Shadowing Practice: part 1 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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do you ever start talking to someone and not know what to say

that is something

that we're going to talk about today we're going to help you out with over 100 small talk questions

and answers because small talk is something that we do a lot of um

and i'm really excited

because we're going to bring you a fast spontaneous native speaker english lesson conversation with a lot of small talk

that you can practice with us you can shadow along you can learn how to ask better questions

and give better answers and i have a very special guest with me today the undisputed expert

and champion of being my boyfriend mike what's up everybody glad to be here

so and if you're new here i'm gabby uh i am your american english fluency coach here at go natural english so

So what we're going to do is have this be kind of like a game to see what questions

and answers we can think of spontaneously.

Because as I said, this is unscripted.

We're not just reading because that's boring, right?

So we're going to think about what kind of questions we would ask in a small talk situation

for 10 different categories of small talk.

So we'll share those topics with you and then we'll be brainstorming the questions

and answers in the moment i'm super excited

because i don't know what we're gonna draw we have a hat a hat with these topics

on uh little slips of paper and they're all mixed up and we don't know what we're gonna choose

and we're gonna see if we can get to 10 questions

and answers for each topic all right

if we can't make it you know we'll just move on

but we're gonna do our best should i keep count yeah we'll have to keep count

i don't know how we're gonna do this but we'll do our best all right okay so

is there anything else before we jump oh i wanted to ask actually

because we're making this video on small talk right

but we've had discussions before we actually have admitted to each other how we feel about small talk yeah

so mike how do you feel about small talk small talk's

hard for me honestly even as a native english speaker

it sometimes it's hard to to just jump into talking about stuff

that seems mundane or every day

or kind of boring sometimes i like those juicier topics

so yeah it's something i need to work on myself

i feel the same no i don't particularly always enjoy small talk

because it can feel very repetitive right i mean we know english

this is our native language we've probably asked the same small talk questions hundreds

if not thousands of times in our lives and

so sometimes it can feel a little boring

but hopefully we'll bring some spicy questions so

that you know you have a lot of options i think small talk can be fun

if you have good questions to ask

and you don't just stick to the same one question like how are you where are you from

so what do you do what do you do yeah what

do you do although i probably will ask you what you do we're gonna pretend

that we don't know each other as well as we do

so like for some of these questions you might wonder like really gabby

you don't know what your boyfriend does for work

this is for the purpose of this this video all right

do you you want to pick first ladies ladies first okay okay okay uh

if i pick the topic then you have to start with the first question okay okay weather

and seasonal events so gabby what's your favorite season oh my favorite season is fall

because it's not too hot not too cold

and i'm not going to ask what about you although

if we were having an actual conversation i would probably say what about you

or how about you and notice that when i say

that i'm not saying each word very separately i don't say what about you you'd probably think

that was a little weird what about you what about you

so or how about you um okay so another question about weather

or seasonal events have you seen the weather report for today no

i haven't checked it yet i mean just looking at the sky

i'm thinking we're in for a really nice beautiful day

but you never know this time you never know

but it is beautiful right now we're very lucky

if you could pick your favorite type of weather to go

have a picnic what type of weather would you choose oh definitely summer uh

and we actually did have a really great picnic a few weeks ago uh

and the weather was perfect it wasn't too hot

because we did it in the evening and yeah it was just beautiful

so summer is perfect for picnics for me um do you know

if it's going to rain later today no i don't um i didn't check the weather report

so um i can get on my phone and do

that wait hold on i'm laughing

because i'm really i'm really pushing 10 i'm really pushing to know if you

if you checked the weather day yeah actually

i did look at the weather no

it's not gonna rain maybe tomorrow how do you feel about

rainy days like what do you like to do on a rainy day oh

that's actually a great question i enjoy a rainy day

or a snow day because it kind of forces you to stay indoors inside

and read a book or organize your stuff

or catch up on chores you know laundry or whatnot um

and it's it's nice because you don't have as many options sometimes

when the weather is nice i just want to do everything i want to be everywhere

and um you have less options when it's raining or snowing right

so reading a book

or watching a movie would be my top two choices i kind of love rainy days for

that reason yeah just to get to indoors

and be cozy yes to be cozy do you have any favorite

because we're in summer now right it's august as we're filming this do you have any favorite summer events

or festivals that you like to go to you know we're here in maine and it's

just an amazing you know touristic place to be in summer

so i'm curious if or have you been to any interesting events

or festivals yeah so for me i'm a little bit of a nerd

so i like going to a renaissance fair i like getting dressed up in silly clothing

and watching clowns and performances and fun stuff

and maybe eating a giant turkey leg oh wow you know

that's like a great summertime activity is to go to renaissance fair i love

that yeah i love

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that yeah i would say um

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there's some really interesting festivals around here like there's a seaweed festival i have not been

