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Speak With Me: 2 Hour English Speaking Practice — Transcript

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0:00Vanessa: Hi. I'm Vanessa
0:01from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Are you ready to practice speaking in English with me? Let's do it.
0:14What do you do? Where do you want to go? What are you up to this weekend?
0:18Could you answer these questions in English? In today's English lesson, you will practice
0:23speaking with me about seven of the most common conversation topics in English. We will practice
0:29vocabulary, questions, sample conversation, plus, you will have the chance to have a sample
0:35conversation practice conversation with me too. Over the past year, I have made seven Speak With
0:42Me lessons, and today I have combined them all in a very useful lesson where you can practice them
0:48for the next two hours. To help you never forget what you've learned, I've created a gigantic
0:53free PDF worksheet using all of the vocabulary, phrases, questions, sample sentences, and some
1:02challenge questions so that you can never forget what you've learned. You can download this free
1:07PDF worksheet with the link in the description. All right. Are you ready to get started?
1:11We are going to be talking about these topics today. Drum roll.
1:17Let's get started with the first one, weekend plans.
1:23Are you ready to learn the most important conversation
1:26question of all time? At least according to me. Is that question, what's your name? No.
1:34Is that question, will you give me money? No. Is that question, do you love me? No, no, no. The
1:43most important conversation question is, there's actually two parts. What about you? How about you?
1:51When someone asks you about your weekend plans and you say a little reply, "I'm going
1:56hiking." "I'm not doing much." There might be an incredibly awful awkward pause. What happens next?
2:06Well, this is where the most important question comes in. You can ask them, "What about you?"
2:13"How about you?" You can imagine tossing a ball back and forth.
2:19The other person has asked you a question. "What are you doing this weekend?" They throw you the
2:25ball. Now you reply and you say, "Okay, I'm going hiking." Or, "I'm not doing much."
2:31You need to throw or toss the ball back to that person, and this question does
2:36that. How about you? It means you are asking the same question back to them.
2:41"What are you doing this weekend? How about you?" I want you to remember this wonderful question,
2:48either of them, actually, they have the exact same meaning. How about you?
2:51What about you? Remember these questions because later when we practice this at the end of this
2:57lesson, during our conversation, speaking time, remember these questions and use them.
3:02All right, let's go to some common vocabulary that you can use to talk about weekend plans.
3:08Brunch. Many Americans love brunch. The word brunch is a combination of breakfast and lunch
3:17and that's because we usually eat this on the weekends, maybe a Saturday morning or a Sunday
3:24morning, between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM. It's a time when you could eat either breakfast or lunch,
3:31and it's usually a long social event. You might go out to brunch with your friends, or
3:38have your friends to your house to eat brunch. "My friends and I are meeting at our favorite
3:45brunch spot on Sunday." Great. It's a restaurant where you can eat
3:50breakfast type foods usually with some alcoholic drink like a mimosa or something with fruit
4:00in it. Or maybe some champagne in the morning and you can eat this in the company of your friends.
4:07Another common weekend word is social butterfly. A social butterfly refers to someone who makes a
4:14lot of plans. They are flying around to event to another, to another activity.
4:21They're always doing things, usually involving lots of other people. They are a social butterfly.
4:27If you are a social butterfly, probably the year 2020 with lockdowns and all of these things were
4:35probably really difficult for you because you love to get together with other people and
4:41always be active. We can use this in a sentence like this. "My friend is a social butterfly,
4:48she has invitations to three brunches and four afternoon teas." Amazing. What if you
4:57are not a social butterfly? What if you are the opposite? Are you a unsocial caterpillar?
5:05No. It means you are a homebody. Your body likes to stay at home. I'm a homebody. She's a homebody.
5:13Someone who enjoys just doing things slowly and staying at home. They feel most comfortable in
5:21a comfortable place at home. You could say, "My friend is a social butterfly, but I'm
5:27more of a homebody. When I get together with friends, I would rather have dinner at my house
5:33and then play games here." I think this is true for me personally, as I get a little bit older,
5:39I prefer these kind of intimate group settings instead of lots of people,
5:45I prefer just a couple friends at home. Maybe having a bonfire outside, roasting some food or
5:53some marshmallows and this intimate setting. I enjoy doing activities at home more often
5:59than when I was a little bit younger. To stay in. Unfortunately, that has been probably a lot of our
6:06weekend plans for the past year, and it means that you're just going to stay at home. It doesn't mean
6:12you're going to do nothing. It just means you're not going to go anywhere. I'm going to stay in.
6:17You might say, "It's supposed to be cold and rainy this weekend, so I'm just going to stay
6:23in and read a book." Or, "I'm just going to stay in and do some things around the house."
6:29To binge watch. This means that you watch a lot of movies or TV shows usually back
6:37to back without stopping. Several hours, maybe you watch four seasons of a TV show in one day.
6:45This is binge watching. You are watching a lot. This expression comes from a term we usually use
6:55with alcohol, to binge drink. This means that you drink a lot of alcohol at one time. Not a
7:03very healthy thing to do, but when we say to binge drink, that has that same idea, is you're doing
7:10a lot back to back, or you could binge watch TV. You might say, "Last weekend, my husband and I
7:17binge watched all of the Star Wars movies." This isn't true. When you have young children,
7:24you do not have time to binge watch TV, but you might say this about your life.
7:30"I binge watched that new TV show that just came out." Our final expression that you can use to
7:36talk about your weekend plans is to catch up on some chores. This phrasal verb, to catch up on,
7:43is a beautiful phrasal verb that you can use to talk about some necessary activity that you
7:50haven't done for a while and now there's more and more and more, and you need to finish all of this.
7:59We can imagine laundry, dishes, sweeping, cleaning, maybe some home repairs,
8:07tidying up, maybe even yard work. If you don't do those things for one week or two weeks, there's so
8:14many you have to do. That means you need to catch up, you to do what you haven't done for a while.
8:22You need to catch up on some chores and chores are just those activities that I mentioned. Laundry,
8:28dishes, these necessary activities that involve cleaning up, helping to make
8:33your home a wonderful place to live. Maybe this weekend you just need to catch up on some chores.
8:40You might say, "I was so busy all week, and finally, I'm going to catch up on some chores
8:46this weekend." Maybe not very fun, but when your house is clean, it feels good.
8:51All right, now that we have some common vocabulary you can use to talk about your weekend plans.
8:55Let's talk about some introduction questions that you might hear and that you can also ask other
9:01people. These have varying levels of reductions and fast ways that you will hear them, so I want
9:08to help you understand and recognize what other people are saying, and also be able to use it.
9:14Let's talk about our first question. What are you up to this weekend? What are you up to this
9:20weekend? You might know the expression, what's up? This just means how are you. We're using that
9:27same word up to talk about what are you doing this weekend? What are you up to this weekend?
9:33But do you think that we usually say it like this? What are you up to this weekend?
9:38So clear. So lovely. No. Instead we're going to reduce this a little bit and then we can reduce
9:46it a lot more. Let's talk about the first one. What are you up to? What are you up to?
9:51What're. Here, the word, what and are, are creating a spoken contraction. Usually when we
9:58write, we don't write this type of contraction. It's only in spoken English, but oftentimes B
10:05verbs like are, is, will be contracted with a question word. What're you up to this weekend?
10:14What're, what're you up to? We can reduce this a little bit further. Whatcha'p to? Whatcha'p to?
10:23Whatcha'p to this weekend? There are a lot of reductions happening
10:26at the beginning. Whatch, whatcha'p to? Here we have, what are you being reduced to just
10:37whatch, the ch is you and what are has just been smooshed together and we can say whatcha'p
10:51to? Whatcha'p to? Whatcha'p to? Whatcha'p to? This is really fast. If you say this slowly,
10:57whatcha'p to? It sounds really weird. We only use this in really fast English,
11:03so if you are going to say this, it needs to be quickly and reduced and linked together.
11:08Most likely you're going to hear this, so I want to make sure that you can understand when someone
11:13says, "Hey, whatcha'p to this weekend?" Whatcha'p to this weekend? You can say,
11:18"Vanessa taught me that. I know what that means. What are you up to this weekend? Yes."
11:25Let's go into our next expression where we're going to also reduce this a bit and help you
11:29to understand it. What have you got going on this weekend? What have you got going on this
11:36weekend? These all mean the same thing. What are you doing this weekend? But you might hear
11:42this expression with the word got. What have you got going on this weekend? When you actually
11:49hear this, we don't say it that clearly. What have you got going on this weekend?
11:54Wouldn't that be nice though? Instead, you're going to hear a reduction or a
11:59contraction of the first two words, just like we saw with the previous example,
12:03what've, so what and have, are going to be pushed together. What've you got goin' on?
12:13That final G in the word going is going to be cut off and we'll just say, goin'. Let's try to
12:20say that altogether. You want to try to say it with me? What've you got goin' on? What've you
12:24got goin' on this weekend? What've you got goin' on this weekend?
12:31Do you think we can reduce this further? Yes. Whadayagot goin' on this weekend? Whadayagot.
12:40Here, the beginning of, what have you got is just really like you threw it in a mixing bowl,
12:48stirred it up and threw it out on a cookie tray. Well, let's try to break it down so
12:53it's not quite so messy and complicated. At the beginning we have, what have you got?
13:00But it sounds like whada. Whada, this is what have, whadaya, ya is you. Whadayagot goin',
13:13again, we're going to drop that G at the end of the word going.
13:17Goin' on. Whadayagot goin' on? Whada. Notice what's happening at the end of the word what,
13:23do you hear a clear T? Whadaya, whadaya.
13:28No. That T at the end of the word, what, is going to change to a D sound. This is really typical of
13:34American English, where a T that's surrounded by vowel sounds is going to change to a D,
13:41it's called a flapped T, and it just rolls off your tongue in a smooth way.
13:50Whadayagot goin' on? Can you say it with me? Whadayagot goin' on this weekend? Whadayagot goin'
13:55on this weekend? All right, let's go to our last question. You doing anything fun this weekend?
14:00You doing anything fun this weekend? What's happening at the beginning of this question?
14:06Should there be another word? Yes. Are you doing anything fun this weekend? Are you? But the word
14:14are, it's on vacation. It's just gone somewhere, so we're going to start this question with the
14:18word you. You doing anything fun this weekend? It makes the question seem a little more casual
14:24and less like an interrogation, or like you're asking someone out on a date. It's
14:29just a casual question. You doing anything fun this weekend? But we can reduce this question.
14:35We're not going to reduce it an awful lot, but we will hear this reduced a little bit.
14:40When we say, "You doing anything fun?" Instead, you're going to hear, ya
14:46doin', ya. The word you is reduced to ya. Ya doin', listen to that G at the end. Ya doin',
14:56it's gone. It's also on vacation. Maybe it's on vacation with the word are. Let's say, "Ya doin'
15:03anything fun this weekend?" Ya doin', that's the main reduction
15:08that's going to happen in this question? Ya doin' anything fun this weekend? Ya doin'...
