Repeat with me: English speaking practice

Today I'm going to tell you a tragic and romantic  love story. And we are going to use this story to  

help you level up your English-speaking skills.  The best way to improve your speaking skills is  

to shadow what someone else is saying. Shadowing  means that you are repeating directly after  

someone else when they speak. So if you would  like to speak clearly and confidently like I  

will in this lesson, stick around because you  are about to level up your speaking skills.

Hi, I am Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com,  and like always, I have created a free  

PDF worksheet with all of today's  important vocabulary, pronunciation,  

and speaking tips so that you can level up  your English-speaking skills. You can click  

on the link in the description to download that  free PDF worksheet today. It is my gift to you.

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. Shipped. 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 use 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, "On 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. 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 this 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  Minolfi, 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 E-D at the  end, but listen to how it's pronounced. Beloved.  

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 and the news and  

social media, but the opposite word is matriarch.  Matriarch. Notice that the end of this word sounds  

like a K. Matriarch. And this is when a woman is  the one who is the leader. Antoinette Minolfi 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 Minolfi, 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 Minolfi 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, thank you so much for repeating with me to  this lovely, tragic and romantic love story in  

my family. I hope that you are able to speak out  loud and improve your English-speaking skills by  

listening to your voice and challenging yourself  to speak out loud. Don't forget to download  

the free PDF worksheet that goes with this  lesson. It includes all of the key vocabulary,  

pronunciation points, and speaking points that  we talked about in this lesson. Plus, at the  

bottom of the worksheet, you can answer Vanessa's  challenge question and you can tell me about an  

important moment in your family's history using  the vocabulary from this lesson. I can't wait  

to help you. You can click the link below this  video to download that free PDF worksheet today.

Well, thanks so much for learning English with  me and I'll see you again next Friday for a new  

lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. But wait,  do you want more? I recommend watching this video  

next where you will repeat with me an embarrassing  story of something that happened to me a long time  

ago. You should check out that video to find  out what happened, and I'll see you there.