Speak With Me: 2 Hour English Speaking Practice

Vanessa: Hi. I'm Vanessa  

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

What do you do? Where do you want to  go? What are you up to this weekend?  

Could you answer these questions in English?  In today's English lesson, you will practice  

speaking with me about seven of the most common  conversation topics in English. We will practice  

vocabulary, questions, sample conversation,  plus, you will have the chance to have a sample  

conversation practice conversation with me too. Over the past year, I have made seven Speak With  

Me lessons, and today I have combined them all in  a very useful lesson where you can practice them  

for the next two hours. To help you never forget  what you've learned, I've created a gigantic  

free PDF worksheet using all of the vocabulary,  phrases, questions, sample sentences, and some  

challenge questions so that you can never forget  what you've learned. You can download this free  

PDF worksheet with the link in the description.  All right. Are you ready to get started? 

We are going to be talking about  these topics today. Drum roll.  

Let's get started with the  first one, weekend plans.  

Are you ready to learn the  most important conversation  

question of all time? At least according to  me. Is that question, what's your name? No.  

Is that question, will you give me money? No. Is  that question, do you love me? No, no, no. The  

most important conversation question is, there's  actually two parts. What about you? How about you? 

When someone asks you about your weekend  plans and you say a little reply, "I'm going  

hiking." "I'm not doing much." There might be an  incredibly awful awkward pause. What happens next?  

Well, this is where the most important question  comes in. You can ask them, "What about you?"  

"How about you?" You can imagine  tossing a ball back and forth.  

The other person has asked you a question. "What  are you doing this weekend?" They throw you the  

ball. Now you reply and you say, "Okay, I'm  going hiking." Or, "I'm not doing much." 

You need to throw or toss the ball back  to that person, and this question does  

that. How about you? It means you are  asking the same question back to them.  

"What are you doing this weekend? How about you?"  I want you to remember this wonderful question,  

either of them, actually, they have  the exact same meaning. How about you?  

What about you? Remember these questions because  later when we practice this at the end of this  

lesson, during our conversation, speaking  time, remember these questions and use them. 

All right, let's go to some common vocabulary  that you can use to talk about weekend plans.  

Brunch. Many Americans love brunch. The word  brunch is a combination of breakfast and lunch  

and that's because we usually eat this on the  weekends, maybe a Saturday morning or a Sunday  

morning, between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM. It's a  time when you could eat either breakfast or lunch,  

and it's usually a long social event. You  might go out to brunch with your friends, or  

have your friends to your house to eat brunch. "My friends and I are meeting at our favorite  

brunch spot on Sunday." Great.  It's a restaurant where you can eat  

breakfast type foods usually with some alcoholic  drink like a mimosa or something with fruit  

in it. Or maybe some champagne in the morning and  you can eat this in the company of your friends.  

Another common weekend word is social butterfly.  A social butterfly refers to someone who makes a  

lot of plans. They are flying around to  event to another, to another activity.  

They're always doing things, usually involving  lots of other people. They are a social butterfly. 

If you are a social butterfly, probably the year  2020 with lockdowns and all of these things were  

probably really difficult for you because you  love to get together with other people and  

always be active. We can use this in a sentence  like this. "My friend is a social butterfly,  

she has invitations to three brunches and  four afternoon teas." Amazing. What if you  

are not a social butterfly? What if you are  the opposite? Are you a unsocial caterpillar?  

No. It means you are a homebody. Your body likes  to stay at home. I'm a homebody. She's a homebody. 

Someone who enjoys just doing things slowly and  staying at home. They feel most comfortable in  

a comfortable place at home. You could say,  "My friend is a social butterfly, but I'm  

more of a homebody. When I get together with  friends, I would rather have dinner at my house  

and then play games here." I think this is true  for me personally, as I get a little bit older,  

I prefer these kind of intimate group  settings instead of lots of people,  

I prefer just a couple friends at home. Maybe  having a bonfire outside, roasting some food or  

some marshmallows and this intimate setting. I enjoy doing activities at home more often  

than when I was a little bit younger. To stay in.  Unfortunately, that has been probably a lot of our  

weekend plans for the past year, and it means that  you're just going to stay at home. It doesn't mean  

you're going to do nothing. It just means you're  not going to go anywhere. I'm going to stay in.  

You might say, "It's supposed to be cold and  rainy this weekend, so I'm just going to stay  

in and read a book." Or, "I'm just going to  stay in and do some things around the house." 

To binge watch. This means that you watch  a lot of movies or TV shows usually back  

to back without stopping. Several hours, maybe  you watch four seasons of a TV show in one day.  

This is binge watching. You are watching a lot.  This expression comes from a term we usually use  

with alcohol, to binge drink. This means that  you drink a lot of alcohol at one time. Not a  

very healthy thing to do, but when we say to binge  drink, that has that same idea, is you're doing  

a lot back to back, or you could binge watch TV. You might say, "Last weekend, my husband and I  

binge watched all of the Star Wars movies."  This isn't true. When you have young children,  

you do not have time to binge watch TV,  but you might say this about your life.  

"I binge watched that new TV show that just came  out." Our final expression that you can use to  

talk about your weekend plans is to catch up on  some chores. This phrasal verb, to catch up on,  

is a beautiful phrasal verb that you can use  to talk about some necessary activity that you  

haven't done for a while and now there's more and  more and more, and you need to finish all of this. 

We can imagine laundry, dishes, sweeping,  cleaning, maybe some home repairs,  

tidying up, maybe even yard work. If you don't do  those things for one week or two weeks, there's so  

many you have to do. That means you need to catch  up, you to do what you haven't done for a while.  

You need to catch up on some chores and chores are  just those activities that I mentioned. Laundry,  

dishes, these necessary activities that  involve cleaning up, helping to make  

your home a wonderful place to live. Maybe this  weekend you just need to catch up on some chores. 

You might say, "I was so busy all week, and  finally, I'm going to catch up on some chores  

this weekend." Maybe not very fun, but  when your house is clean, it feels good.  

All right, now that we have some common vocabulary  you can use to talk about your weekend plans.  

Let's talk about some introduction questions that  you might hear and that you can also ask other  

people. These have varying levels of reductions  and fast ways that you will hear them, so I want  

to help you understand and recognize what other  people are saying, and also be able to use it. 

Let's talk about our first question. What are  you up to this weekend? What are you up to this  

weekend? You might know the expression, what's  up? This just means how are you. We're using that  

same word up to talk about what are you doing  this weekend? What are you up to this weekend?  

But do you think that we usually say it  like this? What are you up to this weekend?  

So clear. So lovely. No. Instead we're going to  reduce this a little bit and then we can reduce  

it a lot more. Let's talk about the first  one. What are you up to? What are you up to? 

What're. Here, the word, what and are, are  creating a spoken contraction. Usually when we  

write, we don't write this type of contraction.  It's only in spoken English, but oftentimes B  

verbs like are, is, will be contracted with a  question word. What're you up to this weekend?  

What're, what're you up to? We can reduce this a  little bit further. Whatcha'p to? Whatcha'p to?  

Whatcha'p to this weekend? There are a lot of reductions happening  

at the beginning. Whatch, whatcha'p to? Here  we have, what are you being reduced to just  

whatch, the ch is you and what are has just  been smooshed together and we can say whatcha'p  

to? Whatcha'p to? Whatcha'p to? Whatcha'p to?  This is really fast. If you say this slowly,  

whatcha'p to? It sounds really weird.  We only use this in really fast English,  

so if you are going to say this, it needs to  be quickly and reduced and linked together.  

Most likely you're going to hear this, so I want  to make sure that you can understand when someone  

says, "Hey, whatcha'p to this weekend?" Whatcha'p to this weekend? You can say,  

"Vanessa taught me that. I know what that  means. What are you up to this weekend? Yes."  

Let's go into our next expression where we're  going to also reduce this a bit and help you  

to understand it. What have you got going on  this weekend? What have you got going on this  

weekend? These all mean the same thing. What  are you doing this weekend? But you might hear  

this expression with the word got. What have  you got going on this weekend? When you actually  

hear this, we don't say it that clearly.  What have you got going on this weekend? 

Wouldn't that be nice though? Instead,  you're going to hear a reduction or a  

contraction of the first two words, just  like we saw with the previous example,  

what've, so what and have, are going to be  pushed together. What've you got goin' on?  

That final G in the word going is going to be  cut off and we'll just say, goin'. Let's try to  

say that altogether. You want to try to say it  with me? What've you got goin' on? What've you  

got goin' on this weekend? What've  you got goin' on this weekend?  

Do you think we can reduce this further? Yes. Whadayagot goin' on this weekend? Whadayagot.  

Here, the beginning of, what have you got is  just really like you threw it in a mixing bowl,  

stirred it up and threw it out on a cookie  tray. Well, let's try to break it down so  

it's not quite so messy and complicated. At  the beginning we have, what have you got?  

But it sounds like whada. Whada, this is what  have, whadaya, ya is you. Whadayagot goin',  

again, we're going to drop that  G at the end of the word going.  

Goin' on. Whadayagot goin' on? Whada. Notice  what's happening at the end of the word what,  

do you hear a clear T? Whadaya, whadaya.  

No. That T at the end of the word, what, is going  to change to a D sound. This is really typical of  

American English, where a T that's surrounded  by vowel sounds is going to change to a D,  

it's called a flapped T, and it just  rolls off your tongue in a smooth way.  

Whadayagot goin' on? Can you say it with me?  Whadayagot goin' on this weekend? Whadayagot goin'  

on this weekend? All right, let's go to our last  question. You doing anything fun this weekend?  

You doing anything fun this weekend? What's  happening at the beginning of this question? 

Should there be another word? Yes. Are you doing  anything fun this weekend? Are you? But the word  

are, it's on vacation. It's just gone somewhere,  so we're going to start this question with the  

word you. You doing anything fun this weekend?  It makes the question seem a little more casual  

and less like an interrogation, or like  you're asking someone out on a date. It's  

just a casual question. You doing anything fun  this weekend? But we can reduce this question.  

