Shadowing Practice: English Fluency Training: Reading and Pronunciation Practice ⭐ - Learn English Speaking with Video
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In today's English lesson, let's build your vocabulary and improve your pronunciation by reading an article together.
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I'll read one paragraph at a time,
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and I'll explain the meaning of all the important words and phrases and show you how to use them correctly in context.
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I'll also give you some useful pronunciation and grammar tips for more natural speaking and writing.
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After that, you'll have a chance to listen
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and repeat as I go back and read the entire article from start to finish.
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Let's start with the title of today's article, A Closer Look at Modern Day Thanksgiving.
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So, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and at the time of recording this video, Thanksgiving is tomorrow.
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So this is the perfect time to read about how we usually celebrate here in the U .S.
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Things like food, traditions, events, and also how the holiday has changed in recent years.
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Here we have the adjective modern day, and this means existing in the present time.
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We use this especially when we're comparing something current to something older.
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We only use this adjective before a noun, so we can talk about modern -day inventions,
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a modern -day version of an older movie, modern -day problems, etc. Also,
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before I forget, You can download the free PDF with all the examples and explanations from today's lesson.
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The link is in the description below this video.
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Okay, let's read the first paragraph together.
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Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States,
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and it marks the start of the holiday season.
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Families and friends come together to enjoy a traditional home -cooked meal using recipes that have been passed down through generations.
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A quick grammar tip.
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When talking about dates or holidays in English, we use ordinal numbers.
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If you're looking at a calendar, you have the first Thursday of the month, then the second Thursday, then the third,
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and the fourth Thursday, which is when Thanksgiving is.
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This means that the date of Thanksgiving is different every year.
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This year, it's on Thursday, November 27th.
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Sometimes we don't write the TH at the end, but we always have to pronounce it.
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27th.
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To mark means to show that something represents the beginning or the end of an important time or period.
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You'll see this verb a lot in the context of big events or transitions.
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For example, the graduation ceremony marked the end of a difficult chapter in their lives.
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In this context, Thanksgiving marks the start of the holiday season.
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Okay, this is something you really need to know about American culture.
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The holiday season is the period from late November through early January.
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It includes so many major holidays.
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Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day.
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This time of year focuses on family events, traveling, buying presents, decorating, cooking,
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and pretending that you're not stressed about all of those things.
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Home -cooked food is just food prepared at home.
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The opposite would be store -bought food or ready -made food.
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To pass something down or to pass down something.
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This means to give something to younger generations.
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So you can pass down traditions, pass down stories, and you can pass down recipes.
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By the way, make sure you're pronouncing this word correctly with three syllables and the stress is on the first syllable.
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Recipes.
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Recipes.
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Okay, let's go to the next paragraph.
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The main dish is usually a large roasted turkey and common side dishes include stuffing,
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mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.
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Before eating, people usually gather around the dinner table and take turns sharing what they're thankful for.
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The word dish in English can have two meanings—a physical plate or bowl,
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or in this context, a food item served as part of a meal.
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You can have a large main dish and many smaller side dishes.
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Most people have a large roasted turkey as the main dish of the meal.
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Here, the word roasted is an adjective that comes from the verb to roast, which means to cook food,
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especially meat or vegetables, in an oven or over a fire.
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Personally, one of my favorite side dishes for any meal is roasted potatoes.
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I love them.
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This paragraph mentions some typical side dishes.
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Not roasted potatoes, but mashed potatoes,
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and stuffing, cranberry sauce, and the most traditional dessert, pumpkin pie.
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This is my absolute favorite.
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Let me know in the comments if you've ever tried any of these dishes.
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Here's another phrasal verb, to gather around.
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This means to move close together and form a group around something.
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For example, everyone gathered around the fire to stay warm.
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This is a really useful verb collocation for everyday English.
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If you take turns doing something, that means one person does something,
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then the next person does it in an organized way, like during a game.
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They're taking turns.
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They're alternating.
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That's a more formal synonym.
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All right, next paragraph.
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Another well -known tradition is the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade,
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which began over 100 years ago.
