Speak With Me: 1 Hour LIVE English Speaking Practice

Vanessa Prothe: Hello, hello.  

Welcome to this live English lesson  here on the Speak English With Vanessa  

YouTube channel. I'm so excited to celebrate with  you 4 million English learner subscribers from  

around the world. Thank you so much for joining  me today. Today, you're going to have the chance  

to speak American English, practice your speaking  skills, and the goal is to gain some confidence  

so that you can go out and speak in the real world  confidently and be yourself, express yourself the  

way that you want to. So thank you so much for  taking your precious time today to join me live. 

Today, we are going to be talking about your  English learning journey. That's something  

that everyone here has in common. All of you are  learning English, so we all know what it's like to  

know very little in English, and then learn more,  and then learn more, and then feel disappointed or  

frustrated because we're not doing as well as  we thought, and then get motivated again and  

learn more and more. So I thought today, we could  talk about this and also encourage each other. 

As you can see, there are 4 million  subscribers on this channel, and right now  

almost a thousand people who are joining  us live. So you are with your people,  

the people who are on the same journey as you, I  hope you will feel connected and supported by me  

and also by each other. Today I will be asking  some questions, I encourage you to write them  

down, the question and the answer in the chat box.  This will help you to stay active. I'm going to be  

writing as well, kind of old school classroom  style. And I also want to let you know that I  

have a free PDF for today's lesson. This is a free  worksheet with all of today's sample sentences,  

all of the ideas. And you can answer my challenge  question at the bottom of that PDF worksheet. 

There's a link in the description where you  can download that free PDF worksheet. I hope  

it will be useful to you, but please take notes  during this lesson. Of course, like always.  

And I would love to say hello to those of you  who are here live with me. Awesome [inaudible  

00:02:30] Spain. Welcome. Welcome. Thanks for  joining me. Well, we've got India, Brazil, Italy,  

wonderful. Danielle from Italy, thanks for joining  me. Wonderful. Turkey, Brazil, Japan, Egypt,  

France, Iraq, Peru, Columbia, Argentina, Pakistan.  So many wonderful places around the world. 

So, no matter what your background is, you  are on an English learning journey. And  

we are going to talk about it today. If you enjoy  today's lesson and want more speaking practice,  

I'd like to invite you to join me in my course,  The Fearless Fluency Club, where you can be  

motivated with thousands of other English learners  who speak together weekly. I'd like to offer you  

a $60 special discount for this course, but we  can talk about that at the end of this lesson.  

I just want to thank you for joining me today. So, let's get started with a common question  

that when someone finds out that you are  interested in English they might ask you.  

Take a look at this question. I have my clipboard  here today. I told you old school style.  

I would like to know. I'm not sure. Maybe  this is backwards. We'll see. How long  

have you been learning English? Let me know if  this is flipped and we'll just go with the flow.  

How long have you been learning English? This  question has a couple different answers, and I  

would like to know for you, what is true for you? All right. I see Clara says, One year,  

four years, five, six years." Ryan says,  "Five months." Okay. So, I would like to know,  

can you put this in a full sentence? There's  a little trick here. The trick is, this verb  

is pretty complex, it is the present  perfect progressive. I try to say that  

10 times. But the little trick here is, you  know what? We can just use the exact same  

verb tense. So let's do that. Let me use one of  your answers here. I can see that Ava says she's  

been learning English for three years, so let's  write this out here. I, can we use that same verb,  

and I challenge you to try to write your  sentence this exact same way, have been learning  

English, and here we have a special  word, for three years. Awesome. 

So, we added a lovely word four, and that is  the duration of time. So we often use four  

to talk about the duration. How long have you been  learning English? Let's use the same verb tense.  

I have been learning English for three years.  Beautiful. Let me take a look at some of your  

sentences and see how you're doing. Hasha says,  "I have been learning English for three years  

too." Wonderful. Maria says, "I've been  learning English for one year." Awesome.  

Daz says, "I've been learning English  for over four years." Cool. Cool. Thank  

you so much for being here with me. This is a  beautiful way to use this advanced verb tense. 

Now I see that Cheyenne has used this in a  leveled up way. Cheyenne said, "I've ..." With a  

contraction. "I've been learning English for three  years." Very cool. This is an excellent way to  

understand fast English because native speakers  use contractions all the time, but also to make  

your English faster and more natural. We can  combine this and say, I've been learning English  

for three years. So we're going to use this  with, I'll write it out here, a duration of time,  

four, three years. So during that whole three  year process, you have been learning English. 

Is there another way that we can answer this  question? I wonder how could we put a year here?  

So, let's see, we have a great  sentence here. I've been learning  

with 2019. Okay. So when we want to put a date,  this is exactly what we would like to learn next.  

