Shadowing Practice: You know the words but you can't SPEAK - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hey, what'd you do this weekend?
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Has this ever happened to you?
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Someone asks you in English a pretty common conversation question, and you know that you know the words that you need to reply,
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but then they just don't come out of your mouth when it comes time to speak.
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If this has happened to you, don't worry, you are not alone.
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This happens to a lot of English learners, and I want to tell you why it happens and exactly how you can fix it.
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So why does this happen?
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Is it your fault?
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Actually it's not.
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You have been practicing vocabulary, studying more vocabulary, learning more grammar and more, but do you have many speaking opportunities?
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Have you been practicing speaking English and getting those words out of your mouth?
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Probably not that much, right?
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Right?
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So, what can you do to fix this?
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You might have guessed it.
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We need to have more speaking practice opportunities, and that's what we're going to do today.
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You are going to practice speaking with some common introduction sentences,
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questions, and answers so that the next time that you introduce yourself in English, you are not just going to know the words,
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but you're actually going to be able to speak the words as well.
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You need to be able to use these in the real world, right?
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Let's do it.
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If you're new here, hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa .com.
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And for over the past 10 years, I have been teaching real life English
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that real English speakers use in the real world here on my YouTube channel to now more than 7 million of you.
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I can't believe it.
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Thank you so much for learning English with me.
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And like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet that includes all of the introduction sentences,
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questions, and answers that we're going to practice today, plus some pronunciation tips and a bonus.
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In the PDF worksheet, you're going to get a bonus speaking practice where you can practice speaking with me
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and actually using these to reinforce everything that you've learned so that it sticks in your mind and that when you speak,
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it can come out of your mouth as well.
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So how can you get this worksheet plus the bonus speaking practice?
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All that you need to do is click the link in the description, enter your name and email address, and voila, it will land in your email inbox.
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This is my gift to you.
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All right.
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Are you ready to get started speaking in English?
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Let's do it.
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Today we're going to be going through 10 common introduction sentences,
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questions, and answers, plus one bonus one at the end so that you will feel absolutely comfortable.
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The first one is an extremely common question to start an introduction,
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and it's this, but how can we say this and can you say this naturally?
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Literally.
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Listen to me when I say it, what's your name?
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What's your name?
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What's your name?
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Look at that middle word, your, but did I say it like that?
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Nope.
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I did not say it clearly like that.
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What's your name?
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Instead, I used a reduction of those vowels and listen to the sound of that word, your, your.
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It almost sounds like her, her book, your book.
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Can you try to say this with me by saying your, what's your name?
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What's your name?
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Now let's try to say it a little bit faster together
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and we're going to add that question tone or inflection at the end of that sentence, because it's not just a sentence, it's a question.
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What's your name?
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What's your name? name.
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What's your name?
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What's your name?
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Say it with me.
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What's your name?
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Now I'm going to pause and I want you to say it all by yourself.
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Go ahead.
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Great work practicing speaking.
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I hope that you could hear your own voice and get those words out of your mouth.
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These are all sentences that I know you know, but you need to be able to practice them,
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practice speaking them so that you can have them easily come out of your mouth whenever you go to speak.
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You don't just need to know them, you need to practice speaking them as well.
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All right, let's go to number two.
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Hi, I'm Vanessa.
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Nice to meet you.
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Well, you're going to add your name in this situation, but listen to the pronunciation.
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Hi, I'm Vanessa.
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Nice to meet you.
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Look at that last sentence and I want you to focus on the word two.
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and the word you.
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Listen carefully.
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Nice to meet you.
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Here, this happens all the time in spoken English.
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To is getting reduced.
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That means we're going to cut out some sounds and it's just going to sound like t, t, just like the letter T.
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Nice to meet.
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Nice to meet.
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Can you say just those two words together with me, try to reduce to to just t.
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Let's say it together.
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Nice to meet.
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Nice to meet.
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And then at the end of this phrase, we have the word you.
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You is often changed a bit in spoken English.
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So listen to when I say it.
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Nice to meet you.
