Improve Your English Listening Skills IN 30 MINUTES!

Welcome back to JForrest English.

I'm Jennifer.

And today you're going to improve  your listening skills of fast English.

And we're going to do this  as a listening exercise.

So you're going to test your ability to  understand fastpaced native English speakers,  

and then improve your pronunciation and  expand your vocabulary at the same time.

Let's get started.

Here are your instructions for the entire video.

First, 1st, I'm going to say  a sentence three times and  

you need to write down exactly  what you hear in the comments.

Next, you can review what I said and you  can learn the pronunciation changes that  

take place in a fast speech, and you  can learn the expressions that I used.

Are you ready?

Let's get started with your  first listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

I can't believe she sprung that on me.

I can't believe she sprung that on me.

I can't believe she sprung that on me, I said.

I can't believe she sprung that  on me for this listening exercise.

I don't think the pronunciation  is difficult to understand,  

but you have to know this expression and  understand what this expression means.

So the expression I used is to  spring something on someone.

I can't believe she sprung.

Sprung is the past simple of  the verb spring to spring.

Sprung, she sprung that  that is the something on me.

When you spring something on someone,  

you suddenly ask or tell someone  something that they weren't expecting.

So let's say there is a presentation taking  place one hour from right now, and my coworker  

was supposed to do this presentation, but  just now, one hour before the presentation,  

my boss says, oh, by the way, Jennifer, I  want you to do the presentation in one hour.

And I'm not prepared for this at all.

I wasn't expecting it.

Then I can say I can't  believe she sprung that on me.

And that represents that I have to give the  presentation in one hour our next listening test.

I'll say it three times.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

I said it's supposed to rain on and off today.

First, let's talk about pronunciation  here we have a contraction.

It's it's it's supposed to.

It's as a contraction.

Represents it is.

It's.

It's supposed to.

Now, notice here, supposed to  suppose it's spelled with an Ed.

It's an Ed verb, but you don't hear it at all.

It's supposed to, supposed to, supposed to,  

but it's always spelled with an Ed verb  when the expression is to be, supposed to.

Now many students forget the  verb to be in this expression.

Don't forget the verb to be.

It's grammatically incorrect.

It's It is supposed to.

I was supposed to.

She is supposed to.

We are supposed to.

Don't forget that verb to be  and conjugate your verb to be.

It's supposed to rain on and off, on and off.

Notice here the and you don't hear it at all.

It sounds just like an on, off, on, off, on off.

And then you combine that  together on and off, on and off.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

When something happens on and off, it means it  only happens some of the time of a total time.

So in our expression, the total time is today.

But if I say it's supposed  to rain on and off today,  

I know that it is not going to rain the total  time, but it is going to rain some of the time.

And I don't know when it's going to rain.

So it might rain for one hour, stop  for three hours, rain for two hours,  

stop for one hour, rain for  two hours and then stop again.

That would be on and off.

We commonly use this expression with rain  because rain frequently happens on and off.

It doesn't happen for the  total time of a timeline,  

but we can also use this expression  for other activities as well.

For example, I worked as a waitress on and off  when I was a student, so I have the total time.

I was a student for years  and I worked as a waitress.

But if I say on and off, it means that I did  

not work as a waitress the  entire time I was a student.

So four years perhaps.

I worked for four months during  the summer and then I didn't work.

I focused on school and then maybe I  worked for two months and then I stopped.

I worked again for six months, and then I stopped.

I worked as a waitress on and  off our next listening test.

I'll say it three times.

I got the gist of it.

I got the gist of it.

I got the gist of it.

I said I got the gist of it here.

Let's talk about how gist of it the sounds  are combined, the sounds are linked together  

and this sounds like gist of it.

So I take the last sound on a  word and I transfer it to the  

next sound to help me combine the sounds together.

Gist of it, Gist of it, Gist of it.

I got the gist of it.

What does this mean?

Well, the gist of something  is the main idea of something.

So if you say I got the gist of it here.

The verb get means understand.

I understand, or in the past I  understood the main idea of it.

But when you say I get the gist of it or  I got the gist of it, you're letting the  

person know that you understand the  main idea, but you don't necessarily  

understand all the smaller details or all the  details, you just understand the main idea.

