Shadowing Practice: Learn English with HOME ALONE — Defending the House! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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344 sentences
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This is my house.
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I have to defend it.
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Heads up!
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Don't worry, Marv, I'll get them for you!
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NURRY!
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Ow!
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Yes!
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Aww yeah, let's learn English with everyone's favorite Christmas classic, Home Alone.
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Before we get started, if it's important for you to be able to remember all of the new words
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and expressions that you're going to learn in today's episode, so that you can actually use them when you get into a conversation in English,
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then I highly recommend that you download the RealLife English app and watch this lesson there, clicking the link down in the description below now.
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You'll get vocabulary flashcards with all the expressions you'll learn today, like heads up, and I'll get them that we just saw in the opening clip.
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And our app uses an innovative technology called Spaced Repetition Software, which is like magic for being able to remember any new word or expression.
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And trust me, it was an essential tool for me in learning six different languages.
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Alright, so don't miss out on having the right word at the right time exactly when you need it.
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Download that for free right now by clicking the link in the description.
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And now, let's have a lot of fun learning English with Home Alone.
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This is how this lesson will work.
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First, we will watch the clip with subtitles.
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Then, you'll learn the key vocabulary and pronunciation.
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Finally, you'll put it all to the test by watching again without subtitles and answering some quiz questions.
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Hey, Mark.
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Mark.
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Mark.
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Look at this.
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I think we're getting scammed by a kindergarten.
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Remember that kid we saw the other day?
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He lives here.
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Well, if the kid's there, the parent's gotta be.
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He's home alone.
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You gotta be kidding.
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You wanna come back tonight?
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Uh-huh.
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Even with the kid here?
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Uh-huh.
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I don't think that's a good idea, Harry.
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Hey, look, that house is the only reason we started working this block in the first place.
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Ever since I laid eyes on that house, I wanted it.
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So let's take it one step in time, okay?
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Okay, we'll unload the van, we'll get a bite to eat, we'll come back about 9 o'clock.
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If you yell, heads up, it's to alert someone that there is something they should be cautious of or look out for.
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For instance, if you were playing soccer and a teammate accidentally kicks the ball towards your friend's back, you might yell, heads up, so your friend can dodge it in time.
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Get is such a versatile word.
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In this instance, if you say that you will get someone, it means that you will capture or attack that person.
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I think we're getting scammed by a kindy garden.
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Now if you're scammed, it means you've been tricked or deceived.
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For example, imagine someone creates a fake website
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that looks like a well-known store and tricks people into entering their credit card information.
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They take the money, but never send any products.
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This is an example of scamming and is how this expression is more commonly used.
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In this context when Harry says I think we're getting scammed by a kindergartner, he means to say that Kevin is trying to fool them into believing that his parents are still at home.
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Kevin McAllister is eight years old in Home Alone, so he's not really a kindergartner.
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A kindergartner would be a kid aged from five to six years old and attending kindergarten, part of the American elementary school system and the grade just before first grade.
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By the way, notice that the T gets cut off at the back of the throat.
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Kindergartner.
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You're trying saying it.
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Kindergartner.
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Kindergartner.
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Kindergartner.
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Here, we see Kevin putting up ornaments on the Christmas tree, carefully placing a shiny red ball.
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Suddenly, he spots the reflection of the burglars outside, realizing they are watching him.
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Hey, let me ask you something.
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Do you feel stuck trying to remember the new words that you learn?
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They just don't come to you when you need them.
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Or maybe your problem is that you just sound too basic
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because you're using the same words all the time and you sound repetitive.
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You don't flow at all as naturally as you do in your native language, right?
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I know exactly how you feel.
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I suffered from exactly the same problem in learning six different languages myself
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and I've talked to thousands of learners from every part of the world who also struggle
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so much like this just like you are
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and this is exactly why we created the real life english app to give learners like you the resources
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that you need to speak english confidently
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and naturally i mean you want to speak more english right
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but that's just so hard to do without the words
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that you need in your active vocabulary that's the vocabulary
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that comes to you easily without you having to pause and think about it and then the conversation just flows really smoothly.
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Well, every new lesson we create comes with vocabulary flashcards, and the flashcards and the video are over on the RealLife English app.
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By practicing just 10 to 15 minutes a day,
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you'll be able to transfer these new words and expressions from your short-term memory to your long-term memory using spaced repetition software,
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which tests you on the new words at spaced intervals, reminding you of it right when when you're about to forget it.
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So you will always have exactly the word you need right when you need it in your English conversations.
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So download it for free right now by searching for RealLife English in the Google Play Store
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or Apple App Store or you can simply click the link down in the description below
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and if you do that on your phone it will take you right to the Home Alone lesson.
