

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I'm definitely not on anymore.

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Unfortunately, I've not spoken Italian in probably eight years,

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so it's gone way down if you you don't use it you lose it unfortunately um

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but yeah i started studying spanish a year before i moved

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and then i moved again to the middle of nowhere initially

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in a region called hayen

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which is just olive groves as far as the eye can see

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and nothing else um again nobody spoke english there were no foreigners where i were at where i was

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so yeah i I got into the language pretty quickly.

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And I live in the south of Spain, which is Andalusia.

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They have a very particular accent in Andalusia, which is very difficult to learn if you've learned standard Spanish.

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It's very hard to understand it because they kind of chop all of their sounds.

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They don't add S's to the end of any of their words.

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But it's a lot easier to speak it because you don't have to

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you don't have to remember the yeses you don't have to match you know your adjectives with your nouns

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because they just don't do it there so it's a lot easier to speak

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and moving to the middle of nowhere again apologies to anyone who is from saying I've never been

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but I do know it is quite rural

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and it does have quite a particular accent

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and yeah as you mentioned it's a good place to improve your language skills because of the lack of other foreigners.

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But was it a conscious decision to move to a place like this?

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Or did it just happen, you know, because life happens?

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It was, it depended on my, it was actually my ex at the time.

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He needed a job and he just found a job in Haen.

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I was working online so I could work wherever I wanted.

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But so I just went with him to Haen and we ended up there for a couple of years.

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But again, it was good for my Spanish Yeah, it sounds great

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Did you notice a big difference

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Between life in Italy And life in Spain?

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Maybe a couple of differences I remember

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What do I remember coming here now?

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It took me a while to settle in I think I remember queuing

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Because in Italy there's just no in south italy anyway

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there's no queuing system you just kind of barge in uh you know kind of elbow people out the way

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and just you know shout whatever you want to the

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i don't know barista

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or whoever's serving you in spain i noticed people ask oh are you the last in the queue

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and you'd say yes so there's still not really you can't really see the queue

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but there's an order to it at least um

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and also paperwork yes it's still slow in spain

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but it's faster than it is in italy okay so you can get stuff done in spain quicker

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wow yes which is much surprising to hear yeah no really yeah in italy it would take me a good

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few hours to pay my rent every month

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because i had to queue up in the post office

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and do some transaction and everyone would panic

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when they saw my British passport

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they didn't know what to do with it how to put

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it in the system now I'd have to explain every month

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please let me pay my rent um but here it's a lot easier people get stuff done

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relatively quickly I would say good to hear and a nice phrasal verb you use was barge in If people barge in,

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it's like they storm into a place, kind of elbowing you out of the way, as I mentioned.

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A little bit aggressive, without really taking into account that other people are in front of you.

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They just barge in.

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They stormed into the place.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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Now, we'll focus on more of these expressions and C1, C2 language

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but first would you consider spain to be home now do you reckon you'll settle down

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and stay in spain for the long run yes absolutely yeah

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i got married here a couple of years ago

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i'll probably be having kids here i'm yeah got a house here

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i'm set yeah i've been here eight years now

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so i'm i'm not moving anywhere i don't think perfect

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so spain is home

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now you're sorted yeah yeah for sure yeah people are great weather's lovely food's good great quality of life yeah

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i'm here i'm not going back to the uk anyway why not

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i've been outside the uk too long now it's been about 12

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or 13 years since i've lived in the uk

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so it's i'm used to the mediterranean lifestyle it's nice

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i couldn't put up with the rain i don't think

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i couldn't stand the rain anymore i mean it is a little bit annoying

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and right now we're recording this in september

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and i've been back home in the uk for a couple

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of weeks after having been in spain for quite a while

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and during my time in spain five weeks give

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or take it didn't rain at all of course summer in spain

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and then i came back here

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and the first day i got back everybody was talking about this heat wave

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this drought it hasn't rained in ages

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and then the day i get back it starts just spitting just you know drizzling a little bit

