Shadowing Practice: Funny Intermediate English Conversation: Could you live without.... - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B2
Cheers to a new day.
385 sentences
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Cheers to a new day.
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Cheers.
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Welcome back to Learn English with Camille and most of the time.
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Calvin.
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We are so glad you're here for this video or podcast.
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Today we are going to be having a natural English conversation.
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You will learn words that we will say.
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This isn't scripted.
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I just have some questions that I'm going to ask Calvin about,
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can you live without this thing?
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And I will also answer them as well.
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I can't live without Camille.
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I can't live without Calvin.
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That is also the truth.
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I can't even film YouTube videos without Calvin because he sets everything up for me.
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He publishes my books, which if you haven't seen them already,
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actually, I think we have at least 12 books published now.
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For children, beginner, intermediate, advanced,
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dialogue, short stories, grammar, we have you covered.
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You can find them on Amazon or my website.
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And I just want to say thank you as well to the members of this channel for supporting our work,
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for believing in us.
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You guys are the best.
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We appreciate you guys.
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Yes.
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Also, I don't know if you said the books always come with audio.
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Yes, that is a good tip.
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Audio is important when we're learning.
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So Calvin, first things first, be honest.
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Could you live without coffee?
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No, 100% no. I could not live without coffee in my life.
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Tea.
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Tea?
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Could you live without tea?
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I could live without tea.
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I could.
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Yes, but coffee is my, it's my red line.
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Can't cross it.
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it's my go-to drug as well
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but I'm not like a 20 cups of coffee person a
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day no generally I have one cup in the morning
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when I wake up
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and it's like my sacred ritual I have it with my quiet time where I read
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and write and pray yeah and I just love it like
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so much that first cup of coffee I'm getting jealous right now.
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Tea.
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I also have tea every day, usually in the afternoon.
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Yeah.
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Sometimes I have two teas a day.
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Yeah.
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Well, it's less caffeine.
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Yeah.
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It's okay.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I mean, we focus more on quality over quantity in coffee.
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And so we buy more expensive,
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but high quality, well-roasted, well-sourced beans.
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Yes.
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Special tea coffee.
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We pay, you know, 13 to 20 euros for the bag.
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But it is the cream of the crop.
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Yeah, it's worth it.
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It's worth it.
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And yeah, we love it.
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Some of our Brazilian friends have insulted us comparing it to Nescaf, but...
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They did.
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It was funny.
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Nothing like that.
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Yeah, they're good friends.
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Yeah, they are.
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We joke around.
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Yeah, it would be funny if they watched this video and messaged me.
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Let us know in the comments.
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Yeah.
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Can you live without your smartphone?
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Okay, not forever.
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I'm just going to put a limit on this.
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Could you live without your smartphone for one week?
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I would want to live without my smartphone.
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I think like each day,
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you know, we see so many studies
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that are just telling us how bad our like technology is
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and like from every everything from the exposure to bad waves or really strong waves to the
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psychological effects of social media all that stuff so for a week
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if i could do it i would 100 percent yeah yeah yeah i would probably go crazy day one
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and two yeah maybe day three
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and then yeah we'd see we'd see yeah it is really weird
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because it comes like like a second hand you know it's just kind of always there,
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always there, what came in.
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I'm not one to be like scrolling like this but I do post on social media.
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And we use AI like just you know asking questions about our kids' health or our health.
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Or learning languages.
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Yeah or where there's more sunny weather.
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Yeah where should we move next.
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Yeah that's true.
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I think yeah and then language learning is where I use my phone a lot as well.
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I haven't been into it as much lately,
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so I've been reading physical books.
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I just finished literally two novels that were 500 pages each.
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And it's a trilogy, So that means there's three books.
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It's called the Mark of the Lion series.
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It would be for advanced readers, but it is phenomenal.
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It's hard to put it down.
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I just would be reading until really late at night.
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I just couldn't get enough of the book.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, books I should say.
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Yeah, books are always good.
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I enjoy those.
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Could you live without books?
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No. I don't think I could.
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I mean I could but I wouldn't want to.
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Like if you had e-readers.
