Today, I’m answering 100 common questions in English, you might learn some new
vocabulary. Definitely pay attention to the sentence structure and think about
how you would answer these same questions. The person asking the questions is going to
be my colleague Tom so let me put in my little earbud and let’s give him a call.
What’s your full name?
Rachel Smith.
What do you do for work?
I’m a Youtuber and I teach English in an online language school.
How are you doing today?
I’m great. How are you?
Great!
How old are you?
I’m 43 years old.
When is your birthday?
November 5th.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Gainesville Florida.
Do you have any siblings?
I do I have one brother.
How old is your brother?
He’s four years older than me so he’s 47.
What were your parents’ jobs when you were young?
My dad was a professor and my mom was a librarian both at the University of Florida.
Are you married?
I am.
How long have you been married?
Let’s see.. We have been married for eight years.
Where did you meet your husband?
Actually, we met at college but we didn’t start dating until like 15 years later.
Do you have any children?
Yes, I have two sons.
How old are your children?
They are right now 3 and 6.
Do your children look like you?
I think they do. But other people say they look like my husband.
Let me interrupt for just a second to give a quick shoutout to my supporters through
the YouTube channel memberships. If you click join, you can get emojis,
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What kind of college did you go to?
I went to a small liberal arts college in the midwest.
What did you major in?
I majored in applied math, computer science and music, vocal performance.
Did you go to graduate school?
I did.
Where did you go?
It was called the Longy school and it’s a small conservatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
What did you study?
I studied Opera Performance.
Where do you live now?
Now I live in Philadelphia.
How long have you lived there?
I lived here for about 10 years.
Do you like where you live?
I do. It took me a while, I left New York City to live here and I
love New York CIty so it was an adjustment period.
Do you live close to your family?
Not really to my parents and brother, but we live pretty close to my husband’s family.
Where does your brother live?
My brother lives in Texas.
Where do your parents live?
My parents live half of the year in Florida and half of the year in Colorado.
What do you usually have for breakfast?
Ooh, for breakfast, I usually have either a croissant and a
latte or some of my homemade sourdough with goat cheese and Earl Gray tea.
What do you usually have for lunch?
Honestly, I usually skip lunch.
What do you usually have for dinner?
For dinner, I have whatever David has made but I try to focus on vegetables.
What did you have for dinner last night?
David’s out of town, so I had to make it myself and I made chilaquiles.
What are some of your hobbies?
I love baking, and right now I’m pretty into fitness and riding my Peloton.
Who is your favorite Peloton instructor?
Probably Christine.
What do you like to bake?
Oh my gosh, everything.
Pies, cakes, custards, cookies. Right now, probably layer cake is my favorite thing to bake.
What kinds of movies do you like to watch?
I probably focus more on dramas.
What’s a movie you’ve seen recently?
Okay, it’s not a drama. But I recently rewatched Bridget Jones’ Diary.
What kinds of books do you like to read?
For books I like novels and memoirs.
What is a book you’ve read recently?
Uhm, let see. I recently finished a novel called Angle of Repose.
What kinds of television shows do you like?
Uhm, I don’t watch a ton of TV, but again probably mostly dramas but some comedy.
What is a TV show you’re watching now?
I recently started on called Bear on Hulu. It’s pretty good.
Have you ever lived abroad?
Yes, I lived in the Dominican Republic and Germany.
How long did you live in the Dominican Republic?
I lived there for one semester in college so about three months.
Did you learn to speak Spanish?
I tried. I could get by.
How long did you live in Germany?
Germany, I was there for 6 months.
Did you learn to speak German?
Again, I was not great, but I could get by.
What languages have you formally studied?
In addition to Spanish and German, I’ve also studied French and Italian.
What’s your favorite city?
New York City, baby!
What’s your favorite place you’ve lived?
New York City, baby!
What kind of music do you like?
Well, I love classical music, I mean that’s a very broad genre but, symphony, chamber music,
operas, choral music. All sorts of time periods. I basically love it all.
What’s your favorite album to listen to?
Ooh that’s tough. Right now I’m really enjoying Philip Glass String Quartets.
What’s the best opera you’ve ever seen live?
That is impossible to answer. So many, but the one that’s coming to mind is, it was the Met Opera. I
can’t remember the year, but it was Natalie Dusey and Juan Diego Flores in The Daughter
of the Regiment. And it was mind-blowing in every way. The sets, the costumes, the singing.
I could go on and on but I’ll stop. It was that one.
What’s your favorite season of the year?
Definitely fall.
Why?
My birthday, my husband’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and I just love the crispy cool.
What’s your least favorite season?
Spring.
Why?
Rainy and boring.
Do you have any pets?
No.
Did you have any pets growing up?
Yeah. Growing up we had a rabbit when I was really
little. And then I got to pick a dog when I was 10.
What are you doing today?
Today I’m filming some YouTube videos!
What are you going to do this evening?
This evening.
