well hey there this is emma from um
english how are you over the past
few months many of you have written to
me in the comments below my videos
asking for help with your english
speaking skills
you want to sound more natural more
casual
more like a native english speaker right
some of you also like my not so
australian
australian accent and you want to
practice speaking
like me well today you're in luck
because
in this lesson we're gonna have some fun
doing exactly that
okay welcome to your first english
conversation
workout this is an intensive repeat
after me style lesson
that's going to work those conversation
muscles it's going to help you to
strengthen
those speaking skills and your listening
skills at the same
time we're going to do a lot of speaking
practice together
in a short space of time so you need to
be ready to participate you've got to
join in
and by the end of the workout today
you're going to feel
more confident and you're going to sound
more natural
like a native english speaker when you
use these common
conversation expressions today's workout
will focus on greetings and
introductions we're going to practice
some really common questions that you
can ask or
that you might be asked in a very casual
and very common english conversation
before we get started i want to make
sure that you're in a place
where you feel comfortable talking at
your normal
speaking volume and if you're able to
avoid
using your headphones then do that too
that's so that you can hear me
but also you can hear yourself clearly
too
now this workout is really simple you
don't need to think
much you just need to listen and repeat
after me
we're gonna practice four sets of really
simple english
phrases now these are gonna be phrases
that you already know
and you've probably read them or you've
heard them during a casual conversation
with native speakers but we're gonna
focus on your pronunciation
and your expression today okay so you'll
practice
listening and then saying these
questions just like native speakers do
with contractions with linking
and you know we'll play around a little
with word stress
as well so get ready to practice out
loud guys
it's workout time
[Music]
so when we meet with someone whether
it's someone we already know or someone
we're just meeting for the first time
we almost always ask how they are
right so for our first set we're going
to practice some simple phrases that all
mean the same thing how are you
so here we go hi tom how are you
good so notice how it's like just one
big word there
do it again hi tom how are you
last one hi tom how are you
okay now let's change the emphasis a
little here
brooke how are you so really stretch out
that
and sound doing this helps to sound
really interested in the answer so if
you know the person well but you haven't
really
seen them for a while then using this
intonation is
great okay because it shows that you
really care
hi brooke how are you
all right let's try this one now hey
steve how you doing
so notice that we've dropped the verb be
here and this is something that's
really common in spoken english
especially
with really common phrases frequently
used phrases like these ones
hey steve how you doing
all right so now let's switch out doing
with
going but you'll notice there's a couple
of other changes when we do that
hey angelina how's it going
so you'll hear native english speakers
say going
going whatever so just use which one
is the most comfortable for you
hey angelina how's it going
and for the last one something super
super casual
hey mate what's happening
in spoken english it's really really
common to hear
happening reduce down to just two
syllables but it
is especially common in this expression
okay now it's still correct to say
happening what's happening
but it just sounds more relaxed and more
friendly when you reduce it down
to happening happen
and of course mate is used to refer to a
friend in australia
and it's also really common in england
so
you could replace it with dude or man
or guys or whatever but it's the same
same kind of expression hey mate what's
happening
hey nate what's happening
awesome work now there are a lot of
different combinations for greetings in
english
and from what we just practiced now you
would have noticed that there's a lot of
flexibility in
spoken english okay so try not to worry
too much about perfection
native speakers really don't worry about
perfection when it comes to
introductions
okay you don't have to be perfect
grammatically speaking
anyway let's keep going we're just
warming up what are you doing
when we're speaking with friends or even
colleagues at work
we can use this expression to find out
what's happening
right now but we often use it
to find out what plans are in the future
what someone's plans are
so it's a little question that can start
a conversation
or a really useful one to help you keep
a conversation
going now in the next few phrases that
we practice we're gonna begin
each question with so because it helps
to give the listener a clue
that you're going to say something or
you're going to ask something so it
introduces you
and i also want you to listen out for
the stressed words and the way that we
change the focus of the question by
stressing certain words
listen out for what are you instead of
what are you so this is the trap the
contracted form
what are you what are you what are you
so
what are you doing later on
what are you doing later on now can you
hear that flap t