15:13Try to say that with me. Ya doin' anything fun this weekend? Ya doin' anything fun this weekend?
15:18All right, let's go on to some other common things that you will hear in these types of small talk,
15:24easy casual conversations. If someone tells you about their weekend plans, and it sounds
15:30interesting or fun, how can you reply? You might say, "That sounds like fun." Or,
15:36"How interesting." Or just simply, "Nice." If that person is doing nothing, they're just sitting at
15:44home, maybe they're going to binge watch some TV and stay in. Well, sometimes it's nice to
15:50still say some being positive in response, so you might say, "Sometimes it's nice to do nothing."
15:57And that's true, especially if you've been doing a lot, sometimes it's nice just to stay in
16:02and relax for the weekend. So you might say, "Sometimes it's nice to do nothing."
16:06Right, before we practice our sample conversation together, what can you say at the end?
16:11Well, if you're talking about weekend plans, it is before the weekend, so you could just say,
16:16"Have a good weekend." Or, "Enjoy your weekend." Simple, great way to end the conversation.
16:23All right, let's take a deep breath. Are you ready to put all of this together?
16:28What I would like you to do is first, I would like you to listen to sample conversation.
16:34Think about the different parts that are happening. You're going to hear
16:37our key beautiful question. What about you? How about you? You're going to also hear some of the
16:44key vocabulary that we talked about, and also just some of the questions, the introductory questions,
16:50what are you got going on this weekend? Great. Things like that, that we'll put together. And
16:55then I'm going to put some pauses and it's going to be your turn to have the conversation with me.
17:00First, let's watch the conversation sample. "Hey, what you up to this weekend?"
17:06"Nothing much. I'm just going to stay in and catch up on some chores on Saturday.
17:11But on Sunday, I'm going to meet up with some of my friends for brunch."
17:15"That sounds fun. Where's your favorite brunch spot?"
17:18"I usually go to Sunny Morning Cafe. What about you? What have you got going on this weekend?"
17:24"I'm a homebody, so I'll probably just read a book in my hammock."
17:28"That sounds nice. Well, have a good weekend. Enjoy your book."
17:32"Thanks. You too. Have good weekend." All right. Are you ready to take this to
17:37the next level? I'm going to be asking you a question and then pausing and I
17:42would like you to reply in that pause. Take a moment. Tell me about your weekend plans.
17:49You can do it. Let's go. Hey, what are you up to this weekend?
17:59How interesting? How often do you do that?
18:07Me? I'll probably go hiking since the weather's going to be so warm.
18:12Well, nice talking to you. Have a good weekend. Well, how did you do? If you would like you can go
18:18back and practice that little sample conversation. You can take a deep breath, enjoy yourself.
18:24That's part of learning English, is I want you to enjoy the process. Enjoy the journey.
18:32Let's start with some common questions for talking about eating out and restaurants. Since the
18:38pandemic began, a lot of restaurants have changed their service model, so these questions will
18:44cover eating in a restaurant, but also ordering food to go. I hope that these will help you in
18:51any situation that you're in. Let's start with our first question. Do you want to eat out? This
18:56phrasal verb to eat out means at a restaurant? We don't often say, do you want to go to a
19:02restaurant? Do you want to eat at a restaurant? We just say, eat out. Do you want to eat out? But we
19:09often reduce this question to sound a little more comfortable and casual, Ya wanna eat out? Ya is
19:17you, you want to eat out? Ya wanna eat out? We've dropped the question word completely, do. Just ya,
19:27ya and then we have reduced want to, to become wanna. This is a common reduction in English.
19:34Can you say question with me? Ya wanna eat out? Ya wanna eat out? Or we could cut off that first
19:41word, ya, completely and just say, wanna eat out? Ask it with me. Wanna eat out? Great. Then you
19:48might ask, where do you want to go? Where do you want to go? But do you think we say it clearly
19:55like this? Unfortunately, not. Instead, you could say, "Where ya wanna go?" Where ya wanna go?
20:05This is a similar reduction to our first question. You becomes ya and want to becomes wanna. Where
20:14ya wanna go? Where ya wanna go? Where ya wanna go? Should we order pick up? Should we order pick up?
20:23I want to let you know that in the US there are a lot of terms that are used for
20:28this idea that you're not eating in the restaurant. You're ordering food, but then you
20:34get the food and you take it somewhere else. Maybe you take it back home, or you take it to a park.
20:39We could use a couple different phrases and it's just your personal preference. For me,
20:43I say, pick up. Do you want to order pick up? Do you want to get pick up? But you could also say,
20:49should we order take out? Should we order carry out? Should we order take away?
20:57A lot of different phrases and you are going to hear these all around the US,
21:00so it's just your choice what you'd like to use. Another fun question to ask what someone would
21:05like to eat is, what are you in the mood for? What are you in the mood for? Don't deny it,
21:14sometimes in your heart you're just in the mood for comfort food, something that's heavy and
21:19rich and reminds you of a cozy, warm time in your childhood. Maybe it's not very healthy,
21:26but you're in the mood for comfort food, or maybe you're in the mood for something light.
21:31You want a salad or sushi, something light. This idea of what are you feeling like
21:38you want to eat? But we often reduce this question and instead of saying,
21:42what are you in the mood for? We might say, whatcha in the mood for? Whatcha, whatcha
21:50is what are you... Whatcha in the mood for? Here, the word you has been reduced to
21:58cha. Cha, this is extremely common in spoken English that the word you gets changed up in
22:04a lot of ways. We already talked about one of those, ya, and this is another, cha. Whatcha
22:10in the mood for? Whatcha in the mood for? Or we could reduce this even further. Wha'ya
22:15in the mood for? Wha’ya in the mood for? This is extremely reduced, but notice what's happening.
22:20What are you in the mood for? The word R is gone and the word you has been reduced to ya, so when
22:29we link together, what and you, super fast. Wha’ya in the mood for? Wha'ya in the mood for?
22:38You don't want to say this reduction slowly. Wha'ya in the mood for? Now, we can say it like
22:43that to practice for this lesson, but when this is in daily conversation, it's really
22:48fast. That's the purpose of a reduction. Do you think you could say this with me
22:52really fast? Wha'ya in the mood for? Wha'ya in the mood for? Wha'ya in the mood for?
22:58Great. All right. Let's talk about some common answers to these questions so that you can be
23:02prepared and ready. When someone asks you, "Wha'ya in the mood for?" You might say, "Let's order in.
23:09How about..." Some option. How about pizza? Let's order in. This is another phrase for talking about
23:17bringing the food back to your house. You don't want to get all ready and then go to the
23:23restaurant, or maybe you don't feel comfortable doing that. You might just say, "Let's order in.
23:29How about pizza?" This expression, how about, is a great way to give a suggestion.
23:35This is excellent in professional situations. "Hey, how about if we try this marketing plan?"
23:42Or, it's great for informal situations to give a suggestion about something you want to eat.
23:47"How about pizza? What do you think about that?" Sometimes this question is reduced and it sounds
23:53like this. How 'bout pizza? How 'bout pizza? The first A in the word about is gone. It's
24:02just missing. We say, "How 'bout pizza?" Can you say that reduction quickly with me? How
24:09'bout pizza? How 'bout pizza? Great. Or you could say, "I'm feeling tacos. Does that sound good?"
24:18You're giving your opinion. You'd like to eat tacos, but you also want to know what the other
24:22person wants, so you use a great question. Does that sound good? But we often reduce this a lot.
24:29Let's take a look at the first reduction. You might say, "I'm feelin'..." cutting off that G,
24:35"I'm feelin' tacos. How'zat sound?" How'zat sound? Instead of how does that sound? You can say,
24:46how'zat sound? How'zat sound? Can you say that quickly with me? I'm feelin' tacos. How'zat sound?
24:55I'm feelin' tacos. How'zat sound? Great. We can also reduce it and
25:00switch it up a little bit. I'm feelin' tacos. Zat sound okay? I'm feeling tacos,
25:05that's what I want, but I want to know your opinion. Does that sound okay? Reduces to,
25:13zat sound okay? Does that becomes zat. Zat sound okay? Zat sound okay? Can you say it with me?
25:21I'm feelin' tacos. Zat sound okay? Great question. Because a lot of restaurants have changed over the
25:28last year, and you never know when a restaurant might be closed, it's a good question to ask,
25:33"Is Ted's Cafe open? I would love to go there." Is, some restaurant, open? I would love to go
25:40there. There is a little way that we can reduce this question. Take a look at this.
25:45Is Ted's Cafe open? I would love to go there. The word would becomes I'd. I would, I'd. You can say,
25:56"Is Ted's Cafe open? I'd love to go there." Can you say it with me? Is Ted's Cafe open?
26:02I'd love to go there. Great. In the US, a lot of restaurants are having outdoor
26:07seating. You could say, "Let's go to Louis'..." a restaurant named Louis, "Let's go to Louis' and
26:14eat lunch on their patio." Eat lunch on their patio. This is an outdoor dining area.
26:21It's really nice when restaurants have this, because sometimes you don't feel like eating
26:24at home, but especially with kids, if you don't feel like confining them inside a restaurant,
26:30or maybe you don't feel comfortable doing that. If a restaurant has a patio, it's much more informal
26:35feeling. And it's a nice spur of the moment thing to do. A great expression that you can use is,
26:42let's grab a bite at Louis'. Let's grab a bite at Ted's Cafe. To grab a bite is usually
26:50a quick meal. It might be lunch. Usually it's not dinner because it's pretty quick,
26:55but it might just be a short experience. It's not a long dinner. It's
26:59not a big to do. Let's grab a bite at Ted's Cafe, because I have to go to s
26:59Vanessa: To do.
27:00Let's grab a bite at Ted's Cafe because I have to go somewhere later. Let's grab a bite at somewhere
27:07else. Can you say that with me? Let's grab a bite at Ted's Cafe. Let's grab a bite. Our final answer
27:13to the question what you want to eat is I know a place or I know a spot that has great pasta.
27:21I know a place that has great pizza. I know a place. You could leave this simple and just say,
27:26I know a place. Come with me. But if you want to be a little less mysterious, you could just say,
27:32oh, I know a place that has great pasta. Come with me and you've got to try it. Okay. This is kind of
27:38maybe an unknown restaurant location that not many people know about, and it's a great phrase to use.
27:44Oh, I know a place that you're going to love. Excellent. Are you ready to practice these? First,
27:49I would like you to watch this sample conversation between my husband and I as we talk about where we
27:55want to eat, what we want to eat. Think about those phrases. Notice the phrases that we use.