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This famous parade with gigantic balloons,
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floats, and performances takes place in New York City and is broadcast live on television on Thanksgiving morning.
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Something that's well known is famous or recognized by many people.
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This can describe a thing like a well -known brand or a person like a well -known actor.
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Okay, we have to talk about this parade, but first I have to give you a little bit of cultural context.
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Anytime you go to a shopping mall in the U .S.,
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you're going to find at least one department store, sometimes two or three.
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This is a very specific type of store with many different sections like clothing,
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shoes, furniture, cosmetics, electronics, all in one place.
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These stores are huge.
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And Macy's is one of the most famous department stores in the U .S.
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The first Macy's opened in New York City in the year 1858.
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Over the years, the store grew larger and larger,
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and now Macy's is so well known that it has its own special parade on Thanksgiving.
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If you've never seen this parade on TV before, it's like a crazy combination of Thanksgiving,
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Broadway, and your favorite cartoon characters in the form of a gigantic balloon.
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This adjective, gigantic, means extremely large, much larger than normal.
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Next, we have the verb phrase, to take place, which means to happen or occur.
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The context is usually a planned event or activity.
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For example, the ceremony took place last weekend.
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But it's also very common when you're talking about the time or the place of a story.
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The movie takes place in the Wild West in the early 1900s.
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To broadcast means to send out a TV or a radio program so people can watch or listen to it.
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The speech was broadcast on national television.
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A company can broadcast a program that was recorded earlier, or they can broadcast something live.
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If something is live, or if you do something live, it's happening in real time.
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Be careful not to pronounce this like the verb live with a short I sound.
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That's not the word we're using here.
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This is the word live with a long I sound, live.
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Okay, let's keep going.
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Surprisingly, watching American football is one of the most common Thanksgiving traditions for many families.
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The NFL has hosted games on Thanksgiving Day since 1920.
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American football has become part of the holiday's identity,
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and many hardcore fans schedule their mealtimes around kickoff.
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We start this paragraph with a good word to introduce something
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that happens in an unexpected way or in a way that's different from what you thought.
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Surprisingly.
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For example, the exam was surprisingly easy.
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I'm happy because I thought it would be more difficult.
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Surprisingly, my boss wasn't angry that I was late to the meeting.
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The NFL, or National Football League, is the most popular professional sports organization in the U .S.
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Notice that we're using the word since here.
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Since 1920, not from 1920.
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This is a really common mistake, but here's a good memory trick.
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Since indicates the starting point of an action that continues today.
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An action that's still happening.
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So if you can add, and it continues today, then you need the word since.
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Let's try it.
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She has lived in New York since 2015, and it continues today.
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She still lives in New York.
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She lived in New York from 2015 to 2020.
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This does not continue today.
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Only use from when there's a clear end point.
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This is also why we switched from the present perfect tense to the simple past here because it ended in the past.
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It's not connected to the present.
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Also, in American English, we typically drop the T in an unstressed syllable
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when it comes after an N in a stressed syllable.
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So 20 usually sounds like 20, 21, 22, 19, 20.
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This is also the reason why Americans pronounce our next vocabulary word this way.
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Identity.
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Four syllables.
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Stress on the second syllable.
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Identity.
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So you don't have to drop the T's.
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You can say identity.
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That's completely fine.
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But this is important to know when you're listening to native speakers.
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In this context, the noun identity means the things that represent the true nature of something and make it easy to recognize.
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For example, food plays a big role in cultural identity.
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So when you look at a particular type of food, you can recognize that and associate it with a particular place or culture.
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In this context, many Americans associate Thanksgiving with a few different things,
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and one of those things is watching football.
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Next, we have a really good informal noun collocation.
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A hardcore fan is someone who follows or supports something or someone with a lot of passion or dedication.
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My parents are hardcore fans of the Buffalo Bills.
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This is our city's NFL team.
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For me, I would say I'm a hardcore K -pop fan.
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What about you?
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Are you a hardcore fan of something or someone?
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Leave a comment and let me know.