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Nice to meet you.
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Oh, here the Y sounds a lot like C -H, chew.
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Like I'm chewing my food.
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A nice to me chew.
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Now, if we say it slowly like this, it does sound weird because it is only reduced in these ways when we speak quickly.
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So that's what I want to practice with you.
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Let's say this full phrase.
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Hi, I'm Vanessa.
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Nice to meet you.
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Nice to meet you.
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I want you to practice those two reductions and you're welcome to add your own name, or you can just say Vanessa and practice it with me.
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Are you ready?
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Let's say it at the same time together.
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Hi, I'm Vanessa.
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Nice to meet you.
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Hi, I'm Vanessa.
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Nice to meet you.
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Great work.
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Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to pause.
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I'm going to listen with my magical teacher ears, and I'm going to hear you all around the world, no matter where you are, so you better speak out loud.
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Are you ready?
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I want you to say this full thing.
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Hi, I'm Vanessa.
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Nice to meet you.
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Go ahead.
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Excellent work.
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I'm so glad that you introduced yourself to me.
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Let's go on to number three.
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Introduction number three is this.
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Now it's kind of two parts because we often say it in two different ways.
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Where are you from or where are you from originally?
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and listen to how we can reduce this.
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Where are you from?
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Where are you from?
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There's a whole word here that's just cut out completely, thrown in the trash.
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Maybe it's on vacation somewhere.
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Can you listen to which word that is?
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Where are you from?
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Where are you from?
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It's the poor vowel R.
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Have a sad moment for R.
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It's gone.
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We have cut it out completely.
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Instead, Instead, I am just asking, where are you from?
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Now by itself, this is not good grammar, but this is how we speak.
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And in our brains, we are mentally adding are, but we don't even say it when we ask this question.
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Where are you from?
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Where are you from?
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So I want you to practice this shortened version with me, and then we'll add originally and talk about that pronunciation in just a minute.
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So let's practice this together.
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Where are you from?
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Where are you from?
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Where are you from?
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Where are you from?
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Great work.
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I want you to say it by yourself and then we'll move on to part two of this one.
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Go ahead.
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Excellent work.
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Let's add a key word, originally, originally.
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Now we add this because if you are in the US, people in the US are often from a ton of places.
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The US is such an international country that we often ask this
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because if you have lived in the US for 20 years, you might say, oh, I'm from the US, I'm an American.
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But that person might be asking, no, where are your roots from?
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Where were you born?
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Where did you grow up?
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So we add the word originally, originally.
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Originally.
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Let's talk about that pronunciation.
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Originally.
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Can you add that to this already shortened question?
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Where are you from originally?
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I want you to say that by yourself.
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Go ahead.
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Great work asking this question.
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If you enjoy this style of step -by -step speaking and pronunciation practice,
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We practice real life pronunciation like this every single month.
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Right now there is a huge discount and you'll be able to join,
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practice speaking, practice pronunciation and become my student so that you can really use the words that you know, but you have trouble speaking.
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This is a great way to actually take action and practice speaking.
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So all you have to do
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if you would like to join me in the Fearless Fluency Club is click the link in the description
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If you click on that link and the timer says zero, zero, zero, it means that the discount has ended.
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I would still love for you to join us, but try to join us now while you can save some money.
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All right, let's go on to expression number four.
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When someone asks you, where are you from?
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You need to have a reply ready, right?
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So you can say something like this.
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I'm from North Carolina.
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How about you?
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Well, you're probably not from North Carolina like me, but you could add your country here.
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You could add your city here, something that is easily recognizable to other people.
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So you might say, I'm from India.
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I'm from Paris.
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I'm from Japan.
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All of those are great answers, but let's talk about the pronunciation of the reply question.
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I'm from North Carolina.
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How about you?
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There is one new concept and one old concept in this that we just talked about.
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We are going to make a reduction.
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Listen to how I say it.
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How about you?
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What happens to the word about.
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We cut off the A and it becomes simply bout.
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How bout, how bout.
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Can you say that with me?
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How bout, how bout.