For example, her lecture was  complicated, but I got the gist of it,  

so perhaps you're learning something  new and for you it's complicated.

For me, something complicated would  be to do with math or science.

So if I went to a physics lecture or  a quantum mechanics lecture, maybe I  

understand the overall idea of the lecture, but  I don't really understand all the small details.

I just have an overall  understanding of the main idea.

I got the gist of it.

Are you ready for your next listening exercise?

I'll say it three times.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

I said just a heads up that I'm  running late for pronunciation.

Let's talk about heads up, how it combines  and links together, heads up, heads up.

So notice that as on heads, when I  combine it with my vowel sound in up,  

I use A to combine that together and it  sounds like one word heads up, heads up,  

heads up, just a heads up that I'm running late.

When you give someone a heads up,  so the expression just a heads up,  

This is used to give someone  advanced warning of something.

So I'm letting the person know in advance that  I'm going to be late, and you use the expression  

heads up to identify that you're giving  a warning and the expression to run late.

This is what native speakers use when we're late.

So to be late, we're going to be late.

You can use run late, and we commonly  use this in the present continuous.

I'm running late.

Right now I'm running late, which means I  am late and therefore I'm going to be late  

for my next appointment, which is likely with  you and that's why I'm giving you a heads up.

A native speaker would commonly send  a quick text message to a coworker  

or their boss and say heads up,  running late, stuck in traffic.

So I say heads up letting you know  it's advanced warning running late.

This is just the essential information.

Running late and then stuck in traffic.

That's the reason why I'm running late.

And now you know I'm not going to be at our  scheduled meeting because I'm running late.

Are you ready for your last listening exercise?

I'll say it three times.

Here's my quick take on it.

Here's my quick take on it.

Here's my quick take on it, I said.

Here's my quick take on it.

Let's talk about how this sounds  combined for the three words.

Take on it and it sounds like one word.

Take on it, take on it.

But you have to combine those sounds together.

Take on it.

Take on it.

So that's how we transfer sounds.

We link the sounds together so three  individual words can sound like one word.

Take on it.

Here's my quick take on it.

Now one's take on something, my take on it.

This is simply one's opinion  or idea on something specific.

This is commonly used to ask someone's opinion  when you're discussing something specific.

For example, what's your take on the company's  decision to pay for language classes?

So let's say your company decided  to pay for your language classes.

That's amazing, right?

So that's the IT.

What's your take on it?

But it is the company's decision  to pay for language classes.

What's your take on it?

I'm asking you what's your  opinion on this initiative?

To answer, you can simply state your opinion.

I think it's an amazing idea.

So now I want you to practice, practice,  practice pronunciation so you can really  

get comfortable with moving your mouth and  producing these sounds at a faster pace.

So let's do an imitation exercise.

I am going to say each sentence  again three times, and I want you  

to repeat it out loud and try to get your  pronunciation as close to mine as possible.

I can't believe she sprung that on me.

I can't believe she's sprung him out on me.

I can't believe she's sprung him out on me.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

I got the gist of it.

I got the gist of it.

I got the gist of it.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

Here's my quick take on it.

Here's my quick take on it.

Here's my quick take on it.

So did you enjoy those listening tests?

How about we keep going and I'm  going to test you five more times?

Are you ready for that?

Let's do it.

Looks like we're back to square 1.

Looks like we're back to square 1.

Looks like we're back to square one, I said.

Looks like we're back to square one.

Did you get that one?

Let's talk about the pronunciation changes.

Notice the contraction were were  This is we are as a contraction were.

Now notice how unstressed my pronunciation is.

It sounds like were not.

We're were.

This is how native speakers  say it at a natural pace.

We're back we're back.

We're back.

We're back to This sounds like to in real English  to we're back to we're back to square one.

We're back to square one.

Now what does this mean to be back to square one?

Well, square one on a board game  is the beginning of a board game.

So when you're back to square one, it  means you're back to the beginning.

And you're back to the beginning, the start,  because you tried something and it didn't work,  

so you had a failed attempt  and you have to try again.

Looks like we're back to square one.

It looks like we have to start again from the  

beginning because our first attempt  failed our next listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

I don't know if we can trust her.

She's pretty wishy washy.

I don't know if we can trust her.

She's pretty wishy washy.

