hey this is Emma from English it's great
to see you again so tell me have you got
much planned for the weekend
it doesn't matter where you are in the
world this is a really common question
that gets asked all the time right work
after class when you're just hanging out
with friends so do you know how to
answer this question in English really
well I know how much you love speaking
practice
so in today's lesson we're going to
practice talking about the weekend and
after this lesson you're going to be
ready with some really common phrases
and expressions that you can use in
conversations all the time with your
workmates with your classmates or any
other English speaking mate of yours and
to make sure that you get the most out
of this lesson we're going to be
practicing with the English imitation
technique and it's one of the most
effective ways that you can reduce your
accent and fix your pronunciation
problems so that you speak English more
clearly and more confidently so stay
tuned
[Music]
if you already know how the imitation
technique works then feel free to skip
ahead to step 1 it starts right here but
if you're new to the imitation technique
well you might be wondering what is it
and how does it work
this technique is super effective
because it teaches you to listen to the
sounds and patterns of English and it
trains you to produce some of those
sounds yourself through repetition and
controlled practice but most of all it's
just a lot of fun you're going to be
training your mouth with your ears by
listening to the sounds and imitating
them or copying them rather than
training your mouth with your eyes by
reading and guessing what the
pronunciation and the rhythm of those
words are now if you haven't done a
lesson like this before
stay cool it's okay don't worry there's
three really simple steps that you need
to follow the first one is that you just
need to listen to what I say and read
the words on the screen as I say them
the second step is you're going to
listen to what I say but then there'll
be a pause so that you can repeat you
can copy what I've said exactly as I
said it and this is a step that you can
repeat over and over again until you
sound exactly like I do and it's okay to
practice this step several times before
you move on to step number three you can
even slow down the speed of the video
down here so that you can practice
slowly first and then return to normal
speed and you might want to do that
because step number three is a bit of a
challenge even for a native English
speaker so you'll need to listen to what
I'm saying but say it at the same time
as I do so you'll speak as I speak now
it's pretty much like singing along to
your favorite song right you're not
going to get it perfect the first time
you try and it's okay to make some
mistakes we're going to have fun and
you'll improve over time
practice today we're going to be talking
about our plans for the weekend
so this dialogue is going to be in
future tenses because it hasn't happened
yet it's happening in the future now
when someone asks you about the weekend
they might say so what's happening this
weekend have you got any plans so what
are you guys doing on the weekend what
are you guys up to on the weekend got my
John now often your answer might be
quite short especially if you don't feel
comfortable enough to have a full
conversation yet but after our practice
session today and hoping that you'll
grab the opportunity to share as much
detail as you can in English we're going
to be practicing a range of expressions
that you can easily adapt to your own
situation so let's try step 1 listen and
read this weekend I'm really looking
forward to it actually I've got my
sister visiting from overseas so I'm
gonna be playing to a guide for a few
days and Saturday is looking pretty good
weather-wise so we might go somewhere
for breakfast
bourbon Tucker's my go-to whenever I
have people staying have you been there
everything there is amazing and the view
over the ocean is to die for
so yeah I think we might start there
since it's gonna be nice and then do a
bit of exploring maybe we'll stop in for
lunch at the Botanic Gardens so
beautiful there at this time of year
they often have free concerts actually
so that could be pretty cool and then on
Sunday I think I'll take her to the
National Gallery and we'll probably
wander around the markets for a while
actually my friends playing in a band
and she's offered us free tickets
so we'll probably check that out too as
long as we're not too tired so I've got
a lot planned how about you have you got
much on step 2 so now you need to
imitate exactly what I say and that
means you're trying to copy my
pronunciation my word stress and the
pauses in my scent
you can even try and imitate my facial
expressions and body language if you
want because that extra practice about
communicating with more than just words
there's going to be a pause after each
sentence so that you can practice with