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Oh, I still love to have a paper book.
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Even our book sales, I had a friend asking me,
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do you sell many e-books?
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And Calvin checked and 10% on Amazon are to e-readers.
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Yeah, like Kindles.
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And the rest are the ones that get the physical book.
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Yeah, and we get it.
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Yeah, we like the physical books too.
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We try to buy physical books,
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even though we kind of have a mix, you know?
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because it's hard to get English books here in Portugal without spending an arm and a leg.
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So yeah, we have to rely on our library back in the United States for some books.
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Yes, exactly.
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Calvin, could you live without music?
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No, I can't.
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No, music is a thing that I think it's therapeutic.
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I think it helps your mood change.
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Also, just learning to play music on my ukulele and the guitar now.
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And yeah, I think it's such a gift to humanity to have music and to be able to express ourselves.
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I think music is a very key aspect to a healthy society.
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and music also shares where the society is.
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It's kind of like the prophetic voice in a society.
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So, no, I can't and I don't think anybody should without music.
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Yeah, it would be very hard.
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I mean, I just had worship music on this morning when I was getting ready and,
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yeah, it's just life-giving.
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I love music as well.
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Yeah, especially, yeah, with the aspect of faith,
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it's kind of like a double whammy.
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You know, you have very uplifting messages set to notes.
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That's true.
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Mm-hmm.
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What about lights?
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So we have electricity, like we can be filming,
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we can wash our clothes, have our dishwasher.
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We just don't have physical lights to turn on.
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So you have to depend on candles or lanterns.
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That would be trippy.
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I know.
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Go back to like the medieval times.
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It'd be kind of fun for the first like week.
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And then, man, it's so nice to just flip the switch.
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I know.
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We have these little lights by our bed or on our nightstands that we used to read with.
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Yeah, it's such a good invention.
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Thank you, Thomas Edison or somebody before him that doesn't get the credit.
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Yeah, I know, right?
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Yeah.
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Yeah, lights are important.
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I do like candles, but I would choose a light.
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And then also to have candles when we want to have them.
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That's true.
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Because candles, I think, can also put out bad things into the air.
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Yeah, I can a little bit.
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I mean, yeah.
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Depending on what kind of candlesticks you're burning.
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That's true.
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I think soy ones are really good.
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Soy candles are better.
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I don't think they were thinking about that in the Middle Ages.
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No, they were just thinking, how can we see?
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And their lifespan was like 40 years old.
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Oh, gosh, yeah.
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But there was a lot of things that could kill you back then.
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So interesting.
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Yeah.
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Okay, let's see what else is on my list.
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Okay.
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Could you live without speaking for just a week?
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Okay.
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A week?
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Oof.
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That is tough.
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We've done a day.
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We did a silent retreat.
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Remember that?
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Yeah, in Mexico.
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We were doing some missions training.
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I do remember.
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And we just decided to do a silent retreat.
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And it was interesting.
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It was very interesting.
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You know, we don't realize how noisy our world is
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and even your interactions with people and even feeling like you have to,
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like in a social setting, start talking.
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But when you're all, we had like maybe 10 people and we didn't speak for a whole day.
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And we even went for a walk and there was like a neighbor and we didn't know what to do,
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like because uh yeah yeah exactly that's pretty much what we did
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and uh and then you would sit the craziest is
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when you sit down to eat oh with like 10 20 people
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that aren't speaking yeah it's like it's weird i would recommend it it's very interesting like just don't speak for
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while you eat with people and then you'll be like whoa
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I don't know even I don't even know how to describe it
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but no I wouldn't want to do it I don't think
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I could do it for a week no even a day
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was a challenge it was I enjoyed it though just uh there was like a calm there was a calm
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when like you didn't have that pressure and
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and you could just gave you a rest from Spanish as well also in the yeah because we were in Mexico Yeah.
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Yes.
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So that would be interesting.
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A full week would be definitely challenging.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I would feel like I would go crazy,
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but man, there's some monks or things,
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people that, yeah, they go,
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I don't know, I feel like a while without speaking.
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Yeah.
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If they're up in the mountains somewhere.