I don't know if we can trust her.

She's pretty wishy washy, I said.

I don't know if we can trust her.

She's pretty wishy washy.

First, let's talk about  don't know at a natural pace.

This sounds like don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know, don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know if we can notice here.

We can trust when can is the auxiliary  verb, so it's not the main verb.

We reduce this to kin, kin,  and it's very unstressed sound.

I don't know if we can, if we can trust, if  we can trust and notice you hear trust more  

because it's the main verb and can,  which sounds like kin, is very short.

Kin can trust.

Can trust.

I don't know if we can trust her.

Now here, we can get rid of that H  sound and it just sounds like her.

Trust her.

But then you combine it to the word before.

Trust her, trust her, trust her.

I don't know if we can trust her.

She's This is a contraction for  she is she's pretty wishy washy.

What does wishy washy mean to be wishy washy?

This is when you have no clear  or consistent ideas or decisions.

We generally use this as an adjective to  describe someone who changes their mind,  

changes the decision that they make frequently.

So that's why you don't know if you can trust her  because she says she's going to come to your party  

or help you move, but because she's wishy washy,  tomorrow she might change her mind and say, oh,  

actually I'm not coming to the party  or I'm not going to help you move.

But then maybe the next day she changes her  mind again and she does come to your party.

She's wishy washy.

I don't know if I can trust her.

She's pretty wishy washy.

Our next listening exercise,  I'll say it three times.

You gotta give him props.

He's a real trooper.

You gotta give him props.

He's a real trooper.

You gotta give him props.

He's a real trooper, I said.

You got to give him props.

He's a real trooper You got to got to sounds  like gotta you gotta you gotta give him.

Same thing we saw with her.

Get rid of the age and it will sound like him.

But you can combine it to the word before.

Give 'em, give 'em give 'em.

You gotta give 'em props.

He's.

This is a contraction.

He is.

He's a real trooper.

Now, what does this mean to give someone prompts.

This is when you give someone  respect, credit, or recognition.

So let's say a coworker of  yours gets a really big client.

Well, if you want to give your coworker  credit or recognition, you could say,  

oh, we got to give him props and then  you can celebrate his big achievement.

Let's talk about he's a real trooper.

When you describe someone as  a trooper, to be a trooper,  

this is someone who perseveres  through hardship or difficulty.

So they persevere.

They keep going, they don't give  up, they don't quit, they persevere.

And This is why you got to give them props.

Because he didn't quit, even  though it was difficult.

Because he's a real trooper.

Our next listening exercise,  I'll say it three times.

Our successes and failures were writ large.

Our successes and failures were writ large.

Our successes and failures were writ large.

I said Our successes and failures were writ large.

Notice our I did not pronounce this as our.

I said RRA very reduced sound our our successes,  our successes, our successes and failures here.

And when and comes between 2 nouns  or even 2 verbs, we reduce it to  

our successes and successes and failures.

Coffee and tea, successes and failures.

Our successes and failures were writ.

Did you spell this starting with a R or with a W?

The W is silent, just like in the word, right?

The W is silent, but in spelling it's there.

In pronunciation, it isn't writ large.

What does writ large mean?

This is an adjective that  simply means to be very obvious.

So our successes and failures were very obvious.

Why is that?

Perhaps we work for a public company, and when  we fail, the general public knows we failed.

But also, when we succeed, the  general public knows we succeeded.

Because our successes and failures are writ large.

They're very obvious.

Are you ready for your last listening exercise?

I'll say it three times.

With a few tweaks, it'll be good to go.

With a few tweaks, it'll be good to go.

With a few tweaks, it'll be good to go.

I said with a few tweaks, it'll be good to go.

Did you hear that contraction?

It'll it will sounds like it'll  it'll it's a very soft sound.

It's easy to miss that.

Will it'll it'll it'll be, it'll be.

But without it, the sentence  wouldn't be grammatically correct.

If I said it be that isn't correct, it will be.

It'll be it'll, it'll, it'll be good to go.

Just like we saw before too is a  reduced sound, an unstressed sound.

To good to go.

To To go.

To go.

Good to go.

Good to go.

What does this mean?

With a few tweaks.

Tweaks are changes.

Small changes.

