English Speaking Practice | Advanced Imitation Lesson

Well hey there I'm Emma from mmmEnglish

and I'm really excited that we get to spend some time together

improving your English speaking skills today.

We're going to practise with the mmmEnglish imitation technique

which is one of the most effective ways that you can

relax your accent and fix your pronunciation problems  

so you speak English more clearly and confidently.

It's so effective because it teaches you to hear the sounds

and the patterns of English and then trains you to produce

those same sounds yourself

through repetition and controlled practice.

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.

All you've got to worry about right now

is speaking out loud with me.

We all know that if you don't practise your speaking

and your listening skills regularly

your fluency can quickly disappear

and we definitely don't want that right?

One of the best things that you can do to stop this from happening 

is to sign up for the next Language Sprint created by

our dear friends at Lingoda.

In just ninety days, the Lingoda Language Sprint will help you to

boost your speaking skills and your listening skills 

by challenging you to attend one of their online classes

every single day and if you attend every class,

Lingoda will happily give a hundred percent of your cash back.

Plus for the first ten people that sign up to the Sprint

using my link in the description below,

you'll get to jump into a Zoom call with me to hang out

and get some extra tips to help you complete the challenge.

There are two different ways that you can participate.

You can sign up for the Super Sprint which is thirty classes

a month for three months.

And if you complete all of those classes,

you'll get a hundred percent of your cash back

and alternatively, if you join just the regular Sprint

which is fifteen classes a month for three months,

you complete that,

you'll get fifty percent of your cashback.

To find out more about Lingoda, to hear how the Sprint works

and find out for sure if you can really get that refund,

well check out my video up here, it goes into much more detail.

If you'd like to join the next Sprint and win the chance to hang out

with me on a Zoom call, then make sure you use the link

down in the description below.

To secure a spot, you'll need to sign up and pay your deposit

by December 28th. Plus if you use this code down here

you'll get a ten euro discount off your deposit. Good luck!

If you're new to mmmEnglish or new to the imitation

technique, there are just three steps that you need to follow.

I'm going to go through it really quickly with you now

but if you've practised with some of my other imitation lessons

you probably know what you're doing right?

So you can just skip on ahead to this point right here

and get started now.

So three steps. Step one is listen and read.

You're just going to get familiar with the story and get comfortable

with my tone of voice.

Step two is listen and repeat.

So you'll listen to what I say and then I'll pause so that you can

repeat. You need to copy me exactly as you hear me.

So step number two is one you can repeat until the words

are coming out of you naturally until you're able to pronounce

the words without hesitating or getting tongue-tied.

It's okay to practise several times on step two before you

move on to step three.

You can even slow down the speed to practise slowly before

returning to regular pace.

You can do it, no one else is around.

Slow it down, practise carefully first and then increase the speed

to a regular pace.

Now step three is a bit of a challenge even for a native English

speaker because for this step

you'll be listening to me and also saying what I'm saying

at the same time.

It's tricky but it's the best way to develop a really natural rhythm

as you speak in English.

So you'll hear what I'm saying and what you're saying

at the same time and you'll need to adjust the sounds

that you make to try and match mine.

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

It's a lot of fun and it's pretty much like singing your favourite song

right? When you first start to learn a song,

you can't do it all straight away but it does get easier with practice

right and then you start having fun.

In today's Imitation lesson,

we're going to be talking about social norms.

Now social norms are rules of behaviour that are socially

and culturally accepted in a society.

It's a really interesting topic that I think we can all relate to but

I've chosen it because

I'm going to introduce some really interesting vocabulary

and help you to expand the words and expressions

that you have to talk about this topic.

Now some of these words are quite advanced but generally,

the tone will be quite conversational and reasonably informal.

Alright let's get into it.

Step one's easy, you're just listening and reading

and it's as simple as it sounds.

Have you ever stopped and wondered

why things are the way they are?

I find it really fascinating how many things we do in our daily lives

that are just accepted and they're rarely questioned.

It's just the done thing! And if you do something differently,

something out of the ordinary

it can create confusion or angst or frustration

among the people around you.

At best, you create minor discomfort but at worst,

you face backlash and you're shunned

from your family or your social circle!

Messing with what is socially acceptable can be brutal!

But what's accepted and totally normal here might be at odds

with what's acceptable where you are.

And that's why it's so fascinating when two sets of social norms

clash.

You know, it really makes people confused or awkward

because technically in that situation,

neither of them is doing anything wrong.

They're both doing what's expected of them in their culture

and that's totally normal.

But the other person is like...

Really shocked!

I'll give you an example.

Here in Australia, it is really common to greet friends

with a hug and a kiss.

A kiss.

Now it's hilarious when you get introduced to an Italian

or a Brazilian in a social context because

they go in for a double kiss!

And some countries, it's even a triple kiss!

But that little interaction can be so confusing and awkward.

It's the meeting of two different social norms.

And I mean how strange is it when you hear a woman asked a man

to marry her! Why is that so strange?

It's just not the done thing! It's not the norm

so it confuses us!

If you stop and think for a minute

there are so many of these situations,

things that we never question because

it's just the way things are.

Step two. Listen and copy.

Now you need to imitate exactly what I say and that means

you're trying to copy my pronunciation,

my word stress and the pause between

each word in my sentence.

You can even try and imitate my facial expressions just to practise

communicating with more than just words.

There'll be a pause after each part of the sentence

and you can practise out loud after me, okay?

Just try and relax and go with the flow. It's just you and it's me.

We're gonna have some fun!

Step three, shadow me.

Before we get to step three, I've got to tell you or remind you

if you've practised with the imitation technique before,

you can pause here okay you can go back

and practise section two as many times as you need to

before we keep going. In fact, you should.

Just practise the sounds, loosen your mouth, focus on the way

that I'm linking words together as I speak naturally.

All of these things take practice. Be patient with yourself okay?

But when you are ready for the challenge, it's time to shadow me

and that means hearing the sounds and speaking at the same time

so you'll probably get a little tongue-tied and the words  

might come out a bit weird. Don't worry all right

you're trying to copy the rhythm and the tone.

Just try and copy the rhythm.

Hey you congratulations on making it all the way through

that lesson. It was a bit of a mouthful, I know.

Make sure you save this lesson to a playlist so you can keep

coming back to it and practising with me.

Once you get comfortable with my examples of social norms,

then you can try adapting your own ones, ones that are relevant

to you and to your experience. In fact,

I'm really curious about the social norms where you live.

What's socially acceptable and what's not?

Is it acceptable for women to ask men to marry them?

It should be!

Are there any social norms that are being challenged

at the moment?

Let's keep this conversation going.

I want to see your comments down there.

Now you may not know that I have imitation courses available

on the mmmEnglish website

so you can actually keep practising this way for hours with me

if you want to.

The link is in the description down below or you can scoot over

right up there.

Thank you for joining me. Thank you for watching

and check out these lessons here

if you want to keep practising right now. See you in there!