Well, my husband’s out of town and so is one of my sons. So my older son and I are probably going
to.. Oh! I’m having my nephews over for dinner, so we’re going to have a little dinner party.
What did you do last night?
Last night, made the chilaquiles and just hung out with my son.
What are you going to do this weekend?
Ooh, this weekend. Actually this weekend we’re renting a house in
western Massachusetts with some friends from college.
What did you do yesterday?
Yesterday. It was mostly just a normal work day. Picked up my son from school.
Took him to school in the morning, but during the day just at my desk.
What are your plans for your next vacation?
My next vacation.
Don’t have real solid plans yet but we do know that for spring break we’re going to Mexico.
What is the most relaxing place you’ve been?
Ooh, good question. There is a place in Massachusetts where I like
to go for silent retreats called Insight Meditation Society and I adore that spot.
What is the best trip you ever took?
Hmmm...that’s tough. One that’s coming to mind right now
is when I was in my early 30s I went to Africa. So Tanzania and Kenya with my aunt and uncle.
How many international trips have you taken?
Oh wow! I don’t know. Probably between 10 to 15 across my whole life.
What is one place that you would like to visit that you haven’t yet?
Okay, I can’t name one. Greece. I would say Alaska.
South of France.
Do you have a big family?
I do. If you count extended family I have a pretty big family and so does David.
Do you have a lot of friends?
I do feel that from various phases of life I
have close-knit groups of girls that I still keep in touch with.
Are you happy?
I am. I feel very lucky that I am quite happy.
How’s your health?
Health’s okay. I recently injured my foot and I’m still recovering from that. Still
have to wear this cast when I walk, but in general I do enjoy very good health.
Have you ever broken a bone?
I have cracked a couple ribs before on an ill-fated canoe trip, but that’s it.
What is something you have to do that you dislike?
I really hate driving.
What is something you wish you could do that you can’t?
I wish I could speak another language with full confidence.
Are you an introvert or extrovert?
Definitely introvert.
What’s your favorite time of day?
Probably when I am drinking my latte or my tea.
What’s your favorite day of the week?
Ooh, that’s tough. I know it’s kind of lame, but I
kind of like Mondays. I kind of like starting my work week.
Snow: love it or hate it?
Love it!!
How much do you sleep every night?
I do not do well if I don’t have enough sleep so I
try to get minimum 8 and creep up to 9 a couple times a week.
How much do you exercise?
Before my injury I was exercising a lot. I would say five times a week and when you add it all up,
I do a lot of little things. Probably between, like, an hour and an hour 45 a day.
What is one thing you need that you don’t have?
One thing that I need that I don’t have, is not possible is I wish I ad,
like three extra hours at the end of every day to just be by myself.
What’s one thing you regret?
You know, I don’t like to live by regrets that..I feel like...life’s...your life always takes a
path and it’s interesting no matter what you did. However, If I had to come up with one,
I would say I do regret, a little bit that I didn’t move to New York sooner. I regret that
I stayed in Boston for an extra year or two when I didn’t really need to.
What kind of car do you drive?
We have a 2018, somewhat beat-up Honda Minivan.
Have you ever been in a car accident?
Yes.
Were you hurt?
Not really. I did go to the hospital in an ambulance, but I was not that hurt.
Have you ever run out of gas while driving?
Yes I have.
How did you deal with that problem?
I called a friend who was driving the same wedding I was. I said: “Where the heck are you?”
He was close enough. I said: “Please go get me a gallon of gas and bring it to me.”
What’s one goal you have for the next year?
Oh, for the next year, I would say the main goal
I have is to get my ankle better, and to get back to the same level of fitness that I had.
For the next five years?
I don’t really... I, I’m not a, like bigger picture thinking person so it’s
actually hard for me to come up with one from five years.
For the next ten years?
Okay 10, that’s easier because I do sort of have in mind that if possible,
it would be nice to maybe retire in 10 years.
How likely is it that you will reach one of these goals?
Ha, good question.
Only time will tell.
Do you have a sweet tooth?
Absolutely!
Do you have a green thumb?
I do not. Actually, there are a lot of plants
behind me right now and that is all my husband’s handiwork.
Are you a cat person?
No!
Are you a dog person?
Not really even though I had one growing up.
What’s your favorite chore?
My favorite chore is probably folding laundry.
What’s your least favorite chore?
My least favorite chore is a tie between doing dishes because no matter how often
you do them, there’s always more, and toilets because those are nasty.
Do you have any nicknames?
Some people call me Rach, and some people call me Ray-Ray.
Do you watch sports?
I do, I like watching sports.
What are your favorite teams?
I would say, mostly I follow Philly teams because of David, and then
like the University of Florida because of my parents.
Have you been to any live sporting events this year?
I did. We took my oldest son to a 76ers game this year.
Big thanks to Tom for helping me with this video. Don’t forget to subscribe with notifications on
so you can stay on top of all of my lessons and keep your learning going now with this video.
I love being your English teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.