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but i would like to go to i think

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there's an oyster festival there is i would love to go to

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that there was a clam festival i thought about going to

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but i did not there's probably a lobster festival there has to there has to be yeah

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but don't tell anyone this is a secret i don't really like lobster

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okay all right anyway safe with me because i don't either you don't either i don't either

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that's wonderful it's good for us yes um there's

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so much in common okay let me think another question also

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i lost count i have i've completely lost count well

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i think you asked the last one about festivals right is

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that maybe six or so i think that was six okay

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so we have a few more to go it's my turn oh

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it's your turn i think oh yeah

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you're right yeah okay all right um all right in terms of your clothing

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and like what you like to wear like what's your favorite season for clothing

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and for fashion oh definitely summer

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because i love wearing dresses even though i'm not wearing one today

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i love wearing summer dresses like long flowing skirts

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and in summer you can wear some really fun dresses i mean not you

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but one when i say you i just try new things no judgment no judgment

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if that's what you want to do uh

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but yeah it's just nice for me to be able to wear all my dresses i actually have

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if you look at all my clothes probably 80 of my

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clothing is summer clothing yeah did you see the hail the other day uh yes

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that was crazy it was crazy because it's august it's the middle of summer

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and we had a big storm and hail i couldn't believe it

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i was inside in my home and i

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and i heard these you know these pieces of ice crashing against the window i was like what was

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that yeah that's pretty rare for me i was a little nervous

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that like my car was going to get dented up

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but luckily it was like small pieces of yeah no problem yeah

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but that was cool that was it was interesting all right Gabby

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so sometimes I have a hard time figuring out like how to get outside in the winter

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when the weather is really cool do you have any favorite winter hobbies

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or activities that you like to do outdoors definitely

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so here in Maine I love cross -country skiing yeah

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if we get a good snow I'll even take my dog out

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and uh take her with me i've tried to get her to pull me on the cross -country skis

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but we haven't quite gotten there yet um

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but yeah i love cross -country skiing

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or even like going on a winter hike um trying to think what else yeah

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that's probably it yeah i met someone

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that said they do backcountry ice skating like they go find frozen rivers

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and frozen lakes and then they go ice skating

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and oh my gosh like the wilderness and nature i thought

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that was super cool wow

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that is interesting i hope they have a good way to make sure

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that the water is completely frozen because that's my fear is like

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that it's not completely ready to skate on but i'm sure they

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got that covered yeah yeah nice day isn't it it's gorgeous today this honestly like these are the days

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that i live for like this days like this make living in maine

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so worthwhile yes it's sunny it's not humid it's dry

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there's a little breeze in the air like i couldn't ask

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for a better day agreed yeah all right uh your pick here let's take

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this one out hmm work what do you do well that's our first question right there uh -huh uh

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so i am an english fluency coach here at go natural english um okay

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i am going to ask how about you okay um

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so i am an outdoor educator

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so i've been a park ranger i've been a naturalist for the city of portland

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i've been the director of summer camps for kids doing nature program as a kid

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so that's what i love to do i love connecting people to nature

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and the outdoors that's amazing okay so how long have you been doing

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that wow about 20 years at this point oh my goodness

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so um i spent over seven years as a park ranger in new york city

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and i taught people believe it

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or not outdoor survival skills in the middle of new york in new york city that's amazing canoeing

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and camping and fishing and all those fun things

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that you wouldn't think of when think about new york city

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so that was a really fun job that is

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so cool to me it's it's super interesting

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that you've been teaching english as a career

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and professional like what do you love about

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that like what is maybe what's really rewarding about

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that career well i love inspiring people uh sometimes

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when people are learning a new language like english

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they don't feel very confident they feel shy they're not sure how to speak up i don't know

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if you can relate to that but I like to encourage