28:00And then after that, you're going to have a chance to speak out loud and practice it yourself.
28:06Let's watch the sample conversation. Hey, you want to grab lunch?
28:09Dan: Sure. But I only have time for a quick
28:12bite before my soccer game. What sounds good? Vanessa:
28:16Hmm. How about pasta? Dan:
28:18That sounds great. How about I call it in, you pick it up, and we'll picnic in the park before
28:24my game starts. Vanessa:
28:25That sounds great. I know a place that's close by and has great tomato sauce. All right.
28:32Now it's your turn. I want you to use these phrases that you've learned.
28:37I'm going to ask you a question. We're going to have a little conversation together.
28:41It's your chance to speak out loud. So I'm going to ask a question and pause,
28:46wait for your answer. No matter where you are around the world, I will be listening to you.
28:52So please take this opportunity to speak and use what you've learned. If you need to repeat
28:57this section again and again, do that. It's a great way to gain confidence as you speak.
29:02Are you ready? Hey, I'm hungry. Let's grab lunch. What's you in the mood for?
29:11Oh, that sounds good. Do you know a good place?
29:19Oh, that sounds good. You want to eat there or get takeout? Great. Let's go. Well, how did you do? Do
29:31you feel a little more confident discussing dining options and talking about eating out? I hope so.
29:41In this lesson, we're going to talk about some common questions to ask about vacations,
29:46some common responses, and then you'll have a chance to practice this with me. Are you ready?
29:52I know that vacation this year looks a little bit different than most years because of well, this
29:58virus that we have going around. So it's going to be a little bit different than
30:03usual talking about vacation. Let's first talk about some common questions and how to pronounce
30:09those naturally in English. Do you have plans to go anywhere this summer? Okay. This question is
30:16fine. You could use this full question. Do you have plans to go anywhere this summer?
30:23Okay. But there are a couple different ways to either reduce or slightly change this question
30:29that are a little bit more natural. Where you going this summer? Where ya,
30:35which is you, going', dropping the G. Where you going this summer? Where ya goin' this summer?
30:43Or we could say what you got going on this summer? Whatcha is what plus you. You becomes cha. Whatcha
30:53got going on? Again, we're dropping the G, but we're using a great phrasal verb. Going,
30:59going on. What's going on? If you go into a room and it's an absolute mess, you might use
31:05this phrasal verb and say, what is goin' on here? But you can use this also for vacation and say,
31:12what do you have going on this summer? Or reduced, whatcha got goin' on this summer? And
31:19it simply means what are your plans this summer? What you got going on this summer? So if someone
31:25asks you this, you know that they're asking about your vacation plans. Whatcha got goin' on this
31:29summer? Another common question is, are you doing anything fun for vacation? But we don't often say
31:36it as clearly as this, unfortunately, right? Are you doing anything fun for vacation becomes you
31:44doing anything fun for vacation? Look at what's happening at the beginning of this question.
31:50Y'. What happened to the verb are? Are you doing? It's completely gone. Maybe it's also on vacation.
31:58So we're going to start this question with just you which is reduced to Y'. Do you see how we
32:04reduce the word you in a lot of ways? Whatcha got going on? Or Y'doing. Y'doin'. We're dropping
32:13that G again. Y'doin'nything fun? Something interesting happens at the beginning of the word
32:21anything. Y'doin'nything fun? We link together doing, because
32:28we're going to drop the G. It ends with the sound, nn, the n sound. And then the next word, anything,
32:37we sometimes drop the a and we're going to push those two together because there's two n sounds
32:44side by side. Y'doin'nything, doing'nything fun? Y'doin'nything? This is one of the reasons why
32:55English sounds quite fast to English learners. If you watch a TV show and you say, what in the world
33:01did they just say? I have no idea. Well, it's because of these dropping linkings. This is quite
33:07common in spoken English. So you can say this question with me. Are you ready? Y'doin'nything
33:12fun for vacation? Y'doin'nything fun for vacation? Let's go to our next question. Where are you
33:18headed for vacation? Where are you headed for vacation? This question is very clear the way I
33:24just said it, but it uses a wonderful verb headed. This is, yes, your head, but it's talking about
33:31the direction that you're going. Some place that you're going to visit. So if you get a call from
33:38your mom and she says, where are you going? You could say, I'm headed to the store. This means
33:43that's the direction that you're going. You are on your way to the store. But we can reduce this
33:48a little bit and say, where ya, does that sound familiar? Where ya headed for vacation? Where
33:57ya headed for vacation? We could substitute the end of this for vacation and just say,
34:02where are you headed this summer? Where ya headed this summer? Where ya headed this summer? Do you
34:08notice that a great way to sound a little bit more fluent in English is to reduce the word you?
34:15We've talked about a couple different reductions, but a very common one is ya. Where ya headed this
34:20summer? Where ya headed for vacation? Great. Before we go on to some common answers that
34:25you can use to answer these questions, let's talk about something very important. The most
34:31important conversation question you will ever know is, what about you? How about you? We talked about
34:39this in the part one video I made, speak with me about your weekend plans. Well, these two
34:45questions are essential. If you don't remember anything else from this video, please remember,
34:51what about you? How about you? We use these, if you can imagine a ball. I'm holding the
34:58conversation ball. And when I ask you, how about you, boom, I pass the ball to you. It
35:05is your turn to answer the same question. So if you ask me, where are you headed for vacation?
35:11And I say, eh, not really anywhere. I'm staying home. What about you? I pass the question back
35:18to you. This is a great way to continue a conversation. So make sure that you keep that
35:23locked inside your memory, because we're going to be using that a little bit later in this lesson
35:27where you're going to use these conversation, questions and answers to practice speaking with
35:32me. All right, let's go to some common answers to talk about our vacations, especially in this
35:37world that we're living in this year. Because a lot of us would love to go on vacation and see the
35:43world, but we probably needed to change our plans a bit this summer, let's talk about some realistic
35:50answers to these questions about where you headed this summer, what you got going on for vacation.
35:56Let's talk about some realistic answers. I'd like to go to Europe, but I think
36:01I'll take a road trip around the US instead. This is using a great sentence construction, I'd
36:07like to, but. So first we're talking about your dream, the ideal dream, and then we're talking
36:14what you're really doing. I'd like to go to Europe, but I think I'll go on a road trip around
36:20the US instead. Or you could say, I'd like to go to a family reunion, but we had to postpone it.
36:28Okay. The ideal is going to the family reunion, getting together with all of your family members,
36:34but the reality is that you had to postpone it or delay it for another time. This is
36:41the reality. I wish that I could go on a cruise, but that's not happening right now,
36:47so I guess I'll order a pizza and go to the pool. Here again, we're talking about the dream and then
36:56you can make that reality special for you. It doesn't need to be too disappointing,
37:00but it's not your dream, your ideal dream. I wish that I could go on a cruise,
37:07but cruises aren't happening right now. I wish that I could. That's a great introductory phrase.
37:13I wish that I could go to a music festival, but it was canceled. So I guess I'll
37:21make a playlist and listen to music and dance in my backyard. I wish that I could, but
37:29this is what I'll do instead. All right, let's go to our third phrase. I was going to take my
37:34family to New York, but I think we'll go camping instead. Using this phrase, I was going to,
37:43talks about a plan that you had, usually a real plan that you had. It's not just a dream.
37:48It's a plan that you had and then you needed to change it. I was going to take my family to New
37:53York, but I think we'll go camping instead. So we have the dream, or maybe a plan,
37:59but unfortunately that's not the reality. I was going to backpack across Italy,
38:05but I guess I'll stay home and learn how to cook some Italian dishes instead. This year is all
38:12about, and last year, is all about trying to make some kind of compromise, a change in plans that's
38:18not too disappointing. I was going to backpack across Italy, but I'll learn to
38:25cook some Italian dishes instead. Okay. Now that we have some common questions,
38:30don't forget our key question. How about you? What about you? And some common answers.
38:36Let's take a look at a sample conversation so that you can try to imitate this when it comes to be
38:41your turn. Let's take a look at this sample. Dan:
38:44Hey, you doing anything fun this summer? Vanessa:
38:47Well, I was going to go backpacking around Europe, but instead I think I'll just go camping in some
38:54local state parks. What about you? Dan:
38:57Well, I was going to meet my family in Florida for a family reunion,
39:01but that got canceled. So now I think I'm going to have a socially distanced outdoor movie night in
39:08my backyard. Do you want to come? Vanessa:
39:10Sure. That sounds great. Text me the details and I'll be there.
39:14Dan: Great. I'll see you around.
39:16Enjoy your camping trip. Vanessa:
39:17Thanks. I will. See you at the movie night. Okay.
39:21Now it's your turn. Put together all of these pieces. I'm going to be asking you a question,
39:26than I'm going to be pausing. I don't care where you are living around the world. My ears
39:32are going to be listening to you. Then I'll be replying and I would like you to take this
39:37opportunity to speak out loud. If you need to go back, review this section, do it again and again,
39:43and just gain some more courage, feel free to do it. This is a wonderful chance to speak out loud.
39:50Are you ready? Let's do it. Hey, you doing anything fun this summer?
40:00That sounds like fun. Have you done that before?
40:09I wish I could take my family on a trip to Switzerland, but with the travel restrictions,
40:15I think we're just going to go on a road trip here in the US instead. Yeah. Well,
40:20it was nice talking with you. See you later. So how did you do? Do you feel a little bit
40:25more comfortable talking about your vacation or summer plans? Feel free to go back and review
40:31our practice section together. It's a great way to speak out loud. Okay. Let's get started
40:39with some common vocabulary to talk about where you live. If you live in a city, you might say,
40:46it's really busy where I live. New York City is a busy place. Or you could use the word crowded.
40:54Tokyo is a crowded city. There are lots of people everywhere, and there are not many places
41:01where you can be alone and have a quiet moment. Maybe you might say that your city is busy and
41:08crowded. What's the opposite of this? You can say Stockholm, Sweden is a relaxed city. It's a quiet
41:16place. I don't know. I've been to Stockholm. If you're from Stockholm, Sweden, let me know.
41:23But you might say, where I live is just a relaxed place. Or we can say, it's relaxing. If you
41:30come visit where I live, it's very relaxing and quiet. Maybe that's because it's in the country.
41:38Let's go on to these two common words to talk about the type of place you live. You might say,
41:45yeah, I live in Delhi, India, and it's one of the largest urban areas in the world. There
41:51are so many people here. It's busy, it's crowded. It's an urban area. And this means it's the city.
41:58It's quite busy. It's crowded. It's an urban area. There's not many trees, not much nature.