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and for the last couple of weeks it's rained pretty much every day

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so yeah welcome back typical english weather welcome back lewis

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we missed you yeah you had a nice rain uh rain vocabulary there as well spitting

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which is kind of when you think about it it's kind of gross spitting just

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it's just spitting it's just drizzling and of course drizzle

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and spit always to say it's raining a little bit then to say it's raining a lot we have

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so many alternatives and pretty much all of them are phrasal verbs

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so pissing it down pouring it down bucketing it down lashing it down chucking it down maybe there's more

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but off the top of my head that's already quite a lot hammering

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it down hammering it down everything with down yeah hammering it down I don't think I can think of any more

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We can make up phrasal verbs

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Just something down

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It is sharing it down

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Excellent Any object with down

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Anything with down

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And it should work

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Now let's get on to Advanced English Of course I speak relatively slowly

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On most of the podcasts

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But I try to use lots of expressions

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and idioms etc Hayley how would you separate

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and assess the difference between maybe a b1 level student

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and a c1

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or c2 level student what do you think differentiates the two oh okay nice question um well

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there's a huge it's a huge step between b1 and c1 even between b2 and C1, actually.

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It's quite a big step.

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I think people underestimate the amount of work it takes to get even from B2 to C1.

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But I'd say probably the amount, like you mentioned, then vocabulary, the amount of different vocabulary they use,

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especially with phrasal verbs and idioms, and that allows a C1 or C2 speaker just to speak more fluently

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and more naturally without stopping or hesitating so much or without also over -complicating their speech too much.

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Whereas a B1 level learner, yes, they'll be a bit hesitant when they speak.

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They'll be searching for the right words that they need.

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The word might not be appropriate for the context that they're using either.

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And if they don't know the word, they'll have to maybe say an entire sentence to explain the word that they want to use,

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which is why phrasal verbs are really important, actually.

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This is what I tell my students.

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Yes, they're difficult to learn.

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They may not have a translation into your native language, but you can say an entire sentence just using two words,

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whereas in your native language, you would have to say the whole sentence to get all of the information in

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that you can just say by using the phrasal verb in English.

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Perfect.

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Great answer.

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Of course, there are lots of things you can work on with expressions, colloquialisms, collocations, phrasal verbs, using the right preposition.

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Then when it comes to your accent as well, you don't have to remove your native accent completely, of course.

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But if you neutralize it a little bit, if it sounds a little bit less like your mother tongue, then that is a good thing.

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It's a positive thing.

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And I think sometimes it's quite endearing.

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It's quite nice when you hear a French person, an Italian person, a Spanish person,

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or from any country, just have a little bit of their own accent because then

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It can spark a nice conversation of like, ah, you speak English really, really well.

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You sound almost like a native speaker, but I can just sense something, a strange twang.

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Where is it you're from?

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So I think that accent reduction is important,

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but we don't have to stress out too much about completely getting rid of your accent because it's hard work.

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And I think people can only really do that

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if you are practically born and raised in another country

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and you learn all of the sounds as a child or a teenager.

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And then it can kind of feel seamless between using English and using your mother tongue.

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So that's another thing.

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What else is there?

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Well, there are lots of videos online about how to go from B1 to C1 level in English.

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It's a big topic, of course.

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But Hayley, what tips would you give people who ask you, like, how do I progress?

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What should I do?

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What are the practical steps that I should put into practice?

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Yeah, there's a lot of stuff online you know it's like i don't know fluent in three months

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or you know do this in two weeks

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and i just think this is

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so unrealistic i think the main thing you need is time like i said it's a huge step

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so give yourself as much time as you can there's no rush um unless you happen to need a qualification

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or something like that like the the cambridge c1 exam you have to pass it

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but even then it will take you a couple of years minimum to go from B1 to C1.

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So give yourself enough time. Be consistent.

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I think that's the main thing with any language.

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You need to consistently do it every day, even if it's just 10 minutes here or there.

