Speak With Me: 2 Hour English Speaking Practice

Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa  

from speakenglishwithvanessa.com, and today I  invite you to speak in English with me for two  

hours. If I asked you what're you listening  to? Are you feeling okay? How did you meet?  

Would you not know how to answer? Maybe your  heart would start to beat, your palms would  

get sweaty and you would think, I don't know.  We'll never fear because in today's lesson,  

in the next two hours you are going to master  talking about a variety of common conversation  

topics, because today's lesson is so epic. I have  created another epic 44-page, can you believe it?  

44-page free ebook with all of today's sample  sentences, sample conversations, tips and tricks  

to help you be able to use today's lesson to the  fullest. I want you to be able to speak in English  

confidently, so you can click on the link in the  description to download this 44-page free ebook.

This took a lot of work to put together, so please  download it and enjoy it and find it useful. Click  

on the link to download that free ebook today.  Today we are going to be talking about these  

topics, so let's get started with the first one,  movies. All right, are you ready for some of the  

most common questions that you can ask and you  might get asked about movies and TV shows. Let's  

do it. The first common question that you can ask  about movies and TV shows is, you've been watching  

anything good lately? What's happening at the  beginning of this question? Is there a question  

word like, have you been watching anything  good lately? No. In casual daily conversations,  

sometimes we start questions with just you. You  feeling okay? You doing anything fun this weekend?  

You've been watching anything good lately?  So you can start this question with just you.

A similar variation of this question is  watcha been watching? The full version of  

this question is, what have you been watching?  But what have you been becomes watcha been,  

watcha because you sometimes changes to cha.  There are a lot of reductions for the word  

you in spoken fast English, so you can say  what you been watching, watcha been watching?  

And someone might say, "Oh, I haven't really  been watching anything lately. I've been too  

busy." Watcha been watching? Another common  question is, have you been watching? And you  

can add a TV show that's really popular at  the moment. So for example, the TV show,  

Stranger Things is very popular right now. So  you might ask, have you been watching Stranger  

Things? And you're hoping that they'll say yes  so that you can chitchat about what's going on.

I have a little secret, I hardly ever watch  movies or TV shows, so this lesson is very  

out of my element. It is not my strong suit  but I know that a lot of people love movies  

and TV shows, so this is for you, not for me.  If you're like me and you don't watch much,  

you might ask this question, is that the one  with...? And then you can insert anything that  

you know about that TV show or movie. So you  might say, "Is that the one with Tom Cruise  

and the fighter jets?" "Oh, Top Gun, yeah,  that's that movie." Is that the one with,  

it could be a person, is that the one with Tom  Cruise? It could be some element of the show,  

is that the one with fighter jets? Is that the  one with the really scary story? Whatever it is,  

it's anything that you know about it and  you're trying to connect with someone.

If you don't know anything about the show  or the movie that someone is asking about,  

you can ask what's the premise? What's the  premise? This word premise simply means,  

what's the story about? And it's  a common word that we use to talk  

about the storyline. So if someone asked you,  what's the premise of your favorite TV show,  

would you be able to explain it quickly?  You might say, "Oh, well, there's this guy,  

and he goes over to another country and he finds  some kind of mystery and it's all about him trying  

to solve it." You need to be able to explain  your favorite TV show or movie in the succinct  

way when someone asks you, "Oh, I haven't heard of  that. What's the premise?" Now you can practice.

Our final common question about movies  and TV shows is when is the new coming  

out? When's the new Toy Story coming out here?  You're asking, when will it be released? And  

that's what this phrasal verb to come out means  when we're talking about movies and TV shows.  

When will the new Toy Story be released? When  will the new Toy Story movie come out? Beautiful  

question to ask. Now let's talk about some common  expressions and phrases that you can use to talk  

about movies and TV shows. Indie, indie usually  means that it is an independently made film.  

It's not from Hollywood, it's not from a big  producer, it's just an independently made film.  

Maybe it's something about your city or something  smaller, but it can be really touching as well.  

So you might say, "Captain Fantastic is one of  my favorite indie films of all time." Feel good,  

it's a feel good movie. This is pretty  self-explanatory. It doesn't make you  

feel stressed. It doesn't make you feel  worried, instead it makes you feel good.

So you might say, "My favorite feel good movie of  all time is The Princess Bride." Coming of Age.  

It's a coming of age movie or it's a coming of age  series. Can you imagine what this means? Someone  

who is a teenager or maybe like a 12-year-old,  14-year-old, 17-year-old is becoming an adult.  

So it's the story of them becoming older and more  responsible, moving from childhood to adulthood.  

So you might say, "One of the most classic  American coming of age movies is Stand By Me." A  

docuseries, or you could say it's a documentary.  But a docuseries is several in a series and  

a documentary is usually just one. But you might  say, "I watched a really interesting docuseries on  

the fall of the Roman Empire. It was fantastic."  This is the kind of thing I love to watch.

To binge-watch or to binge. Originally, this  expression means that you drank too much alcohol.  

They binged and now they're feeling really sick,  so they drank too much alcohol. But in the age of  

movie streaming and TV show streaming, especially  starting with Netflix, this term has been turned  

into watching series after series, after series,  after series at one time. So maybe you don't sleep  

all night because you binge-watched your favorite  TV show. You might say, "I can't believe it. I  

just binged the entire series of The Great British  Baking Show. It was great and I watched it all  

night. Oops." To be really into something, this  just means you love it. You're very interested  

in it, but a cool way to say it is, I'm really  into something. So you could say, "I'm really  

into murder mysteries these days. Do you have any  recommendations?" This is definitely not true for  

me. Those types of things freak me out and scare  me too much. I'd rather watch something feel good.

A movie buff or a film buff, you could say, "My  friend is a movie buff, but really for me, I'd  

rather read the book." Talking about books, this  expression is something I often say, the book was  

better. Have you ever watched something after you  read the book and you were so excited and then you  

felt just disappointed? You might say, "You know  what? The Harry Potter movies weren't bad, but the  

books were better." A series finale or a seasoned  finale, did you see the seasoned finale last  

night? "I can't believe how it ended." This is the  final episode of a long series. Usually these are  

highly awaited and people are anticipating it, and  hopefully you are not disappointed by the ending.

Dubbed or subtitles, I'd rather watch a foreign  film with subtitles than listen to it dubbed.  

I'm curious, what's the case in your country when  there is a news report or a TV show in English,  

for example, do they show subtitles in your  native language or do they dub the voices?  

When you dub the voices, it means that someone  is speaking over top of the original voice and  

you can't hear it. In my mind, this is such a  shame because you really don't get a chance to  

listen to the original language. And if you're  trying to learn English, that is a big bummer.  

You want to be able to hear English. And if  you see the subtitles in your native language,  

that's okay. But if someone dubs the voice,  then you can't hear the original language at  

all. I'm curious, what's it like in your  country? Let me know in the comments.

This next phrase is one that my friends say to  me a lot. I can't believe you haven't seen The  

Godfather. It's a great movie. Well, I haven't  seen many movies. That is a little secret. That's  

not a secret anymore. I have seen some movies,  for example, I have seen The Shawshank Redemption,  

which is amazing. So if you have not seen The  Shawshank Redemption, then I might say to you,  

"I can't believe you haven't seen The Shawshank  Redemption. That is a great movie. Highly  

recommend." If you watch a movie or TV show  and you just don't like it, you're not into it,  

you might say, the... ruined it for me. The  acting ruined it for me. It was just so awful. The  

storyline ruined it for me. The premise ruined it  for me. Or maybe, the last episode just ruined it  

for me. I can't believe that the season finale was  that. Oh, it just ruined the whole series for me.

Maybe you don't like something because it  was hard to follow. It was hard to follow,  

when I watched the movie Inception, it was hard  to follow. I just didn't get it. Maybe my brain  

is not at that level. It was hard to follow, this  means it was difficult to figure out what was  

going on. And you can even use this expression for  anything really that's difficult to understand. So  

let's imagine that you are sitting in a university  lecture and the professor is speaking in English  

and it's just too fast. You might say, "Oh man,  his English was hard to follow." Or, "That lecture  

was hard to follow. You just couldn't understand  all of the directions that he was taking." It was  

hard to follow. Our final expression, I don't want  to end on a bad note, is a positive one. Let's say  

you loved the TV show or movie, you might say, "I  was on the edge of my seat the whole time." And  

you can imagine what this is like if you're  on the edge of your seat, oh, I can't wait.

I want to see what's happening. And your body  might be a little bit tense. You might be excited,  

you might be a little fearful to figure out  what's going on. But you are on the edge of  

your seat because whoever wrote this story had  it perfectly laid out so that you were excited  

to figure out what's going to happen. I was  on the edge of my seat. Wonderful. All right,  

now that we've talked about the most common  questions and common phrases to talk about  

movies and TV shows, now I would like to  show you a sample conversation between my  

husband Dan and I, where we talk about movies  and TV shows and use some of the expressions  

and questions that you just learned. I want  you to listen carefully because after this  

it will be your turn. We are going to have  a conversation about movies and TV shows,  

so let's watch this conversation with Dan. And  then be prepared, it's going to be your turn.

Hey Dan, you watched anything good lately?

Dan: Oh, hey Vanessa. Yeah,  

I just started a new show. I like it so much.  I binged the whole first season last night.

Vanessa: Oh, it must be good. What's it about?

Dan: Oh, it's kind  

of a coming of age sci-fi adventure story about  friends who discover aliens in their neighborhood.

Vanessa: Oh,  

I think I've heard of that show. Is that  the one with the girl that has superpowers?

Dan: Yeah,  

that's the one. I can't believe  you haven't seen it yet.

Vanessa: Yeah,  

I read the book and I think the show would just  ruin it for me. The book's always better, right?

Dan: Well,  

that's true, but I was on the  edge of my seat the whole time.

Vanessa: Oh, well, you want to borrow the book?

Dan: Yeah, I'd love to. See you around.