And that is, I'll write this out here for you.  When you want to talk about the starting point,  

maybe something dramatic happened. Maybe  you visited New York City and you thought,  

"I'll be fine. I can probably just find someone  who speaks my native language. It'll be okay.  

I can say hi and thanks." And then you get to New  York City and you think, "My goodness, this is not  

working well. I need to change something." Let's say you could say, I have been  

Learning English, and then  we need a different word. Can  

anyone guess what that next word needs  to be? English. Does anyone know? Since,  

Let's say 2019, when I visited New York City and  I realized, "Oh no, I need to learn more English."  

Yes. You got it. Paul said since. Mark said since.  Georgie said since. You've got it. Yes. So here,  

when we use since, we're talking about a starting  point. So before 2019, I did not learn English,  

but because of that dramatic trip to New York  City, I decided, boom, my life is going to change,  

I'm going to learn English. So, if you could say, I've  

been learning English since 2019. Let's take a  look at some of your sentences. So you already  

told me how long you've been learning English  for, but can you tell me the starting point.  

You could use a date or you could use something  else. Like I've been learning English since  

elementary. Did I spell that right? I did not.  Elementary school. All right. Sometimes it's hard  

to speak and write at the same time. So we could  say this starting point, before elementary school,  

you didn't learn English, but  starting in elementary school  

until today, you have been learning English. So, I've been learning English since elementary  

school. What was that starting point for  you? I'd like to take a look at some of  

your sentences here so that I can say them  out loud and we can also practice together.  

Alpert says, "I've been learning English  since high school." Beautiful. That's often  

a starting point where we're introduced to  a new language or just new things in school.  

Anish says, "I've been learning English  four, six years since elementary school."  

Oh, beautiful way to combine both of these. So you are using the duration, four, you said  

six years, and then since elementary school.  Beautiful, great way to integrate both of those.  

Rashme says, "I've been learning English since  I started learning Japanese." Okay. So you're  

learning both English and Japanese now. And  this is a great way to use this advanced  

verb tense. Beautiful, beautiful. Well,  let's take a look at a couple more sentences,  

and I'd like to give you some more feedback before  we try to say this all together. Jastus says,  

"I've been learning English since last year."  Beautiful way to talk about this starting point. 

I've been learning English since last year. Yamna  says, "I've been learning English since the end of  

2020." Great. And just to let you know, with these  dates, especially starting in 2000, you can say  

2020, no problem. Or you can say 2020. This is  great. So we've got a couple of different options.  

Rajan says ... Oh, I'm sorry, your comment passed  by so quickly that I missed it. Rosari says,  

"I've been studying English for a couple years."  Oh, so here we have another preposition that we  

can add. And that's talking about the duration  of time, for a couple years. Beautiful. 

Gian Lucas says, "I've been learning English since  I was 10 years old." Wow. So you've had a lifetime  

unless you're 11 years old, you've had a lifetime  of learning English. Very cool. Very cool.  

Bonnie says, "I've been learning English since  I moved to New York." That's lovely. And you are  

using the past tense here. So you said I've been  learning English since, I'll write it out here, I  

moved to New York. So this is something that  happened in the past, and that's a great way  

to use the correct verb tense at the end of  this sentence, I moved to New York. Beautiful. 

All right. Let me read a couple more of these,  and then we're going to say one of these sentences  

altogether, everyone around the world, all 2000 of  us today. Evelyn says, "I've been learning English  

since the pandemic started." So here you're  saying started with a past tense, beautiful way  

to use this. And I imagine you're not alone.  A lot of people have been learning English  

since the pandemic started, trying to find a  positive way to spend all of that crazy time. 

All right, before we go on to my second common  question that people often ask when we're talking  

about our English learning journey, I'd like to  say a sentence altogether with everyone around  

the world. I'd like you to warm up your English  speaking muscles a little bit here. I've been  

reading your sentences, you've been writing your  sentences, you've been preparing your mind, but  

let's go to the next level and say them out loud. So, I would like everyone here ... I'm going  

to write this in the chat box.  I'd like everyone here to say  

with the contraction, let's practice the  contraction. I've been learning English since, how  

about this, I found Vanessa's channel. I  hope this has been an inspiration to you.  

Let's say this sentence altogether. Are you ready?  I've been learning English since I found Vanessa's  

channel. So this was the starting point. Maybe it  was seven years ago when I first started, maybe it  

was last month, but this was the starting point.  I've been learning English since I found Vanessa's  

channel. I hope that's been helpful to you. All right, let's go on to our second conversation  

question that you will most likely be asked,  especially if someone else is interested in  

learning English. I thought because there's  2000 people here watching right now, and  

more people will also watch the replay  after this, maybe 4 million people from  

this channel, let's help each other with this  question. I would like to know how do you  

Learn English? So this is not a general  question. This is for you specifically,  

what has helped you to learn English? In this way we can imagine giving someone advice.  

