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.