We're not going to reduce it an awful lot,  but we will hear this reduced a little bit. 

When we say, "You doing anything fun?"  Instead, you're going to hear, ya  

doin', ya. The word you is reduced to ya. Ya  doin', listen to that G at the end. Ya doin',  

it's gone. It's also on vacation. Maybe it's on  vacation with the word are. Let's say, "Ya doin'  

anything fun this weekend?" Ya  doin', that's the main reduction  

that's going to happen in this question? Ya  doin' anything fun this weekend? Ya doin'...  

Try to say that with me. Ya doin' anything fun  this weekend? Ya doin' anything fun this weekend? 

All right, let's go on to some other common things  that you will hear in these types of small talk,  

easy casual conversations. If someone tells  you about their weekend plans, and it sounds  

interesting or fun, how can you reply?  You might say, "That sounds like fun." Or,  

"How interesting." Or just simply, "Nice." If that  person is doing nothing, they're just sitting at  

home, maybe they're going to binge watch some  TV and stay in. Well, sometimes it's nice to  

still say some being positive in response, so you  might say, "Sometimes it's nice to do nothing." 

And that's true, especially if you've been  doing a lot, sometimes it's nice just to stay in  

and relax for the weekend. So you might  say, "Sometimes it's nice to do nothing."  

Right, before we practice our sample conversation  together, what can you say at the end?  

Well, if you're talking about weekend plans, it  is before the weekend, so you could just say,  

"Have a good weekend." Or, "Enjoy your weekend."  Simple, great way to end the conversation.  

All right, let's take a deep breath. Are  you ready to put all of this together? 

What I would like you to do is first, I would  like you to listen to sample conversation.  

Think about the different parts that  are happening. You're going to hear  

our key beautiful question. What about you? How  about you? You're going to also hear some of the  

key vocabulary that we talked about, and also just  some of the questions, the introductory questions,  

what are you got going on this weekend? Great.  Things like that, that we'll put together. And  

then I'm going to put some pauses and it's going  to be your turn to have the conversation with me.  

First, let's watch the conversation sample. "Hey, what you up to this weekend?" 

"Nothing much. I'm just going to stay in  and catch up on some chores on Saturday.  

But on Sunday, I'm going to meet up  with some of my friends for brunch." 

"That sounds fun. Where's  your favorite brunch spot?" 

"I usually go to Sunny Morning Cafe. What about  you? What have you got going on this weekend?" 

"I'm a homebody, so I'll probably  just read a book in my hammock." 

"That sounds nice. Well, have a  good weekend. Enjoy your book." 

"Thanks. You too. Have good weekend." All right. Are you ready to take this to  

the next level? I'm going to be asking  you a question and then pausing and I  

would like you to reply in that pause. Take  a moment. Tell me about your weekend plans.  

You can do it. Let's go. Hey,  what are you up to this weekend?  

How interesting? How often do you do that?  

Me? I'll probably go hiking since  the weather's going to be so warm.  

Well, nice talking to you. Have a good weekend.  Well, how did you do? If you would like you can go  

back and practice that little sample conversation.  You can take a deep breath, enjoy yourself. 

That's part of learning English, is I want  you to enjoy the process. Enjoy the journey.  

Let's start with some common questions for talking  about eating out and restaurants. Since the  

pandemic began, a lot of restaurants have changed  their service model, so these questions will  

cover eating in a restaurant, but also ordering  food to go. I hope that these will help you in  

any situation that you're in. Let's start with  our first question. Do you want to eat out? This  

phrasal verb to eat out means at a restaurant? We don't often say, do you want to go to a  

restaurant? Do you want to eat at a restaurant? We  just say, eat out. Do you want to eat out? But we  

often reduce this question to sound a little more  comfortable and casual, Ya wanna eat out? Ya is  

you, you want to eat out? Ya wanna eat out? We've  dropped the question word completely, do. Just ya,  

ya and then we have reduced want to, to become  wanna. This is a common reduction in English.  

Can you say question with me? Ya wanna eat out?  Ya wanna eat out? Or we could cut off that first  

word, ya, completely and just say, wanna eat out? Ask it with me. Wanna eat out? Great. Then you  

might ask, where do you want to go? Where do you  want to go? But do you think we say it clearly  

like this? Unfortunately, not. Instead, you could  say, "Where ya wanna go?" Where ya wanna go?  

This is a similar reduction to our first question.  You becomes ya and want to becomes wanna. Where  

ya wanna go? Where ya wanna go? Where ya wanna go?  Should we order pick up? Should we order pick up? 

I want to let you know that in the US  there are a lot of terms that are used for  

this idea that you're not eating in the  restaurant. You're ordering food, but then you  

get the food and you take it somewhere else. Maybe  you take it back home, or you take it to a park.  

We could use a couple different phrases and  it's just your personal preference. For me,  

I say, pick up. Do you want to order pick up? Do  you want to get pick up? But you could also say,  

should we order take out? Should we order  carry out? Should we order take away? 

A lot of different phrases and you are  going to hear these all around the US,  

so it's just your choice what you'd like to use.  Another fun question to ask what someone would  

like to eat is, what are you in the mood for?  What are you in the mood for? Don't deny it,  

sometimes in your heart you're just in the mood  for comfort food, something that's heavy and  

rich and reminds you of a cozy, warm time in  your childhood. Maybe it's not very healthy,  

but you're in the mood for comfort food, or  maybe you're in the mood for something light.  

You want a salad or sushi, something light. This idea of what are you feeling like  

you want to eat? But we often reduce  this question and instead of saying,  

what are you in the mood for? We might say,  whatcha in the mood for? Whatcha, whatcha  

is what are you... Whatcha in the mood  for? Here, the word you has been reduced to  

cha. Cha, this is extremely common in spoken  English that the word you gets changed up in  

a lot of ways. We already talked about one of  those, ya, and this is another, cha. Whatcha  

in the mood for? Whatcha in the mood for? Or we could reduce this even further. Wha'ya  

in the mood for? Wha’ya in the mood for? This is  extremely reduced, but notice what's happening.  

What are you in the mood for? The word R is gone  and the word you has been reduced to ya, so when  

we link together, what and you, super fast.  Wha’ya in the mood for? Wha'ya in the mood for?  

You don't want to say this reduction slowly.  Wha'ya in the mood for? Now, we can say it like  

that to practice for this lesson, but when  this is in daily conversation, it's really  

fast. That's the purpose of a reduction. Do you think you could say this with me  

really fast? Wha'ya in the mood for? Wha'ya  in the mood for? Wha'ya in the mood for?  

Great. All right. Let's talk about some common  answers to these questions so that you can be  

prepared and ready. When someone asks you, "Wha'ya  in the mood for?" You might say, "Let's order in.  

How about..." Some option. How about pizza? Let's  order in. This is another phrase for talking about  

bringing the food back to your house. You  don't want to get all ready and then go to the  

restaurant, or maybe you don't feel comfortable  doing that. You might just say, "Let's order in.  

How about pizza?" This expression, how  about, is a great way to give a suggestion. 

This is excellent in professional situations.  "Hey, how about if we try this marketing plan?"  

Or, it's great for informal situations to give  a suggestion about something you want to eat.  

"How about pizza? What do you think about that?"  Sometimes this question is reduced and it sounds  

like this. How 'bout pizza? How 'bout pizza?  The first A in the word about is gone. It's  

just missing. We say, "How 'bout pizza?" Can  you say that reduction quickly with me? How  

'bout pizza? How 'bout pizza? Great. Or you could  say, "I'm feeling tacos. Does that sound good?" 

You're giving your opinion. You'd like to eat  tacos, but you also want to know what the other  

person wants, so you use a great question. Does  that sound good? But we often reduce this a lot.  

Let's take a look at the first reduction. You  might say, "I'm feelin'..." cutting off that G,  

"I'm feelin' tacos. How'zat sound?" How'zat sound?  Instead of how does that sound? You can say,  

how'zat sound? How'zat sound? Can you say that  quickly with me? I'm feelin' tacos. How'zat sound?  

I'm feelin' tacos. How'zat sound? Great. We can also reduce it and  

switch it up a little bit. I'm feelin'  tacos. Zat sound okay? I'm feeling tacos,  

that's what I want, but I want to know your  opinion. Does that sound okay? Reduces to,  

zat sound okay? Does that becomes zat. Zat sound  okay? Zat sound okay? Can you say it with me?  

I'm feelin' tacos. Zat sound okay? Great question.  Because a lot of restaurants have changed over the  

last year, and you never know when a restaurant  might be closed, it's a good question to ask,  

"Is Ted's Cafe open? I would love to go there." Is, some restaurant, open? I would love to go  

there. There is a little way that we can  reduce this question. Take a look at this.  

Is Ted's Cafe open? I would love to go there. The  word would becomes I'd. I would, I'd. You can say,  

"Is Ted's Cafe open? I'd love to go there."  Can you say it with me? Is Ted's Cafe open?  

I'd love to go there. Great. In the US,  a lot of restaurants are having outdoor  

seating. You could say, "Let's go to Louis'..."  a restaurant named Louis, "Let's go to Louis' and  

eat lunch on their patio." Eat lunch on  their patio. This is an outdoor dining area. 

It's really nice when restaurants have this,  because sometimes you don't feel like eating  

at home, but especially with kids, if you don't  feel like confining them inside a restaurant,  

or maybe you don't feel comfortable doing that. If  a restaurant has a patio, it's much more informal  

feeling. And it's a nice spur of the moment thing  to do. A great expression that you can use is,  

let's grab a bite at Louis'. Let's grab a  bite at Ted's Cafe. To grab a bite is usually  

a quick meal. It might be lunch. Usually  it's not dinner because it's pretty quick,  

but it might just be a short experience. It's not a long dinner. It's  

not a big to do. Let's grab a bite at  Ted's Cafe, because I have to go to s 

Vanessa: To do.  