Vanessa: See you later. All right,  

now it's your turn. Let's imagine that we work  in the same office together and we're walking  

around during our break time. I'm going to ask  you a question and we're going to have a little  

casual chit-chat conversation about movies and  TV shows. This is an extremely common casual  

conversation topic, so I want you to reply to  me. If you need to pause this video and go back  

and repeat this section, please do that. It's a  great chance to speak out loud, low pressure. No  

one needs to listen to you unless you want them  to. And you can practice speaking out loud and  

use what you've just learned. Are you ready? All  right, let's go on our break at the office. "Hey,  

I'm thinking about watching a movie this  weekend. Do you have any recommendations?  

Oh, what kind of movie is that? Oh,  what's the premise? That sounds great.  

Thanks for the recommendation.  I'm not much of a movie buff,  

so I always like hearing what other people  recommend. Well, thanks so much. See you later."

Congratulations on talking about the movies with  me. Let's move on to our next topic, which is  

sickness. Unfortunately, this happens to everyone  and we need to know how to express ourselves about  

sickness in English. Let's go. All right,  let's get started with some common questions  

about health and when you're feeling sick, do you  feel okay or are you feeling okay? You don't look  

so good, do you feel okay? I saw you fall, are  you feeling okay? These are great introduction  

questions when you suspect that someone is not  feeling their best. Where does it hurt? I use  

this question a lot with my sons when they fall or  get hurt and I see they're crying. After helping  

them emotionally for a moment, I often ask them,  Where does it hurt? Is it your arm, your leg,  

your stomach, your head? Where does it hurt? Do  you want to sit down? Do you want to lie down?"

If you saw me walking around the streets not  looking so great, this would be a great question  

to ask me. "Hey Vanessa, I'm glad to meet you, but  you don't look so great. Are you feeling okay? Do  

you want to sit down? Here's a bench." Oh, I would  feel so taken care of. Have you taken anything for  

it? If I told you that I had a headache, you  could ask me this question, "Have you taken  

anything for it?" And it means, have you taken  any medicine yet? Can you stand? Can you wiggle  

your fingers? Can you walk? This is sometimes  an assessment that a doctor or maybe a parent  

would use. When I was a kid, my parents said  this to me and I say it to my children as well.

It's a good way to see if they're capable of doing  something, but I think it also helps your child  

feel like, oh, I can wiggle my finger. I'm okay,  it's not too serious. Can I bring you anything?  

This is lovely, you're offering to help. Can  I bring you anything? Maybe some hot tea,  

maybe a hot pad to put on your back because it  hurts. Maybe a chair so you can sit down. Can  

I bring you anything? Our final question is one  that the sick person can ask, "Do I feel hot to  

you?" Maybe if you're feeling a fever coming  on or you're just not feeling that great,  

and if you don't have access to a thermometer  nearby you might ask someone, "Do I feel hot  

to you?" And they'll probably put their hand on  your forehead, either like this or like this, and  

assess roughly if you feel hot, which means you  probably have a fever and you're not feeling well.

All right, let's talk about some common  phrases that you might use when you're  

sick. I feel dizzy. Those flashing lights  are making me feel dizzy. I feel woozy. I  

had the stomach flu last week and this week I'm  still feeling woozy. It is similar to dizzy,  

but it also means that maybe your stomach doesn't  feel well too. I feel nauseous. This means you  

feel like you're going to throw up. I took  some medicine without eating any food and now  

I feel nauseous. Notice the pronunciation  here. The S in the middle sounds like sh,  

nauseous. I hope you don't feel nauseous. I  feel achy. It's kind of continuous dull pain,  

especially if you've been sick or you have  a fever and you're in bed you probably are  

going to feel just achy all over. I feel  clammy. Usually we use this for our hands,  

when they're wet or sweaty but it's kind of  cold, I feel clammy. Oh, it doesn't feel great.

I feel fatigued or lethargic. And this means you  feel really tired. It kind of feels like you're  

swimming through the air. I just can't do anything  quickly, I feel lethargic. And some general  

expressions about how you feel. You might say, "I  feel a bit under the weather." That means you're  

not feeling well. I feel a little bit under the  weather or just I feel under the weather today.  

I think I'm going to cancel our get together.  I feel under the weather. I don't feel so hot.  

This means I don't feel well. And ironically,  maybe you have a fever and you actually are hot.  

But overall it just means I don't feel well.  I don't feel so hot today. Or you might say,  

I think I'm coming down with something. To  come down with something means that you're  

getting sick, you're getting a virus, or  you're just getting some kind of sickness.

I think I'm coming down with something. It's  probably better for me not to go to the party  

today. And if someone else is sick, you  can always tell them, get well soon,  

or I hope you feel better soon. Both of these  phrases are very kind and it can help to express  

that you care. Get well soon or I hope you feel  better soon. All right, now we're going to go  

through some vocabulary of some common problems or  some common sicknesses that you might experience.  

I have a headache. Can you please turn  that loud music off? If you have a fever,  

you should probably stay home. I fell  and hit my head and now I have some  

blurred vision. I should probably call the  doctor. A bee stung me on my finger and now  

I have swelling all over my finger. I think I  need to take something, I might be allergic.

I always have a stuffy nose or I always have  congestion in the springtime. Right now when  

all of the flowers are blooming, I always have a  stuffy nose. I was sick last month and now I feel  

better, but I still have a little cough. I still  have a little cough. I don't know what it's like  

in your country, but here in the US if you have  a little cough and you know that you don't have  

COVID, but if you cough in public, everyone says,  "Oh." And they feel a little bit nervous that  

maybe you're coughing because of COVID. But in  reality, there are many reasons why someone might  

cough but it's still in our minds and we're still  a little worried about it. I have a sore throat  

and it hurts to talk today. I have a muscle cramp  in my leg and it hurts to walk. A muscle cramp.

Notice that the C in the word muscle  is silent. Do not say muscle. Instead,  

it's just muscle. My muscles are sore or I have a  cramp in my muscle. I have a family history of nut  

allergies. I have a family history of... This is  a common phrase you might use at the doctor when  

the doctor wants to know what your parents or  your brothers and sisters, or your grandparents  

had problems with. They need to know that to  better assess you. So you might use this phrase,  

I have a family history of diabetes. I have  a family history of something. Another way to  

phrase this is, diabetes runs in my family. We're  not talking about running. We're just talking  

about something that's gone from generation to  generation and a lot of people in your family  

have this problem. So we might say, allergies  run in my family, diabetes runs in my family.

Next, let's talk about some common vocabulary  for things that might happen to you or someone  

you know. I jammed my finger playing basketball  or I sprained my wrist playing volleyball. I  

twisted my ankle and now it's swollen. I broke  my arm when I fell out of the tree. I tweaked  

my back trying to pick up that heavy box. I cut  my finger by accident with a sharp knife in the  

kitchen. My son tripped and skinned his knee. This  means it's not so serious. It's not a deep cut,  

it just means that a layer of skin has  come off. This happens often to children,  

especially on their knees or the bottoms  of the palms of their hands. You might  

skin your knees or skin the palm of  your hands. Oh, I pulled a muscle  

trying to pick up that heavy box. Now I  need to sit down and put some ice on it.

I pulled a muscle. If you are a parent, this  probably happens to you a lot. I always stub my  

toe on my kids' toys. Maybe that means we need  to clean them up more often. But if you have  

ever stubbed your toe you know it doesn't feel  any good. When you have any of these problems,  

you might go to the doctor and the doctor might  tell you to do something. The doctor might tell  

you to take some medicine. I have a headache  and now I'm going to take some medicine. We  

often sometimes say, take my medicine. So you  can either say, I need to take my medicine,  

it's three o'clock. Or you might say, take  some medicine if you want to be more general.  

I need to take a Tylenol. I need to take an  ibuprofen. These are the kinds of medicines  

that you might take if you have a headache,  if you have some pain in a specific place  

and it's not a major injury, you might take  an ibuprofen or you might take a Tylenol.

I feel hot. I think I need to take my temperature.  The doctor said I need to take it easy for a  

couple of days. This means rest and relax. We  also use this phrase for someone when they're  

not sick just to say goodbye. You might say,  "Bye, see you later. Take it easy." This doesn't  

mean that they should lay on the couch because  they're sick. It just means have a good time.  

Have a relaxing weekend. Take it easy. A very  common phrase to say goodbye. And we can also  

use this when someone's sick. Hey, you should  really take it easy and don't do too much work  

this weekend. Just stay on the couch and try  to recover. Take it easy. When I had the flu,  

the doctor told me I need to get a lot  of fluids so that I would feel better.

This could be water, it might be soup, it  might be tea, some kind of fluids or liquid  

in our bodies. The doctor told me I need to  get a box of Kleenex so that I don't sneeze  

everywhere and get other people sick. In the US  we often use the brand name Kleenex instead of  

saying tissue. But it's the same thing. You can  also say, "Can you get me a tissue? I need to  

blow my nose." But a lot of people say, "Can you  get me a Kleenex? I need to blow my nose." Ah,  

I cut my finger, I need to get a bandaid. A  bandaid. This is another brand name that we  

use for a generic item. So you could say  a bandage. But in the US a bandage feels  

very serious. Like you have a big cut, only  really a doctor would give you a bandage.

But if you have just a small cut, you can use  a bandaid. And if you have children, sometimes  

a bandaid solves many problems. If there's just  a little cut but they feel like it's so serious,  

a bandaid can always help. If you have a bigger  cut, you might need to get stitches. I really  

hope I don't need to get stitches on my finger. I  hate needles. Have you ever had to get stitches?  

When I was in high school, I broke my wrist  and I needed to get a cast. A cast is very  

hard and it helps your broken bone. For me it was  my wrist, to feel better within a couple of weeks  

and to be able to heal, you might need to get  a cast. When you're simply not feeling well,  

you need to make an appointment or make a  doctor's appointment. And the doctor can  

give you a more professional assessment better  than your friends and family and doctor Google.

It's a good idea to make an appointment.  Another way to say this is, I'm feeling a  

bit under the weather. I think I need to  see the doctor. I think I need to go to  

the doctor. These are all ways to say, I  need to get a professional's opinion. So  

how are you feeling? We just covered a lot  of questions and vocabulary that I hope you  

can use in your daily life. Now it's time  to see a sample conversation. My husband,  

Dan and I are talking about sometime that  I did not feel well and he's trying to help  

me. Listen for all of the key phrases that you  just learned because after this conversation,  

it's going to be your turn to speak with me and  use those phrases too. All right, let's watch.