Let's imagine here that David and Veronica  are talking, even though you're from all  

around the world, they're talking and  saying, "Oh, you're learning English too?  

How do you learn English? What has worked for  you?" And you're trying to give each other  

some tips or advice. I'd like to know some of  your ideas and then we'll put it together in a  

beautiful sentence using some advanced grammar and  yes, lovely verb tenses. All right. Let's see what  

people have to say here. Amin says  podcast. Jenky, says songs. Cheyne says,  

by hitting the books. Great expression.  That means to read a lot. Lovely. By  

watching YouTube videos. Excellent. Excellent. Koch Chang says by watching movies. Lovely.  

Lovely. Okay, so let's take Amin's sentence  here about podcasts. We could say, I listen  

to podcasts, and then we're going to add the  word to. What is your reason for listening to  

podcasts? Hmm. Maybe to learn new vocabulary,  maybe to improve your listening skills. Maybe  

just to have a fun time, and it happens to be in  English. So we could say, I listen to podcasts to  

improve my listening skills, for example. 

If you are an intermediate English  learner and you can understand mostly me,  

and you'd like to challenge yourself a bit, I  recommend the podcast Stuff You Should Know. It's  

an excellent podcast about tons of different  topics. They have short podcasts that are 15  

minutes. They have longer episodes that are an  hour and the two guys chat back and forth a bit,  

but they also stick to the subject. So it's  a great way to expand your vocabulary about a  

specific subject that you might be interested in. All right, let's take a look at this sentence.  

I listen to podcasts to improve my listening  skills. First of all, while I'm talking about  

this, I'd like you to reform your answers  using the sentence structure. First, we have a  

present simple verb tense, I listen, it's  not I'm listening. It's not I have listened.  

This is simply I listen. It's a habit, it's  something that you do regularly. I listen to  

podcasts, you could say, because I want to improve  my listening skills. That's okay. No problem. 

But if you want to keep it short and simple,  oftentimes advanced English speakers will  

just say, to improve my listening skills.  I listen to podcasts. Why? Well, this is  

the reason, to improve my listening skills.  Excellent advice. Let's take a look at a  

couple other of your sentences, and we'll try  to form them into this type of structure with  

present simple, and then a reason  to. Let's see what you have to say. 

Dennis says, "I joined The Fearless  Fluency Club to become a fluent speaker."  

Lovely. Well, I'll tell you more about The  Fearless Fluency Club at the end of this.  

Santosh says, "I learn English by watching movies,  YouTube and practicing it every day." Okay. So  

here we're using this simple verb tense, I learn,  or we could say I watch movies. I watch movies  

to improve my daily English vocabulary. Great.  People use normal words, it's not academic,  

generally depending on the TV show or the  movie, but we could say, I watch movies to  

learn real English. I watch movies  to improve my listening skills maybe,  

or just to have a good time. Let's take  a look at some of your other sentences. 

All right. I watch YouTube videos to expand  my vocabulary. Alberto, beautiful sentence.  

I watch YouTube videos. Why? What's the reason?  To expand my vocabulary. So here, this is just  

the ... we call that the infinitive. If you  want to deep dive into grammar, I know I've  

been throwing around a lot of grammar words and  you guys are doing excellently. This is the real  

practical way to use it, to improve my English  skills or to understand more vocabulary. Lovely.  

Veronica ask, "Could you repeat the podcast that  you mentioned?" Yes. The podcast that I mentioned  

is called Stuff You Should Know. I'll write that  out here. Stuff You Should Know. Lovely podcast.  

There's plenty of others as well, but  that's one that I enjoy listening to. 

Let's take a look at Natsennit says, "I listen  to YouTube videos." Okay maybe you listen to  

them or you watch them. I enjoy YouTube videos  to get used to real American English. Beautiful  

sentence. I watch YouTube videos to get used  to, you're using to get used to as well. This  

means to feel more comfortable with something.  I need to get used to listening to fast English,  

not just stuff from a textbook, I need to get used  to real English. That's why you're here to learn  

how people really speak so that when you  visit New York City, like my example earlier,  

you're not shocked to be able to do this. Lovely. Prasad says, "I follow US vloggers to learn  

American slang." Beautiful grammar. I love it. I  love it. I follow US vloggers to learn American  

slang. Lovely. All right. Before we go to our  practice conversation together, I would like to  

say one sentence altogether. No matter where  you are around the world, I hope that you can  

use those pronunciation speaking muscles, and I'm  going to write it out here. I watch YouTube videos  

to learn real English. Okay. I imagine this  is true for all of you, because you are here  

right now on YouTube. I imagine you are probably  here so that you can learn real American English. 

So, let's say the sentence  altogether. Are you ready?  