Let's grab a bite at Ted's Cafe because I have to  go somewhere later. Let's grab a bite at somewhere  

else. Can you say that with me? Let's grab a bite  at Ted's Cafe. Let's grab a bite. Our final answer  

to the question what you want to eat is I know  a place or I know a spot that has great pasta.  

I know a place that has great pizza. I know a  place. You could leave this simple and just say,  

I know a place. Come with me. But if you want to  be a little less mysterious, you could just say,  

oh, I know a place that has great pasta. Come with  me and you've got to try it. Okay. This is kind of  

maybe an unknown restaurant location that not many  people know about, and it's a great phrase to use.  

Oh, I know a place that you're going to love. Excellent. Are you ready to practice these? First,  

I would like you to watch this sample conversation  between my husband and I as we talk about where we  

want to eat, what we want to eat. Think about  those phrases. Notice the phrases that we use.  

And then after that, you're going to have a  chance to speak out loud and practice it yourself.  

Let's watch the sample conversation.  Hey, you want to grab lunch? 

Dan: Sure. But I only have time for a quick  

bite before my soccer game. What sounds good? Vanessa: 

Hmm. How about pasta? Dan: 

That sounds great. How about I call it in, you  pick it up, and we'll picnic in the park before  

my game starts. Vanessa: 

That sounds great. I know a place that's close  by and has great tomato sauce. All right.  

Now it's your turn. I want you to use  these phrases that you've learned.  

I'm going to ask you a question. We're going  to have a little conversation together.  

It's your chance to speak out loud. So  I'm going to ask a question and pause,  

wait for your answer. No matter where you are  around the world, I will be listening to you.  

So please take this opportunity to speak and  use what you've learned. If you need to repeat  

this section again and again, do that. It's  a great way to gain confidence as you speak.  

Are you ready? Hey, I'm hungry. Let's  grab lunch. What's you in the mood for? 

Oh, that sounds good. Do you know a good place?  

Oh, that sounds good. You want to eat there or get  takeout? Great. Let's go. Well, how did you do? Do  

you feel a little more confident discussing dining  options and talking about eating out? I hope so.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay. But there are a couple different ways to  either reduce or slightly change this question  

that are a little bit more natural.  Where you going this summer? Where ya,  

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

Or we could say what you got going on this summer?  Whatcha is what plus you. You becomes cha. Whatcha  

got going on? Again, we're dropping the G,  but we're using a great phrasal verb. Going,  

going on. What's going on? If you go into a  room and it's an absolute mess, you might use  

this phrasal verb and say, what is goin' on here?  But you can use this also for vacation and say,  

what do you have going on this summer? Or  reduced, whatcha got goin' on this summer? And  

it simply means what are your plans this summer? What you got going on this summer? So if someone  

asks you this, you know that they're asking about  your vacation plans. Whatcha got goin' on this  

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

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

doing anything fun for vacation? Look at what's  happening at the beginning of this question.  

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

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

reduce the word you in a lot of ways? Whatcha  got going on? Or Y'doing. Y'doin'. We're dropping  

that G again. Y'doin'nything fun? Something  interesting happens at the beginning of the word  

anything. Y'doin'nything fun? We link together doing, because  

we're going to drop the G. It ends with the sound,  nn, the n sound. And then the next word, anything,  

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

side by side. Y'doin'nything, doing'nything fun?  Y'doin'nything? This is one of the reasons why  

English sounds quite fast to English learners. If  you watch a TV show and you say, what in the world  

did they just say? I have no idea. Well, it's  because of these dropping linkings. This is quite  

common in spoken English. So you can say this  question with me. Are you ready? Y'doin'nything  

fun for vacation? Y'doin'nything fun for vacation?  Let's go to our next question. Where are you  

headed for vacation? Where are you headed for  vacation? This question is very clear the way I  

just said it, but it uses a wonderful verb headed. This is, yes, your head, but it's talking about  

the direction that you're going. Some place that  you're going to visit. So if you get a call from  

your mom and she says, where are you going? You  could say, I'm headed to the store. This means  

that's the direction that you're going. You are  on your way to the store. But we can reduce this  

a little bit and say, where ya, does that sound  familiar? Where ya headed for vacation? Where  

ya headed for vacation? We could substitute  the end of this for vacation and just say,  

where are you headed this summer? Where ya headed  this summer? Where ya headed this summer? Do you  

notice that a great way to sound a little bit  more fluent in English is to reduce the word you? 

We've talked about a couple different reductions,  but a very common one is ya. Where ya headed this  

summer? Where ya headed for vacation? Great.  Before we go on to some common answers that  

you can use to answer these questions, let's  talk about something very important. The most  

important conversation question you will ever know  is, what about you? How about you? We talked about  

this in the part one video I made, speak with  me about your weekend plans. Well, these two  

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

what about you? How about you? We use these,  if you can imagine a ball. I'm holding the  

conversation ball. And when I ask you, how  about you, boom, I pass the ball to you. It  

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

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

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

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

where you're going to use these conversation,  questions and answers to practice speaking with  

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

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

world, but we probably needed to change our plans  a bit this summer, let's talk about some realistic  

answers to these questions about where you headed  this summer, what you got going on for vacation.  

Let's talk about some realistic answers.  I'd like to go to Europe, but I think  

I'll take a road trip around the US instead. This is using a great sentence construction, I'd  

like to, but. So first we're talking about your  dream, the ideal dream, and then we're talking  

what you're really doing. I'd like to go to  Europe, but I think I'll go on a road trip around  

the US instead. Or you could say, I'd like to go  to a family reunion, but we had to postpone it.  

Okay. The ideal is going to the family reunion,  getting together with all of your family members,  

but the reality is that you had to postpone  it or delay it for another time. This is  

the reality. I wish that I could go on a  cruise, but that's not happening right now,  

so I guess I'll order a pizza and go to the pool.  Here again, we're talking about the dream and then  

you can make that reality special for you.  It doesn't need to be too disappointing,  

but it's not your dream, your ideal dream. I wish that I could go on a cruise,  

but cruises aren't happening right now. I wish  that I could. That's a great introductory phrase.  

I wish that I could go to a music festival,  but it was canceled. So I guess I'll  

make a playlist and listen to music and dance  in my backyard. I wish that I could, but  

this is what I'll do instead. All right, let's  go to our third phrase. I was going to take my  

family to New York, but I think we'll go camping  instead. Using this phrase, I was going to,  

talks about a plan that you had, usually a  real plan that you had. It's not just a dream.  

It's a plan that you had and then you needed to  change it. I was going to take my family to New  

York, but I think we'll go camping instead. So we have the dream, or maybe a plan,  

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

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

about, and last year, is all about trying to make  some kind of compromise, a change in plans that's  

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

cook some Italian dishes instead. Okay.  Now that we have some common questions,  

don't forget our key question. How about  you? What about you? And some common answers.  

Let's take a look at a sample conversation so that  you can try to imitate this when it comes to be  

your turn. Let's take a look at this sample. Dan: 

Hey, you doing anything fun this summer? Vanessa: 

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

local state parks. What about you? Dan: 

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

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

my backyard. Do you want to come? Vanessa: 

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

Dan: Great. I'll see you around.  

Enjoy your camping trip. Vanessa: 

Thanks. I will. See you at the movie night. Okay.  

Now it's your turn. Put together all of these  pieces. I'm going to be asking you a question,  

than I'm going to be pausing. I don't care  where you are living around the world. My ears  

are going to be listening to you. Then I'll  be replying and I would like you to take this  

opportunity to speak out loud. If you need to go  back, review this section, do it again and again,  

and just gain some more courage, feel free to do  it. This is a wonderful chance to speak out loud.  

Are you ready? Let's do it. Hey,  you doing anything fun this summer? 

That sounds like fun. Have you done that before?  

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

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

it was nice talking with you. See you later.  So how did you do? Do you feel a little bit  

more comfortable talking about your vacation or  summer plans? Feel free to go back and review  

our practice section together. It's a great  way to speak out loud. Okay. Let's get started  

with some common vocabulary to talk about where  you live. If you live in a city, you might say,  

it's really busy where I live. New York City is  a busy place. Or you could use the word crowded.  

Tokyo is a crowded city. There are lots of  people everywhere, and there are not many places  

where you can be alone and have a quiet moment. Maybe you might say that your city is busy and  

crowded. What's the opposite of this? You can say  Stockholm, Sweden is a relaxed city. It's a quiet  

place. I don't know. I've been to Stockholm.  If you're from Stockholm, Sweden, let me know.  

But you might say, where I live is just a relaxed  place. Or we can say, it's relaxing. If you  

come visit where I live, it's very relaxing and  quiet. Maybe that's because it's in the country.  

Let's go on to these two common words to talk  about the type of place you live. You might say,  

yeah, I live in Delhi, India, and it's one of  the largest urban areas in the world. There  

are so many people here. It's busy, it's crowded.  It's an urban area. And this means it's the city.  

It's quite busy. It's crowded. It's an urban  area. There's not many trees, not much nature. 

But on the other hand, you might say, I live in  the country. The word country means United States,  

France, Japan, these places. But in the US, we use  this to mean countryside. We do say countryside  

sometimes, but we're more likely in the US  to say I live in the country. That means  

in nature. Maybe there's some farms around  you, maybe there's forests around you,  

and you don't live in a busy urban city center.  You live in the country. So I wonder for you,  

do you live in the country or do you live in an  urban city center? Do you live somewhere that's  

difficult to get to? You might say, yeah, my city  is off the beaten path, but it's worth visiting.  

So for me, my city, Asheville, in North Carolina,  it is definitely off the beaten path. It's not  

a huge city. It doesn't have  a big airport that comes here. 