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and inspire people to speak up and tell their stories

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and connect with other people yeah I think

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you're very good at it from what I've said thank you I really want to copy

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that same question

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because I want to know let me let me tweak it a little bit what inspires you about the work

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that you do hmm

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so in my career doing outdoor education I've worked with all ages

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I've worked with kids I've worked with adults I've worked with families seniors you name it

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so but I would say working with kids is to me the most inspiring thing

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because you know for me I I'm truly believe

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that nature is healing and

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that as you know trying to do some good in the world one of the best things

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I can do is to get people excited about nature yes

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because when you care about something you

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when you love something you want to take care of it yes

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so for me um teaching kids about nature and getting them out to nature and form that relationship in nature

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that means that they're going to grow up

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and want to take care of it

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so i feel like not only are the kids getting a lot out of it

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but then i'm helping to grow the next generation of

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conservationists and people that care about the natural world

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and will protect it i love that

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and let me just say it's it feels slightly unnatural to go back

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and forth the way we are

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but we're trying to share as many different questions as possible

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we're hitting 100 folks yes we're gonna do it we're gonna do it okay

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but i do have another question if you don't have one

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please how did you get started in your career

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so it's a really kind of interesting story i studied psychology in school

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so i studied counseling psychology

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and then right out of college uh

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i took a job doing um work with foster families in the south bronx

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and that job was so stressful

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that i basically i lived next to a park in new york city

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and after work i would just go over to the park to relax

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and calm down and de -stress and eventually i said you know what one way

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or another i'm gonna find a way to work in this park wow

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and i sure enough i found out that there were urban park rangers

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and the rest is history i became a ranger

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and that's kind of been my career since that's awesome

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you did it i did it yeah i love it all right um

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so tell me about some other jobs

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that you had before you became an english teacher yeah

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i taught several other topics actually i taught spanish i taught sailing okay i taught keyboarding

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which is how to type okay yeah um

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i think those are all my teaching jobs

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i also worked in after school programs for the city of portland also um

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so that was more of like being a camp counselor

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and taking care of little kids before and after school

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but then i realized that i i enjoy working with college students

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and adults even more um so i kind of gravitated to doing

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that very cool yeah what would be your dream job

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and this is not really small talk we're getting into like more deeper deeper questions

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but yeah i know but i think it's okay you know uh

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so yeah what is what would be your dream job

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i think what is your dream job is a totally appropriate small talk question thank you i think

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that's a okay and that makes it more interesting

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and you form a better bond with somebody

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if you really know them sure i mean maybe not the first question like what's your name what's your dream job?

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I mean, but maybe.

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I wouldn't mind.

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You never know.

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I wouldn't mind.

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Okay.

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All right.

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So, what is your eating diet?

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So, to answer the question, honestly, I would like to be the successor to Anthony Bourdain.

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Oh, my gosh.

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Like, rest in peace.

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So, like, a chef or, like, a...

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No, more just someone that gets to travel the world, eating a bunch of amazing food,

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meeting a bunch of really interesting people from all over the world.

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I feel like we can make that happen like

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if you all are watching and you're living in different countries

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and you want to help us travel the world

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and eat great food leave a comment we'll even cook for you i mean yeah

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i'm a decent cook he's a good cook it's true yes okay

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so i feel like your dream job is closer than it may seem maybe

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this is the beginning right now yeah making that happen yeah okay

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see what happens

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when you go a little further into yeah yes more than yes yes get people out of the shell yes

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it's a good thing well let's oh i think i asked the last question yes okay um

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and i really want to turn around and ask what your dream job is but we're trying not to copy so

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instead i would probably say the same thing what's the worst job you ever had like what's the job

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that you're just like i need to quit this is awful um well the first one that came to mind

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It may not actually be the worst one, but the first one that came to mind was I was a waitress for just a few months.

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I was in college and I was waiting tables and it was breakfast.

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So I had to wake up at five in the morning to get there by 6 a .m.

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That's when the breakfast, the restaurant opened for breakfast.