I watch YouTube videos to learn real English. I  watch YouTube videos to learn real English. So if  

Nalitta was talking with Amad, two  of our friends who are here today,  

and Nalitta says, "Hey, how do you learn English?  Your English is great. What has worked for you?"  

He might say, "Oh, I watch YouTube videos." And  Nalitta might ask Amad, "Why do you do that?  

That seems like it takes a lot of time."  And he said, "Oh, I watch YouTube videos  

to learn real English. I decided not to study  textbooks, and YouTube has been the way to go. I  

watched YouTube to learn real English. Lovely. Let's read a couple more of these sentences.  

I try to read some English textbooks to understand  paragraphs. Okay. So if your goal is to understand  

more academic English, or maybe you need to, or  you just want to improve your reading skills.  

Well, you might say, I try to read, try here is  our simple verb. Or we could just say, I read,  

I read some English textbooks, maybe medical  journals, maybe some academic journals or  

books. I read some English books to ... Why?  What's the reason? To understand paragraphs,  

to understand how Senate structure is formed. And  thank you for bringing this up because reading is  

an excellent way to boost your vocabulary. I think  it's a good way to have a fun time. Personally I  

love to read, I have many videos on my channel  about reading, book recommendations, all of this. 

So if you would like any of  those in the description of  

almost all of my videos, there is a  link to my book recommendations. So,  

children's book recommendations, beginner,  adult book recommendations, nonfiction, American  

books about life in the US, or American books,  if you're interested in the cultural side,  

I hope that will be just helping you to expand  your vocabulary and your interest in English.  

When you immerse yourself, that's when you  have the best time and you improve the most. 

All right, let's go on to our practice  conversation. What I would like you to do  

for this part is, I'd like you to take a deep  breath wherever you are around the world,  

are you ready? Let's take a deep breath, will help  to calm your body and your mind. And I would like  

you to speak out loud during this part. Imagine  that we're having a conversation, whether that is  

something that makes you feel excited or  something that makes you feel nervous,  

let's do it together. Are you ready? Let's  take a deep breath. Maybe one more time. 

Okay. Let's imagine this scene. You are visiting  New York, you're walking along the streets. You  

decide to turn into Central Park. It's so green  and it's a beautiful day. The sky is blue and  

you see someone throwing a frisbee. I love  to throw a frisbee. That's why I wrote this.  

You see someone throwing a frisbee, and you  slowly walk up to that person because they  

look a little familiar, and then  you say, "Vanessa, is that you?"  

And I turn to you and I say ... So this  is the beginning of our conversation,  

I'm going to be asking you a question and then  I'll pause, and I would like you to try to  

speak out loud and answer. After we go through  this, I'll go back and give you a sample answer  

so that you can just have an idea about what  you could say. But let's practice together. 

So I'm throwing the frisbee and you say, "Vanessa,  is that you?" And I turn to you and say, "Hi,  

yeah, I'm Vanessa. What's your name?"  All right? I want you to say out loud,  

you can say, "Hi, I'm Mark or hi, I'm Adith. Hi,  I'm Marie." So you can say this out loud and you  

can write it in the chat box as well. Are you  ready? "Hi. Yes, I'm Vanessa. What's your name?  

It's nice to meet you. Where are you from?"  So you can speak out loud. Tell me that  

and write it in the chat box. "It's so  nice to meet you. Where are you from?  

Oh, thank you so much for learning English with  me. How long have you been learning English?"  

This is your chance. So you can use, I've been  learning English since a time or you can use,  

I've been learning English for a  duration of time. This is your chance  

to use this sentence structure. Let me ask you one more time.  

"Thanks so much for learning English with  me. How long have you been learning English?"  

I see here some great sentences. So  here Bonnie says, "I've been learning  

English since I moved to New York, about  seven years ago." Oh, this is your home.  

Venus says, "I've been learning English since  two years ago or four, two years." Elum says,  

"I've been learning English since 2016." "Lovely.  Wow. That's great. I hope you're having a great  

time in New York. And I'm curious, how do  you learn English? Your English is awesome." 

This is your chance to answer the  question. How do you learn English?  

"Let me know. What's your secret. Your English  is awesome. What are you doing that's working,  

I would love to know. For me, even  though I'm not an English learner,  

this is something that I'm always curious  about. First of all, I am a language lover,  

I'm also a lifelong French learner. So  maybe your tips will help me for French,  

but also as an English teacher, I always want  to know what works for my students so that I can  

recommend that to other people, and just  so I can help my students more effectively.  

So, I want to know, how do you learn English? What  do you do? Your English is awesome. Let me know." 

It's your chance to say that out loud and  then I'll read it in the comments. Go ahead.  

"I learn English by practicing it every day to  become a better speaker." Lovely. Eleanor says,  

"I think and talk in English to improve my  confidence." So you think and you talk in English  

maybe to yourself to improve your English. This  is a lovely sentence. You know what? I'm going to  

write this out in the chat box here so that others  can see this as well. I think and talk to myself  

in English to improve, let's say to grow,  that's a lovely verb, to grow my confidence. 