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And then do you remember what happens to you often in questions?
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Yep.
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It sounds like ch, ch, chew, chew.
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I'm chewing my food.
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How bout you?
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Can you say that with me? how about you?
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How about you?
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How about you?
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It does sound weird when we slow it down.
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So you might be thinking, could people actually understand me when I speak like this?
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And the answer is yes.
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We talk like this all the time in American English, and you're going to be able to use it as well.
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So let's practice this full sentence and the reply question.
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And I want you to speak out loud with me, and then I'll pause so that you can say it by yourself.
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I'm from North Carolina.
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How about you?
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I'm from North Carolina.
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How about you?
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Now it's your turn.
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Go ahead.
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Great work.
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The fifth common introduction question that I want you to practice with me is this one.
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How long have you lived here?
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How long have you lived here?
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How long have you lived here?
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Now this sentence has three words that start with an H.
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Do you see them?
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Listen to the first one.
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How long?
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Okay.
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This one sounds very normal.
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You can hear that H.
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How long?
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No changes here.
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But take a look at the second one and listen when I say it.
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How long have you?
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How long of you?
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The word have has that H completely cut out and instead the word have sounds like of.
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How long of you?
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How long of you?
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How long of you?
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Can you say the beginning part of this sentence with me?
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How long of you?
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How long of you?
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How long of you?
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And then the final part of the sentence is lived ear.
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Lived ear.
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Lived ear.
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Well, it really sounds like lived ear because that H also gets cut out.
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Now this only happens when we're speaking quickly.
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So I want you to practice that with me.
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Let's practice the last two words, just the last two words for right now of this sentence.
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Live, dear.
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Live, dear.
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Live, dear.
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Live, dear.
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Okay, let's add it all together.
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We're going to practice this full question and then I'm going to pause so you can say it by yourself.
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How long have you lived, dear?
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How long have you lived, dear?
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How long have you lived, dear?
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How long have you lived, dear?
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How long have you lived, dear?
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I hope you had the chance to say it a few times with me.
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Now I'm going to pause and I want you to say it all by yourself.
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Go ahead.
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Excellent work.
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Now question number six is a fun one because I think you're going to recognize something.
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Listen to this.
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What brought you here?
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What brought you here?
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What brought you here?
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So the question is...
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Why did you move here?
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Why did you come here?
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But this is the way we usually ask this.
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What brought you here?
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Maybe it was for studying.
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Maybe it was for a job.
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Maybe it was just for adventure.
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Maybe it was for your family.
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Why did you end up here?
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So let's break down this very short question that I have a feeling you'll recognize something with.
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What brought you?
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what brought you?
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Aha, here we have you turning to chew again.
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Remember I chew my food.
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So try to say this with me.
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What brought you?
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What brought you?
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What brought you?
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What brought you?
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What brought you?
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And then we have a word we just talked about here.
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Now in this sentence, you could cut off the H or you could add it a little bit if you want.
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What brought you here?
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What brought you here?
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You could say the H, let's practice that together.
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What brought you here?
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What brought you here?
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What brought you here?
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What brought you here?
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Or you can cut it off like we just talked about and here becomes ear.
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Now this is in very fast spoken English.
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So we're going to put on our speed helmets and say this sentence as fast as we can.
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Are you ready?
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What brought you here?
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What brought you here?
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What brought you here?
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What brought you here?
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It really sounds like one sound.
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What brought you here?
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But when we're speaking in this context, it makes total sense.
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What brought you here?
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What brought you here?
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All right.
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I'm going to pause and I want you to say this sentence all by yourself.
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Are you ready?
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Go ahead.
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Great question.
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Now I want to give you a little note that you do not need to speak the fastest English possible.
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One benefit of learning fast English pronunciation is that your listening skills are going to skyrocket.
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When you realize that we cut and we change and we remove various sounds, all of a sudden your ears are going to just open up
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because you'll be able to hear and understand so much more.
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And a side benefit is that you can also implement some of these pronunciation tips while you're speaking.
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You don't need to use all of them all of the time.