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And so just that fact was a little bit difficult for me, you know, and then it was fine i didn't mind it

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so much but i think just that shift being so early

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that was hard because as a student i was staying up late studying

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and just it didn't quite fit with my routine

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but again i was you know 19

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i was just uh just doing what i could do to make ends meet

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so i'm glad i had

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that experience though even though it wasn't maybe the most enjoyable schedule

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we've all had survival jobs just to pay rent

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and get it done yes yeah absolutely but i'm very fortunate

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that most of my life i've been working for myself with go natural english

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and doing this so i feel very very grateful very fortunate would you rather work the day shift

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but only have five vacation days a year or work the night shift

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and have 30 vacation days a year i mean my first reaction is to definitely say night shift for sure

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because i'm kind of a little bit of a night owl myself

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but then my biggest concern is like if i'm working the night shift and and you're not oh

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i i wouldn't get to spend enough time with you um

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so in that regards but i know how important travel is as well

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so it's hard to pass up those vacation days too

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so i would say i would probably work the night shift okay

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and do those vacations and then you can record your videos at night

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and then oh yeah okay problem solved well

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and hopefully we don't have to choose between those two options they're not ideal options yeah

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but i had to ask you a question yeah tell me

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like what did your parents do for work oh yeah

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so my dad was a counselor uh he was a vocational counselor

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which means he helped people find jobs

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so a vocation is your work i thought of another question oh good okay

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so what are you working on right now i am working on uh recording

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videos literally right now we're recording a video yeah

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and creating some new courses and relaunching some exciting things here at go natural english that's exciting yeah

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well i think that's 10

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so should we pick another one i think it's my turn

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i think it is your turn all right oh oh no oh no

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i think that's the one that's the one okay yeah okay okay oh no

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news or personal updates oh okay okay so did you see the news that's my question that's my question

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i guess i should be more specific what have i seen in the news lately

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that caught my interest um let's launch did you see

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that okay so i i don't want to talk about politics i really don't

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but did you see the news about um about there's this

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tall ship in portland called the eagle oh really yeah okay

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and they're they're offering tours on it which is pretty cool because it's a historic

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tall ship and the coast guard is using it for training

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so i think that's kind of interesting

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so did you hear the news about the eagle i did not

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but i think like what just happened was really cool

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because it was like a topic that you wanted to talk about

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so you almost kind of used like

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that as an intro question be like hey did you hear about this thing yes

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and then i can talk about it let me tell you yes let me tell you all about the eagle

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so that's like a cool small talk thing too yes yes did you hear about

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so and so did you hear about yeah did you hear the news

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yeah um no actually so i'll do the same did you hear

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that actually this path that we're right nearby they just built an extension on this so

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that now you can take a bike ride on this path 16 miles all the way down to downtown saco

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that's amazing it's really cool actually i did hear

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because you told me yesterday but I'm trying to act surprised

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but but that is that is great news actually that's the kind of news

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that I want to hear I would love to do

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that with you someday I would love to do

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that too I love riding bikes yeah so

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that would be fun awesome um so I know

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that you have been interviewing for some new opportunities

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so how did your last interview go oh yeah um

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it's going well like i uh i felt really good about the interview uh it was a job

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that definitely interesting and i think would might be a good fit um

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and they actually emailed and said

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that they want to send me to the next round of interviews

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so i guess i guess it went well yeah yeah congratulations

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because i've heard it's a very difficult time to be interviewing

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so yeah yeah yeah I feel feel good about it yeah that's great um all right

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so tell me what you're excited about uh this last week like I love

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that question I am excited about moving forward with some renovation projects actually

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so the home I have here is under renovation um there's actually a few units it's a fourplex

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so we're doing a lot of work like new roof new windows um new bathroom new kitchen

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it's just like a lot so i'm very excited

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that i have some good people who are working on things

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so this week i think we're going to make a lot of progress

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and by the end of this coming week i will be moving from one apartment to another

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so i'm excited for that move

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so a lot of things going on to be excited about do you need help moving

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i do would you help me i would

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does that count as my question um we're gonna play the game where we just ask each other questions

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and no statements i don't think that's a small talk question

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i don't think i don't think asking someone asking someone to help you move is not a small talk

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that's pretty serious yeah i guess things are getting pretty serious what's on your agenda for this week i'm

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so glad you asked so being that it's the weekend um i am very excited

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that today there is an event that has salsa dance lessons

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and a salsa dance social event

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and i happen to know somebody who's really into salsa dancing

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so i get to go out dancing with my uh very gorgeous girlfriend who knows how to dance very well