I know a lot of you do this when you  maybe are driving to work and you think,  

"What do I need to do at work today?" Well, first  of all, I need to sign in and then I need to look  

through my papers. And after that, I probably  have to go to a meeting, blah, blah, blah,  

blah, blah. You talk about your day to yourself  in English. This is a beautiful way to start  

growing your confidence, especially if right now  you feel really nervous about speaking English to  

someone else. If you ran into me in Central Park  and you were so nervous that you just turned away  

and didn't speak with me. Well, this is a great  way to get started to speak just to yourself where  

no one else is listening and there's no pressure. All right, let's continue with this conversation.  

So I said, "I'm curious, how do you  learn English? Your English is awesome."  

And you said, Zora says, "I watch YouTube  channels to improve my English skills." Great.  

And I say, "Wow, you are really dedicated to  improving your English. Thanks for saying hi  

to me and keep up the great work with  English. I'll see you on YouTube. Bye."  

Congratulations. First of all, you had  the confidence to speak and you did it.  

Now take a deep breath. We're going to do  this again a little bit faster. I'm going  

to go through it. I'm not going to give any  explanations or tips, I'm just going to speak  

and ask you the questions in our conversation  and you'll have a chance to say it again. So,  

that was a practice. This is the real deal. You really see me throwing a frisbee and say, "Oh,  

Vanessa, is that you?" And I say, "Hi.  Yes, I'm Vanessa. What's your name?  

Oh, it's so nice to meet you. Where are you from?  

Thanks so much for learning English with  me. How long have you been learning English?  

Wow, that's great. I hope you  have a good trip to New York.  

Now, I'm curious. How do you learn  English? Your English is awesome.  

Wow. You are really dedicated to improving your  English. Thanks so much for learning with me.  

Keep up the great work with English, and I'll see  you on YouTube. Bye." You did it. And you walk  

away from that conversation and go, "I did it." I hope that helped you to use what you learned  

today, grow your skills a little bit and to gain  some confidence because really that's the trick,  

is when you have more confidence, it doesn't  matter if you know the perfect verb tense,  

the perfect words to use. When you have the  confidence to be able to speak even just  

a little bit more than you had at the  beginning of this lesson, you'll be able  

to take those opportunities to speak, which will  eventually help you to grow your skills as well.  

So, I hope that this has helped you. And if speaking with someone makes  

you feel very nervous, this is very normal. I  recommend practice speaking with someone who  

makes you feel comfortable. Maybe that's a teacher  at your school, maybe that's a friend, maybe it's  

a coworker, maybe you have an American coworker  who is living in your country and you say, "Hey,  

do you want to get some coffee after work today?"  Or maybe not coffee if it's late at night.  

"Do you want to go get a drink after  work tonight?" And you spend some time  

chatting together. This is kind of low  pressure, you're not giving a presentation,  

you're not trying to book an important event for  your trip. You're just chatting with someone. 

Speak with someone who you feel comfortable with  first. Maybe that's just yourself speaking alone  

in your car, like I mentioned before, but when you  speak with someone who makes you feel comfortable,  

it can help you to grow your confidence. If  you don't have someone who you feel comfortable  

speaking with right now, that's the question.  That's the big question. How can I find someone  

who I can feel comfortable speaking with? Well,  let me say no one understands exactly how you feel  

except for another English learner. So when  English learners come together and speak together,  

they understand exactly how each other are  feeling. "Oh, you feel nervous too?" "Yeah,  

my heart is racing. Okay. Let's just take a  moment. Oh, I'm sorry. I said the wrong word."  

"Oh, I'm sorry, I said the wrong word too." "Oh,  we both said the wrong word. Oh, it's okay. Yes." 

When you speak with someone else who's learning  English, you can encourage each other and really  

help each other. And that is something that my  thousands of students in The Fearless Fluency  

Club English course do, motivated English learners  speak together from around the world each week,  

they practice English, but most importantly, they  encourage each other and help each other to speak  

together. So, if you don't have anyone who you  feel like you could speak with comfortably,  

I recommend joining the course and learning  real American English, will help you to speak  

confidently, express yourself, and I think in the  end, help you to feel good about your progress. 

Sometimes when you're an intermediate English  learner, you think, "I haven't been progressing.  

I've just been learning the same things.  And I just can't remember anything." So,  

something needs to change. If you feel like, I  just reached, we call it a plateau. Well, that's  

kind of a sign that something needs to change.  If you have been, like everyone mentioned here,  

listening to podcasts, watching movies, watching  my YouTube videos. Great. This has helped you to  

get to that point. But now if it's plateaued or  leveled out, something needs to change to help  

you get to the next level. And usually that means  taking some big action, maybe something that makes  

you feel a little bit nervous, some risk. And  usually that is speaking when it comes to English. 