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Keep it consistent and make English a part of your everyday routine

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if you can so that you're not necessarily forcing yourself to study

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but just you know watch tv in english

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or listen to a podcast like this one or just do anything

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that you can in english

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and just make it normal for yourself um vocabulary like we said is a big one try to do

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that every day if whether it's by using an app

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or whether you keep um vocabulary lists when you hear new vocabulary

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if you're watching tv write it down

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and then review it at the end of the week also try to use

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it i think a lot of people learn passively

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so they'll read something in english or they'll listen

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but then they don't actively use what they've learned um

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which i think kind of stops progress a little

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so try to use it

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if you don't have the chance to speak use it in writing

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you can you know write what you've done today

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and purposely try to use the new vocabulary from your list um

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or try to write a story or just even just sentences example sentences

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that are um personal to you maybe

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if you can make a personal connection as well between the vocabulary

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that helps because it kind of gets associations in your mind

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and then you you can remember it easier when you try to use it in speaking later on. So there's that.

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Yeah, just anything you can do in English, reading, watching TV.

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You don't necessarily have to study a lot, but just surround yourself as much as you can with the language.

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Obviously, studying on top helps because then you get the kind of structured element as well,

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plus the you know the more natural elements let's say

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i think it's good to have a a mix of both structure

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and you know a bit more natural a bit more um impromptu sort of learning i would say no perfect

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and of course there are loads of videos online of different tips of things you can do

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but i think both of us can sum

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it up with being consistent practicing every day not only getting passive learning

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but also active learning is very important as well and the word

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that i use over and over again is immersion try to immerse yourself in the language as much as possible

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So anything that you would normally do in your mother tongue, try to switch it to English.

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So whether that's TV, news, music, you name it.

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If you normally do something in your own language, there is probably a way to do it in English.

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And nowadays, it doesn't take that much effort.

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And in the past, people would always be saying, I want to move to the UK.

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I want to move to the US.

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I want to move to Ireland or Australia or South Africa because I want to learn English.

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Thinking that the two go hand in hand.

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If you move there, you will magically and instantly become fluent in the language.

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Hayley, do you think that is the case?

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If you move abroad, will you magically become fluent in English?

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No, I do not think that's the case.

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No, I mean, for example, I have quite a lot of students who actually live in the UK and they're still learning English.

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so it's again it's all about how much effort you put in

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if you do immerse yourself just

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because you're in the country doesn't mean you're immersed in it

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if you don't go out and

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if you don't speak to local people let's say

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you speak to your partner in your native language you speak to your kids in your native language

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and maybe you don't even work in england for example then you're just still surrounded by your native language all day.

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But you need to get out, speak to people on the street, join meetup groups if you can, get some hobbies going in English.

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There's plenty of international language exchanges you can find in any city.

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Even where I live, I live in a very small town

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but there's two meetups every week for international language exchange

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which is great as well so yeah just really get into the community

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if you want to learn English

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and what you said before as well about accent reduction

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I think yes the easiest way to kind of pick up

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an accent let's is to move to a country where the target language you're learning is spoken

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if it's english sure move to the uk

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but again you need to surround yourself with it and then you also need to speak

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in order for your you to pick up the accent

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and to kind of get that little twang maybe in your accent

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so yeah like you said immersion immersion immersion immersion

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that is the game of the game say it again immersion immersion immersion

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and obviously it is a little bit trickier

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but you can immerse yourself without leaving your house

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so yeah you can immerse yourself without moving abroad

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or necessarily traveling just online there are so many resources countless resources

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that you can use for listening for reading there are lots of conversation clubs

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that you can join as well or you can do conversation exchanges

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or you can join some kind of online club in your target language English in this scenario

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so of course it helps it can help to motivate you

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if you move abroad but I think that is the main thing

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because it's very easy to get lazy and stay in your comfort zone

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when you move abroad and think like ah I've just met a friend

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and he's from the same city as me

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so now we're going to be best mates

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and then little by little you stop making an effort to integrate with local people

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and use that language so i know many people living in spain who have done this

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and yeah despite having spent many years living in spain they're not actually making

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that much progress so you know that's just a warning to everybody

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that you do need to continue to put in the effort and try to immerse yourself in the language,

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even if you are living in a country where English is spoken.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Um, yeah, it's very typical of British people, unfortunately, when they live abroad,

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that they don't tend to speak the language of where they live just because everyone else tends to speak English anyway.