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i think

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that sounds like an amazing plan an amazing agenda are you going to give me a quick lesson before

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we go

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so i don't embarrass myself you're you'll do fine okay

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you'll do fine you'll do you are doing great you're already okay you're already great all right yes but

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if you want yes

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i will please have you checked the forecast for this coming week is there any rain coming is

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that totally lame that's a lame question well no i mean like

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um i i i think there's a little rain coming um

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i couldn't think of a better question right now wait

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i have one related to the salsa dance thing yes have you ever

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because i like asking have you ever questions have you ever danced salsa

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yes i have i mean i'm starting to learn right now

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so i've i've been able to go to a couple lessons

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so far um

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but it's very new to me like i feel like i'm a decent dancer

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i feel like i have good rhythm yeah

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but it's hard for me to learn specific steps like right foot here left foot here right less tricky

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so yeah it's it's challenging but it's a fun challenge it's something

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that i'm i'm excited about

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because it's you know it's good to try new things

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it's good to like expand your your boundaries yeah have you done any traveling lately uh yes actually

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couple weeks ago i went to new york city and that was also for a dance event okay it was amazing

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the location of the dance event was in times square

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so it was very touristic

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there were a lot of people a lot of things going on it literally all hours of the day

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and night because as you know new york city is the city

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that doesn't sleep especially time square yes

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so i really enjoyed it was three days i think three days no four days three nights

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if i remember correctly and every day was full of dancing

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and um pretty you know fun lessons good food um

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i walked around a lot i think every day between dancing

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and walking around the times square area

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i was at least taking 20 000 steps wow at least yeah all right

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so you know i'm a big foodie yes

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and i used to live in new york city

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and used to live in new york city

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so like what's the best thing

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that you ate in new york city okay well

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you know some of the time i was just going to the supermarket

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and you know just eating very simply i like to i like to eat simply

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when i'm traveling alone especially um

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so i did get some supermarket food trying to think what else did i eat

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when i was there something in the breakfast realm oh yes oh my gosh yes

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so i i stopped at this food truck that had great breakfast sandwiches

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and that's kind of a thing in new york city to

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get a breakfast sandwich like yes old school how do you

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order yours b -e -c -s -p -k baby all right tell us at home

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that is new york city lingo it means bacon egg

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and cheese with salt pepper and ketchup so i ordered

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that the first day yes

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because you told me your favorite i was like okay i want to try this that's the go -to yes

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and you were not there with me sadly

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but i ate it for you

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and it was very good it's a little bit salty

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but it was good i'm a little bit salty

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so it was it was delicious and then the next day i went back

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and i got i got a little different version i got uh it was on a croissant

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so i think it was sausage egg

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and cheese on a croissant no salt pepper ketchup mayo none of that

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so switch up i'm getting hungry just talking about this i'm a little hungry really yeah okay let's

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i'm gonna go with another question okay yes because

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that inspired me yes what's the best thing that you've had to eat lately like

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what's what's what's turned you on in terms of food lately you made us cheeseburgers the other night

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that was like really good plus it's still fresh in my memory

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but they were really delicious thank you i like how you put jam on the on the bun

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because it's like the sweet and the salty

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and then you put jalapenos in it too

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it's really good sweet salty spicy cheesy umami see we told

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you he can cook yeah well what's new in your life um

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so what's new in my life is uh

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i started learning how to salsa dance yeah all right all right um i mean having a very beautiful girlfriend

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that does english lessons is kind of a new thing in my life

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and i'm very much enjoying

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that that's the most exciting thing in my life lately um oh i finally got out on my kayak

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so i love to go i love to go kayaking in the summer

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but because i'm just being

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so busy lately i hadn't had a chance to get out on the kayaks

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so that was really really fun to get out there

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and be on the water and just enjoy that

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that hobby it was beautiful okay i'm gonna take the next topic restaurants

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or things around town this topic is definitely gonna make me hungry

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we're gonna ask like 20 questions about this yeah okay

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so the obvious is do you have a favorite restaurant i do um

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so for me there's a japanese place called izakaya monato shout

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out free publicity um no connection not making any money um

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but no like they're just it's like japanese pub food yes

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so they have like a little bit of sushi

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they have a little bit of fried food they have just all

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that japanese comfort food um that i really really love

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and every time i go it's just really consistent and really good

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so that's my favorite place okay um

