Advanced speaking practice: English Imitation Lesson

Hey this is Emma from mmmEnglish!

I'm super excited that you're here and that you're

spending some time with me today

to improve your English.

In this lesson we're going to be doing some more

speaking skills practice

and in particular, we're going to be practising

with the mmmEnglish Imitation Technique

which is one of the most effective ways

to reduce your accent and to fix

your pronunciation problems so that you speak

more clearly and confidently in English.

And it's effective because it teaches you to listen

to the sounds and the patterns of English

and trains you to produce those same sounds yourself

through repetition and controlled practise.

You're training your mouth with your ears

by listening to the sounds and imitating them

rather than training your mouth with your eyes

by reading and guessing the pronunciation

and the rhythm of words on a page.

Now if you haven't done a lesson like this before,

don't worry, it's really simple and I'm going to explain

each step for you so that you know

exactly what you need to do.

You just need to get ready to speak out loud with me.

If you're new to my channel

or new to the Imitation Technique,

I've got some courses available via the

mmmEnglish website to help you practise this way

and you can find out more about them up here

or I've added the link in the description below.

To practise with the Imitation Technique, there's just

three simple steps that you need to follow.

The first one is, well you just need to listen to what I say

and read the words on the screen as I say them.

Next, you'll be listening to what I say

but then there'll be a pause so that you can repeat

what I said.

You need to copy me exactly as you hear me.

This step, you can do again and again and again

until you sound or you think you sound exactly as I do.

And it's okay to practise many times

before you move on to the third step.

You can even slow down the speed

so that you can practise a little more slowly

before stepping up to regular pace

because step three is a challenge,

even for a native English speaker.

You're going to be listening to me and saying

what I'm saying at the same time

and that's pretty much like practising along to your

favourite song, right? You can't really do it straightaway

but with a little bit of practice it gets easier

and you'll start having fun.

Now although this step is also the trickiest one,

it's the best way to fine-tune your natural speaking skills.

You'll get to hear what I'm saying

and what you're saying at the same time

so that you can adjust the sounds and the rhythms

so that you can match me.

You are going to make a lot of mistakes but who cares?

We're going to have fun!

Today we're going to practise talking about a past trip.

Now I'm going to be sharing a story with you about

my recent trip to Portugal.

Talking about travel is a really great way to start a

conversation because there is lots of opportunity

to ask questions and to share your own

travel experiences with someone.

Keep in mind that you can easily exchange my story

with your own story about traveling as well

especially once you've been practising with me

for a little while.

All right? Let's get started.

Step one: listen and read.

I've just come back from a trip to Portugal!

Lisbon, actually.

Was a bit of a last-minute decision.

My friend was attending a conference there

and she convinced me to tag along!

I don't usually make spontaneous decisions like that

but it all just happened at the right time.

I actually didn't know that much about

Lisbon before I went.

Have you been?

I had no idea what an incredible city it is.

And oh my god, the food!

I ate so many pastéis de nata,

I thought I was going to burst!

The city is full of beautiful cobblestone streets.

I spent so much time just wandering around

in the sunshine, you know?

Winding my way through historic neighbourhoods.

Actually one of the coolest things we did was

jump in a tuk-tuk with a guide.

We went up this steep hill and had an amazing view

over the city.

You know what a tuk-tuk is, right?

It's like a little motorbike with a cabin on the back

where you can sit.

It was a really fun way to get around.

And easier than walking because

oh my god, it was so hot!

And our guide, her name was Paula,

she grew up in Lisbon and she was just a

wealth of knowledge.

She was full of stories about her childhood

and about the history of the city.

She took us to cool little back streets and,

you know, we explored some amazing street art.

There's just no way that we would have found

all of those hidden gems ourselves.

I really wish we could have stayed longer!

I definitely want to go back there one day!

What about you,

have you got any travel plans coming up?

Now you need to imitate exactly what I say

and that means you're trying to copy my pronunciation

and my word stress and even the pause in my sentence.

You could even try and copy my facial expressions

to practise communicating with more than just words.