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Um, going back to when I lived in Italy, when I was on my Erasmus year,

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um, yeah, Again, I was in the middle of nowhere so it really helped my Italian.

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I was incredibly nervous and scared.

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I couldn't really speak when I arrived, even though I'd studied for two years at university.

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I couldn't really say much and I was very nervous.

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You were talking about a comfort zone for a

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while i did stay in the house i was

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so nervous i didn't really want to go out

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and speak to people and it took me a

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while to really kind of um what's the word

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it's come out of my shell there you go that's idiomatic expression there yeah come out of my shell

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and eventually start uh speaking to people and

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when i did yes it's very difficult at the start you might get headaches i was getting headaches a lot

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because i was having to concentrate so hard on what people were saying um

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and it is quite embarrassing because you're making mistakes maybe you feel like a child

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when you're speaking um but nine times out of ten nobody's going to laugh at you

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when you're talking nobody's gonna make jokes they're probably going to be very helpful

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and give you the word that you're struggling to find

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or um you know it's it's better to try

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and then eventually get to your goal because

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if you don't try then you will never ever be fluent uh in your language

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or you won't improve um and that was kind of proven

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when I went back to university there was only about 20 people in my class at university it was very small

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and the rest of the people were studying at universities in Italy with other English people.

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And you could see it because they couldn't speak Italian.

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Even when they got back, they couldn't speak properly.

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And then there was me going in my southern Italian accent because I had no other choice.

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But, yeah, don't give yourself the choice.

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Pretend, okay, I don't have any choice here.

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I just have to go out and do it

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and try to avoid making friends with people that are from your native country or speak your native language.

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I think that's the number one mistake.

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No, I couldn't agree more.

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I absolutely agree.

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And if you pretend almost that, okay, I cannot possibly use my own language, then you have no choice but to make an effort

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and to go out of your comfort zone to improve your language skills in English in this scenario

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so yeah i absolutely agree and i was gonna ask you something else

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but i kind of ah i don't remember it's on the tip of my tongue i got it

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so what i was trying to remember was the fact

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that you said that now your italian is a little bit rusty

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because of course you haven't lived there for i don't know a decade almost yeah

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i have a very similar situation with my italian

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which never got to a great level and also a bit of my Portuguese

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which never got to a great level either

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but this is the importance of consistency

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so I kind of I just wanted to hammer home

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that point I wanted to really highlight it that

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if you stop listening reading speaking no matter how advanced

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you were in the first place it will get a little bit rusty

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so even if it's just a little bit of listening

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or a little bit of speaking it is very important

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that you don't think that once you've reached an advanced level the learning is over

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because you can very quickly lose some of your fluency your confidence as well some expressions

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that you might have learned in the past

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so it might be a little bit depressing to hear but learning a language is a lifelong

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journey that you can't give up you have to carry on doing it

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and if you reach a really really high level of course you can take your foot off the gas

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and you can maybe make a little bit less effort

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but you have to keep doing something just to maintain it

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because as you said at the beginning of the conversation

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if you don't use it you will lose it yeah it's a shame yeah

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when I think oh I was you know I could do anything I wanted in Italian a few years ago

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and now I'd be lucky to have a conversation with someone

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I'm sure you could for the record very very simple conversation

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I'd probably say maybe be one level at most my Italian is now I mean understanding is fine

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But speaking is a whole other thing I think that's the thing

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Muscle memory as well

459

You lose a lot of muscle memory

460

When you don't speak

461

Either in pronunciation

462

Or just the way that the words flow as well I feel like if I spoke Italian now

463

It would probably come out

464

In like a Spanish intonation

465

Or with a Spanish accent

466

Or something like that I agree

467

So learn from our mistakes

468

Don't make the same mistakes that we have made

469

Be consistent more consistent than the teachers are.

