Shadowing Practice: Have you tried learning English like this? (Christmas edition) ๐ ๐ป ๐ - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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It's Christmas!
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Merry Christmas, Jang!
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Merry Christmas!
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Ooh, stocking.
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What did Santa put in my stocking?
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Let's see.
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A chocolate bar.
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Mmm.
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Merry Christmas, guys!
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Today, I'm going to open some presents.
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I'm gonna make some delicious food and we're gonna have some fun.
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So come with me and let's learn some English.
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Ooh, the presents under the tree.
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What do we have?
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A gift box.
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Is this for me?
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Yeah.
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Nice.
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Let's open it.
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What's inside?
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Gravy.
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Gravy is the brown sauce that we pour on our Christmas dinner.
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It's very hard to get this in Vietnam, so...
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Cha-ching!
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Ooh, Hobnobs.
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This is a packet of biscuits, and they are very famous in England.
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I've not eaten these in ages.
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Thanks, Chang.
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I'll put the lid back on the gift box. And what is this?
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Ooh, a bottle of Baileys.
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I'm gonna drink this later.
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Ooh, Ferrero Rocher.
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These are fancy chocolates and they come in golden foil.
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This is foil and it's wrapped around the chocolate.
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And there are nuts inside.
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Mmm.
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Mmm. So good.
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And this gift is...
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Whoa, that's heavy!
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This is wrapped in wrapping paper.
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This is Christmas wrapping paper.
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Let's open my present.
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Ooh!
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What is this?
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Chang has bought me something that I've wanted for a long time.
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This is a keyboard, which is like a digital piano.
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I plug this into my computer and I can make music.
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So Spotify, watch this space.
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Normally on the 25th of December, it's Christmas and we give and receive gifts and presents.
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On the 24th of December, that's called Christmas Eve, and it's the evening before Christmas.
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On the 26th of December, that's called Boxing Day, and it's called that because we used to give people gift boxes.
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Now we just chill out, relax, eat, drink, and sleep.
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Mm-hmm.
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Oh, yes.
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Da-da-da-da-da-da-da!
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I've got my keyboard.
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I'm gonna go plug it in to my laptop.
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Let's play with it.
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I'm going up the stairs.
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Or walking up the stairs.
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I'm walking to my desk and putting the keyboard on my desk.
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Alright guys, this is going to be my music station.
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I'm excited.
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I've got my microphone, my headphones,
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and finally the missing piece, the keyboard.
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This keyboard has some pads.
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These are for drums.
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Do do do do do do do do.
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These are knobs.
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Ha.
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These are sliders.
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Woo hoo.
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These are wheels.
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These are the white keys and these are the black keys.
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I'm excited to start making music, but before we do that, I want some food.
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I'm hungry.
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A big part of Christmas Day is eating lots of food.
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Hello.
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Well, seeing as you're in my fridge, I'll show you what I'm going to cook.
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Ooh, salmon.
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This is smoked salmon pastrami.
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Eggs.
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One, two, three eggs.
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A block of pure New Zealand butter.
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So, in my fridge, these are shelves.
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And this is a drawer.
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This is the vegetable drawer.
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Down here is another vegetable drawer.
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And in here I have some dill.
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Well, I don't normally eat a breakfast this fancy, but it's Christmas Day.
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So on Christmas we normally eat a very extra breakfast, a very bougie breakfast.
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Bougie means fancy.
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So, let's cook.
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So first thing, I'm going to crack this egg into this bowl.
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I'm cracking it on the side. And voila!
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This is the egg shell.
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And inside the egg you have the yolk, which is the yellow part, and the egg white, which is the clear part.
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I'm cracking the second egg, and the last egg.
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Now, I need to whisk this.
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Do I choose a fork or chopsticks?
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Mmm, well, in Britain we use a fork, in Asia they use chopsticks.
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I'm British, so I'll use chopsticks.
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I am whisking the eggs.
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So I am going to make scrambled eggs.
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This is my frying pan, it's heating up.
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This is a knob of butter.
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It's a funny word, knob.
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I'm putting the knob of butter into the frying pan, and the butter is melting.
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It's melting because the pan is ssssss hot.
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Now I am pouring the eggs into the pan.
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And again these eggs are going to be scrambled, so I'll take my spatula and stir them like so.
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We call this scrambling the eggs.
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I am scrambling the eggs.
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While the eggs are scrambling, I'll take my loaf of bread.
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This is a loaf of bread.
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And I'm going to slice it.
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I am slicing the loaf of bread.
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Slice, slice, slice, slice, slice.
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This is a slice of bread.
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This is a loaf of bread.
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I am chopping the dill.
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Now I'm spreading the butter on the toast.
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Now time to plate up our food.
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The golden scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, and finally a sprinkle of dill.
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Now let's go eat this upstairs.
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On to the veranda, move past the rings.
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For you, madam.
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You're welcome.
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Zhang is trying to use the knife and fork.
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Merry Christmas, guys.
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Thank you for watching this video.
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I hope you're learning English.
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I hope it's useful and entertaining for you.
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Now, speaking of entertainment, on Christmas Day in the UK, normally we drink something called Book's Fizz,
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which is champagne and orange juice mixed together.
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But we don't have Bucks Fizz,
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so we're gonna mix beer and lemonade.
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And don't worry, it's okay to drink on Christmas Day.
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It's fine.
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Everyone does it.
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Cheers!
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Do you feel British drinking alcohol on Christmas Day?