42:04But on the other hand, you might say, I live in the country. The word country means United States,
42:12France, Japan, these places. But in the US, we use this to mean countryside. We do say countryside
42:20sometimes, but we're more likely in the US to say I live in the country. That means
42:28in nature. Maybe there's some farms around you, maybe there's forests around you,
42:33and you don't live in a busy urban city center. You live in the country. So I wonder for you,
42:39do you live in the country or do you live in an urban city center? Do you live somewhere that's
42:44difficult to get to? You might say, yeah, my city is off the beaten path, but it's worth visiting.
42:52So for me, my city, Asheville, in North Carolina, it is definitely off the beaten path. It's not
42:59a huge city. It doesn't have a big airport that comes here.
43:03It's off the beaten path. But if you want to check out some other local sites in the US, it could be
43:09nice to visit. It's off the beaten path. This also can be used to talk about locations within a city.
43:18So, if you visit Paris and you go to the Eiffel Tower and then you get hungry, well,
43:23the places that are close to the Eiffel Tower to eat, those are what we call tourist traps.
43:31Those places are only for tourists. They're extremely expensive. They're
43:35not high quality. It's just to trap tourists. But if you want to eat at a great location,
43:42you might go somewhere off the beaten path. This is somewhere that not many other people go to.
43:49And it's an expression that's great to use about little secret, local locations.
43:54So when I visit your city, I might ask, are there any places off the beaten path that I can visit?
43:59Are there any restaurants off the beaten path that only locals know about?
44:04What is something off the beaten path that I can do? Let's say that where you live is not extremely
44:11popular, but it's becoming more popular. Maybe because of the pandemic last year, people are
44:18traveling to different types of destinations. Maybe they're deciding to travel to more
44:25nature places, places that are in the mountains or places that are not in big city centers. Well,
44:33that might mean that where you live is becoming an up and coming place. We use this term up
44:40and coming to talk about somewhere that's not extremely popular, but it's becoming more popular.
44:46So you might say, yeah, my city isn't really popular right now, but it's an up and coming
44:50place. You've got to check it out. We can use this on a smaller scale, just like off the beaten path,
44:56to talk about a restaurant or a neighborhood. Yeah, that neighborhood used to not be a good
45:01neighborhood, but now it's an up and coming neighborhood. You've got to walk through it.
45:07Just look at the houses, look at the architecture, enjoy the sights. So you might say it's an up and
45:13coming place. Excellent expression. Our final expression to talk about where you live is must
45:21see or some must see locations. Can you imagine what this means? Does it mean
45:28it's not important to see it? Nah, you can skip that. No, you must see this. So, for example,
45:35when you visit Egypt, the pyramids are a must see. So we can use it as a noun,
45:42a must see. Of course, when you go to Egypt, the pyramids are a must see. When you go to London,
45:49Big Ben is a must see. When you go to New York City, the Empire State Building is a must see.
45:56These are kind of like the top things that you need to see. But even if you don't live in one of
46:01those really popular cities, if you live somewhere a little bit off the beaten path, you can still
46:06use this expression. You might say, in my city, yeah, this view on the top of the mountains. Yeah,
46:13that is a must see. You drive up this hill and you can have a great 360 view. That is a must see. So
46:21it's something that you cannot miss when you visit that location. So when I visit your city, tell me,
46:26what are some places that are a must see? I don't want to miss them. Next, let's talk about some
46:31common questions that you can ask other people about where they live, and also other people will
46:37ask you about where you live. So make sure you're comfortable answering them about where you live.
46:43The first question is, where are you from? This is an extremely common question. And you can just
46:48say, yep, I'm from the US, but it's nice to give a little more details. So you might say, I'm from
46:54Asheville in North Carolina. It's a pretty quiet place, but it's kind of up and coming. Great.
47:01You're giving some details. It's quiet, but it's also up and coming. I live in Asheville. You're
47:05inviting a conversation. If you just say, I'm from the US, or, I'm from Asheville, that's where I'm
47:12from, someone might ask you, what's it like there? Or if someone doesn't give you more details about
47:18where they live, they just say France. I live in London. I live in LA. Okay. Well you might
47:25want some more details. You want to continue the conversation. This is a great question to ask.
47:30What's it like there? What's it like there? What is it like there? They might say,
47:36it's so hot in the summer, but in the fall, it's awesome because we get some great leaves and you
47:42got to check it out in the fall. Excellent. If someone has not mentioned the weather yet, you can
47:47say, what's the weather like there? They can go into some details. You could say about your city,
47:52uh, the winter is so cold. We get tons of snow. But when it melts in the spring and all of the
47:59leaves become green and the flowers bloom, it's awesome. You've got to visit in the spring. If you
48:04have not told someone what time to visit yet, they might ask, what's the best time to visit? So when
48:10Dan and I were planning a trip to go to Costa Rica a couple years ago, we did a lot of research about
48:16what is the best time to visit Costa Rica. Their seasons are very different than our seasons,
48:21and we were going to be spending a lot of time outside, so we wanted to make sure it wasn't
48:26going to be raining the whole time, wasn't going to be pouring down rain or too hot the whole time.
48:32So we asked this question, when's the best time to visit? So someone might ask you,
48:37when's the best time to visit your city? For my city, I think the best time to visit is the
48:42fall. The leaves are beautiful in the mountains. There's so many different colors and the air is so
48:48crisp and fresh. You got to visit in the fall. If someone asked you, what's your city known for,
48:54what would you say? This means, what is your city famous for? Why do people visit your city? It
49:01might just be something simple, like the air is so fresh. Or it might be, they just love this pastry,
49:10this type of dessert that's made in my city and a lot of people like to come and eat that pastry.
49:16Cool. It could be something simple. Or if you live in a bigger place, you can obviously talk about
49:20some famous destinations that your city is known for. But if people have not heard about your city,
49:26they might ask this question, oh, what's it known for? What's your city known for?
49:32And then you can think about some great places to visit that people might be interested in. Whenever
49:36I ask someone about their city, especially if I'm going to visit, like your city, I like to
49:42ask about their personal favorite thing to do. So someone might ask you, what's your favorite thing
49:48to do in your city? Or what's your favorite thing to eat there? What's your favorite thing to see?
49:52Because I think that local people's perspectives are often different than a tourist perspective.
49:58So finding out what the locals like to do, specifically, what you like to do,
50:03can be really valuable and can add to a rich visiting experience. So if I asked you,
50:08what's your favorite thing to do in your city, you might tell me, oh man, there is
50:12this little bar off the beaten path down this alley and you got to check it out. It's so cool.
50:18They brew their own beer and the atmosphere is awesome. It is a must see. Great. I bet that
50:24my trip to your city would be a lot more amazing because of that information. So make sure that you
50:30have some ideas that you can tell other people about your city. Our final question is a little
50:35more broad. Someone might simply ask you, what do you recommend? Or maybe if you are talking
50:39to someone who lives in New York and you are about to visit New York, great, you can ask them
50:44some questions and say, what do you recommend? What do you recommend about New York? What do you
50:50recommend that I do? Oh, you got to see this museum. It's really cool. They have local artists
50:55that they have on display and all these different things you can see. Great. You are asking,
51:00what do you recommend in general? It might not be that person's absolute favorite thing personally,
51:06but to visit the city, what do you recommend? Great. A wonderful question to ask. What do you
51:12recommend? All right, now that we've talked about some common vocabulary to describe your city,
51:16some common questions that you can ask or other people might ask you about where you live, let's
51:22see a quick sample conversation between me and my husband, Dan, where we talk about visiting Rome.
51:29Now, neither of us are from Rome, but I want you to use your imagination. Let's imagine that Dan is
51:35from Rome. He's actually from the US, but let's imagine that he's from Rome and he is giving me
51:41some insider tips about what I should do on my upcoming trip to Rome. Let's watch
51:47the sample conversation and listen for some of the key vocabulary that we just talked about
51:52because you are about to have a chance to use it yourself speaking with me. Let's watch. Hey Dan.
51:58Dan: Hey Vanessa,
51:59are you excited for your trip to Rome? Vanessa:
52:01Yeah, I can't wait. It's such a historic place. But are there any tourist traps I should avoid?
52:08Dan: Yeah. Avoid
52:09all the gelato shops except this one. It's off the beaten path, but trust me, it's worth it.
52:16Vanessa: Oh, thanks for the tip. Any other must sees?
52:19Dan: Well, the Coliseum is great,
52:22but my favorite thing to do is wander around and see all the little chapels. It's usually more
52:27relaxed and less crowded that way. Vanessa:
52:29Ah, that's good to know. Thanks for the tip. Dan:
52:31No problem. Enjoy your trip. Vanessa:
52:33I will. All right, now it is your turn. I'm going to ask you some questions about
52:39where you live because I'm coming to visit. I need to know what it's like.
52:44I'm going to ask you some questions and then I will pause. I will be listening
52:48to you wherever you live around the world. I will be listening, so please speak out loud.
52:54Use the expressions that you've learned. And I can't wait to learn more about your city.
52:58Are you ready to get started? Hi, I'm taking a vacation to your city and I can't wait.
53:05Tell me, what's the weather like in the summer? I need to know what I should pack.
53:17That's good to know. Thank you. Well, what's your favorite thing to do or see in your city?
53:32Wow, that sounds really interesting. So
53:35I got to know. Are there any tourist traps that I should avoid when I go?
53:51Thanks so much for the tip. I look forward to visiting. I can't wait to see you soon.
53:56Bye. All right. How did you do having this
53:59conversation with me? You're welcome to review that and say it again and again.
53:59Vanessa: ... with me. You're
54:00welcome to review that and say it again and again and again to practice and grow your confidence.
54:09Let's get started with some common expressions to talk about birthdays. Let's talk about
54:14some types of birthday parties, a birthday bash. This is a big party. Lots of people,
54:20lots of presents, lots of games, it's a big one. So you might say, "We are throwing a birthday bash
54:27for my niece because she's turning 10." Double digits, quite exciting.
54:32To throw a party. Are you holding the party and throwing it?
54:38No. I mean, maybe you're throwing some confetti, but this is just another way to say, "We're
54:43having a party or we're going to plan a party." We often use the verb to throw. You might say,
54:51"We're throwing a party for my grandma's 90th birthday. It's going to be a big birthday bash."
54:57What if you're not a fan of birthday bashes? You want to keep things more low key. You
55:03might say a gathering or a get together. This is something small and intimate, just family, a few
55:10friends maybe. You could say, "I'm not a fan of big birthday bashes. So we're just going to have
55:16a little gathering at my house, or we're just going to have a little get together at my house."
55:21This is true for me. Usually for my birth birthday, we just have a little get together
55:25at my house with a couple friends, maybe some family, nothing too big. Surprise. Oh,
55:32what did I just do? I surprised you, because it's a surprise party. Usually with a surprise party,
55:40the person who is having the birthday doesn't know about the party, this is the ideal situation.