there it sounds more like a d
water water water and then again
later later this is really
really common in australian and american
english accents
and a quick note about later on okay
you can assume that it means later on
in that same day if there's no extra
information
but you'll also hear people using it
with longer time references as well
later on in the week later on in the
year
okay so it's not a specific point in
time but it's just
in the future at some point so what are
you doing later on
so what are you doing later on
great stuff let's practice some more now
so what are you doing tomorrow
what are you doing tomorrow
now push the stress transfer the stress
onto
you okay we want to emphasize who we're
talking to in a group
so what are you doing tomorrow
so what are you doing on the weekend
and now let's shift our emphasis back to
the weekend
away from you so what are you doing on
the weekend
so what are you doing on the weekend
fantastic nice work with the stress all
right
last set now so what are you guys doing
over summer
so what are you guys doing over summer
and again let's move the stress back to
the subject
you guys so what are you guys doing over
the summer
top stuff let's keep going what are you
up to
okay so this phrase is really similar to
what are you doing but it's even more
natural and common
for native speakers to ask a question
this way
so see if you can get what are you up to
down to just what are you up to
what are you up to are you ready to give
it a go
what are you up to
brilliant all right let's give this
question a little bit more focus
so what are you up to today
and now shift that focus to the person
that you're talking to
so what are you up to today
great now let's add another prompting
question
so we could say what are you up to
tonight
busy so we've dropped the structure of
the question there in the second
question and we're using
only intonation to signal that it's a
question
and that's quite common in informal
spoken english
what are you up to tonight busy
now if we want to shift the focus onto
the person who we're talking to
we can say what are you up to tonight
busy
so what are you up to for the weekend
got any plans
so what are you up to for the weekend
got any plans
excellent and last time so
what are you up to for the weekend got
any plans
this one is definitely one of the most
common small talk questions that you
just hear
all the time in fact i was just talking
to my mum earlier today on the phone and
we almost
always start our conversation by
chatting about the weather
because we live in different cities and
the weather
often shapes our mood and it can affect
our day
so asking a question about the weather
it helps
to show interest in someone especially
if you're far away from each other now
there are
different ways to ask about the weather
lots of them
but we're gonna focus on some of the
most common and the most
natural sounding ways of asking about
the weather in english
and one of the best ways to do that is
to add an
ing verb to talk about the weather
as if it was feeling or doing something
it
adds a little bit of personality and
that's what we're going to practice
right now
so are you ready what's the weather
doing
notice that i'm contracting and linking
what's the
what is the into what's the
what's the what's the weather doing
what's the weather doing
perfect so now it's time to add some
time markers
what's the weather doing tomorrow
and let's add some additional words as
well um
to to make our sentence more interesting
seeing what the weather is doing
tomorrow
notice again that we've dropped the
standard question structure
here and it's common in english in
informal conversations just to
drop the structure of a question and
just use intonation to signal it
know what the weather's doing tomorrow
heard what the weather's doing tomorrow
our intonation is going
up to signal the question so when you
write
or you use formal language you
definitely should
use the full structure have you seen
what the weather's doing tomorrow
but in informal spoken english it's
really really common to just drop it
completely
wonderful work guys so let's change it
up
a little now we want to mix this
sentence up
what's the weather looking like over the
weekend
what's the weather like over the weekend
any good
so this question is is it any good or
does it look
any good what's the weather like on the
weekend
any good what's the weather doing on the
weekend
any good
what a workout guys well done for making
it all the way through to the very very
end let's just get something clear here
i did not
make this lesson for you to watch it
once and then walk away and forget about
it
this is your training okay you need to
come back
and practice with me often all right as
much as you can
so save it to a playlist along with some
of my imitation lessons
for your full mouth daily workout
okay if you want to sound like a native
english speaker you've got to get
comfortable using these contractions
and reductions just like we practiced
all the way through this lesson
now i'm curious to hear what you thought
about our first english conversation
workout here at english was it helpful
for you to practice this way
do you want me to make more lessons like
this
about anything in particular let me know
by liking the video and
leaving a comment below you can
definitely
definitely definitely keep practicing
with me right now
right here in either of these two
lessons
and i'll see you in there bye for now