470

Now, let's finish off with a couple of hypotheticals, a couple of nice second conditional questions,

471

because this morning I've been teaching some classes, reviewing conditionals,

472

so I thought it would be a nice way of wrapping up this chat all about becoming fluent and advanced English.

473

So, Hayley, are you ready?

474

I am.

475

Throw some out.

476

Okay.

477

Let's go with this question what would you do

478

if you didn't have to work for a year how would you spend

479

that year i imagine you're still going to earn the same salary financially there will be change

480

so you're not going to become a millionaire i'm not talking about winning the lottery

481

but one year no work same salary how would you spend it what would you do nice oh god that's

482

so hard because i work so much my life yeah

483

when you're self -employed you basically never stop working

484

so yeah um what would i do i probably i mean it's a bit cliche most people probably say this

485

but i'd probably just travel i've not um traveled much really since i got uh i got cats

486

so i can't really leave them on their own for an extended amount of time

487

but then again that wouldn't change would it

488

if I didn't work I'd still have the cats

489

so I couldn't you could take the cats with you who

490

knows get a little cat bag one of them possibly the other one absolutely not no

491

she hates the she hates the carrier absolutely okay let's pretend I don't have cats as well

492

So if I didn't have a job, yes, I would go and travel the world.

493

I definitely want to see more of Asia.

494

I went to Japan last year or the year before.

495

That was fantastic.

496

I'd love to go back to Japan, South Korea as well.

497

I'd love to go there.

498

Lots of Asian countries.

499

I'm supposed to go to Turkey this year, and then we didn't end up going there either, but I'd like to go there.

500

I've got quite a few students in Turkey, so it's show me around um yeah just travel try

501

and see as many places as it could i think what about you what would you do in my case

502

i mean i'd probably do the same

503

i guess the answer is more where you would go rather than what you would do yeah

504

i think most people who i've asked this question to they say well

505

i'd travel i suppose you'd go around different places some people have told me

506

that they would learn a new skill

507

or maybe they would take the time to spend it more with loved ones perhaps

508

if you've got young nephews nieces children maybe you could do something differently with them

509

but I probably travel as well and where would you yeah I'm kind of thinking

510

that it'd be cool to do some kind of challenge

511

and i mean a challenge of traveling through exotic

512

or maybe dangerous countries to be able to go from one

513

side of africa to the other side of africa where this would be perhaps a bit ambitious

514

but doing something like this that you would remember for the rest of your life

515

and not going to maybe more stereotypical places kind of appeals to me

516

so yeah i'd like to start maybe in cape town

517

and then make my way all the way up to egypt for example

518

but of course this is this is easier said than done it is yes i think

519

so yeah egypt's definitely on my list as well

520

and morocco i'm only across the water here from morocco

521

and i still haven't been yet so

522

that would be another place on my list

523

i think what are you waiting for i don't know

524

i don't know i have to go there at some point someday one day one day

525

and uh with this trip to africa a nice phrase

526

that comes to mind is a pipe dream

527

so maybe doing something this ambitious

528

and adventurous is a bit of a pipe dream meaning it's a bit of an unrealistic dream

529

but you never know never say never never say never yeah

530

and let's do one more one more second conditional question

531

so how about

532

if you had to give up your phone for one month would you be able to do it

533

or not oh okay let's give up my phone

534

i think i would i mean i've still got my computer

535

so yeah i mean you could use your computer you could use your ipad

536

if you got one i think i spend more time at my computer than i do on my phone

537

because i'm teaching so much and working and then

538

To be honest, at the end of the day, if I've had a full day teaching plus working,

539

I don't even want to look at my phone because I've been staring at a screen all day as it is.

540

So I don't want to go from a big screen to a mini screen.