55:46So someone is planning, inviting guests, setting up everything, and they try to get
55:52the birthday person to come into that area without knowing anything. And they walk in
55:58and then everybody jumps up and says, "Surprise." So I'm curious, have you ever had a birthday for
56:05you? Have you ever helped to participate in a surprise birthday? I don't think that I ever
56:11have, but one time when I was in college, my friends threw a surprise birthday party for me
56:17and another friend who has the same birthday. And I didn't want to go. I said, "I'm studying. I have
56:23a test. I can't go down there. I'm not going to go have dinner with you guys. No, I need to study."
56:29And then one of my friends finally realized that I wasn't coming. And she said, "Hey Vanessa,
56:33it's a surprise birthday for you. Come on." So I had no choice at that point because I realized,
56:40"Oh, they're doing something nice for me." So you might say, "We're throwing a party for Vanessa.
56:45It's a surprise party. Don't tell her." Well, unless you can't get her to come.
56:51Next, let's talk about some common phrases that are just associated with birthdays.
56:55The first one is RSVP. Now, this is occasionally something that we use in spoken conversation,
57:02but it is more common on a written invitation. It could be a physical invitation, or it might be
57:10an internet invitation using Facebook events or something like this.
57:15But RSVP stands for the French Répondez s'il vous plaît and it means, "Please respond.
57:22Please tell me if you're coming." So usually you will see this sentence RSVP by June 30th, RSVP
57:33by Saturday, whatever date. So there's a deadline. Please tell me if you're coming
57:39so that I can order the right amount of cake so that I can make the right amount of food. This
57:44is just a polite thing to do to RSVP. Wonderful. Another common phrase for birthdays or for parties
57:52is BYOB. What if I said, "Dinner and cake are provided BYOB." What would that mean to you? Bring
58:03your old bag. Bring your old balloon. No. This means, "Bring your own beer or bring
58:15your own booze." Booze is a slang term for alcohol. So this means I am not providing
58:21alcohol. If you want to drink alcohol, bring what you want to drink. Bring it for yourself.
58:27This is very common and it's not really rude. In fact, it's good to tell guests if they are
58:33allowed to drink alcohol at your house and you're not going to provide any, it's good to tell them,
58:39"I don't have any. Bring your own. BYOB." This is quite a common expression, especially in
58:45an invitation. You might see that written, "Dinner and cake provided BYOB." Excellent.
58:50Make a wish. Usually after we sing happy birthday, you blow out the candles and you close your eyes
58:59and you make a wish. There's a superstition that if you tell people your wish, it will never come
59:07true. So usually it's a surprise. I will never tell you what my birthday wishes are, because
59:13it probably won't come true then. So this is a superstition. But you might say,
59:18"After I blow out the candles, I'm going to make a wish." But often you will hear people say this.
59:23So after they sing happy birthday and you blow out the candles, someone will say, "All right,
59:28make a wish." And they're telling you, "This is the time to make a wish." This sometimes happens
59:33at children's parties more often that someone will say it. So they're reminding their child,
59:39"This is the time to make a wish, close your eyes and make a wish. Don't tell anyone." So
59:44this is a fun little tradition, I would say. A goody bag. This is a little plastic bag of,
59:51in my opinion, usually junk that is given to all of the kids at a children's birthday party.
59:59I'm not a big fan of goody bags because they're usually made up of junk,
1:00:02it's stuff that comes from the dollar store and parents feel some social pressure to give
1:00:09out a goody bag at their child's birthday party. But usually those things just end up in the trash.
1:00:15So for me, I would rather do a craft at the birthday and the children can take home the craft,
1:00:20or maybe there's an extra cupcake and the children can take home a cupcake. This seems a little bit
1:00:26better to me. I think that the idea of a goody bag is falling out of tradition a bit, but there's
1:00:32still a little pressure to give something to your guests. This is only for children's birthdays,
1:00:38to give something to your guests. A sweet 16. If I said, "I can't believe
1:00:43your daughter is already old enough to have her sweet 16." How old do you think that she is?
1:00:5016 years old. For some reason, 16 is a big number. I think this is because this
1:00:56is when you can get your driver's license in the US. So it's usually just for girls.
1:01:02I hate to say it, but usually teenage boys who are 16 years old aren't usually labeled as sweet.
1:01:10Maybe that was just my experience when I was a teenager, but usually a 16 year old
1:01:16girl might have sweet 16 party. And this is a big birthday bash to celebrate turning 16. The
1:01:24next big birthday is turning 21. And this is for anyone, boys or girls. And this is a big birthday
1:01:30because you can finally legally drink alcohol. So a lot of people will have a 21st birthday
1:01:37party with their friends where they get to go to a bar, or they go to a pub,
1:01:41or they go to a brewery or a restaurant and they get to drink alcohol in public. That's not to say
1:01:47that nobody drinks alcohol before 21, but usually your 21st birthday is a symbol of,
1:01:52"Now, I am an adult." There you go. After 21, you have to wait a long time
1:01:58for your next birthday. If I said, "I don't feel that old, but somehow I'm already over the hill."
1:02:07What do you think over the hill means? Well, the average lifespan is about 80 years. I think
1:02:13now it's a little bit more than 80 years old, but what is halfway? 40. So this birthday is a little
1:02:21bit dark, a little bit depressing, but we say that when you turn 40 years old, you are over the hill.
1:02:28And anytime after 40, if you don't want to tell someone your age, you can just say,
1:02:34"I'm over the hill or I'm way over the hill," because you are past the peak of life.
1:02:42And now you're just going down the other side. Very sad. So usually if you go to the grocery
1:02:49store and you buy any kind of balloons or birthday bags or birthday decorations for a 40th birthday,
1:02:56they all are black or gray or have to do with like gravestones or skeletons. It's a little bit silly
1:03:05because obviously when you're 40, you're still young, but it's just this silly idea that now,
1:03:10"Oh, you're over the hill." Our last birthday expression before we get
1:03:14to some common birthday questions is a trip around the sun. This is just another fun way to say that
1:03:20you are one year older. So if somebody is having a birthday, you could tell them congrats on
1:03:27another successful trip around the sun. They have successfully gone around the sun one more time,
1:03:32which is one more year. Congrats on a successful trip around the sun. You did it.
1:03:38All right, let's go on to some common questions that you might get asked on your birthday or you
1:03:43could ask someone else on their birthday. And we'll talk about some common answers as well.
1:03:48Any plans for your birthday? This is an extremely common question. If someone asks you any plans
1:03:54for your birthday, you could say, "Yup, we're planning a big bash this weekend. It's going
1:04:00to be exciting," or, "No. We're just going to have a small gathering with a couple friends."
1:04:05Excellent. Any plans for your birthday? What do you want to do for your birthday?
1:04:10This is a great question to ask if you know that you will also be included in the birthday plans.
1:04:16If you are a family member or a close friend who will help to organize the birthday activities,
1:04:23you can use this question, "What do you want to do for your birthday?" That is asking, "Hey,
1:04:29what should I plan for your birthday?" And you could say, "Yeah, I'd like to have just
1:04:34a small get together at the house. Maybe we can have a cookout, maybe some cake, just some small
1:04:40get together." A little bird told me it was your birthday. What would you like? This expression, "A
1:04:47little bird told me" is almost a universal idea. I think a lot of languages have this concept of
1:04:56hearing something from a little bird. You're not saying who told you, but you're just
1:05:02saying, "A little bird told me that it was your birthday or that your birthday is coming soon."
1:05:08Do you have this type of expression in your native language? It's a great one to use for birthdays.
1:05:13You could just say, "A little bird told me it's your birthday.
1:05:16What would you like?" You're asking for a present idea. What kind of present should I give you?
1:05:21And an answer to that could be, "Yup, my birthday is coming up on Saturday,
1:05:25but instead of a present, I'm asking that everyone bring some food or drink to the party."
1:05:33Okay, you don't need presents. You don't need more stuff. You're just asking that people bring
1:05:38food and drinks to your party. Simple and it's a good way to give at a party and participate.
1:05:44How old will you be? Or maybe if it's on someone's birthday. Oh, how old are you now? Don't ask an
1:05:53adult this. I would say after the age of 21, usually it's not a good idea to ask someone how
1:06:02old are you or how old will you be? In American culture, it is quite rude to ask someone their
1:06:09age when they're an adult. For a child, it's no problem. Children love telling people their age.
1:06:15Usually they're very specific like, "I'm seven and a half. I'm eight and three quarters." They're
1:06:20very specific about their age, because they're so proud of it. But once we become adults, we become
1:06:25a little bit more hesitant to share our age, especially with anybody. And it's not required in
1:06:34social circumstances to say your age. So I recommend asking, "How old are you
1:06:38now? Or how old will you be?" Only to children. When someone invites you to a party you can ask,
1:06:44"Is it a surprise party?" That way you can not be the one who spoils the surprise.
1:06:50So maybe they forgot to tell you, "Oh, it's a surprise party." So it's a good thing to ask,
1:06:55"Is this a surprise party?" And they might say, "Oh no, he knows about it." Or he might say,
1:06:59"Oh yes it is. Don't tell him." It's a great question to ask, "Is it a surprise party? Do you
1:07:05need me to bring anything? Can I bring anything?" This is a great question to ask anytime that you
1:07:11go to someone's house for dinner, for a meal, for even just tea or coffee and especially for
1:07:17a birthday party or a holiday gathering, it's great to ask, "Do you need me to bring anything?
1:07:23Or what can I bring?" I ask this all the time and I really appreciate it when my guests ask this
1:07:30because maybe it would be nice if someone else made the salad or someone else made a dish for the
1:07:37meal, or maybe even someone just brought a game or something to do. This can help to ease the burden
1:07:44of the person who is throwing the party or just having a holiday gathering. So this is a great
1:07:49question to ask. I highly recommend it. And if someone asks you,
1:07:54"Can I bring anything?" You can think, "Okay, well, yeah maybe bring your own booze
1:08:01or yeah do you have a favorite board game? Maybe after dinner we could play a game, bring a game
1:08:06or could you make a salad? Could you make a dessert?" Not even make, "Could you just
1:08:10bring one? You can buy it that's okay." But this kind of question can help to have everyone feel
1:08:16like they're participating in the evening. All right, now that we've practiced some
1:08:20common expressions for birthdays, some common questions for birthdays, let's go on to our
1:08:25conversation. I'd like you to see this sample conversation that I had with my husband, Dan,
1:08:31about birthdays. You're going to recognize a lot of these questions. A lot of the expressions about
1:08:36birthdays. Listen to this conversation carefully because in just a minute, Dan will leave and I
1:08:42will be asking you those questions and it will be your turn to speak out loud. Let's watch the
1:08:47sample conversation. Hey, Dan. Dan:
1:08:50Hey Vanessa, you have a birthday coming up. Don't you?
