American English Imitation Exercise: What did you do today?

In this American English pronunciation exercise, we're going to study some conversation. Today

it's going to be an imitation exercise, where we listen to speech on a loop, like this:

today I woke up...[3x]

Today's topic: what did you do today?

For imitation exercises, I loop a sentence or a sentence fragment three times, then give

you time to repeat. It's more important to focus on imitating than what you're saying.

By looping it three times, I hope you'll hear the speech in a different way: more as rhythm

and pitch than as words and sounds. In fact, sometimes, you might want to repeat back only

the rhythm and the pitch, no text at all. For example,

How are you? [3x]

Uhhh-- instead of trying to say 'how are you?', just going with the rhythm and the pitch.

Uhh. Other times, repeat the text. But don't worry about how you think the words should

be pronounced. Just think about what you're hearing, and reproducing it exactly.

Great. Let's get started.

>> Tom, what did you do today?

>> Today? >> Today.

>> Today I woke up...

>> ...and I went for a run.

>> And, um, then I just worked.

>> So, where do you run?

>> I run in Fort Greene Park.

>> In Brooklyn. 0:02:30.790,0:02:27.159 >> That's a nice park.

>> It is a nice park.

>> But, isn't it really small?

>> It's a very small park.

>> So, how, how do you run there?

>> Well, first of all, it's on a hill,

>> Fort Greene is on a hill.

>> So, it's very hilly terrain to run.

>> And you run around this dirt track around the outside.

>> So you just run loops.

>> Right. And you do, like, 50 loops?

>> I do 50-100

>> depending on how I'm feeling.

>> Right.

>> So, what are you doing after this?

>> After this,

>> Nothing.

>> No plans.

>> Should we get dinner?

>> Yeah.

>> Where should we get dinner?

>> I don't know, somewhere in the neighborhood.

>> There's good stuff around here.

>> Ok.

>> I'll find us something.

>> We're in Chelsea.

>> right now.

>> We are in Chelsea.

>> But we're really close to the Union Square area.

>> Flatiron... >> That's true.

>> We have lots of options.

>> Rachel knows a lot about the Union Square area.

>> I used to live there. >> She used to live there, for?

>> Like, four years.

>> Four years. >> Yeah.

>> There's a Barnes and Noble there.

>> And a very strange sculpture.

>> On the side of a building...

>> that used to be a Circuit City.

>> Wait, what sculpture?

>> There's a sculpture,

>> A round sculpture spews smoke.

>> Oh right, right. >> Or steam.

>> So that used to be a Circuit City?

>> It did.

>> What is it now?

>> Is it a Best Buy?

>> I'm not quite sure why we're talking about this!

And now the whole conversation:

>> Tom, what did you do today? >> Today?

>> Today. >> Today I woke up and I went for a run.

>> And, um, then I just worked. >> So, where do you run?

>> I run in Fort Greene Park, in Brooklyn. >> That's a nice park.

>> It is a nice park. >> But, isn't it really small?

>> It's a very small park. >> So, how, how do you run there?

>> Well, first of all, it's on a hill, Fort Greene is on a hill. So, it's very hilly terrain

to run. And you run around this dirt track around the outside.

>> So you just run loops. >> Right. And you do, like, 50 loops?

>> I do 50-100 depending on how I'm feeling. >> Right.

>> So, what are you doing after this? >> After this, nothing.

>> No plans. >> No plans.

>> Should we get dinner? >> Yeah.

>> Where should we get dinner? >> I don't know, somewhere in the neighborhood.

>> There's good stuff around here. >> Ok.

>> I'll find us something. >> We're in Chelsea right now.

>> We are in Chelsea. But we're really close to the Union Square area, Flatiron...

>> That's true. >> We have lots of options.

>> Rachel knows a lot about the Union Square area.

>> I used to live there. >> She used to live there, for?

>> Like, four years. >> Four years.

>> Yeah. >> There's a Barnes and Noble there. And a

very strange sculpture on the side of a building that used to be a Circuit City.

>> Wait, what sculpture? >> There's a sculpture, a round sculpture

that spews smoke >> Oh right, right.

>> Or steam. >> So that used to be a Circuit City?

>> It did. >> What is it now?

>> Is it a Best Buy? I'm not quite sure why we're talking about this!

That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.