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Now let's do a quick quiz with the next part of the scene.
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Aw yeah!
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Remember that kid we saw the other day?
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He lives here.
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What does the phrase, the other day, mean?
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Yesterday, a few days ago, last weekend.
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Yes, this means a recent day in the past, not too long ago.
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It's a great phrase to use when telling personal stories.
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You can practice it now.
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Share something interesting that happened to you the other day in the comments.
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Or you could even go to the RealLife English app
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and connect to another English learner to share it with them and practice your speaking.
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You gotta be kidding.
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You wanna come back tonight?
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Uh huh.
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Even with the kid here?
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To be kidding means to be joking or fooling someone in a playful way.
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But the phrase, you gotta be kidding, is actually used to express surprise as a reaction to something the other person did or said.
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If we go by the grammar books, the expression should be, you have got to be kidding.
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However, in fascinating speech, we often drop auxiliary verbs like have.
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Furthermore, got to becomes gotta.
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Notice the flap T sound, gotta.
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And we drop the G in ing words like kidding, so it becomes, you gotta be kidding.
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Listen again and repeat.
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A block is a
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group of buildings surrounded by four streets.
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People often use a block to describe walking or driving distances.
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For example, it's two blocks away means it is two street segments away.
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Now there's a great collocation in this sentence.
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house is the only reason why we started working this block.
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Working something, like working this area or working this block, means focusing effort, attention, or activity on a specific place or subject.
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Where working this block means they are focusing their burglary efforts on that particular neighborhood.
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Did you see the district for our inspection right today?
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It's just a bunch of mansions and yoga studios.
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Last time I worked that area, that lady threatened to sue me because I got mud on her carpet.
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And the expression in the first place means at the start, usually referring to the original reason or situation for something.
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When you lay eyes on something, you see or notice it.
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Like here, one of the burglars says that from the moment that he noticed that house, he wanted to rob it.
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And he doesn't want to make any mistakes.
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So, he wants to take it one step at a time.
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Which means he wants to proceed slowly and carefully, handling one thing at a time to avoid rushing or messing up.
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There's a great example of connected speech in the phrase, I wanted it, and take it one step at a time.
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Let's break it down.
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I wanted it.
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We drop the T in the NT combination.
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Wanted becomes wanted.
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Then the D from wanted links to it, forming one chunk.
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Wanted it.
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I wanted it.
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Listen and repeat.
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Wanted it.
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Wanted it.
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So let's take it one step at a time, okay?
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Take it one step at a time.
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What happens here?
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Well first we have a stop T at the end of it and it links to take.
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Take it.
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Then these next four words, step at a time, are linked together.
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The P from step is linked to a schwa sound in at.
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Step up.
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The T from at is followed by another schwa sound and turns into a d sound.
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Step it up.
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One step at a time.
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Listen and repeat.
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Let's take a one step at a time, okay?
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Let's take a one step at a time, okay?
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We'll unload the van, we'll get a bite to eat, we'll come back about 9 o'clock.
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As Kevin opens up the window to hear what the Wet Bandits are saying, there are two nice words you can remember to describe a similar situation.
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These words are over here and eavesdrop.
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Let's try a quick quiz.
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Can you match the meaning?
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So, Kevin heard that the burglars will come back about 9 o'clock after they unload the van and grab a bite.
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When you unload a vehicle, like a car, truck or van, you remove things out of it.
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Get a bite to eat or grab a bite is an informal way to refer to having a light meal.
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Check out this example.
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I'm gonna go grab a bite.
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I'll meet you down there.
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So this movie is known for the hilarious traps that Kevin ingeniously sets for the burglars.
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In fact, he even has this battle plan that points out a lot of the booby traps that he set for them.
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There's a whole sequence of them.
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And a fun fact for you, Macaulay Culkin, the kid actor, actually drew this map himself.
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By the way, a booby trap is a hidden trick which can be quite harmless, maybe a bucket of water falling onto your friend,
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but it could also be used to stop bad people, like something sharp on the floor or a heated door knob see these traps until it's too late,
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which is exactly what makes them so effective.
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So we're going to see how Kevin gets started with this in the next scene and you're gonna laugh a lot.
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Let's go.
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This is it.
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Don't get scared now.
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Merry Christmas little fella.
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We know that you're in there and that you're all alone.
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Yeah, come on, kid, open up.
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It's Santa Claus and his elf.
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We're not gonna hurt you.
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No, no. We got some nice presents for you.
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Be a good little fella now and open the door.
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Shoot!
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No!
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No!
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What?
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What?
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What?
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What?
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What?
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What?
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What happened?
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Get that little...