It's off the beaten path. But if you want to check  out some other local sites in the US, it could be  

nice to visit. It's off the beaten path. This also  can be used to talk about locations within a city.  

So, if you visit Paris and you go to the  Eiffel Tower and then you get hungry, well,  

the places that are close to the Eiffel Tower  to eat, those are what we call tourist traps.  

Those places are only for tourists.  They're extremely expensive. They're  

not high quality. It's just to trap tourists.  But if you want to eat at a great location,  

you might go somewhere off the beaten path. This  is somewhere that not many other people go to.  

And it's an expression that's great to  use about little secret, local locations.  

So when I visit your city, I might ask, are there  any places off the beaten path that I can visit? 

Are there any restaurants off the  beaten path that only locals know about?  

What is something off the beaten path that I can  do? Let's say that where you live is not extremely  

popular, but it's becoming more popular. Maybe  because of the pandemic last year, people are  

traveling to different types of destinations.  Maybe they're deciding to travel to more  

nature places, places that are in the mountains  or places that are not in big city centers. Well,  

that might mean that where you live is becoming  an up and coming place. We use this term up  

and coming to talk about somewhere that's not  extremely popular, but it's becoming more popular.  

So you might say, yeah, my city isn't really  popular right now, but it's an up and coming  

place. You've got to check it out. We can use this  on a smaller scale, just like off the beaten path,  

to talk about a restaurant or a neighborhood. Yeah, that neighborhood used to not be a good  

neighborhood, but now it's an up and coming  neighborhood. You've got to walk through it.  

Just look at the houses, look at the architecture,  enjoy the sights. So you might say it's an up and  

coming place. Excellent expression. Our final  expression to talk about where you live is must  

see or some must see locations. Can you  imagine what this means? Does it mean  

it's not important to see it? Nah, you can skip  that. No, you must see this. So, for example,  

when you visit Egypt, the pyramids are  a must see. So we can use it as a noun,  

a must see. Of course, when you go to Egypt, the  pyramids are a must see. When you go to London,  

Big Ben is a must see. When you go to New York  City, the Empire State Building is a must see. 

These are kind of like the top things that you  need to see. But even if you don't live in one of  

those really popular cities, if you live somewhere  a little bit off the beaten path, you can still  

use this expression. You might say, in my city,  yeah, this view on the top of the mountains. Yeah,  

that is a must see. You drive up this hill and you  can have a great 360 view. That is a must see. So  

it's something that you cannot miss when you visit  that location. So when I visit your city, tell me,  

what are some places that are a must see? I don't  want to miss them. Next, let's talk about some  

common questions that you can ask other people  about where they live, and also other people will  

ask you about where you live. So make sure you're  comfortable answering them about where you live. 

The first question is, where are you from? This  is an extremely common question. And you can just  

say, yep, I'm from the US, but it's nice to give  a little more details. So you might say, I'm from  

Asheville in North Carolina. It's a pretty quiet  place, but it's kind of up and coming. Great.  

You're giving some details. It's quiet, but it's  also up and coming. I live in Asheville. You're  

inviting a conversation. If you just say, I'm from  the US, or, I'm from Asheville, that's where I'm  

from, someone might ask you, what's it like there?  Or if someone doesn't give you more details about  

where they live, they just say France. I live  in London. I live in LA. Okay. Well you might  

want some more details. You want to continue the  conversation. This is a great question to ask.  

What's it like there? What's it like there? What is it like there? They might say,  

it's so hot in the summer, but in the fall, it's  awesome because we get some great leaves and you  

got to check it out in the fall. Excellent. If  someone has not mentioned the weather yet, you can  

say, what's the weather like there? They can go  into some details. You could say about your city,  

uh, the winter is so cold. We get tons of snow.  But when it melts in the spring and all of the  

leaves become green and the flowers bloom, it's  awesome. You've got to visit in the spring. If you  

have not told someone what time to visit yet, they  might ask, what's the best time to visit? So when  

Dan and I were planning a trip to go to Costa Rica  a couple years ago, we did a lot of research about  

what is the best time to visit Costa Rica. Their seasons are very different than our seasons,  

and we were going to be spending a lot of time  outside, so we wanted to make sure it wasn't  

going to be raining the whole time, wasn't going  to be pouring down rain or too hot the whole time.  

So we asked this question, when's the best  time to visit? So someone might ask you,  

when's the best time to visit your city? For  my city, I think the best time to visit is the  

fall. The leaves are beautiful in the mountains.  There's so many different colors and the air is so  

crisp and fresh. You got to visit in the fall.  If someone asked you, what's your city known for,  

what would you say? This means, what is your city  famous for? Why do people visit your city? It  

might just be something simple, like the air is so  fresh. Or it might be, they just love this pastry,  

this type of dessert that's made in my city and  a lot of people like to come and eat that pastry. 

Cool. It could be something simple. Or if you live  in a bigger place, you can obviously talk about  

some famous destinations that your city is known  for. But if people have not heard about your city,  

they might ask this question, oh, what's  it known for? What's your city known for?  

And then you can think about some great places to  visit that people might be interested in. Whenever  

I ask someone about their city, especially if  I'm going to visit, like your city, I like to  

ask about their personal favorite thing to do. So  someone might ask you, what's your favorite thing  

to do in your city? Or what's your favorite thing  to eat there? What's your favorite thing to see?  

Because I think that local people's perspectives  are often different than a tourist perspective. 

So finding out what the locals like to  do, specifically, what you like to do,  

can be really valuable and can add to a  rich visiting experience. So if I asked you,  

what's your favorite thing to do in your  city, you might tell me, oh man, there is  

this little bar off the beaten path down this  alley and you got to check it out. It's so cool.  

They brew their own beer and the atmosphere is  awesome. It is a must see. Great. I bet that  

my trip to your city would be a lot more amazing  because of that information. So make sure that you  

have some ideas that you can tell other people  about your city. Our final question is a little  

more broad. Someone might simply ask you, what  do you recommend? Or maybe if you are talking  

to someone who lives in New York and you are  about to visit New York, great, you can ask them  

some questions and say, what do you recommend? What do you recommend about New York? What do you  

recommend that I do? Oh, you got to see this  museum. It's really cool. They have local artists  

that they have on display and all these different  things you can see. Great. You are asking,  

what do you recommend in general? It might not be  that person's absolute favorite thing personally,  

but to visit the city, what do you recommend?  Great. A wonderful question to ask. What do you  

recommend? All right, now that we've talked about  some common vocabulary to describe your city,  

some common questions that you can ask or other  people might ask you about where you live, let's  

see a quick sample conversation between me and my  husband, Dan, where we talk about visiting Rome. 

Now, neither of us are from Rome, but I want you  to use your imagination. Let's imagine that Dan is  

from Rome. He's actually from the US, but let's  imagine that he's from Rome and he is giving me  

some insider tips about what I should do  on my upcoming trip to Rome. Let's watch  

the sample conversation and listen for some of  the key vocabulary that we just talked about  

because you are about to have a chance to use it  yourself speaking with me. Let's watch. Hey Dan. 

Dan: Hey Vanessa,  

are you excited for your trip to Rome? Vanessa: 

Yeah, I can't wait. It's such a historic place.  But are there any tourist traps I should avoid? 

Dan: Yeah. Avoid  

all the gelato shops except this one. It's off  the beaten path, but trust me, it's worth it. 

Vanessa: Oh, thanks for the tip. Any other must sees? 

Dan: Well, the Coliseum is great,  

but my favorite thing to do is wander around and  see all the little chapels. It's usually more  

relaxed and less crowded that way. Vanessa: 

Ah, that's good to know. Thanks for the tip. Dan: 

No problem. Enjoy your trip. Vanessa: 

I will. All right, now it is your turn.  I'm going to ask you some questions about  

where you live because I'm coming to  visit. I need to know what it's like.  

I'm going to ask you some questions and  then I will pause. I will be listening  

to you wherever you live around the world. I  will be listening, so please speak out loud.  

Use the expressions that you've learned. And  I can't wait to learn more about your city.  

Are you ready to get started? Hi, I'm taking  a vacation to your city and I can't wait.  

Tell me, what's the weather like in the  summer? I need to know what I should pack.  

That's good to know. Thank you. Well, what's  your favorite thing to do or see in your city?  

Wow, that sounds really interesting. So  

I got to know. Are there any tourist  traps that I should avoid when I go?  

Thanks so much for the tip. I look forward  to visiting. I can't wait to see you soon.  

Bye. All right. How did you do having this  

conversation with me? You're welcome to  review that and say it again and again. 

Vanessa: ... with me. You're  

welcome to review that and say it again and again  and again to practice and grow your confidence.  

Let's get started with some common expressions  to talk about birthdays. Let's talk about  

some types of birthday parties, a birthday  bash. This is a big party. Lots of people,  

lots of presents, lots of games, it's a big one.  So you might say, "We are throwing a birthday bash  

for my niece because she's turning  10." Double digits, quite exciting. 

To throw a party. Are you holding  the party and throwing it?  

No. I mean, maybe you're throwing some confetti,  but this is just another way to say, "We're  

having a party or we're going to plan a party."  We often use the verb to throw. You might say,  

"We're throwing a party for my grandma's 90th  birthday. It's going to be a big birthday bash."  

What if you're not a fan of birthday bashes? You want to keep things more low key. You  

might say a gathering or a get together. This is  something small and intimate, just family, a few  

friends maybe. You could say, "I'm not a fan of  big birthday bashes. So we're just going to have  

a little gathering at my house, or we're just  going to have a little get together at my house." 

This is true for me. Usually for my birth  birthday, we just have a little get together  

at my house with a couple friends, maybe  some family, nothing too big. Surprise. Oh,  

what did I just do? I surprised you, because it's  a surprise party. Usually with a surprise party,  

the person who is having the birthday doesn't  know about the party, this is the ideal situation.  