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The most important thing is that other people understand you and
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that you actually have the words that you want when it comes time to speak.
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So that's why we're repeating these phrases
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and I'm teaching you how native English speakers speak so
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that you can implement some of this yourself when you speak and you'll be able to understand them.
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Okay let's go to our next sentence the next question is not about the place you're living
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but instead it's about work take a look at this question
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what do you do for work what do you do for
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work what do you do for work what do you do
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for work what do you do for work let's take a look at
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that first reduction what do you do all of these words are just smushed together aren't they
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So let's try to say it slowly and then we'll speed it up.
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The word what especially is the one that changes because that T isn't going to sound like a T.
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It's going to sound like a D sound.
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What do you do?
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What do you do?
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What do you do?
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What do you do?
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Can you say that with me in that slow way?
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And then we'll speed it up.
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Let's start slow and then we'll put on our helmets and get a little faster.
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What do you do?
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What do you do?
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What do you do?
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What do you do?
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Are you ready?
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What do you do?
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What do you do?
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What do you do?
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What do you do?
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And then the end of this question is for work. For work.
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Oh, something interesting happens here with the word for.
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In number one, we talked about how you and your can change to your, your.
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And take a look at here, for changes to fur.
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So these all rhyme, her, fur, your.
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So all of these reductions are going to be rhyming reductions.
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So let's try to say those final two words together.
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Can you say it with me? for work, for work, for work.
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This is a very good test of your R pronunciation, that angry dog, that we use in American English,
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that R sound, for work.
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Say that out loud with me, for work, for work.
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Now let's put it all together with that, what do you do?
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What do you do? For work.
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Are you ready?
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What do you do for work?
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What do you do for work?
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What do you do for work?
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Okay, now it is your turn to say it out loud.
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I want you to practice speaking so that when you go out into the real world and someone asks you this question,
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you can also respond by asking them the same question in the same pronunciation.
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Are you ready?
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What do you do for work?
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Go ahead.
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Excellent work.
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And the answer to that question is, I'm an English teacher.
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What about you?
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All right, now the first part is obviously going to be different unless you are also an English teacher, then you can say this, I'm an English teacher.
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But the final part here is very similar to a question we already practiced.
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We already practiced, how about you?
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And we cut off that A and just said, how about, right?
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But take a look at this other variation, what about you?
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Instead, we're not going to cut off the a at the beginning of about, and it's going to sound like this.
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What about, what about, what about you?
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So we hear that familiar chew at the end for the word chew, the word you, and we are going to say what.
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So here the T is changing to a D.
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What about you?
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What about you?
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What about you?
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What about you?
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What about you?
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What about you?
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I want you to say this with me and then I'll pause and I want you to say that full thing.
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I'm an English teacher.
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What about you?
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What about you?
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Are you ready?
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Let's say it together.
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I'm an English teacher.
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What about you?
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I'm an English teacher.
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What about you.
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Are you ready?
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Go ahead.
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Excellent work.
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When someone tells you what their job is or why they moved to your city,
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I want you to have an automatic response that you can give.
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Something simple, easy to remember.
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It uses the vocabulary you know, but now we're going to practice speaking it.
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Try this one.
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That's interesting.
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Tell me more about that.
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But I want you to use very American pronunciation, right?
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So let's break down that first part.
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That's interesting.
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We use this word all the time in American English.
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Maybe Americans overuse that word.
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Oh, it's so interesting.
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Oh, it was so interesting.
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Oh, that's so cool.
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It's so interesting.
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I know I say that all the time.
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Maybe it's just because I'm a curious person and I do find lots of things interesting,
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but let's break down this word so that you can pronounce it as clearly in American as possible. In -tristing.
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Interesting.
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We're not saying inter -esting.
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We're really smushing this word together and putting it in just a few syllables.
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Interesting.
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Interesting.
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Interesting.
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Can you say that full phrase?
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That's interesting.
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That's interesting.
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Oh, that's interesting.
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That's interesting.
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Great.
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Now let's go to the second part.
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You could say, tell me more about that.