So, I recommend if you don't have someone to speak  with, join us in The Fearless Fluency Club, we do  

not learn classroom English, you will learn real  American English spoken by real American English  

speakers, and you'll learn real vocabulary so that  you don't waste your time with unimportant words.  

I know there are often lists that say, "Learn  5,000 English words right now in 10 minutes."  

Do you think this is practical? Absolutely  not. Our brains were not meant for that  

type of information, but in The Fearless  Fluency Club, you will learn real vocabulary,  

only the most important words that will help you  to express yourself in a lot of different topics. 

You'll also learn real phrasal verbs so that  you can fluently use them in daily conversation.  

If you have been learning English  on my YouTube channel for a while,  

you know that phrasal verbs are not just  useful in English, they are essential.  

They are everywhere. So, this will be an important  puzzle piece in your English learning journey.  

And you will also learn real American English  pronunciation so that you can speak naturally  

and clearly, this doesn't mean that you will  completely lose your native accent. That is  

part of who you are. It shows people, "Hey, that  guy knows more than one language, that's awesome." 

But we will help you to be able to speak clearly,  which will also boost your confidence. Because  

I know when you're speaking and you try to say  something and the other person continues to say,  

"Sorry, I didn't understand. What  was that? Can you say that again?"  

That can be really frustrating because at least  for me, when that has happened to me in French,  

I feel like I know what I was trying  to say. Why can't they understand?  

Am I not saying it right? And you  just lose a lot of confidence. 

So when your pronunciation  is clear and understandable,  

great, you can grow that confidence because  other people will be able to speak with you  

and they won't be constantly asking, "What'd  you say? What was that?" They'll just have  

a good time talking with you. That makes them  feel good, makes you feel good. It's beautiful.  

I was just saying that in The Fearless Fluency  Club, there is a chance to be able to speak  

together and really feel connected to other people  in our community Facebook group. So we have a  

Facebook group, and each Sunday I give a  live Facebook lesson, just like this one.  

So you are able to connect with me,  connect with other English learners.  

And it's a good chance to get feedback from  me because you're able to ask me questions  

each week, you can also contact me through email. But it feels like you are part of the community,  

and I think that this special piece of the  internet is a beautiful place. So I hope that  

when you join The Fearless Fluency Club, you enjoy  being welcomed by thousands of motivated English  

learners, and you can start to speak together.  So, if you are ready to take your English to the  

next level, feel free to join me in The Fearless  Fluency Club. There is a link in the description  

to get a $60 discount. This is going to help you  join with less risk. I also offer a $30 or 30 day  

refund. No questions asked. So if you join the  course, get $60 off and you think, "Maybe this  

actually isn't for me." Just send me an email,  "Vanessa, sorry. I don't think this course is  

for me." I'll say, "Okay, no problem. You have  a refund immediately. No hassle, no problems." 

And I hope that it will provide a low risk  way for you to join the course, because  

I have no doubt, I am fully confident that  it will help you to improve your confidence,  

express yourself and finally feel like you are  part of an English family where you can, yes,  

use your English that you love and that you can  take that into the real world. That's the goal.  

So there's a link in the description where you  can join The Fearless Fluency Club for $60 off.  

Yes. Thank you so much for writing this out in  the comment, Sivan. Wonderful, wonderful. Yes. 

Before we go today, I would like to thank you  for learning English with me and for celebrating  

4 million subscribers. How wonderful with this  live English lesson, I would like to know, before  

we go, if you have any questions for me, we have  about 10 minutes. So if you have any questions,  

this is your chance. Yafi asked, "Would you  offer a scholarship for your English course?" So  

this discount is like a scholarship. This  is something from my pocket where I say,  

"I'm going to give up this $60 and say,  you can join the course. No problem." And  

I hope it will be a low risk, wonderful  way to be able to join the course. 

Mauricio has a question. Thank you, Mauricio for  

using ... there is a super chat feature where  you can send money. Thank you. $5, very generous.  

And ask me a question and it shows up nice and  green. Mauricio ask, "I choose some YouTube  

videos and then I try to write subtitles for them  to improve my listening. Is this a good idea?"  

This is a fabulous idea if you are writing the  subtitles in English. This type of practice is  

called dictation. You're listening to something  and then you're writing it down exactly. 

And the best way to do a dictation  is when you are listening to  

real English, not something that is just from  a textbook, some real English conversations.  

So maybe that's YouTube videos, maybe  it's your favorite podcast, real English,  

and you're writing down what they say, and there  is a good transcript. So you can go back and check  

your work. So for all of my YouTube videos,  for example, and a lot of videos on YouTube,  

there is subtitles that the creator, so for me, I  put those subtitles in there. It's not automatic.  