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and i'm breaking the rule what's your favorite place yeah

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you can ask me i really love a restaurant called scales it's like modern

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it does have a lot of seafood

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because scales you know scales on a fish uh

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but they have other things too and it's just creative

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and they have really good scallops i like scallops a lot very uh beautiful setting too on the water

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so you're a seafood lover i do like seafood

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i am looking for a restaurant um in south portland to

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try can you recommend any restaurant absolutely what type of food

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are you in the mood for what type would you be looking for maybe like typical like diner food yeah

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so not too far from where we are here there's a place called q street diner okay

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and it's like very classic american mom and pop diner oh i love

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that like a fun term in english mom and pop oh

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but i was also in greasy spoon greasy spoon yes greasy spoon uh

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it just means like not fancy just low down easy food like good food yeah it doesn't mean

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that the place is dirty right doesn't mean

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that they don't wash their silverware no

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but you're not gonna get sick eating there no

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but it just means that like it's just it's relaxed yeah it's a relaxed environment and mom

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and pop is such a great term too it's not a chain yes it's not like a place

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that you can find anywhere right like starbucks or something it's uh individually owned yes

472

okay k street diner recommend thank you for the recommendation

473

so do you like going out more for breakfast lunch

474

or dinner all the above i love eating um but i would say

475

probably dinner okay i think dinner is traditional to like just go eat a big meal like i know

476

it's great to eat a big meal at lunch too

477

but yeah for me like i want to go to dinner

478

eat a big meal maybe get some dessert maybe have a drink

479

or something with that so yeah i would say dinner is my preferred dining experience

480

when i go out to a restaurant okay

481

if you could pick one type of food that is your favorite

482

so like maybe japanese maybe mexican maybe a diner maybe like

483

one genre of food what would be your favorite food i like a lot of different kinds of food

484

but But I spent a lot of time in Asia teaching English in Japan and then traveling,

485

and I loved the food that I got to try in Vietnam and Thailand.

486

So I would say, well, can I just say Asian food?

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 486 sentences and 5743 words to shadow. The speech runs for 31:45. The speaker talks fast, about 181 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
lesson noun	/ˈlɛs.ən/	A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
lately adverb	/ˈleɪt.li/	Recently; not long ago; of late; not long since.
salsa noun	/ˈsɑl.sə/	A spicy tomato sauce of Mexican origin, often including onions and hot peppers.
clothing noun	/ˈkloʊðɪŋ/	Any of a wide variety of articles, usually made of fabrics, animal hair, animal skin, or some combination thereof, used to cover the human body for warmth, to…
outdoor adjective	/aʊtˈdɔː/	Situated in, designed to be used in, or carried on in the open air.
vacation noun	/veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/	An extended trip or journey away from home for rest or pleasure.
inspire verb	/ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/	To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by…
ranger noun	/ˈɹeɪ̯nd͡ʒɚ/	One who ranges; a rover.
rainy adjective	/ˈɹeɪni/	Pouring with rain; wet; showery
salty adjective	/ˈsɔlti/	Tasting of salt.
meal noun	/ˈmiːl/	Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.
hungry adjective	/ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/	Affected by hunger; having the physical need for food.
relax verb	/ɹɪˈlæks/	To make something loose.
eagle noun	/ˈiːɡəl/	Any of several large carnivorous and carrion-eating birds in the family Accipitridae, having a powerful hooked bill and keen vision.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
go back verb		To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
go out verb		To leave, especially a building.
speak up verb	/ˌspik ˈʌp/	To talk more loudly or clearly.
walk around verb		To walk with no planned destination; to meander.
calm down verb		To become less excited, intense, or angry.
figure out verb		To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
find out verb		To discover, as by asking or investigating.
get out verb		To leave or escape.

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	have you been doing · you've been teaching · i've been working
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if we get a good snow I'll even
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to live
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	we've had · we've probably asked · haven't checked

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 183 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, we're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/, worthwhile /ˌwɜː(ɹ)θˈwaɪl/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: vacation /veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/, renovation /ɹɛnəˈveɪʃən/, extension /ɪkˈstɛnʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: psychology /saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, supermarket /ˌsupɚˈmɑɹkət/, renovation /ɹɛnəˈveɪʃən/, congratulations /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like topic, lesson, lately.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: part 1 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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