541

So, yeah, I think I could do it, yeah.

542

And I'm a big reader as well.

543

I love reading, so I have that as my entertainment rather than scrolling, doom scrolling endlessly.

544

It's not the best habit, I don't think.

545

So I reckon I could do it.

546

okay good for you because i think you could do it no it's worrying uh

547

but i i admit it i don't think i'd be able to do it

548

or i'd only be able to do it

549

if i knew how much i was going to sacrifice let's say

550

because i do use my phone for so many things i edit videos on my phone i'll send emails on my phone.

551

I'll record videos on my phone as well.

552

Then I do a little bit of doom scrolling as well, of course.

553

Sometimes I'll have video calls with family or if I'm not with my fiance, we'll have video calls as well.

554

I track my runs on my phone.

555

I'll also keep track of how many steps I'm doing.

556

There are so many things I do with my phone

557

and it's a little bit sad or worrying to know my dependence

558

but yeah one month would be too much i could do a week maybe

559

but a week tops a week okay okay fair enough at least you're honest yeah honesty is the best policy

560

awesome so honesty is the best policy a nice little expression as well

561

and that is a great way of leading me to do a little bit of a recap.

562

So let me go over some of the things I've written down, starting with, they took me in.

563

So if somebody takes you in, they welcome you in a place, which isn't the same as take you on.

564

Because if somebody takes you on, they hire you, they employ you, they give you a job.

565

And we also use a nice verb, which is to hop.

566

I hopped on the train.

567

I hopped on the tram or the bus.

568

It's a way of saying to jump on.

569

So it shows that you get on quickly.

570

I hopped on the train to Milan, for example.

571

And spicy food, you can also say, oh, it's got a kick to it.

572

That pasta, it's got a bit of a kick to it.

573

It's a little bit spicy then we mentioned barging in so

574

if you enter a room or a shop

575

and you barge in it's like you storm in you enter very quickly without considering other people

576

and thinking if they are there

577

or not you just barge in yeah very impolite very very impolite do not barge in places

578

and then speaking about the rain i use these phrases quite a lot

579

but if it rains a little bit it spits or drizzles

580

if it rains a lot there are so many alternatives

581

but maybe the most common is it's pouring it down

582

or simply it's pouring down then if somebody becomes a little bit more confident

583

and they reveal their true self then you come out of your shell

584

so hayley came out of her shell after a week living in italy for example

585

it was more like two to three months

586

it was at the end of the trip a bit longer one year later

587

and then the final two phrases are take your foot off the gas.

588

It sounds a little bit American, but it came to mind.

589

And if you take your foot off the gas, it means that you decelerate.

590

You stop making such an effort.

591

So speaking about immersing yourself in the language, once you reach a really advanced level, you shouldn't suddenly stop learning,

592

but you can take your foot off the gas

593

and make a little bit less effort and last

594

but not least it was a pipe dream so

595

if you want to talk about a dream

596

which is maybe not very likely it's difficult to actually make

597

that dream come true then you can say it's a bit of a pipe dream

598

but you never know never say never I thought of an extra one as well

599

while you were talking about traveling around Africa you were saying you wanted to visit some less common countries

600

and i was thinking that kind of off the beaten track you wanted to go

601

off the beaten track there

602

so to roads less traveled as well possibly absolutely

603

i want to go off the beaten track also off the beaten path would be acceptable too it's funny

604

that when i'm talking you mentioned the hop on the train i didn't even realize i'd said

605

that it's interesting when you you speak you don't realize how many of these phrasal verbs

606

or idiomatic expressions you use

607

but native speakers they're just dotted everywhere whenever you speak maybe three

608

or four in one sentence can can come up

609

so that's also why they're so important to learn

610

because you might not even understand half of what someone's saying

611

if you don't know what the phrasal verbs mean

612

or the expressions mean

613

so yeah no 100 i realize this whenever my friends our family are speaking to my fiance's family

614

and i'm like oh they're probably not going to understand

615

that you might have to simplify it if you're using all of these idioms

616

and expressions like oh that might be a bit tricky

617

but that's why it's important to try and learn as many expressions

618

and phrasal verbs as possible because

619

if not you might end up in a situation where you're a little like um what did he say yeah

620

you're just nodding nod along and pretend you've understood what's happening i know it's the same

621

when i when i speak to my parents actually i don't go back to the uk much

622

but when i do i suddenly pick up on all these different things

623

that they're saying i think god i haven't heard that in years

624

because i don't tend to speak to native english speakers because i speak to my students all day.