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Tell me more about that.
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It's okay to say the full word about, but sometimes we do reduce that and say, tell me more about that.
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Tell me more about that.
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Tell me more about that.
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Tell me more about that.
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In fact, when I was in elementary school and I was learning how to write, sometimes I would write the word about without the A because in my head,
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I was trying to say the sentence out loud to figure out how to write it.
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And I didn't say the A in the sentence.
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So I had trouble learning how to spell the word about because we often do cut off that A.
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So we need to write with the A, but when we speak, we often do cut off the A.
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So try to say this with me.
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Tell me more about that.
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Tell me more about that.
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Let's speed it up a bit.
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Tell me more about that.
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Tell me more about that.
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Tell me more about that.
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All right, let's put it all together and I'm going to say it with you and then I'll pause.
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Let's do it.
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That's interesting.
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Tell me more about that.
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That's interesting.
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Tell me more about that.
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Great work.
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Now say it by yourself.
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Excellent.
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And our number 10 common introduction sentence or question
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that you need to practice before you go into a real conversation is this one.
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Maybe you're not working right now.
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Maybe Maybe you're studying, you're going to be asked this question, or if you're talking to someone who's studying, you're going to need to know how to ask this question.
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It's this, where do you study?
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Where do you study?
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Where do you study?
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So let's break it down.
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The first word, wear.
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Simple.
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The next two, do you, do you, do you.
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We're not saying do you with clear ooh sounds each time.
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No, instead, do gets linked with you and it really just becomes a D sound.
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Do you, do you, where do you, where do you study?
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Can you say that quickly with me?
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Where do you study?
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Where do you study?
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Where do you study?
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Where do you study?
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Where do you study?
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Where do you study?
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Or you might ask another variation of this question, which is this.
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Where do you go to school?
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Where do you go to school?
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It's going to be that same reduction, do you, do you, with just a D sound.
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Where do you, and then we have added another lovely connection, go to school.
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Here, the word to is going to become duh, duh, with a D sound.
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So can you say just those two words with me, go -da, go -da, go -da.
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Now if you're walking down the street and you say go -da, go -da, people are going to think you're a little crazy.
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It only works within the context of the sentence.
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So let's try to put this full sentence together.
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Where do you go to school?
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Where do you go to school?
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Where do you go to school?
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Where do you go to school?
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I want you to say first the sentence we practice and then the second sentence we practice all by yourself.
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Let's say it together and then I'll pause.
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Where do you study?
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Where do you study?
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Go ahead.
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And our second sentence, Where do you go to school?
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Where do you go to school?
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Go ahead.
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Excellent work.
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Are you ready for our bonus sentence that we'll practice together?
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Of course you are.
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Let's do it.
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Our bonus sentence today uses some of these concepts all together, and it is, I'm here to study English.
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Maybe you're living in the US because you are here to study English.
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I want you to say this with some reductions we've talked about.
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Listen carefully to the beginning of this sentence.
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I'm here.
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I'm here.
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I'm here.
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I'm here.
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No, I'm here.
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But that H often gets reduced or cut out.
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So we're just going to say, I'm here.
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I'm here.
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I'm here.
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Can you say that with me?
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I'm here.
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I'm here.
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I'm here to study English.
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Do you remember what we just talked about, to changes to da.
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I'm here to study English.
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Now don't say it slowly like that with da instead.
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When we use da instead of to, we need to link and speak quickly.
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So let's practice this full bonus sentence together.
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I'm here to study English.
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I'm here to study English.
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I'm here to study English.
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I'm here to study English.
546
I'm here to study English.
547
Okay, I'm going to pause I want you to say this final bonus sentence out loud.
548
Say it with confidence.
549
I'm here to study English.
550
Go ahead.
551
Excellent confidence.
552
Thank you so much for practicing all of these real life introduction sentences that I'm sure you knew,
553
but now you've had the chance to practice saying them out loud and practice speaking.
554
I would love for you to continue to get this type of detailed speaking practice,
555
shadowing with my voice, really integrating some natural pronunciation into your speech.