me there'll be time for you to say it
too so just relax and go with the flow
it's just you and it's me there's no one
else here right now so let's just have
some fun step to imitate listen and copy
this weekend
I'm really looking forward to it
actually
I've got my sister visiting from
overseas so
I'm going to be playing to a guide for a
few days
and Saturday is looking pretty good
weather-wise
so we might go somewhere for breakfast
bourbon Tucker's my go-to whenever I
have people staying
have you been there
everything there is amazing
and the view over the ocean is to die
for
so yeah I think we might start there
since it's going to be nice
and then do a bit of exploring
maybe we'll stop in for lunch at the
Botanic Gardens
so beautiful there at this time of year
they often have free concerts actually
so that could be pretty cool
and then on Sunday
I think I'll take her to the National
Gallery
and we'll probably wander around the
markets for a while
actually my friends playing in a band
and she's offered us free ticket
so we'll probably check that out too
as long as we're not too tired
so I've got a lot planned
how about you have you got much on
before we move to step number three a
really quick shout out to our friends
over at Skillshare who've made it
possible to bring you this imitation
lesson for free Skillshare is an online
community with thousands of classes
covering all kinds of subjects that you
can do in your spare time alright maybe
you could even do them on the weekend
there are two reasons why I recommend
Skillshare to my students firstly
because not only are you learning new
skills but you're also learning new
vocabulary and real-world expressions to
talk about the things that you're into
and secondly because it's affordable for
less than ten dollars a month you can
get access to a huge range of courses
from teachers around the world I find
myself using the Skillshare library all
the time whenever I need to upskill in
fact just this month my mum has been
getting our family home ready to sell so
I thought I'd love to help her to get
the place looking amazing before it goes
on the market and people come around to
have a look
I found a brilliant interior styling
course taught by a professional stylist
that had me filled with ideas in just
over an hour it was just the kind of
expert guidance that I needed to make
everything happen so if you want to try
it out jump online using the link in the
description below this video to get
yourself two months of premium level
access for free and let me know what
skill share courses you end up taking
alright let's get back to step number
three now we're moving on to step three
which is a little more challenging so
don't forget that you can pause right
here go back and practice section two as
many times as you need before you keep
going this is just going to take a
little bit of practice so now you're
going to shadow me and that means
listening and speaking at the same time
so try to copy the rhythm and the tone
that I use even if it means that you get
yourself a little tongue-tied for a
while there it's okay don't worry about
it
step3 shadow this weekend I'm really
looking forward to it actually I've got
my sister visiting from overseas so I'm
gonna be playing to a guide for a few
days and Saturday is looking pretty good
weather-wise so we might go somewhere
for breakfast
bourbon Tucker's my go-to whenever I
have people staying have you been there
everything there is amazing and the view
over the ocean is to die for
so yeah I think we might start there
since it's gonna be nice and then do a
bit of exploring maybe we'll stop in for
lunch at the Botanic Gardens so
beautiful there at this time of year
they often have free concerts actually
so that could be pretty cool and then on
Sunday I think I'll take her to the
National Gallery and we'll probably
wander around the markets for a while
actually my friends playing in a band
and she's offered us free tickets
so we'll probably check that out too as
long as we're not too tired so I've got
a lot planned how about you have you got
much on Hey awesome work that was great
practice the best thing that you can do
is save this lesson to a playlist and
come back to it to practice it each day
or a few times a week you'll be amazed
at how much progress you make in such a
short amount of time and once you get
comfortable talking about my weekend
you can try adapting it to talk about
your weekend in fact what are you doing
this weekend what have you got planned
let me know down there in the comments
I'm keen to hear your stories and if you
have a request for different types of
imitation lessons then make sure you let
me know as well if you'd like to support
what we do here at in English we've got
packs of imitation lessons available for
sale via our website they are affordable
and they're going to give you hours and
hours of speaking practice the link is
in the description below thanks for
watching and I will see you in the next
lesson