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In American football, the kickoff is literally the moment when the first person kicks the ball.
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That marks the start of the game.
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Let's continue.
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The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday and is considered the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season.
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Many people take advantage of the major discounts offered by in -person and online retailers.
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However, However, many believe that Black Friday encourages excessive consumerism.
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and has destroyed the spirit of thanksgiving.
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To take advantage of something.
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Again, Americans usually drop the T after the N.
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You can say advantage.
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I usually say advantage, advantage.
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This is a really useful expression.
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It means to do or use something beneficial while it's offered or while it's available.
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They took advantage of the warm weather by going to the beach.
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This opportunity doesn't happen very often, so you should take advantage of it.
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When something is in person, that means it's done with people physically present in the same place.
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So the opposite would be something that's online or virtual.
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Next, this is a little more formal, but a retailer is a business that sells products directly to the public,
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like a clothing store, an electronics store, a grocery store, or a department store like Macy's.
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These are all retailers because they're not selling to other businesses, they're selling to regular people.
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If something is excessive, excessive, that means it's more than necessary.
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It's too much in a negative way.
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This cereal has an excessive amount of sugar.
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Now here we have a very formal noun that we use in the context of economics.
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Consumerism.
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Five syllables.
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Consumerism.
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This is a culture or system focused on shopping and buying products.
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Most of the time, consumerism is negative because it implies that people care too much about buying and owning material things.
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When we talk about the spirit of something, it means the true or original meaning, feeling, or intention of something.
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A good example of this is when someone remakes an old movie in a more modern way,
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and hopefully the new version of the film keeps the spirit of the original one.
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Okay, last paragraph.
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As a result, some people have decided to boycott Black Friday and celebrate Thanksgiving as it was intended,
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by eating delicious food, spending quality time with loved ones,
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and expressing gratitude for the important things in life.
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When a company does something wrong or unfair,
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some people decide to stop supporting that company and they refuse to buy that company's products.
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In that situation, we can use the verb boycott.
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Some people are boycotting Black Friday to show that they don't support this amount of consumerism.
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I want to talk about the way that we use as in the phrase as it was intended.
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This structure, as plus a clause, is a slightly more formal way to say,
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in the way that, or in the manner that.
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Remember that a clause has at least a subject and a verb.
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For example, please follow the instructions as they are written.
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This means in the way that they are written.
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The hotel was not as clean as it was advertised.
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But for my advanced learners, here's another option that sounds a little more elegant and stylish.
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Celebrate Thanksgiving as intended.
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Please follow the instructions as written.
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The hotel room was not as clean as advertised.
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We're using a reduced passive clause in these sentences.
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If the subject of this clause is clear,
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unknown, or unimportant, we can delete the subject and the helping verb,
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to be, and just use the past participle form of the verb.
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Next, this is a very common noun collocation.
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Quality time is special time to connect with someone important to you.
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Most of the time you will see this with the verbs spend or have, but you can also enjoy quality time with someone.
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Next, the noun loved ones.
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In the singular form, a loved one is a person in your life that you love and care about very much.
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A family member, a close friend, a partner.
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These people in your life are your loved ones.
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And finally, we have the noun gratitude.
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This is a deep feeling of thankfulness and appreciation.
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Gratitude is what Thanksgiving is all about.
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Usually you express or show or feel gratitude, with no article because this is non -count.
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She sent an email to express her gratitude for the extra support from her coworkers this week.
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Now it's time for a full read -through, a little faster.
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This is a great moment to practice your pronunciation by shadowing my voice.
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Listen to one sentence, pause the video, and repeat that sentence out loud.
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And don't forget, you can change the speed of the video if you prefer a slower pace.
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A closer look at modern -day Thanksgiving.
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Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States, and it marks the start of the holiday season.
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Families and friends come together to enjoy a traditional home -cooked meal, using recipes that have been passed down through generations.
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The main dish is usually a large roasted turkey, and common side dishes include stuffing,
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mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.
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Before eating, people usually gather around the dinner table and take turns sharing what they're thankful for.