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Hello. Did you
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notice that the scene starts with the phrase, this is it, and it ends with the phrase, that's it?
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Well stick around to learn the difference between the two.
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This is it.
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Don't get scared now.
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That's it!
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This is it is an interesting expression you can use
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when an expected or important moment has arrived and something significant is about to happen.
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You're kind of preparing yourself for what's coming next.
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Well, this is it.
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This is it.
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This is it.
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This is it.
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Fella is
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short for fellow, meaning guy.
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Little fella is a casual term for a young boy, often used in a playful or affectionate way.
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There's a nice connected speech example in the next sentence.
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Listen to it again.
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We know that you're in there and that you're all alone.
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That you're in there becomes that you're in there.
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The combination of the letters T plus Y gives us a ch sound. That you're.
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Repeat after me.
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That you're in there.
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And the same happens in that you're all alone.
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Also, the R from your gets linked to all.
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And the L from all is linked to the schwa sound from the word alone.
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That you're all alone.
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We know that you're in there and that you're all alone.
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We know that you're in there and that you're all alone. By the way, Ksenia
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and I did a recent lesson on a RealLife English channel
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where we teach you some of the most common patterns of connected speech like this,
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like this with artists like Dua Lipa and Eminem or shows like How I Met Your Mother.
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So it's a lot of fun and mastering these can really help you to improve your speaking, sound a bit more native-like, and especially it will help you to better be able to understand a fast native speech.
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Check that out by clicking the link down in the description below.
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Yeah, come on kid, open up.
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It's Santa Claus and his elf.
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The burglars ask him to open up the door.
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Why not simply say, open the door?
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Well, both are correct.
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Open up just emphasizes the action, making it sound urgent or persuasive.
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In other contexts, the casual phrase open up may also sound more natural
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and less like a direct order compared to open the door.
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I've had enough of this.
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I'm taking the next boat out of here.
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Open up that door.
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Open up, I wanna go home.
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It's Santa Claus and his elf.
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Santa Claus is another example of how they try to adapt their speech and sound friendlier.
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Santa Claus is a playful variation of Santa, mimicking how young children might pronounce Santa.
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Let's break down the connected speech in this sentence.
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The NT letter combination loses the T, so it sounds like Sanne, not Santy.
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The D is dropped in and, while the H sound is dropped in his, so they link together and we hear enes.
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Finally, the Z sound from his gets linked to the next word, enesel.
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Altogether, it's pronounced as Santa Claus and his elf.
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Kevin's not gonna open the door.
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Instead we see him coming out of the doggy door with his BB gun.
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A BB gun is a type of air gun that shoots small round pellets called BBs.
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These pellets are usually made of metal or plastic.
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Even though it's not as dangerous as a real gun, a BB is still extremely painful to be shot with.
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So Kevin shoots Harry's crotch and the booger screams in agony.
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This part of the body between the legs is called the crotch.
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Be a good little fella now and open the door!
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AHHHHH!
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SHOOT!
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The exclamation, SHOOT! is an informal and mild expression of frustration, annoyance, disappointment, or surprise.
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It is often used as a softer less offensive substitute for a vulgar curse word for example shoot.
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I forgot my keys
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Jerk is a mild insult in English meaning someone who is rude irritating or hard to deal with.
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A little jerk his arm!
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That's it!
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That's it!
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I'm calling him out of front, you're going out of basement!
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Now do you remember the phrase, this is it, Kevin said while preparing to meet the burglars?
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Here, Harry says, that's it.
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What's the difference?
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That's it means I've had enough, or I'm done with this.
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You say it when you reach your limit and you can't take it anymore.
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You are ready to take some action to stop it or change the course of events.
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How would you feel about linoleum in the living room?
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What?
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Well, a lot of people have done it.
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I'm almost sure I've seen it.
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That's it.
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That's it.
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That's it!
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I can't take it anymore!
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You little jerk is armed!
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That's it!
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That's it!
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I'm going around the front, you go down the basement!
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Now a basement is the lowest level of a building, typically located partly or entirely below ground level.
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In Home Alone, the basement is a cluttered area that Kevin was afraid of at the beginning of the movie, but later used to help set his traps.
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Alright, now let's test everything that you've learned today by watching the scene a final time without subtitles
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And I'm also gonna ask you some quiz questions to test your comprehension Hey Mark,
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Mark, Mark, look at this I think we're getting scammed by a kindy gun.
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If you are scammed, you are cheated or tricked by someone, accidentally hurt, given something for free.
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He lives here.
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Well, if the kid's there, the parent's got to be.
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He's home alone.
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You've got to be kidding.
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You want to come back tonight?
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Uh-huh.
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Even with the kid here?
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Uh-huh.
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I don't think that's a good idea, Harry.
