Speak With Me: English Speaking Practice

Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from  

SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Are you ready  to speak in English with me? Let's do it.  

Hey! You doing anything fun for  vacation? Yes? What'd you say?  

If I asked you, "You doing anything  fun for vacation?" Would you freeze,  

panic and not know what to say? Well, don't worry.  Today, I'd like to help you answer this question.  

You doing anything fun for vacation? Which is a  common conversation topic this time of the year,  

because we're thinking about the warmer months to  come, the summer to come. And I thought it would  

be great to talk about this here in my backyard.  It is a sunny, beautiful day. You can hear birds  

chirping, dogs barking, trucks going by, it's  nice to be outside. All right, let's get started. 

In this lesson, we're going to talk about  some common questions to ask about vacations,  

some common responses, and then you'll have a  chance to practice this with me. Are you ready?  

I know that vacation this year looks a little  bit different than most years because of, well,  

this virus that we have going around. So it's  going to be a little bit different than usual  

talking about vacation. Let's first talk about  some common questions and how to pronounce those  

naturally in English. Do you have plans to go  anywhere this summer? Okay. This question is fine.  

You could use this full question. Do you have  plans to go anywhere this summer? Okay. But there  

are a couple of different ways to either reduce  or slightly change this question that are a little  

bit more natural. Where you going this summer? Where ya, which is you, goin', dropping the G,  

where are you going this summer? Where ya goin'  this summer? Or we could say whatcha got going on  

this summer? Whatcha is what plus you, you becomes  cha, whatcha got going on? Again we're dropping  

the G, but we're using a great phrasal verb, going  on, going on. What's going on. If you go into a  

room and it's an absolute mess, you might use this  phrasal verb and say, "What is going on here?"  

But you can use this also for vacation and  say, "What do you have going on this summer?"  

Or reduced, "Whatcha got going on  this summer?" And it simply means,  

what are your plans this summer? Whatcha you got  going on this summer? So if someone asks you this,  

you know that they're asking about your vacation  plans. Whatcha got going on this summer? 

Another coming question is, are you doing  anything fun for vacation? But we don't often  

say it as clearly as this, unfortunately, right?  Are you doing anything fun for vacation becomes,  

y'doin'nything fun for Vacation? Look at what's  happening at the beginning of this question.  

Ya. What happened to the verb? Are, are you doing,  it's completely gone. Maybe it's also on vacation.  

So we're going to start this question with just  you, which is reduced to ya. Do you see how we  

reduce the word you in a lot of ways, whatcha  got going on or ys. Ya. Doing, you're doing  

for dropping that G again, y'doin'nything fun? Something interesting happens at the beginning  

of the word. Anything y'doin'nything fun? Link together doin' because we're going to  

drop the G. It ends with the sound, "n"  sound. And then the next word, anything  

we sometimes drop the a and we're going  to push those two together because there's  

two ends sounds side-by-side. Y'doin'nything?  Y'doin'nything? Y'doin'nything? Y'doin'nything? 

This is one of the reasons why English sounds  quite fast to English learners. If you watch a TV  

show and you say, what in the world did they just  say, I have no idea. Well, it's because of these  

dropping linkings this is quite common in spoken  English. So you can say this question with me.  

Are you ready? Y'doin'nything fun for vacation?  Y'doin'nything fun for vacation. Let's go to  

our next question. Where are you headed for  vacation? Where are you headed for vacation?  

This question is very clear. The way I just  said it, but it uses a wonderful verb headed.  

This is yes, your head, but it's talking  about the direction that you're going.  

Some place that you're going to visit. So if you  get a call from your mom and she says, where are  

you going? You could say, I'm headed to the store. This means that's the direction that you're going.  

You are on your way to the store, but  we can reduce this a little bit and say,  

where ya does that sound familiar? Where are you  headed for vacation? Where ya headed for vacation.  

We could substitute the end of this for vacation.  And just say, where are ya headed this summer?  

Where are you headed this summer? Where ya headed  this summer. Do you notice that a great way to  

sound a little bit more fluent in  English is to reduce the word. You  

we've talked about a couple of different  reductions, but a very common one is, ya.  

Where are ya headed this summer? Where you  headed for vacation? Great. Before we go onto  

some common answers that you can use to answer  these questions, let's talk about something  

very important. The most important conversation  question you will ever know is what about you? 

How about you? We talked about this in the part  one I made speak with me about your weekend plans.  

Well, these two questions are essential. If you  don't remember anything else from this video,  

please remember. What about you? How about  you? We use these. If you can imagine a ball,  

I'm holding the conversation ball. And when I ask  you, how about you, boom, I pass the ball to you.  