There's going to be a pause after each sentence

so that you can practise out loud with me okay?

Or after me.

So just relax and go with the flow.

It's just you and me here right now, okay?

So let's just have some fun.

Step two: listen and imitate.

I've just come back from a trip to Portugal!

Lisbon, actually!

Was a bit of a last-minute decision.

My friend was attending a conference there

and she convinced me to tag along!

I don't usually make spontaneous decisions like that

but it all just happened at the right time.

I actually didn't know that much about Libson

before I went.

Have you been?

I had no idea what an incredible city it is!

And oh my god, the food!

I ate so many pastéis de nata,

I thought I was going to burst!

The city is full of beautiful cobblestone streets,

I spent so much time just wandering around

in the sunshine, you know?

Winding my way through historic neighbourhoods.

Actually, one of the coolest things we did

was jump in a tuk-tuk with a guide.

We went up this steep hill and had an amazing

view over the city.

You know what a tuk-tuk is, right?

It's like a little motorbike with a cabin on the back

where you can sit.

It was a really fun way to get around,

and easier than walking because

oh my god, it was so hot!

And our guide, her name was Paula,

she grew up in Lisbon,

and she was just a wealth of knowledge.

She was full of stories about her childhood

and about the history of the city.

She took us to cool little back streets

and, you know, we explored some amazing street art.

There's just no way that we would have found

all of those hidden gems ourselves.

I really wish we could have stayed longer!

Definitely want to go back there one day.

What about you,

have you got any travel plans coming up?

Now we're moving on to step three

which is a little more challenging.

Don't forget that you can pause here right now,

go back and practise section two as many times

as you need to before we keep going.

This is going to take a little bit of practice but right now

you need to shadow me and that means

listening and speaking at the same time.

Try to copy the rhythm and the tone that I use

even if it means you get a little tongue-tied at first.

It doesn't matter.

Step three: shadow.

I've just come back from a trip to Portugal!

Lisbon, actually!

Was a bit of a last-minute decision.

My friend was attending a conference there

and she convinced me to tag along.

I don't usually make spontaneous decisions like that

but it all just happened at the right time.

I actually didn't know that much about Lisbon

before I went.

Have you been?

I had no idea what an incredible city it is!

And oh my god, the food!

I ate so many pastéis de nata,

I thought I was gonna burst!

The city is full of beautiful cobblestone streets.

I spent so much time just wandering around

in the sunshine, you know?

Winding my way through historic neighbourhoods.

Actually, one of the coolest things we did

was jump in a tuk-tuk with a guide.

We went up this steep hill

and had an amazing view over the city.

You know what a tuk-tuk is, right?

It's like a little motorbike with a cabin on the back

where you can sit.

It was a really fun way to get around

and easier than walking because

oh my god, it was so hot!

And our guide, her name was Paula,

she grew up in Lisbon

and she was just a wealth of knowledge.

She was full of stories about her childhood

and about the history of the city.

She took us to cool little back streets and,

you know, we explored some amazing street art.

There's just no way that we would have found

all of those hidden gems ourselves.

I really wish we could have stayed longer!

Definitely want to go back there one day.

What about you

have you got any travel plans coming up well?

Wow! Congratulations for making it through!

What a mouthful that was!

Make sure you save this lesson to a playlist

and keep coming back to practise with me.

Once you get comfortable telling my story,

then you can try adapting your own travel stories.

In fact have you been to Portugal or had a trip like mine?

Let me know about it in the comments.

I'm super curious. Portugal is amazing!

Many of you have been requesting

more Imitation Lessons lately

so that you can practise your speaking skills with me

so let me know what lessons you want.

Do you want conversations about work, about travel,

about disagreeing with someone or arguing?

Let me know what you want in the comments and I'd be

really happy to make them for you.

If you'd like to support what we do here at mmmEnglish,

we've got packs of Imitation Lessons for sale

through our website.

They are really affordable and they give you

hours and hours of speaking practice.

The link is in the description below

so you can check it out anytime.

Thanks for watching and I'll see you next week!