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I'm just like reflecting right now and I'm thinking of how much I speak.
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Yeah.
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Like speaking with our children in the morning,
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you know, making sure they have everything
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school speaking with you processing how our kids are doing yeah
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thing today what we have recording the audio for these books
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yeah speaking uh i was recording audio exactly for a new
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book coming doing these youtube videos right now like it's part
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of life crazy i think it would be very very hard yeah i agree yeah
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but maybe like he said just even a few hours of
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silence like take a meal where all the family just says nothing
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and see yeah that would be we should do
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that with our kids yeah i think it could be interesting
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and i mean it's in in some christian traditions there is
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like um a practice of daily silence you know maybe it's even just 20 minutes 30 minutes yeah yeah solitude
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and you just you know it really helps center you and you know focus on what's important
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focus on god you know maybe meditating in your brain about
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things um yeah interesting yeah interesting questions yeah good one good
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one camille what about i'm looking at my list down here
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oh without spending money for a week i would like to do
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that i really would say like all of our bills they happen to not be on
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that week we don't eat out we get groceries maybe like
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before we prepare you know we we just yeah we don't
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spend any money could we do it yeah i mean money has i mean they call it what retail therapy
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so people do it for stress relief they do it for entertainment I mean, we are Americans.
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We spend money.
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Yeah, we shop.
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So but I mean, I think we've adopted over the years a lot better relationship to spending,
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but we still do.
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We spend a lot.
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Today we have a stovetop and some lights coming.
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Yeah.
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So it's tough.
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It would be tough to do it for.
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These are like a stovetop is because ours is cracked and broken.
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And I just want a stovetop that's not and the lights are
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because the light is not working my son did add a ninja costume into our amazon car
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and i was like i'll ask dad about it i don't
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know did you order it no i didn't talk to you
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about it i wanted to be like does he really need
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one like it's like 20 euros yeah oh yeah the ninja
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costume i don't know what would you guys do should we buy the ninja costume
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or not i like know that society functions because of earning
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and spending but then i like to think of myself as minimalist
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and i was doing that while we were traveling
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because we were in many places we had to carry our stuff
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so imagine nine months i could live with my stuff in
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a half of a suitcase calvin has the other half
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and that's been able to live combined years yeah
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and you realize how little you can live without but
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when you get a house and then you're starting to want all the comforts
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and then just slowly slowly you start getting stuff and then
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when you travel you're like i'm coming home so you can buy souvenirs and then,
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yeah, you're spending money.
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So, yeah, I shake Shane Claiborne says we have enough for everybody's need,
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but not for everybody's greed.
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That's a tricky little thing to think about.
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Not tricky, like a good thing to think about yeah so
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and the bible says it's more blessed to give than to receive
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so what if we all did that if we became much more generous
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and didn't spend so much or
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if we did spend it would be on others might be a better place i think
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so yes okay what about the next thing on my list
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okay could you live without alcohol i could yeah yeah i
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could easily as well yeah i mean i enjoy it every once in a
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while but um it's not something
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that i'm like i need in my life what about the
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sea could you live without having the sea nearby we can see the sea
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when it's not raining yeah yeah right there i've lived most
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of my life i would say most of my life maybe
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not by the sea it's close now though me too yeah
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this is one of the few times we've lived here in barcelona
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and uh hawaii hawaii oh yeah
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so i guess we have lived by the sea i personally
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adore the sea it's one of my favorite places in the
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world here in northern portugal the sea is very cold
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and it's also very windy usually there
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so maybe i could live without it i don't know i've been thinking about this going back
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and forth if you If you think about our trips,
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like our last trip to Europe and Turkey,
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we were almost always by the sea.
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Yes, we choose sea towns.
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We're trying to look out the route.
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We went to Antalya, we went to Izmir,
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we went to Canakkale, we spent time in Salerno.
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Yeah, the northern area, the town in the north,
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you know, on the Marmara Sea.
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We were on the Marmara Sea.
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Air deck?
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Air deck, yeah.
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Yeah.
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Vondurma.
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We do.
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We do travel by the sea a lot.