Morning.

Dan: Morning, are you feeling okay?

Vanessa: I don't feel  

so hot. I woke up this morning feeling  woozy and now I feel achy and lethargic.

Dan: Oh no. Do  

you want to lie down? Have  you taken anything for it?

Dan: 

... no. Do you want to lie down?  Have you taken anything for it?

Vanessa: No, I haven't. Not yet,  

but I think I'm going to call  the doctor today. Do I feel hot?

Dan: Yeah,  

you do. Why don't you lie down on the  couch and relax? Can I bring you anything?

Vanessa: I need to get  

some more fluids, so some hot tea would be great.

Dan: Well,  

you took care of me when I cut  my hand and needed stitches. Now,  

it's my turn to take care of you, so take it  easy and I'll make an appointment for you.

Vanessa: Thanks, hun.

Okay, are you ready? I'm going to be  asking you a question and pausing,  

and I want you to use what you've learned today  and respond to me. Pretend like we're having a  

conversation. If you need to pause this video so  that you can think about it or answer for longer,  

great. You can do that. That's the benefit  of a video and you can always go back and  

review this section again and again. Are  you ready? Let's do it. It's your turn.

Hey, you don't look so well. Are you feeling okay?

Have you taken anything for it?

Well, you should take it easy and get  some rest. Can I get you anything?

All right, I hope this helps. Get well soon.

Congratulations on talking about sickness  in English with me. I hope you're feeling  

better. Let's move on to a lighter topic, which  is music. Speak with me about music. Let's go.

All right. Let's get started with some of the  most common questions and answers that we use  

when talking about music. Question number one is,  "Whatcha listenin' to? Whatcha listenin' to?" This  

is a reduction of the full question, "What are  you listening to?" But oftentimes you becomes  

cha with a question. So we can say, "Whatcha  listenin'," we're cutting off that final G,  

"to? Whatcha listenin' to?" You might ask  this if someone pulls up in their car and  

you hear some music, so you could say, "Hey,  I heard you listening to some music in your  

car. Whatcha listenin' to?" And they'll  let you know what they were listening to.

If you're listening to some music but you don't  know who sings it, a common question is, "Who's  

this? I like this song. Who's this?" Of course,  who is this could be used in a lot of different  

contexts, but here when we're talking about  music, you're asking, "Who is the singer? I like  

this song. I want to listen to it again. Who's  this?" If you want to get to know someone better,  

you might ask, "What type of music do you like?  What type of music do you like?" We're going to  

talk about all of the different genres or types  of music a little bit later, but a little sneak  

preview, you might say, "What type of music do you  like?" "I really just like pop music. Whatever is  

on the top of the charts these days, that's  what I like." What type of music do you like?

If you've ever listened to Spotify, you've  probably listened to a playlist. This is a  

group of songs that have something in common.  Maybe it's just songs that you like or it might  

be songs that have a common theme or similar to  a type of singer that you like, so you could ask,  

"Did you make this playlist? Did you make this  playlist?" For my husband, he loves to make  

playlists himself, so all of the playlists  that we listen to in our house are specific  

to different activities. Maybe they're for the  evening, maybe they're for feeling energized.  

All of these different things can be included  in a playlist. Do you like to make playlists?

For me, I never listen to the radio, but  if you listen to the radio, you could say,  

"What station is this? What station is this?" When  you turn the dial or change the radio station,  

this is kind of like channels. We call it a  station. So if you like some music and you're  

listening to it, "Oh, I like this. What station  is this?" And maybe you can listen to it on  

your own. "Have you ever seen them live?" Who do  you think them is here in this situation? Well,  

if we were talking about a group that you like and  I asked you, "Have you ever seen them live," this  

means have you ever been to their concert?  You could say, "Have you ever been to their  

concert?" But it's more common to say, "Have  you ever seen them live?" That means in person,  

not in a video, but in person. "Oh,  I saw them live and it was amazing."

"Have you heard the new song? Have you heard  the new Taylor Swift song? It's great." I'm  

not a huge Taylor Swift fan, but I know she's a  popular artist, so let's use her in this question.  

"Have you heard the new Taylor Swift song? I  think it's fantastic," or you could insert any  

singer or group that you like and you're talking  about their new song that has just been released.  

Let's imagine that you're talking with someone  and you ask, "What type of music do you like?"  

And it turns out that they like the same music  as you. You could say, "Oh, I like folk music,  

too. Do you have any recommendations?" People love  sharing song and group and music recommendations,  

so this is a great question to ask.  "Oh, I like that kind of music,  

too. Do you have any recommendations?" And I'm  sure that they'll give you plenty of ideas.

Now, let's talk about some common phrases that we  use to talk about music, especially music that we  

like. But first, let's talk about some genres  of music. These are different types of music.  

Take a look at this. You might say, "I like pop  music, folk music, rock music, country music,  

alternative music, classical music, jazz music,  guitar music." There are so many different types  

of genres, but these are probably the most common.  If I asked you what type of music you like and you  

have trouble describing what you like, well,  maybe this sentence is a good fit for you.

You can describe how the music  makes you feel. You could say,  

"I like music that's energizing and makes  me feel good, like rock music." Cool,  

you're talking about that feeling inside of you  that you get when you're listening to the music.  

Some common descriptions of music that you  could say are, "I like music that's soulful.  

I like music that's got a good beat. I like  music that's easy to dance to. I like music  

that's relaxing." These are all wonderful  terms that you can use to talk about music.

And what if you hear some music that you love?  What can you say? Let me give you a bunch of  

expressions that you can use. You might say, "Oh,  this is a great song. Turn it up." Turn it up  

means make it louder. "Turn up the volume. I  love it. Turn it up." Or you might say, "Oh,  

I love this song. This is my jam." This is a  little bit older, an older type of expression,  

but I use this. You are welcome to use  this and it just means, "I like it. Oh,  

this is my jam. I love this." Or you  could say, "I love this song. It's  

so catchy." It's so catchy, that means  that you can't stop thinking about it.

Just like this next expression, "This song always  gets stuck in my head." This could be good or bad.  

If it's a song you like, well, cool, it's stuck in  your head. You're just humming and singing it all  

day. You're saying a couple lines of it in your  head. But if it's a song that you don't want to  

have stuck in your head, this often happens  to me with children's songs, you might say,  

"That song has been stuck in my head all day. I  need to do something to get it out." You can also  

say, "I like this song. It's got a great beat."  Maybe it makes you feel like you want dance. It's  

got some good rhythm. That's what the word beat  means. "It's got a great beat. I love this song."

Maybe if it's got a great beat, you might  say, "It makes me want to dance. Every time  

I hear this song, it doesn't matter if I'm  in the doctor's office, the grocery store,  

if I'm listening to music as I'm walking around  my neighborhood, it just makes me want to dance."  

Our final expression for music that you love,  you could say, "I have it on repeat. Oh, I've  

been listening to that song all day. I've had  it on repeat all day." Just a little note about  

this pronunciation, usually when we say the  word repeat, it's the final part of the word  

that's emphasized. "Can you repeat that, please?  Repeat that." But when we use it in this context,  

"I have it on repeat," both of those words  are going to get equal emphasis and the vowels  

are the same, repeat. "I've had that  song on repeat all day. I love it."

Before we go to our sample conversation and your  chance to speak with me, I have a little bonus  

section. What if you play an instrument or what  if you want to play an instrument? What are some  

phrases that you could use to talk about that?  I'd like to give you three phrases that are fun  

and you can include in your daily conversation.  Let's take a look at this one. "I play the piano,  

so I've always looked up to Ray Charles," for  example. If you play an instrument and you have an  

idol or someone who you really think is awesome,  you can use this phrase, "I play the piano, so I  

really look up to Ray Charles. I play the guitar,  so I really look up to Jimi Hendrix," for example.

If you have a dream to play an instrument or  you want to play yours better, you might say,  

"I really want to play the flute  like Vanessa." I play the flute  

not perfectly. This is just a sample  sentence, but you could say, "I really  

want to play the flute like Vanessa." Notice  in both of these sentences that I'm saying,  

play the plus the instrument. "I play the  piano. I play the flute. I play the guitar."

Let's take a look at the last  sentence. "I love jazz music,  

so I would love to play the trumpet like Louis  Armstrong," for example. This is another way to  

incorporate an idol or someone that you really  think is a great musician into your desire,  

your motivation for learning an  instrument. "I love jazz music,  

so I would love to play the trumpet like Louis  Armstrong." Great, what a good motivation.

Okay, it's time to see all of  these phrases put together in  

a conversation. You're going to take a look  at a quick conversation between my husband,  

Dan and I, where we talk about music. Listen  for the key phrases that you learned today,  

because after this sample conversation, it's  going to be your turn to speak out loud and  

practice talking about music in English.  Let's watch the conversation with Dan and I.

Hey, Dan, what are you listening to?

Dan: Oh, hey, Vanessa. It's Kero Kero Benito. They're a  

great new band I saw live this weekend and I can't  get their songs out of my head. Here, listen.

Vanessa: Oh, it's great. It's so catchy.

Dan: I know.

Vanessa: It's got a good beat, too.  

Have you heard the new Fleet Foxes song?  It's been stuck in my head all day today.

Dan: I have.  

It's been on repeat all weekend. Have you  added any of their songs to a playlist?

Vanessa: Yeah. I can send you a link if you want.

Dan: That'd be great. Thanks.

Vanessa: No problem.  

I'm always happy to share music  recommendations. Well, see you around.

Dan: Later.

Vanessa: Okay, now it's your  

turn. I'm going to be asking you a question.  Imagine we're having a conversation together,  

just a chit-chat, and I'll ask you a question  at the beginning of the conversation and then  

I will pause and it'll be your turn to  speak out loud. If you need more time,  

the good news is this is a video.  You can pause the video. You can  

always go back and repeat this section,  repeat this section as much as you want,  

because it's a good way to grow your confidence.  Okay, are you ready to get started? Let's do it.

Hey, I'm making a playlist. Do you have any music  recommendations or a favorite song I should add?

Oh, that's interesting. What  type of music do you like?

Oh, very cool. Why do you like that type of music?