So someone is planning, inviting guests,  setting up everything, and they try to get  

the birthday person to come into that area  without knowing anything. And they walk in  

and then everybody jumps up and says, "Surprise." So I'm curious, have you ever had a birthday for  

you? Have you ever helped to participate in a  surprise birthday? I don't think that I ever  

have, but one time when I was in college, my  friends threw a surprise birthday party for me  

and another friend who has the same birthday. And  I didn't want to go. I said, "I'm studying. I have  

a test. I can't go down there. I'm not going to go  have dinner with you guys. No, I need to study." 

And then one of my friends finally realized that  I wasn't coming. And she said, "Hey Vanessa,  

it's a surprise birthday for you. Come on." So I  had no choice at that point because I realized,  

"Oh, they're doing something nice for me." So you  might say, "We're throwing a party for Vanessa.  

It's a surprise party. Don't tell her."  Well, unless you can't get her to come. 

Next, let's talk about some common phrases  that are just associated with birthdays.  

The first one is RSVP. Now, this is occasionally  something that we use in spoken conversation,  

but it is more common on a written invitation.  It could be a physical invitation, or it might be  

an internet invitation using Facebook  events or something like this. 

But RSVP stands for the French Répondez s'il  vous plaît and it means, "Please respond.  

Please tell me if you're coming." So usually you  will see this sentence RSVP by June 30th, RSVP  

by Saturday, whatever date. So there's a  deadline. Please tell me if you're coming  

so that I can order the right amount of cake so  that I can make the right amount of food. This  

is just a polite thing to do to RSVP. Wonderful. Another common phrase for birthdays or for parties  

is BYOB. What if I said, "Dinner and cake are  provided BYOB." What would that mean to you? Bring  

your old bag. Bring your old balloon. No.  This means, "Bring your own beer or bring  

your own booze." Booze is a slang term for  alcohol. So this means I am not providing  

alcohol. If you want to drink alcohol, bring  what you want to drink. Bring it for yourself. 

This is very common and it's not really rude.  In fact, it's good to tell guests if they are  

allowed to drink alcohol at your house and you're  not going to provide any, it's good to tell them,  

"I don't have any. Bring your own. BYOB." This  is quite a common expression, especially in  

an invitation. You might see that written,  "Dinner and cake provided BYOB." Excellent. 

Make a wish. Usually after we sing happy birthday,  you blow out the candles and you close your eyes  

and you make a wish. There's a superstition that  if you tell people your wish, it will never come  

true. So usually it's a surprise. I will never  tell you what my birthday wishes are, because  

it probably won't come true then. So this  is a superstition. But you might say,  

"After I blow out the candles, I'm going to make  a wish." But often you will hear people say this. 

So after they sing happy birthday and you blow  out the candles, someone will say, "All right,  

make a wish." And they're telling you, "This is  the time to make a wish." This sometimes happens  

at children's parties more often that someone  will say it. So they're reminding their child,  

"This is the time to make a wish, close your  eyes and make a wish. Don't tell anyone." So  

this is a fun little tradition, I would say. A goody bag. This is a little plastic bag of,  

in my opinion, usually junk that is given to  all of the kids at a children's birthday party.  

I'm not a big fan of goody bags because  they're usually made up of junk,  

it's stuff that comes from the dollar store  and parents feel some social pressure to give  

out a goody bag at their child's birthday party.  But usually those things just end up in the trash. 

So for me, I would rather do a craft at the  birthday and the children can take home the craft,  

or maybe there's an extra cupcake and the children  can take home a cupcake. This seems a little bit  

better to me. I think that the idea of a goody  bag is falling out of tradition a bit, but there's  

still a little pressure to give something to your  guests. This is only for children's birthdays,  

to give something to your guests. A sweet 16. If I said, "I can't believe  

your daughter is already old enough to have her  sweet 16." How old do you think that she is?  

16 years old. For some reason, 16 is a  big number. I think this is because this  

is when you can get your driver's license  in the US. So it's usually just for girls.  

I hate to say it, but usually teenage boys who  are 16 years old aren't usually labeled as sweet. 

Maybe that was just my experience when I  was a teenager, but usually a 16 year old  

girl might have sweet 16 party. And this is a  big birthday bash to celebrate turning 16. The  

next big birthday is turning 21. And this is for  anyone, boys or girls. And this is a big birthday  

because you can finally legally drink alcohol. So a lot of people will have a 21st birthday  

party with their friends where they get  to go to a bar, or they go to a pub,  

or they go to a brewery or a restaurant and they  get to drink alcohol in public. That's not to say  

that nobody drinks alcohol before 21, but  usually your 21st birthday is a symbol of,  

"Now, I am an adult." There you go. After 21, you have to wait a long time  

for your next birthday. If I said, "I don't feel  that old, but somehow I'm already over the hill."  

What do you think over the hill means? Well,  the average lifespan is about 80 years. I think  

now it's a little bit more than 80 years old, but  what is halfway? 40. So this birthday is a little  

bit dark, a little bit depressing, but we say that  when you turn 40 years old, you are over the hill. 

And anytime after 40, if you don't want to  tell someone your age, you can just say,  

"I'm over the hill or I'm way over the  hill," because you are past the peak of life.  

And now you're just going down the other side.  Very sad. So usually if you go to the grocery  

store and you buy any kind of balloons or birthday  bags or birthday decorations for a 40th birthday,  

they all are black or gray or have to do with like  gravestones or skeletons. It's a little bit silly  

because obviously when you're 40, you're still  young, but it's just this silly idea that now,  

"Oh, you're over the hill." Our last birthday expression before we get  

to some common birthday questions is a trip around  the sun. This is just another fun way to say that  

you are one year older. So if somebody is having  a birthday, you could tell them congrats on  

another successful trip around the sun. They have  successfully gone around the sun one more time,  

which is one more year. Congrats on a  successful trip around the sun. You did it. 

All right, let's go on to some common questions  that you might get asked on your birthday or you  

could ask someone else on their birthday. And  we'll talk about some common answers as well.  

Any plans for your birthday? This is an extremely  common question. If someone asks you any plans  

for your birthday, you could say, "Yup, we're  planning a big bash this weekend. It's going  

to be exciting," or, "No. We're just going to  have a small gathering with a couple friends." 

Excellent. Any plans for your birthday?  What do you want to do for your birthday?  

This is a great question to ask if you know that  you will also be included in the birthday plans.  

If you are a family member or a close friend who  will help to organize the birthday activities,  

you can use this question, "What do you want  to do for your birthday?" That is asking, "Hey,  

what should I plan for your birthday?" And you could say, "Yeah, I'd like to have just  

a small get together at the house. Maybe we can  have a cookout, maybe some cake, just some small  

get together." A little bird told me it was your  birthday. What would you like? This expression, "A  

little bird told me" is almost a universal idea.  I think a lot of languages have this concept of  

hearing something from a little bird. You're not saying who told you, but you're just  

saying, "A little bird told me that it was your  birthday or that your birthday is coming soon."  

Do you have this type of expression in your native  language? It's a great one to use for birthdays.  

You could just say, "A little  bird told me it's your birthday.  

What would you like?" You're asking for a present  idea. What kind of present should I give you? 

And an answer to that could be, "Yup,  my birthday is coming up on Saturday,  

but instead of a present, I'm asking that  everyone bring some food or drink to the party."  

Okay, you don't need presents. You don't need  more stuff. You're just asking that people bring  

food and drinks to your party. Simple and it's  a good way to give at a party and participate. 

How old will you be? Or maybe if it's on someone's  birthday. Oh, how old are you now? Don't ask an  

adult this. I would say after the age of 21,  usually it's not a good idea to ask someone how  

old are you or how old will you be? In American  culture, it is quite rude to ask someone their  

age when they're an adult. For a child, it's no  problem. Children love telling people their age. 

Usually they're very specific like, "I'm seven  and a half. I'm eight and three quarters." They're  

very specific about their age, because they're so  proud of it. But once we become adults, we become  

a little bit more hesitant to share our age,  especially with anybody. And it's not required in  

social circumstances to say your age.  So I recommend asking, "How old are you  

now? Or how old will you be?" Only to children. When someone invites you to a party you can ask,  

"Is it a surprise party?" That way you can  not be the one who spoils the surprise.  

So maybe they forgot to tell you, "Oh, it's a  surprise party." So it's a good thing to ask,  

"Is this a surprise party?" And they might say,  "Oh no, he knows about it." Or he might say,  

"Oh yes it is. Don't tell him." It's a great  question to ask, "Is it a surprise party? Do you  

need me to bring anything? Can I bring anything?" This is a great question to ask anytime that you  

go to someone's house for dinner, for a meal,  for even just tea or coffee and especially for  

a birthday party or a holiday gathering, it's  great to ask, "Do you need me to bring anything?  

Or what can I bring?" I ask this all the time and  I really appreciate it when my guests ask this  

because maybe it would be nice if someone else  made the salad or someone else made a dish for the  

meal, or maybe even someone just brought a game or  something to do. This can help to ease the burden  

of the person who is throwing the party or just  having a holiday gathering. So this is a great  

question to ask. I highly recommend it. And if someone asks you,  

"Can I bring anything?" You can think,  "Okay, well, yeah maybe bring your own booze  

or yeah do you have a favorite board game? Maybe  after dinner we could play a game, bring a game  

or could you make a salad? Could you make  a dessert?" Not even make, "Could you just  

bring one? You can buy it that's okay." But this  kind of question can help to have everyone feel  

like they're participating in the evening. All right, now that we've practiced some  

common expressions for birthdays, some common  questions for birthdays, let's go on to our  

conversation. I'd like you to see this sample  conversation that I had with my husband, Dan,  

about birthdays. You're going to recognize a lot  of these questions. A lot of the expressions about  

birthdays. Listen to this conversation carefully  because in just a minute, Dan will leave and I  

will be asking you those questions and it will  be your turn to speak out loud. Let's watch the  

sample conversation. Hey, Dan. Dan: 

Hey Vanessa, you have a  birthday coming up. Don't you? 