So let's say you're writing a report  and your boss or coworker wants you  

to remove this section and add this information.

That would be a tweak, A tweak.

You need to make a small change,  A tweak with a few tweaks.

With a few changes.

It'll be good to go.

When something is good to go,  good to go, it means it's ready.

And we use this in two contexts, Ready to  leave or ready to start doing something.

So let's say you and your  friend are going to the movies.

Your friend could text you and say good to go.

Are you ready to leave?

And in this case it could be Are you ready  to leave your house to meet me at the movies?

Good to go, good to go.

We use this a lot as native speakers.

In this context it'll it'll be good to go.

Something can also be good to go in the  context of it's ready to start doing something.

For example, the new website  will be good to go on Monday,  

which means the new website will be  ready, ready to start doing something,  

ready to start receiving visitors,  ready to be available to the public.

The new website will be good to go on Monday.

Now, the new website as a subject  is it so if you already know you're  

talking about the website, you can  say it'll, it'll be good to go.

Now let's do an imitation  exercise so you can practice  

these natural pronunciation changes  and practice these new expressions.

I'll say each sentence again three times in a  row, and I want you to imitate my pronunciation,  

try to say just like me, get  all those pronunciation changes.

And I want you to say this out loud so you can  do this as many times as you'd like to practice.

Looks like we're back to square 1.

Looks like we're back to square 1.

Looks like we're back to square one.

I don't know if we can trust her.

She's pretty wishy washy.

I don't know if we can trust her.

She's pretty wishy washy.

I don't know if we can trust her.

She's pretty wishy washy.

You got to give him prompts.

He's a real trooper.

You got to give him prompts.

He's a real trooper.

You got to give him prompts.

He's a real trooper.

Our successes and failures were writ large.

Our successes and failures were writ large.

Our successes and failures were writ large.

With a few tweaks, it'll be good to go.

With a few tweaks, it'll be good to go.

With a few tweaks, it'll be good to go.

You are doing an amazing job.

But the more you practice, practice, practice, the  more you'll improve and the faster you'll improve.

So how about we do this one more time?

We'll do one more set of five listening exercises.

Are you ready?

Here we go.

Cut her some slack.

She's a newbie.

Cut her some slack.

She's a newbie.

Cut her some slack.

She's a newbie.

I said cut her some slack.

She's a newbie.

Did you get that?

Do you know what this means?

First, let's talk about the pronunciation changes.

Her, him and them.

We often shorten these so her I get rid  of the age sound and it sounds like ur ur.

But then I combine it to the word  before cutter, cutter, cutter, cutter.

Some slap.

She's this is a contraction.

Russian native speakers use  contractions all the time.

In spoken English, she's represents.

She is She is a newbie.

She's She's a newbie.

Now, do you know what this means?

To cut someone some slack?

This is an expression, and it's when you punish  

someone less severely than you  normally would and a newbie.

This is a new employee, a new employee,  or even a new member to a group.

You can refer to that person  as a newbie, A newbie.

So it makes sense that you  might cut a newbie some slack.

You might be less severe with  that person because they're new.

They're still learning.

They're still training.

Cutter some slack.

She's a newbie.

Our second listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

Give me 20 to whip up some appies for the party.

Give me 20 to whip up some appies for the party.

Give me 20 to whip up some  appies for the party, I said.

Give me 20 to whip up some Appie's for the party.

Give me We reduce these to sound like Gimme,  Gimme, Gimme, give me 2020 here means 20 minutes.

Commonly, we drop the minutes when it's obvious.

Call me in 5 instead of call  me in 5 minutes, Give me 20.

Give me 20 minutes.

Give me 20 to whip up.

Whip up is a phrasal verb for the pronunciation.

Notice is whip up, whip up, whip up.

Because of linking.

Whip up, whip up means to  prepare something quickly.

We specifically use this in a cooking context.

Whip up some appies.

What are appies?

Well, I just said that we  use the phrasal verb whip up.

In a cooking culinary context,  What does appies sound like?

Anything you can think of.

Appetizers.

Appetizers, native speakers.

We love shortening words.

So we take the word appetizer and we  shorten it to appy appy because it's plural.

In my example, appies, appies.

Another common shortened word is simply apps.

So you could say give me 20 to whip  up some apps or whip up some appies.