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Hey, look.
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That house is the only reason we started working this block in the first place.
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Ever since I laid eyes on that house, I wanted it.
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To work the block means to repair broken streets and buildings in the neighborhood, to focus on an area within a group of streets, to walk around the block for exercise or leisure.
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This way it's dark then.
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Yeah, kids are scared of the dark.
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You're afraid of the dark too, Mon.
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You know you are.
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No I'm not.
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You should do a lot.
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Not, not, not.
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You are so.
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Mom, where are you?
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over hearing happens in private.
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Ah! Where are you?
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How do we call the traps for the burglars that Kevin set up in his house?
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Booby traps.
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Merry Christmas little fella.
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We know that you're in there and that you're all alone.
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Yeah, come on kid, open up.
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What?
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What?
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What do we call the part of the body between the legs?
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Crotch.
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Hello.
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Ah!
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Yes!
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Yes!
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The little jerk is armed!
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That's it!
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That's it!
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I'm going around the front, you go down the basement!
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Awesome job today guys!
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Remember to review all the new vocabulary and expressions that you've learned today in the RealLife app.
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By clicking the link down in the description below with your phone, it will take you right to that lesson if you already have it downloaded.
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Don't forget these words exactly when you need them.
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them in the app and actually use them in your real conversations.
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And if you enjoyed learning with me today, be sure to give this video a like to let YouTube know
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so other learners can discover it and have fun learning with us.
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And you might want to keep your learning going, but you count this lesson next.
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Amelia circles slowly so I can evaluate the work to be done.
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Amelia, Does your bad posture affect your hearing?
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Well, carriage, obviously.
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Hairstyle.
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Complexion.
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Stop!
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Eyes, lovely.
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But hidden beneath bushman eyebrows.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Learn English with HOME ALONE — Defending the House!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: word, sound, alone, english. This video has 344 sentences and 3258 words to shadow. The speech runs for 26:49. The speaker talks at a steady 122 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| burglar noun | /ˈbɝɡlɚ/ | A person who breaks in to premises with the intent of committing a crime, usually theft. |
| kindergartner noun | /ˈkɪndɚˌɡɑrtnɚ/ | A child who attends a kindergarten. |
| scam noun | /ˈskæm/ | A fraudulent or dishonest deal. A swindle. |
| fella noun | /fɛ.lə/ | Used as a general intensifier; a pfella. |
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
| basement noun | /ˈbeɪsmənt/ | A floor of a building below ground level. |
| learner noun | /ˈlɜɹnəɹ/ | One who is learning; one receiving instruction. |
| unload verb | /ʌnˈloʊd/ | To remove the load or cargo from (a vehicle, etc.). |
| kindergarten noun | /ˈkɪndəɹˌɡɑːɹt(ə)n/ | The elementary school grade before first grade. |
| quiz noun | /kwɪz/ | A competition in the answering of questions. |
| booby noun | /ˈbuːbi/ | A stupid person. |
| crotch noun | /kɹɑt͡ʃ/ | The area where something forks or branches: where a ramification takes place. |
| flashcard noun | /ˈflæʃˌkɑɹd/ | A card used to aid rote memorization. One side of the card contains data of one kind, or a question, and the other side contains the associated response which… |
| schwa noun | /ʃwɑ/ | An indeterminate central vowel sound as the "a" in "about", represented as /ə/ in IPA. |
| subtitle noun | /ˈsʌbtaɪtəl/ | A heading below or after a title. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| open up verb | To open. |
| come back verb | To return to a place. |
| go around verb | To move or spread from person to person. |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. |
| break down verb | To stop functioning. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| mess up verb | To make a mess of; to untidy, disorder, soil, or muss. |
| point out verb | To identify among a group of similar subjects, or in a scene where the subject might not be readily seen or noticed, with a gesture of the body. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Then, you'll learn the key vocabulary and pronunciation.
- Remember that kid we saw the other day?
- You wanna come back tonight?
- Can you match the meaning?
- You want to come back tonight?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if you say that you will get |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | you've been tricked · are linked · is linked |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've been tricked · I've talked · has arrived |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | Software, which is · trick which can · someone who is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 89 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: smoothly /ˈsmuːðli/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/, altogether /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: flashcard /ˈflæʃˌkɑɹd/, schwa /ʃwɑ/, repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/, affectionate /əˈfɛkʃənət/, collocation /ˌkɑ.ləˈkeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: kindergartner /ˈkɪndɚˌɡɑrtnɚ/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, kindergarten /ˈkɪndəɹˌɡɑːɹt(ə)n/, repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/, affectionate /əˈfɛkʃənət/
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 burglar, kindergartner, scam.
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.