That's awesome. Well, thanks for the  new music recommendations. I can't  

wait to listen to it and I'll see you later. Bye.

Great work speaking with me about  music. Let's move on to a fun topic:  

love. Let's speak together about love. Let's go.

Let's get started by talking about some common  questions that someone might ask about love.  

If you are walking down the street with  your boyfriend, someone might ask you,  

"How long have you been together?" This means  how long have you been dating? Or they might ask,  

"How did you meet?" This is the question that  I asked you at the beginning of this lesson  

and it's not, "Where are you meeting right now,"  like, "Oh, I'm just walking down the street." No,  

they're asking, "Where was the first place that  you ever met each other?" And you might say,  

"Oh, we met at school," or "We met at a  bar late night when I was dressed up like  

a turtle for Halloween." There might  be a fun story to go along with that.

Another fun question is, "Where  was your first date?" This means  

the location of your first  date, so you might say, "Oh,  

our first date was just to a restaurant.  Quite simple and a common thing to do."

I like this one. "How did you know that he was  the one or how did you know that she was the  

one?" This means that this person is the most  important person for you. You will either get  

married or you already are married or you're just  going to stay together for life. They are the  

one. How did you know that he was the one? Well,  there's a lot of things you might say to this,  

but a common expression that you might  use in response is, "Well, when you know,  

you know." It's this feeling you have inside  of you. "Well, when you know, you know."

Another fun question about love is, "Do you  believe in love at first sight?" So if you  

go on a date and your friend asks you, "How was  your date," you might ask this, "Do you believe  

in love at first sight? Because I think I'm in  love," and you've only been on one date. Well,  

that is love at first sight. And your friend  might say in response to you understandably,  

"Is it true love?" This means a real,  deep, enduring love, not just something  

simple or puppy love, like we'll talk about in  just a minute. Is it true love? Great question.

Hopefully not after the first date, but  at some point your friend might ask you,  

"Well, when's the wedding?" And they  might be asking you this as kind of a  

little joke. Maybe you're not engaged yet,  you haven't actually said that you're going  

to get married to that special person,  but your friend might be kind of hinting,  

"When's the wedding or what's going to happen  in the future? Tell me about your relationship."

All right, let's go on to some common phrases that  we use to talk about love. The first category of  

expressions are types of romantic love. We're  going to talk about the most shallow leading to  

the most serious. The first most shallow one  is an expression that I just used and that's  

puppy love. Sometimes, we use this to talk  about children or young people when they have  

their first love interest. This is a  crush. When they have their first crush,  

we might say, Oh, young puppy love." And the  next word is the one I just used, a crush.

Sometimes, we use this to talk  about someone we know in real life,  

but you can also use this to talk about a  celebrity, for example. So we might say,  

"When I was younger I had a crush on Johnny  Depp the actor." Obviously, it was something  

unrealistic, but it just was something that was in  my heart, a crush. And as we amp up the feelings,  

we might say, "It wasn't love it for sight,  but over time I fell in love with him."

Love at first sight, have you ever  experienced this? If you have,  

you might use the next expression, which is head  over heels. You could say, "I fell head over heels  

in love with him right away." Wow, that's a  very intense experience. This just means you  

can't keep your balance because your love is so  strong, you don't know what's going on. You're  

just in this whirlwind of love and emotion.  You fell head over heels in love with him.

And once you move beyond puppy  love, falling head over heels,  

you might say now it is true love. "Our love  is true love. It's not just puppy love." You  

can make a comparison. "It's something  fleeting and simple and shallow. Instead,  

what we have is true love." So romantic. And  when you feel true love, it is getting serious.  

Serious is sometimes a word that we don't really  associate with positivity and something like love,  

but this is a common phrase that we use to  talk about a relationship that might lead  

to a long-term relationship, either  a marriage or a lifelong commitment.

Your friend might ask you, "Oh, are you getting  serious?" And they're asking about the enduring  

quality of your romantic relationship.  Is this something that's going to last,  

you've been on three, four dates  already? Is this getting serious?  

Or maybe it's something that's  not serious and you might say,  

"No, we're not getting serious," or "I think  we're getting serious. He might be the one."

Our next category of expressions to talk about  love are words to describe romantic love and then  

we'll talk about some verbs to describe romantic  love. The first one is a fun one, sappy or cheesy.  

Personally, I use cheesy all the time. Let me give  you a little example from one of my high school  

relationships, and when I say relationships,  I mean romantic relationships. You could say,  

"My boyfriend and I wrote long letters to each  other every day. It was so cheesy, but you know  

what? I loved it." You can get the sense here that  it's something that's overly sentimental. Maybe it  

kind of makes you feel like, "Oh, that's a little  strange, or maybe that's a little too much." But  

you know what? When you're in love, it's something  that is not a big deal. It's cheesy but it's true.

The next one's a fun one, lovey-dovey.  Lovey-dovey, usually this has to do with a public  

display of affection. Sometimes, we call this PDA.  If a couple is always holding hands and snuggling  

in public and kissing each other, we might say,  "Wow, they are very lovey-dovey." But the opposite  

could be true as well. You might say, "We're not  very lovey-dovey in public, but I still really  

care for him." And that's just kind of personal  preference, kind of a cultural thing, too.

Next, I want to tell you some pet names  that we often use in the US to talk  

about our romantic partner or to address our  romantic partner. Instead of saying their name,  

you might call them or you might say this  about them. You might say, "Babe. Hey,  

babe." You might say honey, hun. This is my  preferred expression. I'll tell you a silly story  

about it in just a minute. You might say also  sweetheart, sweetie, love, or dear. "Hey, dear."

I want to tell you, I often call Dan my  husband, hun, but apparently I rarely  

say just hun. Instead, I often say, "Hey, hun,"  because I'm giving him some kind of direction or  

calling to him. So I might say, "Hey, hun, where  are you?" One time I called into my yard, I said,  

"Hey, hun, where are you?" And my child, my son  went into the yard to look for him and he came  

back and said, "I don't know where hey hun is."  He had heard me say, "Hey, hun," so much that  

he thought this was one expression that I used  to address Dan. Just a silly little anecdote.

You can really use any of these, but I do want  to give you a quick little cultural note that,  

in the US, if a stranger says sweetheart or  dear, it's kind of rude. It's almost like  

they're trying to make fun of you. Let me  give you a little example. Usually, this is  

referring to a woman. Let's imagine that  a woman is going to the gas station and  

she's about to put gas into her car, but  she does something wrong. Let's say that  

she pushes the wrong button and she uses the  wrong handle. Someone who is at the other  

gas pump might look over and say, "Hey,  sweetheart, that's not how you do it."

Well, it's not really something correct  that she's doing and that guy added the  

word sweetheart kind of to importantly,  "That's a kind of stupid thing to do that  

you're doing." It wasn't a very polite expression,  but if you're using this with someone you love,  

it's not a problem. Now, this is very different  from in the UK. Expressions like love or dear or  

sweetheart are used by strangers in a positive  way. I remember many times in England getting  

on the bus and the bus driver saying, "Come on,  love. Get on the bus, love." And I thought, "Oh,  

that's so kind. That's so sweet." The way he said  it was so endearing and you could tell it was said  

with a kind of kindness. This is a cultural  difference in the US compared to in the UK,  

but if you're saying it to someone  you love, don't worry. It's all right.

Finally, before we get to our conversation  practice, let's talk about three verbs that  

we use to talk about love. The first one is a  lovely little insect to give you butterflies in  

your stomach. Have you ever been in love and you  just have this feeling inside of you that's hard  

to describe? It kind of makes you feel maybe  a little bit nervous, a little bit excited,  

all at the same time. You might say, "When I  first saw him, I just had butterflies in my  

stomach." We can imagine a butterfly fluttering  in your stomach and it kind of describes that  

feeling of discomfort but excitement at the same  time. I want to know, is there an expression  

that's similar to this in your language? I  know that some languages use other animals,  

other insects, and have really colorful ways  of describing that feeling of excited but  

nervous love. Let me know in the comments  what that expression is in your language.

Have you ever heard this in a fairy tale, "To live  happily ever after"? This kind of implies that  

there are never any difficulties or problems.  It's kind of an overly sentimental phrase,  

so we might use it in real life like this.  "I thought that getting married meant that we  

would live happily ever after, but the reality  is that marriage is a lot of hard work." Here,  

we're comparing this fairy tale idea that  everything is always just wonderful and  

roses and rainbows and happy, and  the reality that having a long-term  

relationship with someone is a lot of work. We  can use this in kind of a realistic way, too.

In our final phrase, our final verb to talk about  love is this one, to grow old together. This is  

a very romantic phrase. We might say, "My husband  Dan and I met when we were very young, but we look  

forward to growing old together," and this implies  we hope that we will be together forever until we  

are old and we will live through all of life  together. "We are going to grow old together,"  

this is a phrase that you might hear in someone's  wedding vowels as they get married. They might  

say, "I look forward to growing old with you,"  because it's a very sentimental thing to say.

All right. are you ready for our conversation  section? Let's take all of the questions,  

all of these key common phrases, and add them up  together in a conversation. You're about to watch  

a sample conversation between my husband, Dan and  I, talking about our long-term relationship. Guess  

how many years we have been together? You'll find  out in the conversation in just a minute. And then  

after that conversation, it will be your chance  to speak. I'm going to be speaking with you,  

asking you some questions, and you need  to speak out loud and practice with me.  

But before we do that, I want you to watch the  sample conversation and get ready. Let's watch.

Hey, hun, I have a question for you.  Do you believe in love at first sight?

Dan: Ooh,  

good question. I don't know if everyone  does, but I sure do. It happened to me.

Vanessa: Oh, really?

Dan: With you.

Vanessa: Oh.

Dan: I had butterflies  

in my stomach the first time you talked to  me and I knew it was more than puppy love.

Vanessa: Oh,  

that's so sweet. How did  you know that I was the one?

Dan: It sounds cheesy, but when you know, you know.

Vanessa: Oh, that's so sweet.

Dan: What about  

you? Do you think we'll live happily ever after?

Vanessa: I sure  

hope so. We've known each other for 19  years, so it's starting to get serious.

Dan: I'd say so.