It's not just AI. This is something that I have  checked to make sure it's accurate, 98% accurate. 

So, after you write down the subtitles,  you can go back and check and say, "Oh,  

I thought they said this, but really they said  this." That's like you becoming your own teacher.  

You were using those resources in a great way.  So, that is excellent idea. All right. I saw  

one other question here. Leander says, "Thank  you so much, you're amazing. I love you,  

you're the only person I can understand 90%." Oh,  Leander. Thank you so much for your super chat.  

Awesome. And your kind comments. You know what? When I first started teaching  

English on YouTube, I was very surprised because  I heard this. A lot of people said, "Vanessa,  

you're the only American I can understand.  Or you're the first native speaker that I  

can understand." I was just so surprised, and  it made me feel good because it's helping you.  

When you can understand you're growing your  confidence and you get excited, like you just  

said, but I was surprised because I thought,  "Oh, I'm speaking pretty quickly, but people  

can also understand, this is great." So, I'm  very glad to hear that. I want to make sure that  

you can understand mostly what I'm saying. That's  excellent. So thank you so much for sharing that. 

Nana says, "I'm getting tired  of studying English these days,  

could you give me some motivation  please?" Yes, Nana. My motivation is this.  

I encourage you to find a new way, it seems like  you need a change, find a new way to use English.  

Maybe you're a big reader. Find a new book that  interests you. Maybe that means joining The  

Fearless Fluency Club, and being hugged warmly by  all of the people in the course that say, "Nana,  

you can do it. Yeah. Meet with me on Saturday,  we're having a Zoom call. Let's chat together." 

Find a new way to use English. This is going to  spark your interest, but also it does something  

biologically to our brains. It produces some  more dopamine, some excitement for newness. So,  

absolutely decide you need to turn a page and  try something new. That is my motivation to you.  

Anna Paula, thank you so much for your kind  super chat. Anna Paula says, "Thank you so much,  

very much for helping me learn English. I'm  from Brazil." Thank you so much, Anna Paula,  

I would love to visit Brazil someday. I've heard  it is a beautiful place, gigantic country. Maybe I  

would need to spend like three months visiting  everywhere, but that would be fantastic. 

Vishvi says, "Could you explain a little  bit more about the club you just introduced  

and how it works?" Yes. So, the link in the  description is for The Fearless Fluency Club,  

and there are three levels, beginner,  intermediate, and advanced. There's a  

little question to help you find the right level.  You can always change levels if you need to. This  

is no hassle, you try the course and you think,  "I think I'm not beginner, I'm intermediate."  

Cool. Send me an email. I can help  you change for free. No problem.  

And you will have five months worth of  English lessons. There are five modules,  

I recommend studying one per month, and each  module you will meet a new native English speaker. 

So I have a conversation with a native English  speaker for 30 minutes about a new topic,  

and from that conversation, there is a  vocabulary video, a grammar lesson with  

phrasal verbs pronunciation lesson, and you will  be able to, and there's quizzes for all of this,  

there's the Facebook group for all of this, but  each of those vocabulary words, each of those  

phrasal verbs, and all of those pronunciation  points come from that conversation. So this is  

all coming from real English. And that's my  goal, is to really introduce you to real English,  

how real people will speak so that when you  visit New York City, you're not too shocked. 

So, this is something that you can take into  the real world. And then you can go to the next  

module where you'll meet another native English  speaker, having a conversation with me for 30  

minutes about another topic. And you'll learn all  that vocabulary, all those phrasal verbs, all that  

pronunciation, there's worksheets and exercises,  and plenty of ways that you're able to use that  

information in the real world and practice it  so that you don't forget it. I hope that helps.  

Sylvia, thank you so much  for your kind generosity.  

Alberto, thank you so much for joining  me. Alberto says, "Good morning,  

it's nice to see you live." Thank you so much for  joining me. I know that your time is so precious. 

Amin says, "Can we contact you via email in the  course?" Yes. I am always available via email.  

When you join my English course, you can email  me questions about the course material. You can  

answer the homework questions and send them to me.  This could be written sentences. It could be audio  

sentences. You can record your voice and I'll give  you some pronunciation feedback. And this is all  

related to the course material. So when you study  the course material, you say, "Hey, I was studying  

module three about weddings, and I was trying  to figure out how I can use this phrase myself.  

Here's a sentence. Did I say it correctly?" And  I can give you personal feedback about that. 

That is, I think, one of the biggest benefits  of joining a course compared to YouTube,  

you can learn so much on YouTube, but  this can help you to have feedback,  

personal feedback, and be guided through the  material instead of learning this thing and  

then you learn that thing and then you  learn this thing, you're guided through  

the material in a way that will help you to  really make progress and make steps forwards.  