It is your turn to answer the same question. So if  you ask me, where are ya headed for vacation? And  

I say, eh, not really anywhere I'm staying home.  What about you? I pass the question back to you.  

This is a great way to continue a conversation.  So make sure that you keep that locked inside  

your memory, because we're going to be using that  a little bit later in this lesson where you're  

going to use these conversation, questions  and answers to practice speaking with me. 

All right, let's go to some common answers to talk  about our vacations, especially in this world that  

we're living in this year, because a lot of us  would love to go on vacation and see the world,  

but we probably needed to change  our plans a bit this summer.  

Let's talk about some realistic answers to these  questions about where ya headed this summer, what  

ya got going on for vacation. Let's talk about  some realistic answers. I'd like to go to Europe,  

but I think I'll take a road trip around the  U.S instead. This is using a great sentence  

construction I'd like to, but so first we're  talking about your dream, the ideal dream,  

and then we're talking about what you're really  doing. I'd like to go to Europe, but I think  

I'll go on a road trip around the U.S instead. Or  you could say I'd like to go to a family reunion,  

but we had to postpone it. Hmm. Okay. The ideal is going to the  

family reunion, getting together with all of your  family members. But the reality is that you had to  

postpone it or delay it for another time. This is  the reality. I wish that I could go on a cruise,  

but that's not happening right now. So I  guess I'll order a pizza and go to the pool.  

Here again, we're talking about the dream and then  the reality, you can make that reality special for  

you. It doesn't need to be too disappointing,  but it's not your dream. Your ideal dream. I  

wish that I could go on a cruise, but cruises  aren't happening right now. I wish that I could.  

That's a great introductory phrase. I wish  that I could go to a music festival, but it  

was canceled. So I guess I'll make a playlist  and listen to music and dance in my backyard. 

I wish that I could, but this is what I'll do  instead. All right, let's go to our third phrase.  

I was going to take my family to New  York, but I think we'll go camping  

using this phrase. I was going to, talks about  a plan that you had usually a real plan that you  

had. It's not just a dream. It's a plan that you  had, and then you needed to change it. I was going  

to take my family to New York, but I think we'll  go camping instead. So we have the dream or maybe  

a plan, but unfortunately that's not the reality. I was going to backpack across Italy,  

but I guess I'll stay home and learn how to cook  some Italian dishes instead. This year is all  

about. And last year is all about trying to make  some kind of compromise, a change in plans. That's  

not too disappointing. I was going to backpack  across Italy, but I'll learn to cook some Italian  

dishes instead. Okay. Now that we have some  common questions, don't forget our key question.  

How about you? What about you? And some  common answers. Let's take a look at a sample  

conversation so that you can try to imitate this  when it comes to be your turn. Let's take a look  

at the sample. Dan: 

Hey! Y'doin'nything fun this summer? Vanessa: 

Well, I was going to go backpacking around Europe,  but instead I think I'll just go camping and some  

local state parks. What about you? Dan: 

Well, I was going to meet my family  in Florida for a family reunion,  

but that guy canceled. So now I think I'm going to  have a socially distanced outdoor movie night in  

my backyard. Do ya want to come? Vanessa: 

Sure. That sounds great. Text me  the details and I'll be there. 

Dan: Great. I'll see ya around.  

Enjoy your camping trip. Vanessa: 

Thanks. I will see you at the movie night. Vanessa: 

Okay. Now it's your turn put together. All  of these pieces. I'm going to be asking you  

a question that I'm going to be pausing. I  don't care where you were living around the  

world. My ears are going to be listening to  you. Then I'll be replying. And I would like  

you to take this opportunity to speak out loud.  If you need to go back, review this section,  

do it again and again, and just gain some more  courage. Feel free to do it. This is a wonderful  

chance to speak out loud. Are you ready? Let's  do it. Hey! y'doin'nything fun this summer? 

That sounds like fun. Have you done that before?  

I wish I could take my family on a trip to  Switzerland, but with the travel restrictions,  

I think we're just going to go on a road trip  here in the U.S instead. Yeah. Well, it was  

nice talking with you. See you later. So how did  you do, do you feel a little bit more comfortable  

talking about your vacation or summer plans? Feel  free to go back and review our practice section  

together. It's a great way to speak out loud. And  now I have a for you let me know in the comments,  

where ya headed this summer? Let me know in  the comments. I can't wait to see what you  

have to say and I'll see you again next Friday  for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.  

Bye. The next step is to download my free  ebook five steps to becoming a confident  

English speaker. You'll learn what you need  to do to speak confidently and fluently.  

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel  for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.