1:08:53Vanessa: Yup. Pretty soon. Another trip around the sun.
1:08:56Dan: Cool. Do you have any plans for your birthday?
1:08:59Vanessa: Yeah, I'm going to have a big
1:09:02birthday bash. I would love for you to come. I can send you an invitation.
1:09:05Dan: That sounds fun. Do you need me to bring anything?
1:09:09Vanessa: You can bring your
1:09:10favorite party game and a big appetite for cake. All the other details will be in the invitation.
1:09:16Dan: Sounds great. I'll be there.
1:09:18Vanessa: Great. See you then.
1:09:21Okay. You watched the sample conversation. Now it's time to
1:09:25take a deep breath and practice this yourself. I'm going to ask you a couple questions and I
1:09:31will pause. I will be listening to you no matter where you live around the world,
1:09:36I will be listening and we will be having this conversation. If it seems too fast for you,
1:09:42if you want to try it again, the good news is that you can click pause on the video and go back
1:09:48and practice it again. No problem. Are you ready? Let's get started.
1:09:52Hey, a little bird told me that your birthday is coming up. Do you have any plans?
1:10:05That sounds like fun. Is it a birthday tradition or is that something new?
1:10:16Cool. I would love to come. Can I bring anything?
1:10:25Great. I'll be there. I can't wait to celebrate another trip around the sun.
1:10:31So how did you do with this little sample conversation?
1:10:34I hope that it was a good challenge for you and it helped to boost your confidence
1:10:38speaking in English. That is the goal. You can always go back and review this.
1:10:46Let's learn some common vocabulary about animals and pets. Let's start by describing you. Can you
1:10:53describe yourself? I'm an animal lover. This means that you love all kinds of animals. You might say,
1:11:01"Ever since I first visited a zoo as a child, I have been an animal lover. I just love all
1:11:08animals." Or if you would like to be a little more specific, you could say, "I'm a cat person. I'm
1:11:14a dog person." Usually we keep it to cats and dogs but you might say, "I'm a horse person."
1:11:20Does that mean that you have a cat head? I am a cat person. No. This just means that that is your
1:11:26preferred pet. You like cats. So for me, if you've been watching my English lessons for a while,
1:11:33you know I am a cat person. I've never had a dog, but I feel like I relate more to cats.
1:11:40I get along better with cats and I feel more comfortable with cats.
1:11:43But maybe for you, you might say, "I'm a dog person. I would rather have a dog." Or maybe you
1:11:49have this unfortunate situation, you are allergic to dogs. Or maybe you might say, "I'm allergic to
1:11:58cat fur, I love them. They're so cute and cuddly. And I wish I could have a cat, but I'm allergic."
1:12:05If your eyes start to get red and your nose starts to run, maybe your throat hurts, that's a bad
1:12:10sign. It means that you are allergic to some kind of animal. Maybe you can take some simple medicine
1:12:18and you'll be fine. But sometimes it's a bigger problem than that and you just can't have a cat.
1:12:23You can't have a dog. I hope you're not allergic. Now let's describe your pet. But a little note,
1:12:30first of all, something that I've noticed that's different between English and some
1:12:34other languages is that when we're talking about our pets or someone else's pet, we use
1:12:40he or she. We don't use it very often because it feels like you are creating some distance or
1:12:49it's a wild animal, or you don't really care about that animal. It's just an object. It.
1:12:55So for example, if I'm going to tell you about my cat, little spoiler, I have a cat,
1:13:01I might say, "She is a Siamese cat." If I say I have a cat, it's Siamese,
1:13:09it's okay and you will hear this occasionally, but it's more common to hear he or she. She's
1:13:16a Siamese. She likes to play with cat toys. He or she. And if you're not certain, if an animal
1:13:24is a he or a she like if you see a neighbor's dog and you want to talk to that neighbor about
1:13:28their dog, you can just say he and it's okay. The neighbor will maybe correct you and say,
1:13:35"Oh yes, she's a poodle." And then you can say, "Oh yes, what's her name?" And
1:13:40you can use her when you find out, but in general we use he or she for pets.
1:13:46A common word we use to describe pets is breed. What breed is your pet? But we often just say
1:13:53kind, what kind is it? So when we're talking about a dog or a cat, there are different types.
1:14:00So I already mentioned, my cat is a Siamese cat. This is a specific type or breed of
1:14:09cat. What breed is your a cat? He's a Siamese. She's a Siamese. What breed is it? But we often
1:14:17use the question, "What kind is it?" Which we'll talk about in our question section in a minutes.
1:14:22Another common term used with pets is a rescue. This is describing your pet. Both of my cats are
1:14:30rescues. I got them from an animal shelter. This means that I didn't buy them from a breeder who
1:14:38is making pure bred cats. No, I went to the animal shelter. These are abandoned cats who need a home.
1:14:46I went to the animal shelter and I adopted. We often use the word adopted. I adopted two cats.
1:14:54They are rescue cats or they are rescues. And this is the idea that I rescued them.
1:15:02Sometimes in the US, you see a bumper sticker, something like this that says,
1:15:07"My dog rescued me." Have you ever felt like this? Maybe you saved your dog from the animal shelter,
1:15:15but really your dog changed your life. Your dog rescued you. You might also hear the word
1:15:22mut. Mut can be a little negative if you say it with a negative voice, but it just means that
1:15:29you're not certain what kind of dog you have. We only use this for dogs. And it means, well,
1:15:35it's a mix of so many different types of dogs that I have no idea. He's a mut. We got him from the
1:15:41animal shelter, but you know what? He's the best dog I've ever had. He's a mut, but I don't care.
1:15:46So it's that idea that he's not pure. He's not a pure bred dog. He's a mix of so many kinds
1:15:53of dogs, but you know what? It's still a great animal. Next is fur and coat. My cat's fur is so
1:16:01soft. After I give my dog a bath, he has a silky coat. He's not wearing a coat, it's
1:16:08just talking about his fur. And these words are interchangeable. He has soft fur. He has a silky
1:16:16coat. It's great words to talk about animal hair. Let's talk about some words we can use to talk
1:16:22about how friendly an animal is. The first one is just friendly. He is friendly. You'll often
1:16:29hear this as someone is walking their dog. And if their dogs wants to come closer to you,
1:16:35the owner might say, "Oh, don't worry. He's friendly. He loves little kids."
1:16:40And your child can pet the dog or you might ask, "Is he friendly?" And that means, "Can I pet him?"
1:16:47So it's a great word to use to talk about if your dog is comfortable with people,
1:16:53he's friendly. "He's not very friendly with little kids. So we'll just try to stay away."
1:16:58There are three words that are variations of this. One is wild. Lions are wild. They are not
1:17:09friendly towards people. I do not recommend trying to pet a lion. They are wild.
1:17:16The next level is stray. We might say, "That cat is a stray cat, or he's a stray." And that
1:17:26means that he lives on the streets and maybe he'll come close to people to get some food.
1:17:32He might not really hurt you, but he doesn't want to live in your house. Maybe if you adopt him,
1:17:38he'll want to live in your house, but he doesn't have an owner. He's a stray. He's a stray cat.
1:17:44Some cities around the world have a lot of stray cats or stray dogs. They don't belong to anyone,
1:17:50but everyone helps to take care of them. Everyone helps to feed them. In the US, this isn't very
1:17:55common. We don't have a lot of stray cats or a lot of stray dogs because animal shelters are
1:18:01a big part of American culture. A lot of people when they want a pet, they will go to an animal
1:18:07shelter instead of buying a pure bred dog or a pure bred cat. So a lot of stray dogs or stray
1:18:15cats who live on the street will be taken to an animal shelter for someone to adopt.
1:18:21So you might say, "My cat was a stray before we got him. He was a stray cat before we got him.
1:18:27And now he's just so friendly." The next level is domesticated. So this means
1:18:34a cat or dog or animal that was previously wild and now he's very comfortable with humans.
1:18:42So we could use this for a lot of different animals like cows. Cows are domesticated.
1:18:48A long time ago, they were completely wild or horses. Horses were completely wild,
1:18:53but they have become domesticated. Over time, people have trained them to become
1:19:00comfortable with humans. They are domesticated. We often use this term for farm and animals,
1:19:06horses, cows, chickens, sheep, goats they are domesticated animals. Some animals just can't
1:19:13be domesticated like a zebra. You can't ride a zebra. You can't domesticate zebras. It would
1:19:18be pretty cool, but they're just an animal that cannot be domesticated. Before we go on to some
1:19:25common questions that you will hear and that you can ask about pets, let's talk about pet care and
1:19:31some words that you can use to describe pet care. A cage, a crate, and a kennel are all the same
1:19:37thing. And it's somewhere that you can keep your animal contained. So you might say,
1:19:43"I put my ferret." Some people have a ferret for a pet. I put my ferret in the crate to take
1:19:50it to the vet, which we'll talk about in just a second, but it's a type of box where you will keep
1:19:56your animals maybe to transport them somewhere or maybe just to help them feel safe and comfortable.
1:20:02We have a big kennel for my dog to help him feel comfortable when guests come over. He goes in
1:20:08there and he feels comfortable. And then when the guests leave, he comes out and feels very safe.
1:20:13A collar and tag, this goes around your animal's neck and has some important information like
1:20:20the pet's name, your phone number, maybe your address. And if your pet gets lost,
1:20:25well, someone can help you to find your pet again by calling you
1:20:30with the number that's on the tag on their collar. A collar is also useful because you can attach
1:20:37a leash to the collar. Sometimes this is called a lead. I think that lead is maybe more a term
1:20:45that professional people will use. A veterinarian will use this. Maybe a dog trainer will use this,
1:20:52a lead, but for daily conversation, we often just say, "Leash. Where's the leash? I need to find the
1:20:58dog's leash so that I can take him on a walk." One time, I saw somebody having-
1:20:59Vanessa: ... that I can take him on a walk.
1:21:02One time I saw somebody having an iguana on a leash. Sometimes people put their cats on a leash
1:21:09too, but usually cats don't tolerate that. Have you ever seen a strange animal on a leash before?
1:21:16A vet or veterinarian. Usually we shorten this to vet. You've already heard me say this a couple
1:21:22times and that's the doctor for an animal. So you might say, "I need to take my sick dog to
1:21:29the vet." Or, "What is the best vet to take my dog to?" We're talking about veterinarian, but
1:21:37it's a situation where we don't use the longest word. We just to use a short, simple version.
1:21:43Yes, finally, in English, there is a simple way to say a long word. So you can just say
1:21:49vet. "My cat's vet is just up the streets." Or, "We have a vet appointment next week." Excellent.
1:21:56Now I just want to let you know if this is your job, if you are a vet in someone asks you the
1:22:01common question, "What do you do?" Which means what's your job? And you say, "I'm a vet." Well,
1:22:08this might be slightly confusing if someone has no idea that you work with animals because
1:22:14a vet can be two different things. It can be a veterinarian, or it can be a veteran, a veteran.