Vanessa: Yup. Pretty soon. Another trip around the sun. 

Dan: Cool. Do you have any plans for your birthday? 

Vanessa: Yeah, I'm going to have a big  

birthday bash. I would love for you  to come. I can send you an invitation. 

Dan: That sounds fun. Do you need me to bring anything? 

Vanessa: You can bring your  

favorite party game and a big appetite for cake.  All the other details will be in the invitation. 

Dan: Sounds great. I'll be there. 

Vanessa: Great. See you then. 

Okay. You watched the sample  conversation. Now it's time to  

take a deep breath and practice this yourself.  I'm going to ask you a couple questions and I  

will pause. I will be listening to you no  matter where you live around the world,  

I will be listening and we will be having this  conversation. If it seems too fast for you,  

if you want to try it again, the good news is  that you can click pause on the video and go back  

and practice it again. No problem.  Are you ready? Let's get started. 

Hey, a little bird told me that your  birthday is coming up. Do you have any plans?  

That sounds like fun. Is it a birthday  tradition or is that something new?  

Cool. I would love to come. Can I bring anything?  

Great. I'll be there. I can't wait to  celebrate another trip around the sun. 

So how did you do with this  little sample conversation?  

I hope that it was a good challenge for  you and it helped to boost your confidence  

speaking in English. That is the goal.  You can always go back and review this. 

Let's learn some common vocabulary about animals  and pets. Let's start by describing you. Can you  

describe yourself? I'm an animal lover. This means  that you love all kinds of animals. You might say,  

"Ever since I first visited a zoo as a child,  I have been an animal lover. I just love all  

animals." Or if you would like to be a little more  specific, you could say, "I'm a cat person. I'm  

a dog person." Usually we keep it to cats and  dogs but you might say, "I'm a horse person." 

Does that mean that you have a cat head? I am a  cat person. No. This just means that that is your  

preferred pet. You like cats. So for me, if you've  been watching my English lessons for a while,  

you know I am a cat person. I've never had a  dog, but I feel like I relate more to cats.  

I get along better with cats and  I feel more comfortable with cats. 

But maybe for you, you might say, "I'm a dog  person. I would rather have a dog." Or maybe you  

have this unfortunate situation, you are allergic  to dogs. Or maybe you might say, "I'm allergic to  

cat fur, I love them. They're so cute and cuddly.  And I wish I could have a cat, but I'm allergic."  

If your eyes start to get red and your nose starts  to run, maybe your throat hurts, that's a bad  

sign. It means that you are allergic to some kind  of animal. Maybe you can take some simple medicine  

and you'll be fine. But sometimes it's a bigger  problem than that and you just can't have a cat.  

You can't have a dog. I hope you're not allergic. Now let's describe your pet. But a little note,  

first of all, something that I've noticed  that's different between English and some  

other languages is that when we're talking  about our pets or someone else's pet, we use  

he or she. We don't use it very often because  it feels like you are creating some distance or  

it's a wild animal, or you don't really care  about that animal. It's just an object. It. 

So for example, if I'm going to tell you  about my cat, little spoiler, I have a cat,  

I might say, "She is a Siamese cat."  If I say I have a cat, it's Siamese,  

it's okay and you will hear this occasionally,  but it's more common to hear he or she. She's  

a Siamese. She likes to play with cat toys. He  or she. And if you're not certain, if an animal  

is a he or a she like if you see a neighbor's  dog and you want to talk to that neighbor about  

their dog, you can just say he and it's okay. The neighbor will maybe correct you and say,  

"Oh yes, she's a poodle." And then you  can say, "Oh yes, what's her name?" And  

you can use her when you find out, but  in general we use he or she for pets.  

A common word we use to describe pets is breed.  What breed is your pet? But we often just say  

kind, what kind is it? So when we're talking  about a dog or a cat, there are different types. 

So I already mentioned, my cat is a Siamese  cat. This is a specific type or breed of  

cat. What breed is your a cat? He's a Siamese.  She's a Siamese. What breed is it? But we often  

use the question, "What kind is it?" Which we'll  talk about in our question section in a minutes. 

Another common term used with pets is a rescue.  This is describing your pet. Both of my cats are  

rescues. I got them from an animal shelter. This  means that I didn't buy them from a breeder who  

is making pure bred cats. No, I went to the animal  shelter. These are abandoned cats who need a home.  

I went to the animal shelter and I adopted. We  often use the word adopted. I adopted two cats.  

They are rescue cats or they are rescues. And this is the idea that I rescued them.  

Sometimes in the US, you see a bumper  sticker, something like this that says,  

"My dog rescued me." Have you ever felt like this?  Maybe you saved your dog from the animal shelter,  

but really your dog changed your life. Your dog rescued you. You might also hear the word  

mut. Mut can be a little negative if you say it  with a negative voice, but it just means that  

you're not certain what kind of dog you have.  We only use this for dogs. And it means, well,  

it's a mix of so many different types of dogs that  I have no idea. He's a mut. We got him from the  

animal shelter, but you know what? He's the best  dog I've ever had. He's a mut, but I don't care. 

So it's that idea that he's not pure. He's not  a pure bred dog. He's a mix of so many kinds  

of dogs, but you know what? It's still a great  animal. Next is fur and coat. My cat's fur is so  

soft. After I give my dog a bath, he has a  silky coat. He's not wearing a coat, it's  

just talking about his fur. And these words are  interchangeable. He has soft fur. He has a silky  

coat. It's great words to talk about animal hair. Let's talk about some words we can use to talk  

about how friendly an animal is. The first one  is just friendly. He is friendly. You'll often  

hear this as someone is walking their dog.  And if their dogs wants to come closer to you,  

the owner might say, "Oh, don't worry.  He's friendly. He loves little kids."  

And your child can pet the dog or you might ask,  "Is he friendly?" And that means, "Can I pet him?" 

So it's a great word to use to talk about  if your dog is comfortable with people,  

he's friendly. "He's not very friendly with  little kids. So we'll just try to stay away."  

There are three words that are variations of  this. One is wild. Lions are wild. They are not  

friendly towards people. I do not recommend  trying to pet a lion. They are wild. 

The next level is stray. We might say, "That  cat is a stray cat, or he's a stray." And that  

means that he lives on the streets and maybe  he'll come close to people to get some food.  

He might not really hurt you, but he doesn't want  to live in your house. Maybe if you adopt him,  

he'll want to live in your house, but he doesn't  have an owner. He's a stray. He's a stray cat. 

Some cities around the world have a lot of stray  cats or stray dogs. They don't belong to anyone,  

but everyone helps to take care of them. Everyone  helps to feed them. In the US, this isn't very  

common. We don't have a lot of stray cats or a  lot of stray dogs because animal shelters are  

a big part of American culture. A lot of people  when they want a pet, they will go to an animal  

shelter instead of buying a pure bred dog or a  pure bred cat. So a lot of stray dogs or stray  

cats who live on the street will be taken  to an animal shelter for someone to adopt. 

So you might say, "My cat was a stray before we  got him. He was a stray cat before we got him.  

And now he's just so friendly." The next  level is domesticated. So this means  

a cat or dog or animal that was previously  wild and now he's very comfortable with humans.  

So we could use this for a lot of different  animals like cows. Cows are domesticated.  

A long time ago, they were completely wild  or horses. Horses were completely wild,  

but they have become domesticated. Over  time, people have trained them to become  

comfortable with humans. They are domesticated. We often use this term for farm and animals,  

horses, cows, chickens, sheep, goats they are  domesticated animals. Some animals just can't  

be domesticated like a zebra. You can't ride a  zebra. You can't domesticate zebras. It would  

be pretty cool, but they're just an animal that  cannot be domesticated. Before we go on to some  

common questions that you will hear and that you  can ask about pets, let's talk about pet care and  

some words that you can use to describe pet care. A cage, a crate, and a kennel are all the same  

thing. And it's somewhere that you can keep  your animal contained. So you might say,  

"I put my ferret." Some people have a ferret  for a pet. I put my ferret in the crate to take  

it to the vet, which we'll talk about in just a  second, but it's a type of box where you will keep  

your animals maybe to transport them somewhere or  maybe just to help them feel safe and comfortable. 

We have a big kennel for my dog to help him feel  comfortable when guests come over. He goes in  

there and he feels comfortable. And then when the  guests leave, he comes out and feels very safe.  

A collar and tag, this goes around your animal's  neck and has some important information like  

the pet's name, your phone number, maybe  your address. And if your pet gets lost,  

well, someone can help you to  find your pet again by calling you  

with the number that's on the tag on their collar. A collar is also useful because you can attach  

a leash to the collar. Sometimes this is called  a lead. I think that lead is maybe more a term  

that professional people will use. A veterinarian  will use this. Maybe a dog trainer will use this,  

a lead, but for daily conversation, we often just  say, "Leash. Where's the leash? I need to find the  

dog's leash so that I can take him on a walk." One time, I saw somebody having- 

Vanessa: ... that I can take him on a walk. 

One time I saw somebody having an iguana on a  leash. Sometimes people put their cats on a leash  

too, but usually cats don't tolerate that. Have  you ever seen a strange animal on a leash before? 

A vet or veterinarian. Usually we shorten this  to vet. You've already heard me say this a couple  

times and that's the doctor for an animal. So  you might say, "I need to take my sick dog to  

the vet." Or, "What is the best vet to take my  dog to?" We're talking about veterinarian, but  

it's a situation where we don't use the longest  word. We just to use a short, simple version.  

Yes, finally, in English, there is a simple  way to say a long word. So you can just say  

vet. "My cat's vet is just up the streets." Or,  "We have a vet appointment next week." Excellent. 