Vanessa: Well, here's to growing old together.

All right. So now you know the answer. We have  known each other for 19 years. Incredible. Well,  

now it is your turn. I want you to practice  speaking out loud. This will help you to retain  

and remember everything that you've learned from  this lesson. I'm going to be asking you a question  

and then I'm going to be quiet. I'm going to pause  while you speak out loud. You can repeat this  

section as many times as you need to to gain and  grow that confidence in a safe area until you go  

out into the real world and talk about love. All  right. Are you ready to get started? Let's do it.

I want to hear about your romantic partner,  

your partner or your spouse. Tell  me, how long have you been together?

Oh, well, tell me, what was your first date?

Thanks for sharing. Now I want to know,  do you think that they're the one?

Vanessa: Do you think that they're the one? That's  

so sweet. Thank you for sharing with me. I  love hearing other people's love stories. I  

hope that you live happily ever after. Great  work. Speaking to me about love. Let's move  

on to our next speaking topic, which is  extremely common in daily conversation,  

and that is the weather. No matter where you  live, people always talk about the weather,  

so you need to be confident talking  about the weather in English. Let's go.

Let's get started by talking about the most common  questions and answers about the weather. This is  

an extremely common small talk conversation  topic. We use these questions every day,  

so I want you to be able to use them comfortably  yourself. Let's start. What's it like out there  

today? What's it like out there today? It's a  sunny day, but the breeze is chilly. This is a  

great question for asking what's the weather, but  we are more likely to use this instead of what's  

the weather? What's it like out there today?  Do you know if it's going to rain later? Yeah,  

I think it might. So grab an umbrella.  Do you think it might rain later? I am  

personally always checking my weather app  on my phone to see if it's going to rain,  

especially at this time of the year because  I want to be prepared. A great question.

Is it supposed to storm later? Yeah, we might  have to reschedule our picnic. Is it supposed  

to storm? Now, usually we use this verb  supposed to with a need. I am supposed  

to pick up my kids from school every day at  3:00. I have to do it. It's a requirement,  

but sometimes we use supposed to in these  situations. Is it supposed to storm later?  

Just means is it going to storm later? And it's  a good question. Is it supposed to storm later?  

Have you checked the weather or have you checked  the weather forecast? Yeah, I checked it and it  

looks like it's going to be a nice day. If  you've scheduled any outdoor activities,  

you always are going to be wanting to check  the weather. This doesn't mean you go outside  

and you look to see what the weather is. No,  this generally means that you're checking a  

weather app or maybe the weather on your TV,  the weather forecast, and we don't even need  

to say that word forecast. Have you checked the  weather? What's the weather like where you live?

For me, it is extremely unpredictable these  days. Some days it's cold, some days it's rainy,  

and some days it's like a summer day. What's  the weather like where you live? What do you  

like to do when the weather's hot? Usually when  the weather's hot, I like to be in the shade or  

in some water. Coming soon is summer, so  I've started to think about those types  

of activities. What do you like to do when  the weather's hot? What do you like to do  

when the weather is cold? For me, I like to  bundle up and go outside, take a nice walk,  

and then come back inside and drink some hot tea.  What do you like to do when the weather's cold?

And finally, a great small talk  question is isn't it a beautiful  

day today? And here it's a rhetorical question,  

you're not really expecting them to say  no or yes. Usually you're implying it's  

so beautiful. So you probably already agree and  you could respond to this question by saying yes,  

this is a great spring day. Isn't it a beautiful  day today? Yeah. It's a great spring day. Now  

that we've talked about some common questions  in their answers about the weather, let's talk  

about some common phrases that you could use to  talk about the weather in your conversations.

It's out, it's freezing out, it's gorgeous out.  It's so hot out. We're talking about outside here,  

but you can fill in the blank with a lot  of different words. It's freezing out,  

make sure that you wear a coat. It's really  coming down. What is coming down? I love  

using this to talk about a huge rainstorm when  the rain is just explosive. You can use this,  

wow, it's really coming down. Beautiful phrase.  Bundle up or grab a, this is great to use in the  

wintertime. In the winter, I like to bundle  up with my big coat and go for a walk, but if  

it's rainy, I always try to grab an umbrella.  We're talking about what you need to do to  

figure out how to survive extreme weather, cold or  rainy, you got to bundle up or grab an umbrella.

Wear layers. This is essential in the  wintertime. You need to make sure that you  

wear layers so that your body stays warm when  it's cold outside and as the day progresses,  

you can feel cooler as the day gets warm.  This is the unusual part about spring. In  

the mornings it's chilly. In the afternoons  it's hot, so it's important to wear layers.  

You might wear a T-shirt, then a long  sleeve shirt, then a sweater, then a coat.  

You're preparing for all seasons because  sometimes the weather is just like that.

Now during the summer, you don't need to bundle  up, you don't need to wear layers. In fact,  

you might say it's a scorcher. Sometimes we  use the word scorch to talk about food that  

you burnt. I scorched it. But we can also use it  to talk about extremely hot weather because when  

you walk outside and the sun is beating down,  you feel like you're getting burnt. You might  

actually be getting burnt. So you might say it's  a scorcher, I need to put on some sunscreen. I'm  

a warm weather person, or I'm a cold weather  person. This is talking about your preference.  

What type of weather do you like? It might be the  same as the place that you live in or it might be  

very different. For me, I'm a warm weather person.  I love warm days, even hot days. But when days are  

extremely cold, that's not for me. I'm not a cold  weather person. I'm more a warm weather person.

And finally, if it is a wonderful day outside,  you can say it's a perfect spring day. It's a  

perfect fall day. It just makes you feel so good.  It refreshes your spirit. You take a deep breath  

of fresh air outside and you can think it's a  perfect spring day. Enjoy it. All right. Now that  

we've practiced some common questions and answers  and some common vocabulary about the weather,  

now I want you to see a sample conversation  about the weather. My husband and I are going  

to have a little chitchat using some of the  questions and phrases that you just learned.  

I want you to watch this conversation and  get ready because after our conversation,  

it's going to be your turn to have  a conversation with me about the  

weather. All right. Let's watch. Hey  Dan, what's it like out there today?

Dan: It's a nice sunny  

day out there, but it's supposed to rain later.

Vanessa: Have you checked the forecast?

Dan: Yeah. I thought it  

was going to be sunny all week, but now it says  it's going to rain later today and tomorrow.

Vanessa: 

I'll grab a jacket in umbrella. This time of year  it can start coming down with almost no notice.

Dan: That's  

a good idea. Don't want to get caught in the rain.

Vanessa: Yeah. One time I  

was caught in a snowstorm without my winter coat.  I'm a warm weather person, so that was not fun.

Dan: That  

doesn't sound fun. Well, I'm going to go grab  a raincoat. Layers are always the way to go.

Vanessa: That sounds  

good. Well, nice to see you. I'll see you round.

Dan: See you later.

Vanessa: All right. Let's have  

a conversation together about the weather. I'm  going to ask you a question and then I'm going  

to pause and while I pause I want you to speak  out loud, answer my question, and I'm going to  

be listening to you, no matter where you live  around the world, I have magical teacher ears.  

I can hear you speaking. So make sure that you  speak out loud, answer my question. And you're  

welcome to go back and review this section as  many times as you want. Are you ready to get  

started? Let's do it. So tell me, are you a warm  weather person or are you a cold weather person?

I would love to know if I were  visiting your city next month,  

what kind of weather should I plan for?  

That sounds great. Now tell me what do you  like to do when the weather's hot? Well,  

thank you for telling me. I hope that I can  see you when I visit your city. Great work,  

speaking with me about the weather. Let's move  on to our next conversation topic, which is where  

you live, your house, your apartment in your  neighborhood. Let's go. The first category is  

questions and answers about chores. Look at this  pronunciation, chores. Make sure you pronounce  

this correctly and it means things that you need  to do to take care of your house and your home.  

So let's start with some of these questions  and answers and level up your speaking skills.

Do you need a hand? Remember this question I  asked you not too long ago? Well, what can you  

reply to this question with? You can say, "No  thanks, I'll be finished soon." Do you need a  

hand? That means can I help you? If you're doing  some difficult chore, someone kind might ask you,  

do you need a hand? Or you can ask, can you give  me a hand with this? Let's say you're picking up  

something that's really heavy because you're  trying to move it across the room. You need  

to ask for some help or ask for a hand. Could  you give me a hand with this? And hopefully  

the other person will say, sure, I'll help you.  A common chore question is, do you mind taking  

out the trash? Do you mind doing the dishes?  Do you mind folding this laundry? It's asking,  

please, I need some help. There are so many  chores to do. Do you mind doing one of these  

chores for me? And hopefully the other  person will say, yes, it's no problem.

A similar question is, can you help me tidy  up? Can you help me fold this laundry? Can  

you help me take out the trash? And  hopefully the other person will say,  

sure, I would love to. If not though,  they might say, "No, I'm really busy.  

I'm sorry." Hopefully they don't say that but  it's possible. If you live with other people,  

especially if you live with kids, it's important  that everyone participates in the chores and  

taking care of the house. So someone might ask  you this question, "Are your kids old enough  

to help with chores?" And if you're like me, you  might say they are and they love helping. In fact,  

my kids' favorite weekend day is deep cleaning  day. They take a wet rag and just wipe everything,  

every corner, every chair, and they love it.  Of course, we don't always love doing chores,  

so you might need to reply to this question,  what's your least favorite chore? Well,  

you might say, I hate doing the dishes. I get so  wet. There's dirty food. I hate doing the dishes.

All right. Our next category are questions  and answers related to your neighborhood.  

Because your house is not just the things  you do to take care of it, the chores,  

it's also the location. And we often ask  questions about the location or condition  

of your house. So let's talk about some of these  common small talk and conversation questions about  

where you live. If you see someone in your  neighborhood who you've never met before,  

you might ask this question, have you lived  here long? Have you lived here long? And they  

might say, I'm new to the neighborhood.  I just moved here from New York City.

This could be an answer that you give If you move  to the US and someone doesn't recognize you and  

they say, "Have you lived here long?" You can use  this answer. I just moved here. I moved here from  

Italy, I moved here from Japan. Great answer.  Now the next question is an essential question  

that you know the answer to if you move to an  English speaking country. Because if someone asks,  

have you been here long, they will follow  it up most likely with the second question,  

what made you choose to move here?  Or what made you decide to move here?  