625

My husband is not a native English speaker either.

626

All of my friends where I live are also not native English speakers.

627

So it's actually quite rare that I speak to another native English speaker.

628

So when I do, I suddenly hear all of these little sayings.

629

I think, oh, I forgot that that word existed.

630

And then I kind of make a note of it

631

and try to teach it as well on my channel as well

632

so it's yeah it's interesting absolutely and you mentioned you pick up on it

633

so you realize it you notice it another phrasal verb

634

and i reckon we'll finish off there but um hayley thank you

635

so much for joining and perhaps we can do another one of these in the future

636

and everybody thanks for watching listening and give us a thumbs up

637

if you'd like us to record another chit chat in the future

638

so thanks again and we'll see you next time and i'll see you soon bye

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “British English Conversation for Advanced Speakers”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: english, speak, language. This video has 638 sentences and 7438 words to shadow. The speech runs for 47:27. The speaker talks at a natural 157 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 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 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
verb noun	/vɝb/	A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.
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…
vocabulary noun	/vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/	A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning.
barge noun	/ˈbɑɹd͡ʒ/	A large flat-bottomed towed or self-propelled boat used mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods or bulk cargo.
nowhere adverb	/ˈnoʊ.(h)wɛɹ/	In no place.
consistent adjective	/kənˈsɪs.tənt/	Of a regularly occurring, dependable nature.
abroad adverb	/əˈbɹɔːd/	Beyond the bounds of a country; in foreign countries.
phrase noun	/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/	A short written or spoken expression.
spicy adjective	/ˈspaɪsi/	Of, pertaining to, or containing spice.
queue noun	/kju/	A line of people, vehicles or other objects, usually one to be dealt with in sequence (i.e., the one at the front end is dealt with first, the one behind is…
fluent adjective	/ˈfluənt/	That flows; flowing, liquid.
shell noun	/ʃɛl/	The calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates.
pretend verb	/pɹəˈtɛnd/	To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.
pipe noun	/ˈpaɪp/	A wind instrument consisting of a tube, often lined with holes to allow for adjustment in pitch, sounded by blowing into the tube.
hammer noun	/ˈhæmɚ/	A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
go back to verb	To stem from; to originate in.
end up verb	To bring to a conclusion.
get back verb	Return to where one came from.
give up verb	To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone).
go out verb	To leave, especially a building.
stand up verb	To rise from a lying or sitting position.
pick up verb	To lift; to grasp and raise.
pick up on verb	To notice, observe, learn, or understand, especially something otherwise overlooked.

Sentences worth repeating

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

I was like, this isn't for me.
I thought, oh, I'll do that.
What do I remember coming here now?
Where is it you're from?
Hayley, do you think that is the case?

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if they don't know the word, they'll have · If you move there, you will magically · If you move abroad, will you
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	I've been teaching · I've been staring
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	nobody's ever been · has popped · i've just realized
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	people who taught · Puglia, which is · Rappi, which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 208 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shell /ʃɛl/, dish /dɪʃ/, reduction /ɹɪˈdʌk.ʃən/, ambitious /æmˈbɪʃ.əs/, conditional /kənˈdɪʃ.ə.nəl/
Long words — get the stress right: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, conditional /kənˈdɪʃ.ə.nəl/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/

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 verb, accent, vocabulary.

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 →

Shadowing Practice: British English Conversation for Advanced Speakers - Learn English Speaking with Video

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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?