Both are commonly used.

Are you ready for your next listening exercise?

She's got some nerves  sauntering in 30 minutes late.

She's got some nerves  sauntering in 30 minutes late.

She's got some nerves sauntering  in 30 minutes late, I said.

She's got some nerve sauntering in  30 minutes late for pronunciation.

Notice she's got here.

The contraction is she has, she has got.

I know this because grammatically it isn't  correct to say she is got is she has got.

She's got.

She's got some nerve.

What does that mean?

To have some nerve is an expression to say.

How dare she?

She has some audacity.

So you're criticizing her behavior to say  that she has no right to do something?

She's got some nerve.

Now what does she have no right to do?

Well is sauntering in 30 minutes late.

To understand this, you need  to know what saunter in means.

When you saunter, it means you walk in  a very relaxed, casual, unhurried way.

To saunter in here means into the  office, into the room, into the meeting.

She sauntered in 30 minutes late.

So basically she came to  the meeting 30 minutes late.

And when she came, she was so relaxed  and she didn't show any sense of  

urgency, even though she was 30 minutes late.

She's got some nerve doing that.

Our next listening exercise,  I got to hand it to you.

I didn't think you'd pull it off.

I got to hand it to you.

I didn't think you'd pull it off.

I gotta hand it to you.

I didn't think you'd pull it off.

I said I got to hand it to you.

I didn't think you'd pull it off.

Did you get this one?

Got to.

Is pronounced gotta.

I gotta hand it.

Notice the linking here?

Hand it did.

I gotta hand it now, I said to you.

But native speakers will frequently reduce both  of these and say to to to ya or ya to ya to ya.

Gotta hand it to ya, to ya.

But I believe I said to you.

I gotta hand it to you.

I gotta hand it to ya.

You'd is a contraction.

The D stands for.

Would you?

Would you?

You'd.

It's difficult to hear that  deep because it's very soft,  

but grammatically, it's important that it's there.

You'd pull it off, Notice the linking,  pull it lit, pull it, pull it off.

When you hand it to someone, it means that you  recognize that someone deserves praise or respect.

So by saying I gotta hand it to  you means I have to acknowledge  

that your actions deserve praise or respect.

And why am I doing this?

Because the person pulled something off.

When you pull something off, it means  you achieve something difficult.

You succeed on doing something difficult.

So that's why this person deserves praise.

I gotta hand it to you.

I didn't think you'd pull it off, but you did.

Our last listening exercise.

I've gotta have a little me time.

I've gotta have a little me time.

I've gotta have a little me time, I said.

I've got to have a little me time  

here Notice we have the same gotta  reduction got to gotta this time.

I said I've I have as a contraction.

I've I've gotta, I've gotta, I've gotta, I've  gotta have a little will sound like little,  

little a little, little a little me time.

Now what is me time.

Me time is simply personal time.

It's time when you can do whatever you want to do.

It's your personal time.

So of course I've gotta have a little me time.

I must have some time for me  to do whatever I want to do.

Personal time, me time.

Now let's do some imitation practice to make  sure that you practice, practice, practice.

This natural pronunciation.

I am going to say each sentence three  times, and I want you to repeat it out loud.

And you can do this exercise  as frequently as you'd like.

Cut her some slack.

She's a newbie.

Cut her some slack.

She's a newbie.

Cut her some slack.

She's a newbie.

Give me 20 to whip up some appies for the party.

Give me 20 to whip up some appies for the party.

Give me 20 to whip up some appies for the party.

She's got some nurse on during in 30 minutes late.

She's got some nurse on during in 30 minutes late.

She's got some nurse on during in 30 minutes late.

I gotta hand it to you.

I didn't think you pull it off.

I gotta hand it to you.

I didn't think you pull it off.

I gotta hand it to you.

I didn't think you pull it off.

I've got to have a little me time.

I've got to have a little me time.

I've got to have a little me time.

So did you enjoy this lesson?

Would you like me to make more  listening exercises just like this?

If so, put yes, yes, Yes in the comments below so  I know you enjoyed this lesson and make sure you  

get this free speaking guide where I share 6 tips  on how to speak English fluently and confidently.

You can download it from my website right here  or you can look for the link in the description.

And why don't you get started  with your next lesson right now?