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Yes.
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So we do prefer the sea,
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but to live without it, I think we could.
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Maybe if there was a river or a mountain or just like views.
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Views and water, though.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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Last one.
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What about living without your favorite food for the rest of your life?
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I could do it because I have a lot of favorites.
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Okay.
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But if it was like all of them,
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then I just have to eat like porridge or something or like oatmeal every day.
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I'd be like, oh, and I mean a lot of prisoners,
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you know, in bad places,
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they eat less than that or worse things.
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Yeah, that's true.
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We're very blessed to have a variety of good options.
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Yes, but yeah, so it would be hard.
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I don't think I could do it.
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Yeah.
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No. Well, my favorite food is pizza, like especially Italian pizza.
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That's your favorite?
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I love it, yeah.
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Oh, interesting.
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I mean, I really like a good sushi roll or Indian food is up there.
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Thai, but yeah, pizza.
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Good Thai food.
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Pizza just takes the cake for me.
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It's a winner.
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It's always a winner.
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That'd be a tough one.
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It would be hard to live without it, actually.
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I could do it, but I wouldn't choose it.
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I think a lot of these are like,
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I could, but I don't want to.
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Yeah, it's true.
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It's true.
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Food is such another beautiful part.
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It's like art, you know?
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People that really value it,
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the cooks or the chefs.
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you know and
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so it's it's important in society to have good food yeah
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you know it's true therapeutic especially like she made an amazing
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lasagna I'm excited to eat the leftovers in about 10 minutes yeah
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and it has meat in it so I won't be eating it
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but I made it for my family she is a saint with
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that last comment I think it's a good time to wrap up the video
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and on that high note yeah I hope this was a good conversation for you guys that you learned a lot.
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Please let us know in the comments if you could live without some of those things that we mentioned.
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Or not live with them.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Or live, yeah.
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What did I say now?
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No, I think you said it right.
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I messed you up.
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Okay.
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If you could live without those things.
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Yes.
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Yeah.
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Should I do the ending again?
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That's fine.
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Okay.
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We made mistakes, guys.
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So have a great rest of your day.
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If you made it to the end,
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thank you so much for your support and we'll see you real soon like subscribe share thanks bye
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About This Lesson
In today's lesson, you'll engage in a natural conversation about personal preferences, specifically focusing on things we can't live without. This format will help you practice expressing opinions and understanding casual dialogue. By listening to a spontaneous conversation between Camille and Calvin, you'll not only enhance your listening skills but also gain insight into conversational English. The aim is to utilize the shadowing technique to improve your English pronunciation and overall fluency, making your speaking more natural and conversational.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Cheers to a new day - A common phrase used to express optimism.
- Could you live without - A phrase used to inquire about essential items or habits in one's life.
- My sacred ritual - Refers to a cherished daily routine or habit.
- Go-to drug - An informal way to describe something that one relies on heavily.
- Quiet time - A term for a peaceful period, often used for reflection or personal time.
- I can't even - A colloquial expression to emphasize disbelief or strong emotion.
- I'm getting jealous - A way to express envy in a light-hearted manner.
- Every day - A phrase that reinforces the daily occurrence of an action, key for forming simple sentences.
Practice Tips
To effectively enhance your speaking skills using the content from this lesson, we recommend applying the shadowing technique. Start by playing the video and pausing after key phrases or sentences. Try to repeat what you hear, mimicking the intonation and rhythm. This method is particularly beneficial with conversations that are lively and varied in tone, as demonstrated in this dialogue.
To make the most of your practice, follow these steps:
- Listen closely to the natural speech pace of the speakers.
- Repeat phrases in real-time, focusing on pronunciation and subtle nuances.
- Record your shadow speech and listen back to compare your pronunciation with that of Camille and Calvin.
- Engage in conversation with a language partner, using the vocabulary from this lesson to increase your confidence.
- Practice regularly at a shadowing site or through other resources dedicated to improve English pronunciation.
By consistently implementing these strategies, you'll find that your understanding and speaking abilities in English will begin to improve significantly. Enjoy your learning journey and embrace the challenges along the way!
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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