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Another well -known tradition is the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which began over 100 years ago.
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This famous parade with gigantic balloons,
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floats, and performances takes place in New York City and is broadcast live on television on Thanksgiving morning.
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Surprisingly, watching American football is one of the most common Thanksgiving traditions for many families.
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The NFL has hosted games on Thanksgiving Day since 1920.
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American football has become part of the holiday's identity, and many hardcore fans schedule their mealtimes around kickoff.
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The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday and is considered the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season.
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Many people take advantage of the major discounts offered by in -person and online retailers.
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However, many believe that Black Friday encourages excessive consumerism and has destroyed the spirit of Thanksgiving.
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As a result, some people have decided to boycott Black Friday and celebrate Thanksgiving as it was intended,
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by eating delicious food, spending quality time with loved ones, and expressing gratitude for the important things in life.
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Now, I want you to practice using some of today's vocabulary.
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Answer this question in the comments.
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What are you grateful for this year.
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It can be anything, big or small.
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I'm extremely grateful for all of my amazing students here.
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Thank you so much for learning with me.
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I'm Gina.
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This is Your World in English, and happy Thanksgiving.
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I'll see you next time.
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Bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 253 sentences and 2804 words to shadow. The speech runs for 23:53. The speaker talks at a steady 117 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- thanksgiving /ˌθæŋksˈɡɪv.ɪŋ/ (noun) — The expression of gratitude.
- dish /dɪʃ/ (noun) — A vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle.
- verb /vɝb/ (noun) — A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.
- parade /pəˈrɑd/ (noun) — Synonym of military parade: A show of troops, an assembly of troops as a show of force, to receive orders, or especially for inspection at set times.
- paragraph /ˈpæɹəɡɹæf/ (noun) — A passage in text that starts on a new line, the first line sometimes being indented, and usually marks a change of topic.
- roast /ɹoʊst/ (verb) — To cook food by heating in an oven or over a fire without covering, resulting in a crisp, possibly even slightly charred appearance.
- noun /naʊn/ (noun) — A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as person, animal, place, word, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea…
- broadcast /ˈbɹɔːd(ˌ)kɑːst/ (noun) — A transmission of a radio or television programme intended to be received by anyone with a receiver.
- hardcore /hɑː(ɹ)dˈkɔː(ɹ)/ (adjective) — Having an extreme dedication to a certain activity.
- gratitude /ˈɡɹæ.tɪ.tud/ (noun) — The state of being grateful.
- meal /ˈmiːl/ (noun) — Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.
- recipe /ˈɹɛs.ɪ.pi/ (noun) — Any set of instructions for preparing a mixture of ingredients.
- excessive /ɪkˈsɛsɪv/ (adjective) — Exceeding the usual bounds of something; too much (of amount); extravagant; immoderate.
- potato /pəˈteɪ.təʊ/ (noun) — The edible starchy tuber of the plant species Solanum tuberosum.
- surprisingly /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/ (adverb) — In a way that causes surprise because it is unexpected, or unusual.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- pass down (verb) — To hand over, pass through or transfer to a lower level, next generation, etc.
- talk about (verb) — Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
- look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
- live in (verb) — To reside on the premises of one's employer (used especially of domestic staff such as nannies, cooks, maids, etc.)
- live on (verb) — To endure.
- live with (verb) — To share an abode as an unmarried partner in a sexual relationship.
- close together (adjective) — Near each other in time or space.
- come after (verb) — To pursue or follow; to pursue with hostile intent.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 34 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thanksgiving /ˌθæŋksˈɡɪv.ɪŋ/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/, thankful /ˈθæŋkfəl/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dish /dɪʃ/, mash /mæʃ/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/, delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/
- Long words — get the stress right: surprisingly /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, ceremony /ˈsɛɹ.əˌmoʊ.ni/, associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like thanksgiving, dish, verb.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has changed · have been passed · you've ever tried |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is celebrated · have been passed · is roasted |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | Thursday, which is · roast, which means · place, which means |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the most traditional · the most famous · the most common |
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.