They're basically asking you, why are you here?  Why here and not anywhere else in the world? So  

you need to have an answer for why did you decide  to move to this neighborhood? And you might say,  

"I got a remote job that let me  live anywhere in the world and  

I've always dreamed of living in the  US and this seems like a nice place."

Now if you've just moved to a new neighborhood,  you might want to ask that other person some  

questions about the place that you just moved.  So you can ask them, "What's the best thing about  

this neighborhood?" This is a great question.  You might learn about a hidden coffee shop or  

a great little park to go to. They might say  this, "I love that every Saturday there's free  

concerts in the park. You should come." Wouldn't  that be great? You'd have an instant friend. And  

another question you could ask when you move to a  neighborhood is, are there any other neighborhoods  

that I should check out? Maybe other cute  walking areas or places to get to know the  

local culture and they might say, "Yeah, there's  a neighborhood north of town that's great to walk  

through," and you're getting some recommendations  about things that you should do in your new town.

Now when you move to a new place, especially if  you own it, you're probably going to have to do  

some renovations, even if it's just decorating  the house in your own style. And when someone  

comes over to your house, hopefully they will  comment on what a wonderful job you've done.  

So you might hear something like this, I love  what you've done with the place. Did you do it  

by yourself? When they say what you've done with  the place that's talking about either renovations  

or decorations. Wow, this old apartment used to  look so dark and dreary, but your decorations,  

what you've done with the place just looks so  nice. Did you do this by yourself? And you might  

say, "Yeah, I love fixing up places." Cool.  And to follow up that your friend might say,  

"Wow. That's impressive. Was it a lot of  work?" And if you have really fixed your home,  

especially if you've had to do some major  renovations, you can use this great expression.

Yes, this house was a fixer upper, but  I loved redecorating it and renovating  

it. A fixer upper means it's a house that  has a good foundation, it's a nice house,  

but there is a lot of work that needs to be  done to make it livable. Maybe the doorways  

are so small and the walls are all old and  just need a new coat of paint and you need  

to maybe open up some spaces. This house is a  fixer upper, but you know what? It's probably  

less expensive and it means that you get  to design it in the way that you like.

All right. Now that we've been through some  great questions and answers related to chores  

inside the house and the neighborhood  that your house is in, it's time to start  

speaking. But first you're going to listen  to a sample conversation between my husband,  

Dan and I. We're going to be using the same  questions and answers that you just learned  

in a little sample conversation. I want you  to listen for all of those key questions and  

answers and be preparing yourself because after  the sample conversation it will be your turn to  

speak with me. All right. Let's watch the sample  conversation. Hey Dan. What are you working on?

Dan: Hey. I'm  

just finishing up some renovations on the house.

Vanessa: I love what  

you've done with the place. Have  you done everything by yourself?

Dan: Yes, I did. I  

replaced the flooring and I renovated the kitchen.  It's been a lot of work, but it's been worth it.

Vanessa: Yeah. It looks  

great. So what made you decide  to move to this neighborhood?

Dan: Well,  

I really like the old homes in this  neighborhood and the neighbors seem really nice.

Vanessa: That's true. So do you need a hand?

Dan: Yeah, I do. Can you help me tidy up?

Vanessa: No problem. Welcome to the neighborhood.

Dan: Thanks neighbor.

Vanessa: All right. How  

did you enjoy that sample conversation? Now it  is your turn to speak. I'm going to be asking  

you some questions and then pausing. During that  pause I want you to speak out loud and answer the  

question. And because I have magical teacher  ears, I will be able to hear you around the  

world no matter where you are. So make sure that  you're speaking out loud and you're welcome to go  

back and repeat this segment of the video as many  times as you want. You can even pause it if you  

need more time to be able to speak or think about  your answer. So are you ready to speak with me?  

Let's do it. Hey, I haven't seen you before.  Have you lived here long? What made you decide  

to move here? So what do you think is the best  part about living in this neighborhood so far?  

Well, it was really great to meet  you. I wanted to let you know that  

there are free concerts in the park every  Saturday. I'm going this weekend. Would  

you like to join me? All right.  Let's do it. I'll see you then.

Great work talking with me about where you  live. It's always interesting to see the  

different living situations around the world.  The next topic is daily routines. The style of  

this lesson is slightly different, but you are  going to continue to need to speak out loud,  

speak with me and use those speaking muscles  to talk about your daily routine. Let's go.

Let's get started with the beginning of the  day and a phrase that you can use in your  

daily life too. If I'm lucky, first thing  in the morning, I'll hear my alarm. Maybe  

push snooze and get up slowly. But if I'm not  lucky, I'll hear one of my children screaming,  

"Mommy," and I have to get out of bed. First  thing, I used this expression first thing two  

times. The first time was at the beginning of  a phrase, first thing in the morning. Make sure  

that you don't add first of the things or first  of it's only first thing. First thing in the  

morning I hear my alarm. Or we could use it at  the end of a phrase like you just heard me say.  

I might say, "I wake up and make coffee  first thing." I make coffee first thing.

Actually for me, I don't make coffee.  I don't even know if I know how to make  

coffee. I always make tea. I'm quite  a amateur. Maybe say newbie or maybe  

clueless when it comes to coffee.  My husband, Dan, likes coffee,  

but I could say I wake up and make tea first  thing. Beautiful phrase. Let's go to the next  

part of my morning. After I'm awake, I head to  the kitchen and start to make some breakfast.  

Sometimes my kids and I read a book or play a  little game at breakfast because not everyone in  

our house is a morning person. Sometimes at least  one of us will wake up on the wrong side of the  

bed. So having a little bit of fun lightens the  mood and helps you to start your day off right.

Do you know what a morning person is? A morning  person is someone who wakes up happy, ready to  

start the day. Are you a morning person or maybe  you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? This is  

a little bit metaphorical. There's not really a  good side of the bed and a bad side of the bed,  

but it means that you wake up grumpy, maybe a  little cranky, maybe not so happy. You could say,  

"I woke up on the wrong side of the bed  today. I need some coffee or tea if you're me.

Then after breakfast, I drop my son Theo off  at preschool. This phrasal verb to drop off  

can be used for people or for things. So  you heard me use it for people. I drop my  

son Theo off at school or we could put it  together. I drop off my son at preschool,  

but we could also drop something off. I dropped  my computer off at the repair shop. Make sure that  

you don't forget the word off because if you just  say, I dropped my computer at the repair shop,  

it means your computer fell on the ground  broke. Luckily, you're at the repair shop,  

but it means something really different  than to drop off. So make sure that you  

say I dropped off my computer at the repair shop,  or I dropped my computer off at the repair shop.

Then I come home to start my workday. Usually I  catch up on some emails. I go over any lessons  

that I'm going to have for my students, and  sometimes I just call a friend to catch up.  

This phrasal verb to catch up or to catch up on  is often used in daily life and you can probably  

use it in your life too. Let's take a look at  some situations. Let's imagine you've had a  

super busy week and it's the weekend and you look  around and your house is a disaster. Right now,  

my couch is covered in blankets. This table  has papers and everything all over it. Oh boy,  

I need to catch up on chores. I need to catch up  on some cleaning that I didn't do during the week.

Can you guess what this means? There's something  that you've delayed doing, maybe you don't want  

to or you don't have time, and now it's time to  do it. So I could say I need to catch up on some  

emails or I need to catch up on some cleaning, but  I also use this to talk about my friend. I call my  

friend to catch up. Well, it has this same idea.  I haven't talked to my friend for a while and now  

we're talking about everything that's happened  since we last talked. So if you see someone,  

maybe you're in the grocery store and you run  across someone who you haven't seen for a while,  

you might say, "Hey, you want to go get  some coffee and catch up?" That means  

I haven't seen you for a while. I want to hear  everything that's been happening. Let's catch up.

I also said in my little story that I go over some  lessons and this is simply a really common way to  

say review. You can use this in the workplace  a lot. You might ask someone to help you out.  

You could say, "Hey, could you go over this email  before I send it?" Maybe you're writing a really  

important email and you want to make sure you  have everything right. You could ask a coworker,  

"Hey, when you have a second, could you go  over this email before I send it? I would  

really appreciate it." That's so polite. And  also, if the other person is a kind person,  

they might feel good about themselves. "You  think my opinion and my ideas are important  

and worthwhile? Sure, I'll go over that email  for you. I will give it my stamp of approval."

When I finish my work, I pick up my son from  preschool and we head home. This verb to head  

somewhere is used all the time. Let me  give you a couple situations. You might  

say like I just did. I'm heading home.  That means you're going in the direction  

of home. You're not there yet. You're not  stopped, but that's where you're going. I'm  

heading home. Or if someone calls you and  says, "What are you doing?" You could say,  

"I'm heading to the store. I'm headed  to the store." In American English,  

the store usually means the grocery store or the  supermarket. You're going to go buy some food. I'm  

headed to the store. Or if you are ready to go and  everyone else is just taking their good old time,  

you could say, "All right. It's time to head out."  This phrase to head out means out of the house,  

"Come on, it's time to head out. Let's  go." A great way to use to head out.

When we get home, sometimes my son and I have  a little tea party together and chat about his  

day. Usually as we're eating and drinking,  he opens up about his day and if he doesn't  

open up while we're eating, sometimes I ask some  specific questions like, "How many holes did you  

dig today? Did you jump in the leaf pile?" He  goes to an outdoor nature school. So they play  

outside all day, all weather, any season, they're  pretty tough. They have lots of good warm clothes.  

But asking these types of specific questions can  help him to review his day in an easier way. You  

might hear people in movies and TV shows using the  phrase, tell me about your day, or what did you do  

today? Or what did you learn in school today, even  worse. These types of broad questions, usually we  

don't really like to answer, especially at the end  of the day, you feel like you just want to detox,  

decompress, and it's tough to summarize  your day in just a few words like that.