Novaya says, "I have a simple question. How are  you Vanessa? I love you." I'm doing very well.  

I felt quite nervous at the beginning  of this live lesson because it has been  

three years since, to use a lovely word, since  I last made a live lesson here on YouTube. 

So I'm a little bit out of practice, but I hope  that this was interesting and useful to you.  

Hoziah says, "Are there Zoom classes? How can I  participate?" Yes. So, each week students organize  

Zoom calls, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp calls,  Skype calls individually. This is student  

organized. And part of the mindset behind this  is actually from an organization called AA. AA is  

Alcoholics Anonymous for people who are addicted  to alcohol. They go to this organization,  

and the organization can help them to, we call  it become sober, to release themselves from their  

addiction and start to live a healthy life again. But the philosophy in AA is only an addict can  

help an addict. Well, you are not addicts. Maybe  you're addicted to English, but this is the idea  

that an English learner can help another English  learner. And this organization, AA has had,  

I think, over a 100 years, but hundreds  and thousands and millions of people have  

gone through this organization, and they  have been released from their addiction  

because other people who were addicted have bonded  together and helped each other to rise out of  

their difficulties and supported each other. They felt completely understood by the other  

people in the organization. And that's  the idea without the addiction part,  

that helps a lot of people who join the course  feel that almost that same feeling like lost.  

"What am I going to do now? I don't feel  motivated anymore. I've tried everything."  

And so, when they join this course  and feel supported by other members,  

other English learners around the  world, all of a sudden you feel like  

you're in a community and you're not alone. So I hope that this will help you to rise up  

out of those feelings of maybe being lost or alone  or not certain about what to do with English,  

because you are connected with other people.  That was a long explanation, but I feel very  

inspired by that model, and I hope it will help  you too. Yasin says, "How can I find those people  

who do Zoom calls? Yes. In our Facebook group,  it is right there. So, when you join the course,  

you get access to the Facebook group and there  are Zoom calls. You can join. A lot of people  

also meet one on one. So this is a great way to  find a good friend around the world, but also be  

able to have more speaking time and connect. Some of these people have also met around  

the world, traveled from Brazil to Italy and met  each other. Very cool. But this is a good way to  

connect with someone else and keep each  other accountable. That's a good word to use.  

Fatim says, "Are we going to get a vocabulary  video on YouTube for next week?" Well, do you know  

what? Next week I have a very special video for  you? It is one that's a little difficult for me to  

film because it's not right here in my studio,  it is around my house. That's a little hint.  

Yeah, maybe it's especially tricky in some ways  to present to you, but I hope it will be useful  

to you. I'll just leave it as a mystery. But yes, you will learn vocabulary,  

some phrasal verbs and some practical daily  life English in next week's YouTube video.  

Well, before we go today, I would like everyone  around the world, no matter where you are living  

to say this sentence with me out loud. We  are going to use what we've learned today,  

and I hope it will be helpful  to you. Are you ready?  

I watch Vanessa's YouTube lessons to  grow my confidence each week. Okay.  

So a little brainwashing here.  We're going to say this sentence,  

but it's also using this, the information and  grammar and vocabulary from today's lesson. 

I would like you to say this sentence out loud  with me to conclude today's lesson. At the end,  

my lessons, I like to end of my live lessons. So  we do this in our Facebook group as well in the  

course at the end of the lesson, I like to have  one conclusion sentence that we all say together,  

can help us to feel connected, but  also to remember what we've learned.  

Are you ready? Let's say this together. I watch  Vanessa's YouTube lessons to grow my confidence  

each week. I watch Vanessa's YouTube  lessons to grow my confidence each week. 

I hope this is true for you, you'll join me again  next Friday, because each Friday I have a new  

lesson here on my YouTube channel. Don't forget  to download the free PDF worksheet for today's  

lesson. There is a link in the description and you  can download this PDF, you can print it out, put  

it down to your pillow while you sleep. You can  study it, and I hope that it will be helpful to  

you so that you don't feel alone in your English  journey, and you enjoy yourself. You have a good  

time and stay motivated. So you can download this  free PDF worksheet. You can also join us in The  

Fearless Fluency Club and get $60 off. So the link  in the description is a special link that will get  

you $60 off. This is like just in this one place. So, make sure that you use that link if you would  

like to get $60 off. If you want to pay the full  price, you can use another link, but I don't know  

why. You can click on that link and get $60 off  and we will be waiting for you in The Fearless  

Fluency Club. I would love to continue to help you  become a confident English speaker. Well, thank  

you so much for learning English with me, and I  will see you again next Friday for a new lesson  

here on my YouTube channel. Bye everyone. Bye  Sandaya. Bye Sophia. Bye Maral. Bye Kelly.  

Thanks so much for joining me. Bye Ruth. Thanks  so much. I'll see you again next week. Bye.