Now I just want to let you know if this is your  job, if you are a vet in someone asks you the  

common question, "What do you do?" Which means  what's your job? And you say, "I'm a vet." Well,  

this might be slightly confusing if someone  has no idea that you work with animals because  

a vet can be two different things. It can be a  veterinarian, or it can be a veteran, a veteran.  

That means who used to be a soldier. They used  to be in the military and now they're retired.  

So that means that you could either be an animal  doctor or a retired person from the military. 

So if someone knows that you work with animals  or that you're a doctor, if you say, "Oh, I'm  

a doctor." And they ask, "What kind of doctor?"  You could say, "I'm a vet." They will know that  

you work with animals, but if someone has no  clue, you might say "I'm a veterinarian." You  

might elongate that a little bit just to be more  specific. Or if you are a vet from the military,  

you might say, "I'm a retired veteran." Or, "I'm  a retired vet. I was in the Navy." You might  

want to be a little more specific. That's  a situation that might possibly come up. 

What can you do to bond with your animal? You  might play fetch. So you could say, "My cat  

likes to play fetch." Who would've guessed?  Usually dogs do, but sometimes cats do too.  

Or you could just say this word to your dog. So  you have a stick. You throw the stick and your  

dog runs after the stick. You could say, "Fetch,  boy! Fetch the stick." So you're telling him,  

you're giving him a command about what he  should do. Get the stick and bring it back  

to you. This kind of fun game. Or we might just pet your pet.  

This word can be used as a noun, as we've  been talking about it. I have nine pets,  

but what is this gently touching your pet? This  is the verb to pet. When you are stroking or just  

gently touching your animal. This is a very kind,  nice thing to do. Well, you are petting your pet.  

So if you're walking down the street and someone  is walking a dog, and that dog seems friendly,  

the dog wants to talk with you. And the owner says  is, "Oh, don't worry. He's friendly." You can say,  

"Can I pet him?" Great, that means that you can  stroke his head or his back or under his chin.  

And it's a nice way to enjoy a dog and  to kind of connect with each other. 

Okay, are you ready to go onto some common  questions that people will ask you about your  

pets, and also you can ask? Let's do it. "Do you have any pets?" Very simple and  

straightforward question. You might  say, "When I was a kid, I had a dog,  

but now I don't have any pets." Well, this is  just answering in a nicer way than just, "No,  

I don't have any pets." You're giving some  information. "When I was a kid, I had a dog,  

and now I don't have any pets." Good answer. When you see a dog, a common question is  

what kind is he? We're talking about the breed of  dog. What kind is he? It's sometimes unusual to  

see a pure bred dog that's only one kind, only one  breed. So you'll often hear this type of answer,  

"He's a Lab mix. We got him at the animal  shelter." He's a mix. So this means he has  

two different or maybe three or four different  types of dogs in his blood. So we could say he's  

a mix or he's a Lab mix. And this means  he comes from different types of breeds. 

Another question is, "What's his name?" Of  course, you can just say your pet's name,  

but I wanted to give you some of the most common  female pet names, and also some of the most common  

male pet names in English. The most common female  pet names are: Bella, Luna, Lucy, Daisy, and Coco.  

There are many other pet names for female dogs  or cats or horses, or who knows what, but these  

are some of the most common. In fact, one of my  cat's names is Luna. Some of the most common male  

pet names are: Max, Buddy, Teddy, Rocky, and Duke.  These are really common male pet names in the US. 

A question we already talked about is, "Is  he friendly?" Great. Someone might ask you  

this if you have a dog, and you're welcome to  ask someone else this if you want to pet a dog,  

"Is he friendly?" "Yes, you can pet him." Another common question is, "How long have  

you had him?" And maybe this is not how old is  he, but how long has he been a part of your life?  

So you might say, "I got max from the animal  shelter three years ago." "How long have  

you had him?" "I've had him for three years." If you mentioned that your dog or someone else  

mentions that their dog is a specific breed, you  could ask this question, "What made you decide to  

get that breed?" Maybe you're just curious about  that breed. You're trying to have a conversation,  

or maybe you are thinking about getting a dog  too, and you want some more information. So  

you could say, "What made you decide to  get that out breed? And if somebody has,  

for example, a Lab, which is a Labrador Retriever,  if somebody has a Lab, they might say, "Well,  

I heard that Labs are family-friendly dogs. So  we decided to get one. They have a reputation for  

being good with kids, for being friendly. They're  family friendly. So we decided to get one." 

All right, now that we've practiced  some common vocabulary about pets,  

some common questions about pets, now I'd like to  show you a sample conversation between my husband,  

Dan and I, talking about some pets. After  the sample conversation, it will be your turn  

to speak with me and tell me about your pets or  maybe the pets that you wish you had. And after  

that will be the big reveal of my nine pets.  All right, let's watch the sample conversation. 

Hi, Dan, is that your dog? I  thought you were a cat person. 

Dan: Hey Vanessa. I'm an animal lover, but Fluffy's  

not mine. I'm just walking him for a friend. Vanessa: 

Oh, gotcha. Is he friendly? Can I pet him? Dan: 

Yes, he's friendly. You can pet  him, but watch out, he drools. 

Vanessa: Oh, good to know. Well, I'll stick to my  

non-drooling cats. Oh, but good boy, Fluffy. Dan: 

I'm going to walk him at the  park to play fetch. Want to come? 

Vanessa: Sure. 

Okay, now it's your turn. I'm going to be asking  you a couple questions and then I'm going to pause  

and you can speak out loud and try to answer  these questions and pretend like we're having  

a conversation together. If you feel like it's too  short of a pause, feel free to pause this video.  

That's kind of the bonus thing. Exciting  thing about having a video conversation.  

You can pause me and spend some extra time  explaining what you would like to say. All right,  

are you ready? Take a deep breath. Let's do it. Hi. I didn't know you had a pet. What kind is he? 

Interesting? How have you had him? 

That's so nice. I've been thinking about getting  one too. What do you like to do with him? 

Thanks for your help and nice to meet you. 

So how did you do? Are you ready to talk  about your pets now? I hope so. I hope  

I have empowered you to be able to speak more  comfortably about this common conversation topic. 

And now drum roll, it's time to meet my nine pets.  Are you ready? This is Pippin. He's a tuxedo cat.  

This isn't a breed, but it just describes his  coloration. And this is Luna. She a Siamese,  

but we got them both from a shelter. So  she's probably not a pure bred Siamese.  

And my other seven pets are chickens. They're  only two months old, but aren't they so big?  

Unfortunately, we have to wait until October  until they start producing eggs. I can't wait.  

My husband Dan built their coop. That's the little  house where they live, and this area is called  

the run. It's a safe area for them to be outside  without getting eaten by wild animals we hope. We  

got them when they were one-day old. Look how cute  they were. This is a new adventure for us to have  

farm animals, but I can't wait to get some fresh  eggs and it's a great thing to do with kids. Go  

down to the chicken coop in the morning and gather  the eggs. I can't wait. That'll be so much fun. 

All right, let's get started with some common  vocabulary about jobs. The first category have to  

do with employment. We'll talk about unemployment  later. You might say, "My day job is in an office,  

but I'm taking some night  classes to become a nurse."  

This expression, "My day job," usually means your  primary job. The way that you make the most money.  

It could imply that it's during the day,  but if you happen to work a night shift,  

you can still say my day job. "This is my main  job and how I make money. It's my day job." 

Another way to talk about your main job is to  say, "My 9:00 to 5:00 is in a marketing firm."  

My 9:00 to 5:00, this talks about the  hours that you work, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  

You might work different hours. You might  work 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM. You might work in  

the afternoon or the evening, but we still use my  9:00 to 5:00 to talk about your primary job. My  

9:00 to 5:00. There is a new movement talking  about this expression, and it's often about  

how people don't like their 9:00 to 5:00. That  this is something that they're not satisfied with,  

and people who are not enjoying their 9:00 to 5:00  might find some articles online that say, "Want to  

ditch your 9:00 to 5:00? Here's how to find your  dream job." An expression we'll talk about in a  

moment. But sometimes in this modern age, 9:00 to  5:00 implies that it's just a job. "I don't really  

care about it. It's my 9:00 to 5:00." It's somehow  that it's the way that you make money, but it's  

not really your passion. "It's my 9:00 to 5:00." What about jobs that are not your primary  

money-making job? You can use a lot of different  expressions. We could call those jobs a gig,  

a side-gig, a hustle, a side-hustle, or you might  just say, "I do it on the side." Let's imagine  

that you make earrings, but it's not your 9:00 to  5:00. It's not your primary job. Well, you might  

say, "I do it on the side. I make earrings on  the side." Or you could say, "I have a side-gig  

making earrings." This is not your primary job,  but it's something that you do. And you still  

make some money, but not your primary job. If you don't work 40 hours a week at a job,  

then you have a part-time job. In the US, 40  hours per week is considered a full-time job.  

But a lot of jobs are part-time jobs. So you  might say, "Yep, I work a part-time job on the  

weekends at a restaurant. I work a part-time job."  Maybe it's your main way of making money. Okay,  

you just work less hours, or maybe it's just a  side thing, or maybe you're also a student and  

you have a part-time job at the same time.  That's a great way to describe something  

that you work less than 40 hours a week on. Now let's talk unemployment. Unfortunately,  

over the last few years, a lot of people became  unemployed. This is really scary. You don't know  

how you're going to survive, feed your family,  take care of your future. You might be laid off.  

Laid off means you didn't personally do something  wrong, but the company either cut your position,  

they couldn't pay for you anymore.  And it's not something personal.  