So maybe when you were a kid, if your mom asked  you, "What'd you learn in school today?" You  

probably said, "Nothing." Because it's just  too hard to summarize your day. So if you have  

a significant other, if you have kids, if you're  just asking someone about their day, I recommend,  

first of all, doing something together,  spending some quality time together. You  

don't have to have a tea party, although  I highly recommend it. Very fun. All you  

need is some tea, maybe a little snack, cut  up an apple, have some nuts or dried fruit,  

whatever you like. And just spending quality  time together can help someone to open up. This  

is a phrase we're going to use in just  a minute. I want to tell you about it,  

but I recommend if someone doesn't open up asking  specific questions. This helps someone to recall  

the information that happened to them during the  day. Especially with kids, this is helpful because  

they're just living their life. They're not  thinking about summarizing at the end of the day.

So when you ask a specific question, what game  did you play at recess today? Did you eat anyone  

else's food at lunch today? These specific  questions can help your child to open up. And  

this phrasal verb to open up is beautiful. I love  this concept. When you're talking with someone,  

usually at the beginning there's a wall. You  don't immediately share your deepest thoughts.  

If someone says, "Hey Vanessa. How are you  doing today?" No matter how I'm really feeling,  

I'll always say, "Pretty good. What about  you?" Because I'm not ready to open up in  

those types of passing situations. We're just  not comfortable sharing our inner thoughts. So  

when you spend quality time together, that  wall drifts away a little more and someone  

might be more willing to be vulnerable.  And that's the idea. When you open up...

Vanessa: 

... to be vulnerable. And that's the idea. When  you open up, that means that you are willing to  

talk about your struggles, something difficult  in your life, something really meaningful in your  

life, not just the surface shallow things,  but when you really open up to someone,  

you're being your authentic self. So just  remember these Vanessa tips the next time  

that you want someone to open up to you. All  right, let's go to the next part of my day.

When the weather's nice, usually our neighbors  come over and hang out. Sometimes, we have snacks.  

Sometimes, we play games. Sometimes, we just  chat. But because my backyard is very sunny,  

it's a favorite hangout spot. And this word "to  hang out" can be used in two different ways. It  

can be used as a verb. "We love to hang out in  the backyard." This means to casually spend time,  

usually with other people, we hang  out together. Or, it can be used  

as a noun. "This is a hangout."  Or as an adjective. So, I guess,  

we can use this in three ways. A hangout  spot. So it's describing this location,  

"What kind of location is it?" It's a hangout  spot. It's not a professional place. It's not a  

private place. Instead, it's a hangout spot. It's  where we just go to spend time with other people.

After hanging out with friends, as the sun starts  to go down, usually, we come inside and start to  

cook dinner. While we're eating dinner, we try  to sit down at the table as a family. It's nice  

to try to have a little bit of quality time  together, so we like to ask each other some  

questions. The most common questions, in fact, my  4-year-old son, Theo, loves to ask these to us,  

he asks us one by one, "What was the best part  of your day?" And when everyone has answered,  

he asks, "What was the most challenging part  of your day?" And it's so funny the things  

that kids will say to these questions.  So if you haven't done this in your home,  

if your kids aren't familiar with English, it's  okay. You can ask in your native language. But  

asking these questions helps to kind of prompt  conversation a bit. And when you're opening up  

about the best thing or the most challenging thing  about your day, it kind of encourages the other  

people at the table to open up to, "Oh, what a  great phrasal verb that we just learned about."

There are two phrases I want to share  with you that I just mentioned. One of  

them is as a family. Now, this just means the  group, the whole group, the family group. But  

we can use the same structure in other ways.  We could say as a family, as a neighborhood,  

as a community, as a department, as an office.  So it's talking about all the people that are  

in that group. So for example, you could  say, "It's important to spend some time  

together as a couple without your kids." So  if you have kids, spending time without them  

is very important. So you could say, "As a  couple," just you and your significant other,  

"it's important to be together  without your kids occasionally."

Another expression that I used is quality time.  I already mentioned this when I was talking about  

the tea party. I think I might've mentioned it.  If not having a tea party is good quality time,  

too. But it means that you are not just having  a shallow experience together. It's not rushed.  

You don't have to go anywhere. You're just  enjoying each other's presence. "So I really  

encourage you to try to spend some quality  time with someone this week." It means that  

you don't need to go anywhere. You don't  have any kind of schedule. You have a full  

hour just to take a walk with a friend or to  chat on the phone or to play a game with your  

kids. Something that's quality time. There's  no agenda. You're just enjoying being together.

After dinner, we clean up. We put the kids  to bed, we tuck them in and tell them,  

"Sleep tight!" So one of these expressions that I  used, you have to be very careful about, I said,  

"We put the kids to bed." This means that we  help them sleep. So maybe we brush their teeth,  

we read some books, we sing some songs,  and we help them to relax. When you say,  

"We put the kids to bed," that's what it means.  But you have to be very careful, because if you  

change the word bed for sleep, if you put someone  to sleep, it's very different. Usually, this is  

a pet. So if we said, "I had to put my dog to  sleep last week," it means you had to euthanize,  

which is a nice way to say, "Kill your dog." Maybe  that means he was really old, he was suffering.  

It's a really tough thing to do, but it's often  necessary. So make sure that you do not say,  

"I had to put my kids to sleep." Instead, "I  had to put my kids to bed." Oh, much better.

Of course, if you say your kids, people are  probably going to understand that you mean you  

helped them sleep, but just to make certain that  you're using the best expression, you can say,  

"I put my kids to bed every night at seven  o'clock. I put my kids to bed." Beautiful.  

The final thing that I say to my kids before they  go to bed is, "Sleep tight!" What, tight? This is  

a fun expression that's actually shortened from  another full expression. It is, "Goodnight. Sleep  

tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite." Of course,  we hope you don't have bugs in your bed. This is  

a very old expression. Sometimes, we say that full  expression, "Goodnight. Sleep tight." Sometimes,  

we say, "Goodnight. Sleep tight. Don't  let the bedbugs bite." But oftentimes,  

we just shorten that to, "Goodnight. Sleep  tight," or just "Sleep tight," and it just  

means I hope you sleep well. So if you hear  people say this in English movies or TV shows,  

or if you want to say this yourself, it's great. A  very natural thing to say at the end of the night.

After the kids are in bed, Dan, my husband  and I have some precious downtime. Sometimes,  

we get caught up on chores, maybe  get caught up on a book that reading,  

sometimes just chat about our day and decompress.  This is a great expression, downtime, it means  

you have nothing else to do except decompress  and relax. It's essential to have downtime,  

especially before you go to bed. If you are  looking at Instagram, while you're in your bed,  

oh, no, no, no, stop that right away. It's  very bad for your sleep. You need to have some  

downtime. Give yourself a one-hour pause  before you go to bed to try to slow your  

mind down. Having some downtime with someone you  love or just by yourself, relaxing is essential.

When the day's over, it's finally time to  hit the hay. If I've had a really busy day,  

I might just sleep like a log.  But if I'm feeling a bit stressed,  

or there's a lot going on in my mind, I  might toss and turn a bit before finally  

falling asleep. And fingers crossed  that my children sleep all night,  

so I don't have to wake up in the middle of the  night to help them, and that's my day. Let's  

talk about some of those expressions I just used.  "To hit the hay" does not mean that I'm a farmer,  

and I have a last-minute chore. "At the end of  the day, I need to hit the hay." No. Instead, it  

just means sleep. "I need to hit the hay. My head  needs to go on the pillow, I need to hit the hay."

And I also said that, "I might sleep like  a log." Does a log move? Does a log make  

any sounds? Nope. It's just a tree that fell  over, and there it is. Nice and silent and  

still. It means you slept very soundly, very  quietly and peacefully. But to toss and turn,  

on the other hand, to toss and turn means  that you did not sleep peacefully or at  

least you didn't go to bed peacefully. Your  body and your mind is too active. You tossed  

and turned. And what about the last one I used?  Fingers crossed. This is just a fun way to say,  

"I hope that my kids sleep all night. Fingers  crossed that my kids sleep all night, and me too."

Great work talking about your daily routine in  English. Let's talk about our final conversation  

topic, which is family heritage. Maybe, your  family has always lived in the same town for  

years and years and years. Or maybe your  family is from multiple different places.  

You need to be able to talk about this because  this is an interesting conversation topic. I love  

hearing about where people's families are from.  So let's talk about it in English. Let's go.

All right. Are you ready to get started with  this tragic and romantic love story? I'm going  

to be telling you a section of this story. I will  explain some pronunciation, and then it will be  

your turn to repeat that section of the story with  me. I challenge you to speak out loud. It's great  

to hear my voice and to listen to these lessons,  but I want you to be active. So after each  

section, it is going to be your turn to speak out  loud. Let's listen to the first part of the story.

"At the turn of the century, my  great-grandfather immigrated to  

the US from Naples, Italy. He married a woman  and they had three children together." Let's  

talk about this phrase. At the turn of the  century, when we're talking about a century,  

we're talking about 100 years. So can you  imagine what the turn of the century means? Here,  

we're talking about around 1900. It doesn't  need to be exactly at 1900 or maybe a little  

bit before or after. Any of that timeframe is  okay. When we say "at the turn of the century",  

we can get an idea that it's around 1900. So  you might say, "At the turn of the century,  

a lot of new technologies were being  created that drastically changed humanity."

All right, now that we've talked about this  phrase, let's go back. I'm going to say that  

section of the story again, and then you will see  a pause. I will just be sitting here like this,  

and I will be listening. No matter where you live  around the world, I have magical teacher ears. I  

can hear you. So I want you during the pause  to speak out loud to repeat the words that I  

just said right here. And I want you to use your  speaking voice, listen to yourself using this new  

phrase at the turn of the century, practice  speaking exactly like I did in this story  

section. Are you ready? Let's go. "At the turn  of the century, my great-grandfather immigrated  

to the US from Naples, Italy. He married a  woman and they had three children together."  

Great work with your first repeating section.  Let's go on to the next part of the story.