1:22:21That means who used to be a soldier. They used to be in the military and now they're retired.
1:22:28So that means that you could either be an animal doctor or a retired person from the military.
1:22:35So if someone knows that you work with animals or that you're a doctor, if you say, "Oh, I'm
1:22:39a doctor." And they ask, "What kind of doctor?" You could say, "I'm a vet." They will know that
1:22:44you work with animals, but if someone has no clue, you might say "I'm a veterinarian." You
1:22:50might elongate that a little bit just to be more specific. Or if you are a vet from the military,
1:22:57you might say, "I'm a retired veteran." Or, "I'm a retired vet. I was in the Navy." You might
1:23:04want to be a little more specific. That's a situation that might possibly come up.
1:23:08What can you do to bond with your animal? You might play fetch. So you could say, "My cat
1:23:16likes to play fetch." Who would've guessed? Usually dogs do, but sometimes cats do too.
1:23:22Or you could just say this word to your dog. So you have a stick. You throw the stick and your
1:23:28dog runs after the stick. You could say, "Fetch, boy! Fetch the stick." So you're telling him,
1:23:34you're giving him a command about what he should do. Get the stick and bring it back
1:23:38to you. This kind of fun game. Or we might just pet your pet.
1:23:46This word can be used as a noun, as we've been talking about it. I have nine pets,
1:23:53but what is this gently touching your pet? This is the verb to pet. When you are stroking or just
1:24:03gently touching your animal. This is a very kind, nice thing to do. Well, you are petting your pet.
1:24:11So if you're walking down the street and someone is walking a dog, and that dog seems friendly,
1:24:15the dog wants to talk with you. And the owner says is, "Oh, don't worry. He's friendly." You can say,
1:24:21"Can I pet him?" Great, that means that you can stroke his head or his back or under his chin.
1:24:27And it's a nice way to enjoy a dog and to kind of connect with each other.
1:24:32Okay, are you ready to go onto some common questions that people will ask you about your
1:24:37pets, and also you can ask? Let's do it. "Do you have any pets?" Very simple and
1:24:42straightforward question. You might say, "When I was a kid, I had a dog,
1:24:47but now I don't have any pets." Well, this is just answering in a nicer way than just, "No,
1:24:54I don't have any pets." You're giving some information. "When I was a kid, I had a dog,
1:25:00and now I don't have any pets." Good answer. When you see a dog, a common question is
1:25:07what kind is he? We're talking about the breed of dog. What kind is he? It's sometimes unusual to
1:25:14see a pure bred dog that's only one kind, only one breed. So you'll often hear this type of answer,
1:25:21"He's a Lab mix. We got him at the animal shelter." He's a mix. So this means he has
1:25:28two different or maybe three or four different types of dogs in his blood. So we could say he's
1:25:34a mix or he's a Lab mix. And this means he comes from different types of breeds.
1:25:39Another question is, "What's his name?" Of course, you can just say your pet's name,
1:25:44but I wanted to give you some of the most common female pet names, and also some of the most common
1:25:51male pet names in English. The most common female pet names are: Bella, Luna, Lucy, Daisy, and Coco.
1:26:02There are many other pet names for female dogs or cats or horses, or who knows what, but these
1:26:08are some of the most common. In fact, one of my cat's names is Luna. Some of the most common male
1:26:15pet names are: Max, Buddy, Teddy, Rocky, and Duke. These are really common male pet names in the US.
1:26:26A question we already talked about is, "Is he friendly?" Great. Someone might ask you
1:26:30this if you have a dog, and you're welcome to ask someone else this if you want to pet a dog,
1:26:36"Is he friendly?" "Yes, you can pet him." Another common question is, "How long have
1:26:41you had him?" And maybe this is not how old is he, but how long has he been a part of your life?
1:26:48So you might say, "I got max from the animal shelter three years ago." "How long have
1:26:53you had him?" "I've had him for three years." If you mentioned that your dog or someone else
1:26:59mentions that their dog is a specific breed, you could ask this question, "What made you decide to
1:27:05get that breed?" Maybe you're just curious about that breed. You're trying to have a conversation,
1:27:09or maybe you are thinking about getting a dog too, and you want some more information. So
1:27:14you could say, "What made you decide to get that out breed? And if somebody has,
1:27:18for example, a Lab, which is a Labrador Retriever, if somebody has a Lab, they might say, "Well,
1:27:25I heard that Labs are family-friendly dogs. So we decided to get one. They have a reputation for
1:27:32being good with kids, for being friendly. They're family friendly. So we decided to get one."
1:27:37All right, now that we've practiced some common vocabulary about pets,
1:27:40some common questions about pets, now I'd like to show you a sample conversation between my husband,
1:27:46Dan and I, talking about some pets. After the sample conversation, it will be your turn
1:27:53to speak with me and tell me about your pets or maybe the pets that you wish you had. And after
1:27:59that will be the big reveal of my nine pets. All right, let's watch the sample conversation.
1:28:05Hi, Dan, is that your dog? I thought you were a cat person.
1:28:09Dan: Hey Vanessa. I'm an animal lover, but Fluffy's
1:28:12not mine. I'm just walking him for a friend. Vanessa:
1:28:15Oh, gotcha. Is he friendly? Can I pet him? Dan:
1:28:18Yes, he's friendly. You can pet him, but watch out, he drools.
1:28:23Vanessa: Oh, good to know. Well, I'll stick to my
1:28:26non-drooling cats. Oh, but good boy, Fluffy. Dan:
1:28:32I'm going to walk him at the park to play fetch. Want to come?
1:28:35Vanessa: Sure.
1:28:37Okay, now it's your turn. I'm going to be asking you a couple questions and then I'm going to pause
1:28:43and you can speak out loud and try to answer these questions and pretend like we're having
1:28:48a conversation together. If you feel like it's too short of a pause, feel free to pause this video.
1:28:55That's kind of the bonus thing. Exciting thing about having a video conversation.
1:29:00You can pause me and spend some extra time explaining what you would like to say. All right,
1:29:06are you ready? Take a deep breath. Let's do it. Hi. I didn't know you had a pet. What kind is he?
1:29:20Interesting? How have you had him?
1:29:30That's so nice. I've been thinking about getting one too. What do you like to do with him?
1:29:45Thanks for your help and nice to meet you.
1:29:48So how did you do? Are you ready to talk about your pets now? I hope so. I hope
1:29:53I have empowered you to be able to speak more comfortably about this common conversation topic.
1:29:59And now drum roll, it's time to meet my nine pets. Are you ready? This is Pippin. He's a tuxedo cat.
1:30:08This isn't a breed, but it just describes his coloration. And this is Luna. She a Siamese,
1:30:15but we got them both from a shelter. So she's probably not a pure bred Siamese.
1:30:21And my other seven pets are chickens. They're only two months old, but aren't they so big?
1:30:29Unfortunately, we have to wait until October until they start producing eggs. I can't wait.
1:30:36My husband Dan built their coop. That's the little house where they live, and this area is called
1:30:42the run. It's a safe area for them to be outside without getting eaten by wild animals we hope. We
1:30:49got them when they were one-day old. Look how cute they were. This is a new adventure for us to have
1:30:58farm animals, but I can't wait to get some fresh eggs and it's a great thing to do with kids. Go
1:31:04down to the chicken coop in the morning and gather the eggs. I can't wait. That'll be so much fun.
1:31:12All right, let's get started with some common vocabulary about jobs. The first category have to
1:31:18do with employment. We'll talk about unemployment later. You might say, "My day job is in an office,
1:31:25but I'm taking some night classes to become a nurse."
1:31:28This expression, "My day job," usually means your primary job. The way that you make the most money.
1:31:35It could imply that it's during the day, but if you happen to work a night shift,
1:31:41you can still say my day job. "This is my main job and how I make money. It's my day job."
1:31:48Another way to talk about your main job is to say, "My 9:00 to 5:00 is in a marketing firm."
1:31:54My 9:00 to 5:00, this talks about the hours that you work, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
1:32:01You might work different hours. You might work 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM. You might work in
1:32:06the afternoon or the evening, but we still use my 9:00 to 5:00 to talk about your primary job. My
1:32:129:00 to 5:00. There is a new movement talking about this expression, and it's often about
1:32:19how people don't like their 9:00 to 5:00. That this is something that they're not satisfied with,
1:32:24and people who are not enjoying their 9:00 to 5:00 might find some articles online that say, "Want to
1:32:31ditch your 9:00 to 5:00? Here's how to find your dream job." An expression we'll talk about in a
1:32:37moment. But sometimes in this modern age, 9:00 to 5:00 implies that it's just a job. "I don't really
1:32:45care about it. It's my 9:00 to 5:00." It's somehow that it's the way that you make money, but it's
1:32:51not really your passion. "It's my 9:00 to 5:00." What about jobs that are not your primary
1:32:57money-making job? You can use a lot of different expressions. We could call those jobs a gig,
1:33:04a side-gig, a hustle, a side-hustle, or you might just say, "I do it on the side." Let's imagine
1:33:12that you make earrings, but it's not your 9:00 to 5:00. It's not your primary job. Well, you might
1:33:19say, "I do it on the side. I make earrings on the side." Or you could say, "I have a side-gig
1:33:25making earrings." This is not your primary job, but it's something that you do. And you still
1:33:31make some money, but not your primary job. If you don't work 40 hours a week at a job,
1:33:38then you have a part-time job. In the US, 40 hours per week is considered a full-time job.
1:33:46But a lot of jobs are part-time jobs. So you might say, "Yep, I work a part-time job on the
1:33:52weekends at a restaurant. I work a part-time job." Maybe it's your main way of making money. Okay,
1:33:59you just work less hours, or maybe it's just a side thing, or maybe you're also a student and
1:34:05you have a part-time job at the same time. That's a great way to describe something
1:34:09that you work less than 40 hours a week on. Now let's talk unemployment. Unfortunately,
1:34:16over the last few years, a lot of people became unemployed. This is really scary. You don't know
1:34:21how you're going to survive, feed your family, take care of your future. You might be laid off.
1:34:30Laid off means you didn't personally do something wrong, but the company either cut your position,
1:34:37they couldn't pay for you anymore. And it's not something personal.
1:34:41It's usually a problem within the company. So when a company is suffering, usually
1:34:46financially, or they change their whole system, their whole model and they don't need some people
1:34:52anymore, they might lay you off. This is a great phrasal verb... Of course, you don't want it to
1:34:57happen to you, but it's a great phrasal verb to know, to explain the situation, because
1:35:02it's not that you were fired. To be fired means you did something wrong and they said, "Sorry,
1:35:12you can't work here anymore." And there was a problem. May you were late to work too many times,
1:35:18you got fired. This is different than being laid off. When you're laid off, it's not your
1:35:23fault. And it's not embarrassing to say, "Man, I was laid off during the pandemic." That's not
1:35:28embarrassing. That's fine. It's not your fault. But if you say, "I was fired," usually there's
1:35:34a little bit of embarrassment to talk about that, because it means there was a problem.