It's usually a problem within the company. So when a company is suffering, usually  

financially, or they change their whole system,  their whole model and they don't need some people  

anymore, they might lay you off. This is a great  phrasal verb... Of course, you don't want it to  

happen to you, but it's a great phrasal verb  to know, to explain the situation, because  

it's not that you were fired. To be fired means  you did something wrong and they said, "Sorry,  

you can't work here anymore." And there was a  problem. May you were late to work too many times,  

you got fired. This is different than being  laid off. When you're laid off, it's not your  

fault. And it's not embarrassing to say, "Man,  I was laid off during the pandemic." That's not  

embarrassing. That's fine. It's not your fault.  But if you say, "I was fired," usually there's  

a little bit of embarrassment to talk about  that, because it means there was a problem. 

We can also say, "I lost my job." This is  a little more indirect than being fired.  

It might be because you did something wrong. "I  was late to work so many times that I lost my  

job." This means you were fired, but you didn't  directly say that. But it could also mean that  

you were just laid off. "During the pandemic, I  lost my job." That's not your fault. You didn't  

do anything wrong. There were just problems with  the economy, problems with the world in general.  

So you lost your job. So this expression, to  lose my job, can be used either way. It can  

be used if you get fired or if you get laid off. Now, let's talk about how you feel about your job.  

Let's imagine that you are a waiter  at a restaurant. Well, you might say,  

"I'm a waiter, but it's just a job. I'm looking  for something else." It's just a job. This is a  

common expression to talk about a job that you  don't really love. It's not your dream job.  

This is the opposite. If you love your work...  For me, I love being your teacher. I love being  

able to be your teacher online too. It's a  really a great combination. Great for you,  

I can touch a lot of people, and also my life  can have a lot of flexibility. Working online  

as your English teacher is my dream job, but  there can also be some problems with work. 

You might say, "It's hard to find a good work/life  balance." This expression, a work life/balance,  

is often used when you're working so much or maybe  like me, you work from home. So it's hard to have  

a good line between your personal life and your  work life. So maybe if you've been working a lot,  

you might say, "I just need to take a break and  find a better work/life balance." That's really  

important. If you've been working a lot, maybe  you've even been studying a lot. You might face  

burnout, burnout. This doesn't have to do with  fire, but it kind of has the sense that your  

figurative flame and love of your job  has gone out. So if you experience  

burnout, it means the thing that was your dream  job, the thing that you felt passion about,  

you no longer feel passionate about. This might be temporary. This happens  

to a lot of people like me, who create content  on YouTube. You have to be creative and come up  

with a lot of ideas. And sometimes there aren't  many good ideas. Maybe I just have some kind of  

temporary writer's block and don't come up  with a good idea and I feel overwhelmed.  

Well, that might mean I am burnt out. I am  experiencing burnout, or we might say I'm  

burnt out. I'm burnt out on my job. I've been  working for 12 hours a day for the last three  

weeks. I'm burnt out. I need a break. I hope that  you can avoid this before it gets to too serious,  

but it's something that's really common if you are  working too much or if you're studying too much. 

Now let's talk about four common phrases for  describing your job. And just a little notes. A  

while ago, I made this video, 100 jobs in English.  So if you would like to learn how to pronounce  

your personal job, or if you would like some  more information about specific jobs in English,  

you can check out that video and get some  more details about that. But let's talk about  

four common phrases to talk about what you do. You might say: I am a teacher. I am a doctor.  

I'm a healthcare worker. I'm a construction  worker. I'm a designer. Whatever you might be, "I  

am." But we could also say, "I work in..." plus a  field. I work in education. I work in healthcare.  

I work in business. I work in marketing. So  here we have a general term. It doesn't talk  

about your specific position, but it's a common  expression used when you're describing your job.  

"I work in education." Maybe you're not  specifically a teacher, maybe you help to create  

a curriculum or maybe there's something that's  a little complex that you don't want to explain.  

You might just say, "I work in education." Cool. You can also talk about the company you work for.  

"I work for Amazon." "I work for Google."  Especially if this is a well known company,  

even if it's just well-known locally, this  is a common expression you might use. "Yeah,  

I work for Samsung." "I work for Duke Power,"  which is the power plant in my city. If I said  

this to somebody who lived in France, they would  have no idea what I was talking about because  

this is a local business. But if I said that to  someone locally, they would understand exactly.  

So it's kind of all about the context here. What if you have your own business? What if you  

run your own business? You can use that expression  to run. For me, I run my I own business. We could  

say I run an online education business. Well, that  means that I teach online, but it means I'm the  

CEO, the boss. I wear all the hats. I run  a business. So we could use this for a lot  

of different situations as long as you are  the entrepreneur, you're the one who's in  

charge of the business. I run a business. Before we get to our sample conversation,  

of course, we need to talk about some common  job questions. This is essential for daily  

conversation, because usually these are the  questions we use in small talk. So that's  

why this topic is really important to know about. One of the most common, small talk questions after  

you say, "Hey, my name's Vanessa. Oh, nice to meet  you." What do people say next? "What do you do?  

What do you do?" The full expression for this is  possibly what do you do for work? But we often  

just say, "What do you do?" And this doesn't mean  I'm sitting here right now, talking to you. What  

are you doing right now? This means what's your  job. What do you do? So you might use one of those  

expressions we talked about earlier and say, "Oh,  I work for Google. I work in marketing." Awesome.  

What do you do? Or what do you do for work? When you tell someone what you do, if they are  

a good conversationalist, they might ask more  questions. You could ask this question too,  

"What's that like? What's that like?"  So you're asking about their experience.  

"What's it like to be a nurse in the hospital  these days?" Well, you might say, "Well,  

I like the doctor I work for, but it's just been  really intense lately and it's not my dream job.  

I really want to be a photographer for foster  animals and help them to find a new home. That's  

what I would love to do. I'd love to get into  photography." Well, here, you just answered the  

question what's that like with a lot of juicy  details that can further the conversation more. 

So when you ask someone, "What's that  like?" If they give you some details,  

don't miss that opportunity. You can pull any  of those details and say, "Oh, you like foster  

animals. Have you ever had any foster animals? Oh,  I have a dog too." And you can kind of snowball  

the conversation. This is a great way to get  more information and learn about someone else. 

If you're talking with someone who you already  know, maybe you think you know what work they do,  

but you're not sure, or you haven't talked with  them for a while, you might ask this question,  

"Where are you working these days? Where are  you working these days?" These days means now,  

but if you haven't seen someone for five years,  maybe you knew what their previous job was and  

you're trying to make small talk conversation  again and get to know maybe something's changed  

in their life. So you could ask, "Where are  you working these days?" And you might say,  

"Oh yeah, actually I'm still working  at Google. I've had the same job for  

the last five years. I feel really lucky that I  didn't get laid off. So, that's where I'm at." 

And let's say, you're talking with  someone and you know what job they have.  

Well, you could ask this question, "How's work  going?" This is similar to asking, "How's your  

family?" Or, "How is your vacation?" This is just  a common small talk question about someone's job.  

"How's work going?' And maybe they'll just say,  "Oh, it's going fine." Okay, that's fine. But  

if they give you more information, they might  say something like, "Oh, it's going okay. It  

was my side-gig for a while and then I got hired  full time, but I'm having a hard time finding a  

work/life balance. So I think I'm going to look  for something in a different field soon." Oh,  

well, you just had a great conversation there  and you've got lots more information to be able  

to have more conversation with someone, just  from the simple question, "How's work going?" 

All right, now it's time to see a sample  conversation using all of these expressions  

or many of these expressions that we just talked  about. You'll see my husband Dan and I having a  

little chit chat about our jobs. I hope that  you recognize some of these expressions and  

questions that we talked about because in  a moment, after the sample conversation,  

it will be your turn to use them and to have a  conversation with me. Are you ready? Let's watch. 

Dan: Hey Vanessa, where are you working these days? 

Vanessa: Oh, hey, Dan. I run an online business,  

so I can work from anywhere. It's pretty great. Dan: 

Wow. What's that like? Vanessa: 

Well, I help students learn English and  speak with confidence. It's my dream job,  

but I have to be careful to avoid burning out. Dan: 

Oh, that's awesome, but I understand. Vanessa: 

What about you? Dan: 

Well, unfortunately I just got laid off  at the coffee shop when they closed,  

but I got a job working part time at a hotel. Vanessa: 

Oh man, that's a bummer. Have you ever worked in  marketing? I'm looking for someone to help if you  

want a side-gig, behind the scenes. Dan: 

That'd be great. Tell me more about it. Vanessa: 

Hmm. I wonder if Dan will get the job in  marketing, working for Vanessa. All right,  

now it is your turn. What I want to tell you is  I will be asking you some questions and having  

a little conversation, but I recommend going  back and reviewing this. You're welcome to  

pause the video and answer longer if you would  like. This is a great chance to have kind of a  

structured, no-pressure conversation in English.  All right, are you ready to get started? 

Let's imagine we were at a gathering and the host  said, "Oh, Vanessa, this is..." your name. And we  

get introduced to each other and then the host  leaves. Here we need to have some small talk.  

So I ask you, "Tell me, what do you do?"  And now it's your turn to talk. Go ahead. 

And what's that like? Do you enjoy your work? 

Oh, me? Oh, I run an online English  business where I teach English online  

to students around the world. It's really  my dream job. I feel pretty lucky. Well,  

good luck with your work. I'm so glad to  meet you and I'll talk to you later. Bye. 

How did you do? Did you have a chance to speak  out loud and practice with me? Feel free to go  

back and review that last segment or this  whole video as many times as you would like  

to boost your confidence. Because when  you have small talk in English, you will  

absolutely encounter this conversation topic. So how did you do? Do you feel more empowered to  

talk about your city or your weekend plans and  much more? I hope so. Don't forget to download  

the free PDF worksheet for today's lesson. There  is a link in the description. Never forget what  

you've learned, make sure you download that  free PDF. And thank you so much for learning  

English with me. I will see you again next Friday  for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. 

The step is to download the free PDF worksheet for  this lesson. With this free PDF, you will master  

today's lesson and never forget what you have  learned. You can be a confident English speaker.  

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel  for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.