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well well well ho ho ho it's bloody pissing it down guys you can't really see it but it's very wet
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yeah it's pissing it down again that's a very british phrase meaning it's raining very heavily
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and it is like it is in the uk
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because it always rains so i feel right at home anyway
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if you guys want to improve your English for the new year, remember I have a free English platform.
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You can sign up for free and improve your English.
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It's called Sprouts, you can click the link in the description or on the screen.
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Make sure to check that out and yeah, cheers!
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Merry Christmas!
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I'm doing the washing up and after this I think I want to play some games.
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It's very common in England on Christmas to drink beer, eat food and play games.
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Games such as darts or Mario Kart or Scrabble.
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This is a board game that I used to play with my family every Christmas.
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This is the board.
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This is a bag.
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Inside the bag we have tiles.
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These are tiles and on the tiles we have letters.
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Oh oh oh.
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Merry Christmas.
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So you take a letter to see who goes first.
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Whoever gets the highest score, I get one.
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What you got?
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Four.
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Okay, Chang goes first.
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It's her turn first.
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While Chang goes, I need to get the most Christmas drink there is.
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Baileys, baileys, baileys, baileys, baileys, baileys.
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Baileys.
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Let's open the freezer.
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Take the tray of ice.
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Close the freezer.
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Take two ice cubes.
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Open the baileys.
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the Baileys in the glass.
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Now just one more thing.
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Basil.
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Glass of Baileys.
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Cheers?
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Yes.
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Cheers guys!
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Merry Christmas!
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Merry Christmas!
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Baileys is a traditional Christmas drink.
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And it is a spirit.
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Spirit is alcohol, strong alcohol.
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And it's 17% so I'm starting to get pissed.
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We can also say Merry.
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Merry is in the spirit of Christmas.
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Merry, tipsy, or if you're very drunk, pissed.
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Good word.
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Do you have any other Christmas traditions?
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Yeah, we do.
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We have this plant called mistletoe and
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when you are under mistletoe then you have to kiss the person who is under it.
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Chang, I don't have mistletoe but this is basil.
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Hmm.
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I wonder if she likes this.
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He smells of basil.
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When you don't have mistletoe, get some basil. That works.
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It works.
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Merry Christmas.
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Yep.
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Merry Christmas.
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The final word of the day is New Year's resolution, which is a goal that you want to achieve for the coming year.
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So for me, 2026, I would love to turn Sprout, the English platform that I've built,
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into a flourishing web app where we have 1 million users.
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I would like to help as many people as possible improve their English skills and feel confident when speaking English.
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So for me that's my main goal.
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On top of that I want to get fitter, I want to get more mentally sharp, I want to improve my filmmaking skills.
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I would love to know what you guys want to improve.
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What are your goals for 2026?
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What are your New Year's resolutions?
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Thank you for watching.
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I hope you have a beautiful Christmas with your family and friends and...
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I'll see you next time in Korea.
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me and Nikki.
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We have a massive library of videos so whether you're A1 or C1 there are videos for you to learn from.
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We also have exclusive series from me about British culture
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and from Nikki about American culture so you can learn not just the language but the culture too.
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On top of that we have live streams so you guys can chat with me and ask me questions.
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If you join my community on Sprout you learn English in a natural way.
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You learn how native speakers actually speak and you pick up English just like you picked up your first language.
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The coolest thing is that Sprout automatically tracks your watch time so you can see your progress,
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achieve your goals and take positive steps towards being fluent in English.
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Click the link on the screen to get started for free today.
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I will see you there.
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Happy learning!
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Thank you.
About This Lesson
Welcome to our English learning practice page inspired by a festive YouTube video! In this lesson, you will enhance your English speaking practice through a fun and engaging narrative about Christmas. You will learn how to describe gifts, holiday traditions, and food vocabulary associated with the Christmas season. Through this lesson, you'll immerse yourself in a festive atmosphere while practicing your pronunciation and conversation skills, making your learning experience enjoyable and effective.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Stocking - A long sock hung by the fireplace, filled with small gifts.
- Gravy - A thick sauce made from meat juices, often served with Christmas dinner.
- Hobnobs - A type of biscuit popular in England, usually enjoyed with tea.
- Baileys - A creamy Irish liqueur commonly enjoyed during festive celebrations.
- Ferrero Rocher - A brand of chocolate desserts wrapped in gold foil, often given as gifts.
- Wrapping paper - Decorative paper used to wrap gifts, typically seen during holidays.
- Christmas Eve - The evening before Christmas Day, filled with anticipation and festive activities.
- Present - A gift given to someone, especially during the holiday season.
Practice Tips
To maximize your practice from this lesson, consider the following tips tailored to the speed and tone of the video:
- Shadowing: Try the shadowspeak technique by listening to the video and repeating phrases immediately after the speaker. This will help you match their tone and intonation, reinforcing your own speaking skills.
- Pace Yourself: If the speaker's speed feels a bit fast, use a shadowspeak tool, or a shadowing app to slow down the video. This will give you enough time to absorb and imitate their speech patterns.
- Focus on Context: Pay attention to how certain vocabulary words are used in context. For example, notice how "gravy" is connected to Christmas dinner, and try to create your own sentences about it.
- Practice with Others: Find a partner and take turns playing different roles from the video. Discuss what you received for Christmas using the vocabulary provided; this will make your practice more relatable and enjoyable.
- Record Yourself: Use your smartphone or a computer to record your shadowing attempts. Listening back will help you analyze your pronunciation and flow as you engage in your English speaking practice.
With these strategies, you will enrich your shadowing practice and build confidence in your spoken English. Enjoy learning in a festive spirit!
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 โ like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1โ2 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 โ making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.