"Unfortunately, his wife died, so he wrote a  letter to his mother back in Italy. He asked  

her to help him find a new wife who could help him  raise his children." Let's talk about this word,  

"unfortunately." It's quite a long  word, so let's break it down so that  

you can pronounce it as accurately  as possible, un-FOUR-choo-NUT-lee,  

unfortunately, un-FOUR-choo-NUT-lee,  unfortunately. "Unfortunately, I won't be  

able to make it to your party this weekend." All  right, are you ready to repeat the previous story  

segment with me? Let's listen to it again and  then I'll pause, and I will be listening to you  

no matter where you are. Let's go. "Unfortunately,  his wife died, so he wrote a letter to his mother  

back in Italy. He asked her to help him find a new  wife who could help him raise his children." Great  

work with this second section of the story that  you repeated with me. Let's go on to the story.

Remember that my great-grandfather has three  children, his wife died. He asked his mother,  

please help me find a new wife, so that I can have  someone to help raise my children. What happens?  

Let's see. "She found him a wife from their  village, and in her letter, she included his  

future wife's dimensions, so that he could bring a  wedding dress to Italy that would fit her." Let's  

take a look at this word dimensions. First, the  pronunciation, let's break it down, du-MEN-shunz,  

dimensions, dimensions. "So he has his future  wife's dimensions." What does that mean? It's  

talking about her physical measurements, so that  he can take those dimensions, those numbers to a  

tailor and that tailor can create a wedding  dress that will exactly fit his future wife,  

who he's never met before. We can also talk about  dimensions for other things. So if you're building  

a table, you might say, "I need the dimensions  of the table to be five feet by three feet,  

so it exactly fits in my kitchen." Okay,  these are just the physical numbers,  

so that you know the size of an  item, or in this case, a person.

All right, I'm going to repeat that  section of the story. I want you to  

focus specifically on the pronunciation of  the word dimensions, and I want you to speak  

out loud after you hear me repeat the section  one more time. Let's go. "She found him a wife  

from their village, and in her letter, she  included his future wife's dimensions, so  

that he could bring a wedding dress to Italy that  would fit her." Let's continue with the story.

"Typically, in these situations, at the  turn of the century, the woman, the wife,  

would be shipped to the man in the US who she  would marry. This is called a mail order bride.  

But my great-grandfather did things a little  bit differently. He chose to go back home to  

Italy to meet the woman before he married her."  Let's talk about this word shipped. First the  

pronunciation. Notice that at the end there  is a T sound, SHIPT, shipped. Usually, we use  

the word shipped for packages. "I am shipping a  package to my sister, Amazon shipped me my order,  

but a long time ago, apparently, we shipped  people back and forth." So in this situation,  

we're talking about a person, but you are most  likely to use this to talk about a package.

All right, let's repeat this section together,  

and then I want you to say it out loud.  Let's go. "Typically, in these situations  

at the turn of the century, the woman, the  wife, would be shipped to the man in the US,  

who she would marry. This is called a mail order  bride. But my great-grandfather did things a  

little bit differently. He chose to go back home  to Italy to meet the woman before he married her."  

All right, are you ready for  the best part of the story?

"In a twist of fate, he fell in love, not  with the woman his mother had chosen for him,  

but her sister, Antoinette Minolfi."  This phrase, a twist of fate,  

perfectly describes this scenario. "Well,  everything in my family was changed,  

because he married a different woman. I'm here,  because he chose to marry Antoinette Minolfi,  

not the woman his mother had chosen for  him." So here, when we're talking about fate,  

we're talking about destiny, something that  is out of our control. It just happened.

Now, in the story, I used this in a positive  way, "In a twist of fate, maybe a surprising  

way he chose to marry her sister instead." But  we can also use this with one added word to  

talk about really negative situations. We could  add the word cruel. Cruel is like wicked, evil.  

So we could say, "In a cruel twist of fate, she  scored the winning goal, but then she got injured  

and couldn't play any more through the rest of the  season." Well, it was her destiny that even though  

she scored the winning goal, she wouldn't be able  to play the rest of the season. It's something  

that was outside of her control, and it feels a  little bit cruel, wicked, evil, right? Because  

she should be their star player, but instead  she got injured. It was a cruel twist of fate.

All right, now it's your turn to repeat that story  section with me. Let's go. "In a twist of fate,  

he fell in love, not with the woman his mother  had chosen for him, but her sister, Antoinette  

Minolfi." "In their wedding pictures, Antoinette  is wearing the wedding dress that was meant for  

someone else, her sister," this phrase to be meant  for is talking about intention. It was intended  

to go to someone else, but that's not really  what happened. So we could say the award was  

meant for her, but they gave it to someone else by  mistake. Okay. So it was intended for the winner,  

but they accidentally gave it to someone  else instead, it was meant for her. Oops.

All right, now, it's your turn to repeat  this story segment with me and speak out  

loud. Let's go. "In their wedding pictures,  Antoinette is wearing the wedding dress that  

was meant for someone else, her sister." In  my opinion, the dress is symbolic of their  

love story. Even though the dress was meant for  someone else, they were always meant for each  

other. I like this word "symbolic", because  we often use this in these beautiful poetic  

expressions. "The dress is symbolic of their  love story. It represents their love story."  

You could say something like this. "Usually,  a dove is symbolic of peace and hope. This is  

something that reminds us of peace and hope." All  right, now, it's your turn to repeat this story  

segment and speak out loud. "In my opinion,  the dress is symbolic of their love story.  

Even though the dress was meant for someone  else, they were always meant for each other."

"After they got married together, they  immigrated back to the US and had three  

children of their own." This phrase  "of their own" can also be changed  

to "of my own," "of his own," "of your  own". We're talking about ownership,  

something that's belonging to you. I want you  to take a look at this other sample sentence.  

I lived in a small apartment until I had enough  money to buy a house of my own. Notice how the  

subject "I" matches with the pronoun in this  expression "of my own". "I" and "my" need to  

match. And that's what I used in the story. We're  talking about them and their own. Beautiful.

All right, now, it's your turn to repeat the  story segment out loud, let's go. "After they  

got married together, they immigrated back to  the US and had three children of their own."  

Are you ready for some more tragedy in this love  story? Here we go. "Unfortunately, her husband,  

my great-grandfather died, leaving her to raise  six children in a new country on her own." Let's  

talk about this phrase "on her own," because we  just talked about something very similar "of her  

own". But here, we're going to change one word "on  her own", and it's going to completely change the  

meaning. Got to love English, right? So in this  phrase, when we say that she raised the children  

on her own, this means alone, with no help,  she has no husband to help bring in an income,  

to help with the children, to help be a man in  the house. She is on her own, completely alone.

And just like our previous phrase, the pronoun  needs to match the subject. So take a look at  

the sentence. "I film these lessons on my own."  There's no one else here in this room setting up  

the camera or the microphone or the lights. It's  just me here on my own. But having said that,  

"I don't run this business on my own." Here,  we're having the subject. I run the business,  

on my own. I have a lot of wonderful help.  People who help to edit the videos, people  

who help to proofread and make sure that I'm  not making mistakes that are going to teach you  

the wrong things. People who help to create the  content that will help you to learn more English.  

There are wonderful people who are helping  me, but I am filming these lessons on my own.

All right, now, it's your turn to repeat this  story segment, this tragic part of the story.  

Don't worry, it will get better in the next  segment, but I want you to repeat this segment  

out loud. Use your speaking voice. Go ahead.  I'm listening. "Unfortunately, her husband,  

my great-grandfather died, leaving her to raise  six children in a new country on her own."  

"Somehow, my great-grandmother,  Antoinette Manolfi, made it work,  

and she is the beloved matriarch of our family."  Let's talk about this lovely expression,  

beloved matriarch. Here, this first  expression has an "ed" at the end,  

but listen to how it's pronounced, be-LUH-ved.  There is a V and a D side by side, beloved.

You can use this for plenty of things. For  example, "My children have a beloved stuffed  

animal that they love to hug at night." It's  something that they love. It is a beloved  

stuffed animal. In that second word, matriarch,  we often hear the other word patriarch. "It's a  

patriarchal society." We hear that word a lot in  society, in the news and social media. But the  

opposite word is matriarch. Matriarch. Notice  that the end of this word sounds like a K,  

MAY-tree-ark, and this is when a woman is the  one who is the leader. "Antoinette Manolfi is  

the beloved matriarch of my family. She's the  woman who really held together my whole family."

All right, now, it's your turn to repeat  this part of the story. Speak out loud.  

We only have one more speaking section  left to go after this, so give it your  

best. Speak out loud. Here we go. "Somehow,  my great-grandmother, Antoinette Manolfi,  

made it work and she is the beloved matriarch  of our family." Everyone looks up to her,  

and I even had a picture taken with her when I was  a baby. It's amazing how these timelines collide.

Let's take a look at this final phrasal  verb. "To look up to someone." It's not  

that I'm physically looking up,  because she's tall. No. Instead,  

we're talking about respecting someone. Everyone  in my family looks up to Antoinette Manolfi,  

because she kept the family together. She  endured extreme tragedy and hardship. But  

do you know what? Because of her, my family  was able to succeed, and thank goodness, I'm  

here today. I'm so grateful to her. So let's talk  about this great expression to look up to someone.

You could also say this, "One of my French  teachers was exciting, interesting and so helpful.  

When I became an English teacher, I really looked  up to him." This means I respected him. I wanted  

to emulate how he taught, because I loved  that feeling of I'm enjoying learning French,  

and I'm actually learning. So I hope that  that's true for you, that you're enjoying  

learning and you're actually learning English. All  right, let's repeat this final section together.  

Speak out loud, use your voice, and repeat  with me. Let's go. "Everyone looks up to her,  

and I even had a picture taken with her when I was  a baby. It's amazing how these timelines collide."

Well, congratulations on speaking English with  me over the last two hours. You did it. Yes.  

Don't forget to download the free 44-page ebook  with everything that you just learned in today's  

lesson. Every vocabulary phrase, every sample  sentence, every sample conversation, you can  

download this 44-page free ebook by just clicking  the link in the description, entering your email  

address, and I will send you this free 44-page  ebook, my gift to you. Don't forget to enjoy that  

ebook, all of my hard work for you. Well, thank  you so much for learning English with me today,  

and I will see you again next Friday for a  new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.

But wait, do you want more? A lot more?  I recommend checking out this video next,  

more two-hour conversations with me, including,  

why in the world do I have 13 pets? Huh? Let's  talk about it in English, and I'll see you there!