556
And if you would like to do that, please join me in the Fearless Fluency Club.
557
Right now, we are having a special discount on our yearly membership.
558
That means you will have all the lessons you need for the entire year.
559
And I want to give you a little sneak peek.
560
I wasn't sure if I was going to do this or not,
561
but we have a special new daily speaking practice feature that is opening up within the next few months.
562
You will get daily speaking practice in three different ways straight from me.
563
If you join the yearly membership, you will get automatic access to all new features,
564
all new speaking practices, and you will get an opportunity to practice speaking more than you ever have before,
565
which is essential to what you need to be able to go into the real world with confidence
566
and use English in the workplace when you travel with your friends, with your family, to be able to actually use what you know.
567
So I would love for you to join me in the Fearless Fluency Club yearly membership,
568
get a discount and get access to some special features that are coming in the future.
569
And all you need to do for this is click on
570
the link in the description to join us in the Fearless Fluency Club.
571
And I hope to see you there.
572
And of course, don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet plus bonus speaking practice
573
that goes with today's lesson so that you can level up and practice, use what you have just learned even more,
574
exercise those speaking muscles so that when you go out into the real world,
575
you will be armed with confidence and be able to express yourself and use all the English that you have learned.
576
All you need to do to get this worksheet plus speaking practice is click on the link in the description
577
and to your name and email address, and I will send it to your email inbox right away.
578
So thank you so much for learning English with me, and I will see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.
579
Bye.
580
But wait, do you want more?
581
I recommend watching this video next where you will also listen and repeat speaking with me out loud,
582
exercising those speaking muscles, to talk about your summer vacation in a beginner,
583
intermediate, and advanced way that real English speakers use.
584
I want you to be able to speak like that too.
585
All right, I'll see you in that lesson.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “You know the words but you can't SPEAK”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: practice, word, English, speaking, sentence. This video has 585 sentences and 4911 words to shadow. The speech runs for 31:20. The speaker talks at a natural 157 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 91% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 174 of its 585 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| pronunciation noun | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken. |
| pause noun | /pɔːz/ | A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation. |
| chew verb | /tʃuː/ | To crush with the teeth by repeated closing and opening of the jaws; done to food to soften it and break it down by the action of saliva before it is swallowed. |
| bonus noun | /ˈbəʊ.nəs/ | Something extra that is good; an added benefit. |
| reduction noun | /ɹɪˈdʌk.ʃən/ | The act, process, or result of reducing. |
| discount noun | /ˈdɪskaʊnt/ | A reduction in price. |
| bout noun | /ˈbaʊt/ | A period of something, especially one painful or unpleasant, like an illness. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| membership noun | The state of being a member of a group or organization. | |
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| yearly adjective | /ˈjɪɹli/ | Happening once every year. |
| 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. |
| carefully adverb | /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ | With care; attentively, circumspectly. |
| muscle noun | /ˈmʌs.əl/ | A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement. |
| ear noun | /ˈɪə̯/ | The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
| cut off verb | /ˌkʌt ˈɔf/ [ˌkɐɾ ˈɔf] | To remove by cutting. |
| cut out verb | To refrain from (doing something, using something etc.), to stop or cease (doing something). | |
| break down verb | To stop functioning. | |
| open up verb | To open. | |
| speak out verb | To assert or promote one's opinion; to make one's thoughts known. | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Hey, what'd you do this weekend?
- Has this ever happened to you?
- Listen to me when I say it, what's your name?
- Can you listen to which word that is?
- It's this, where do you study?
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 been practicing · Have you been practicing · have been teaching |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has happened · have created · you've learned |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is often changed · is only reduced · is lived |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | practice speaking · started speaking · practice saying |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 121 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, reduction /ɹɪˈdʌk.ʃən/, vacation /veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, variation /ˌvɛəɹiˈeɪʃn̩/, shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/
- Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, automatic /ˌɔː.təˈmæt.ɪk/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, elementary /ˌɛləˈmɛntəɹi/
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 pronunciation, pause, chew.
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.