Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from
SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Are you ready to speak in English with me? Let's do it.
Hey! You doing anything fun for vacation? Yes? What'd you say?
If I asked you, "You doing anything fun for vacation?" Would you freeze,
panic and not know what to say? Well, don't worry. Today, I'd like to help you answer this question.
You doing anything fun for vacation? Which is a common conversation topic this time of the year,
because we're thinking about the warmer months to come, the summer to come. And I thought it would
be great to talk about this here in my backyard. It is a sunny, beautiful day. You can hear birds
chirping, dogs barking, trucks going by, it's nice to be outside. All right, let's get started.
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 of 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, goin', dropping the G,
where are you going this summer? Where ya goin' this summer? Or we could say whatcha 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 on, 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 going on here?"
But you can use this also for vacation and say, "What do you have going on this summer?"
Or reduced, "Whatcha got going on this summer?" And it simply means,
what are your plans this summer? Whatcha you got going on this summer? So if someone asks you this,
you know that they're asking about your vacation plans. Whatcha got going on this summer?
Another coming 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,
y'doin'nything fun for Vacation? Look at what's happening at the beginning of this question.
Ya. 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 ya. Do you see how we
reduce the word you in a lot of ways, whatcha got going on or ys. Ya. Doing, you're doing
for dropping that G again, y'doin'nything fun? Something interesting happens at the beginning
of the word. Anything y'doin'nything fun? Link together doin' because we're going to
drop the G. It ends with the sound, "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 ends sounds side-by-side. Y'doin'nything? Y'doin'nything? Y'doin'nything? 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 are you headed for vacation? Where ya headed for vacation.
We could substitute the end of this for vacation. And just say, where are ya headed this summer?
Where are you 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 of different reductions, but a very common one is, ya.
Where are ya headed this summer? Where you headed for vacation? Great. Before we go onto
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 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 ya 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 ya headed this summer, what
ya 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 U.S 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 about what you're really doing. I'd like to go to Europe, but I think
I'll go on a road trip around the U.S instead. Or you could say I'd like to go to a family reunion,
but we had to postpone it. Hmm. 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 the reality, 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
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 the sample. Dan:
Hey! Y'doin'nything fun this summer? Vanessa:
Well, I was going to go backpacking around Europe, but instead I think I'll just go camping and some
local state parks. What about you? Dan:
Well, I was going to meet my family in Florida for a family reunion,
but that guy canceled. So now I think I'm going to have a socially distanced outdoor movie night in
my backyard. Do ya want to come? Vanessa:
Sure. That sounds great. Text me the details and I'll be there.
Dan: Great. I'll see ya around.
Enjoy your camping trip. Vanessa:
Thanks. I will see you at the movie night. Vanessa:
Okay. Now it's your turn put together. All of these pieces. I'm going to be asking you
a question that I'm going to be pausing. I don't care where you were 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! y'doin'nything 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 U.S 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. And now I have a for you let me know in the comments,
where ya headed this summer? Let me know in the comments. I can't wait to see what you
have to say and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye. The next step is to download my free ebook five steps to becoming a confident
English speaker. You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently.
Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.