1:35:38We can also say, "I lost my job." This is a little more indirect than being fired.
1:35:45It might be because you did something wrong. "I was late to work so many times that I lost my
1:35:51job." This means you were fired, but you didn't directly say that. But it could also mean that
1:35:58you were just laid off. "During the pandemic, I lost my job." That's not your fault. You didn't
1:36:03do anything wrong. There were just problems with the economy, problems with the world in general.
1:36:09So you lost your job. So this expression, to lose my job, can be used either way. It can
1:36:14be used if you get fired or if you get laid off. Now, let's talk about how you feel about your job.
1:36:21Let's imagine that you are a waiter at a restaurant. Well, you might say,
1:36:26"I'm a waiter, but it's just a job. I'm looking for something else." It's just a job. This is a
1:36:32common expression to talk about a job that you don't really love. It's not your dream job.
1:36:38This is the opposite. If you love your work... For me, I love being your teacher. I love being
1:36:43able to be your teacher online too. It's a really a great combination. Great for you,
1:36:47I can touch a lot of people, and also my life can have a lot of flexibility. Working online
1:36:53as your English teacher is my dream job, but there can also be some problems with work.
1:36:59You might say, "It's hard to find a good work/life balance." This expression, a work life/balance,
1:37:08is often used when you're working so much or maybe like me, you work from home. So it's hard to have
1:37:15a good line between your personal life and your work life. So maybe if you've been working a lot,
1:37:22you might say, "I just need to take a break and find a better work/life balance." That's really
1:37:27important. If you've been working a lot, maybe you've even been studying a lot. You might face
1:37:34burnout, burnout. This doesn't have to do with fire, but it kind of has the sense that your
1:37:40figurative flame and love of your job has gone out. So if you experience
1:37:48burnout, it means the thing that was your dream job, the thing that you felt passion about,
1:37:53you no longer feel passionate about. This might be temporary. This happens
1:37:57to a lot of people like me, who create content on YouTube. You have to be creative and come up
1:38:03with a lot of ideas. And sometimes there aren't many good ideas. Maybe I just have some kind of
1:38:10temporary writer's block and don't come up with a good idea and I feel overwhelmed.
1:38:15Well, that might mean I am burnt out. I am experiencing burnout, or we might say I'm
1:38:23burnt out. I'm burnt out on my job. I've been working for 12 hours a day for the last three
1:38:28weeks. I'm burnt out. I need a break. I hope that you can avoid this before it gets to too serious,
1:38:34but it's something that's really common if you are working too much or if you're studying too much.
1:38:40Now let's talk about four common phrases for describing your job. And just a little notes. A
1:38:45while ago, I made this video, 100 jobs in English. So if you would like to learn how to pronounce
1:38:52your personal job, or if you would like some more information about specific jobs in English,
1:38:57you can check out that video and get some more details about that. But let's talk about
1:39:00four common phrases to talk about what you do. You might say: I am a teacher. I am a doctor.
1:39:09I'm a healthcare worker. I'm a construction worker. I'm a designer. Whatever you might be, "I
1:39:16am." But we could also say, "I work in..." plus a field. I work in education. I work in healthcare.
1:39:26I work in business. I work in marketing. So here we have a general term. It doesn't talk
1:39:31about your specific position, but it's a common expression used when you're describing your job.
1:39:36"I work in education." Maybe you're not specifically a teacher, maybe you help to create
1:39:41a curriculum or maybe there's something that's a little complex that you don't want to explain.
1:39:46You might just say, "I work in education." Cool. You can also talk about the company you work for.
1:39:52"I work for Amazon." "I work for Google." Especially if this is a well known company,
1:39:59even if it's just well-known locally, this is a common expression you might use. "Yeah,
1:40:03I work for Samsung." "I work for Duke Power," which is the power plant in my city. If I said
1:40:08this to somebody who lived in France, they would have no idea what I was talking about because
1:40:14this is a local business. But if I said that to someone locally, they would understand exactly.
1:40:18So it's kind of all about the context here. What if you have your own business? What if you
1:40:24run your own business? You can use that expression to run. For me, I run my I own business. We could
1:40:31say I run an online education business. Well, that means that I teach online, but it means I'm the
1:40:41CEO, the boss. I wear all the hats. I run a business. So we could use this for a lot
1:40:49of different situations as long as you are the entrepreneur, you're the one who's in
1:40:54charge of the business. I run a business. Before we get to our sample conversation,
1:40:59of course, we need to talk about some common job questions. This is essential for daily
1:41:04conversation, because usually these are the questions we use in small talk. So that's
1:41:10why this topic is really important to know about. One of the most common, small talk questions after
1:41:16you say, "Hey, my name's Vanessa. Oh, nice to meet you." What do people say next? "What do you do?
1:41:24What do you do?" The full expression for this is possibly what do you do for work? But we often
1:41:31just say, "What do you do?" And this doesn't mean I'm sitting here right now, talking to you. What
1:41:36are you doing right now? This means what's your job. What do you do? So you might use one of those
1:41:41expressions we talked about earlier and say, "Oh, I work for Google. I work in marketing." Awesome.
1:41:47What do you do? Or what do you do for work? When you tell someone what you do, if they are
1:41:52a good conversationalist, they might ask more questions. You could ask this question too,
1:41:58"What's that like? What's that like?" So you're asking about their experience.
1:42:02"What's it like to be a nurse in the hospital these days?" Well, you might say, "Well,
1:42:07I like the doctor I work for, but it's just been really intense lately and it's not my dream job.
1:42:13I really want to be a photographer for foster animals and help them to find a new home. That's
1:42:18what I would love to do. I'd love to get into photography." Well, here, you just answered the
1:42:24question what's that like with a lot of juicy details that can further the conversation more.
1:42:30So when you ask someone, "What's that like?" If they give you some details,
1:42:35don't miss that opportunity. You can pull any of those details and say, "Oh, you like foster
1:42:40animals. Have you ever had any foster animals? Oh, I have a dog too." And you can kind of snowball
1:42:46the conversation. This is a great way to get more information and learn about someone else.
1:42:52If you're talking with someone who you already know, maybe you think you know what work they do,
1:42:58but you're not sure, or you haven't talked with them for a while, you might ask this question,
1:43:02"Where are you working these days? Where are you working these days?" These days means now,
1:43:09but if you haven't seen someone for five years, maybe you knew what their previous job was and
1:43:14you're trying to make small talk conversation again and get to know maybe something's changed
1:43:19in their life. So you could ask, "Where are you working these days?" And you might say,
1:43:23"Oh yeah, actually I'm still working at Google. I've had the same job for
1:43:26the last five years. I feel really lucky that I didn't get laid off. So, that's where I'm at."
1:43:31And let's say, you're talking with someone and you know what job they have.
1:43:35Well, you could ask this question, "How's work going?" This is similar to asking, "How's your
1:43:40family?" Or, "How is your vacation?" This is just a common small talk question about someone's job.
1:43:46"How's work going?' And maybe they'll just say, "Oh, it's going fine." Okay, that's fine. But
1:43:52if they give you more information, they might say something like, "Oh, it's going okay. It
1:43:56was my side-gig for a while and then I got hired full time, but I'm having a hard time finding a
1:44:02work/life balance. So I think I'm going to look for something in a different field soon." Oh,
1:44:06well, you just had a great conversation there and you've got lots more information to be able
1:44:10to have more conversation with someone, just from the simple question, "How's work going?"
1:44:16All right, now it's time to see a sample conversation using all of these expressions
1:44:22or many of these expressions that we just talked about. You'll see my husband Dan and I having a
1:44:27little chit chat about our jobs. I hope that you recognize some of these expressions and
1:44:32questions that we talked about because in a moment, after the sample conversation,
1:44:37it will be your turn to use them and to have a conversation with me. Are you ready? Let's watch.
1:44:43Dan: Hey Vanessa, where are you working these days?
1:44:46Vanessa: Oh, hey, Dan. I run an online business,
1:44:49so I can work from anywhere. It's pretty great. Dan:
1:44:52Wow. What's that like? Vanessa:
1:44:54Well, I help students learn English and speak with confidence. It's my dream job,
1:45:00but I have to be careful to avoid burning out. Dan:
1:45:04Oh, that's awesome, but I understand. Vanessa:
1:45:06What about you? Dan:
1:45:08Well, unfortunately I just got laid off at the coffee shop when they closed,
1:45:13but I got a job working part time at a hotel. Vanessa:
1:45:16Oh man, that's a bummer. Have you ever worked in marketing? I'm looking for someone to help if you
1:45:23want a side-gig, behind the scenes. Dan:
1:45:25That'd be great. Tell me more about it. Vanessa:
1:45:28Hmm. I wonder if Dan will get the job in marketing, working for Vanessa. All right,
1:45:35now it is your turn. What I want to tell you is I will be asking you some questions and having
1:45:40a little conversation, but I recommend going back and reviewing this. You're welcome to
1:45:46pause the video and answer longer if you would like. This is a great chance to have kind of a
1:45:51structured, no-pressure conversation in English. All right, are you ready to get started?
1:45:57Let's imagine we were at a gathering and the host said, "Oh, Vanessa, this is..." your name. And we
1:46:04get introduced to each other and then the host leaves. Here we need to have some small talk.
1:46:09So I ask you, "Tell me, what do you do?" And now it's your turn to talk. Go ahead.
1:46:20And what's that like? Do you enjoy your work?
1:46:29Oh, me? Oh, I run an online English business where I teach English online
1:46:34to students around the world. It's really my dream job. I feel pretty lucky. Well,
1:46:39good luck with your work. I'm so glad to meet you and I'll talk to you later. Bye.
1:46:45How did you do? Did you have a chance to speak out loud and practice with me? Feel free to go
1:46:51back and review that last segment or this whole video as many times as you would like
1:46:56to boost your confidence. Because when you have small talk in English, you will
1:46:59absolutely encounter this conversation topic. So how did you do? Do you feel more empowered to
1:47:05talk about your city or your weekend plans and much more? I hope so. Don't forget to download
1:47:11the free PDF worksheet for today's lesson. There is a link in the description. Never forget what
1:47:17you've learned, make sure you download that free PDF. And thank you so much for learning
1:47:22English with me. I will see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.
1:47:28The step is to download the free PDF worksheet for this lesson. With this free PDF, you will master
1:47:36today's lesson and never forget what you have learned. You can be a confident English speaker.
1:47:43Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.

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