Practise phrasal verbs in conversation

Video Transcript
Section 1
Well hey there I’m Emma from mmmEnglish. Today you’re gonna get to practise speaking with me.

We’re gonna be using a lot of really awesome phrasal verbs to help express ideas about support, health, illness and even finance. All of the really good ones that will help you to talk about what’s been happening in the world lately. We’re going to practise naturally using the mmmEnglish imitation technique and this will really get your English flowing.

We’re gonna focus on your fluency and we’ll get those words coming out of you smoothly and effortlessly as you speak so that you can communicate more confidently in English. So let’s do it!

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If you’re a regular here at mmmEnglish then you have probably practised speaking with me before. You probably already know exactly how this works. You’ll listen, you’ll practise with me and then you’re gonna try it out for yourself. If you’ve practised with me before you’ll know exactly how it works so you can actually just skip ahead to where the lesson starts right here.

But if this is new for you, if you haven’t practised this way before there are just three things that you need to know. Step one’s easy, just listen to what I say and read along as I say it. Next, you’ll copy what I say so listen first and then I’ll pause for you so that you can copy what I say exactly as you hear me say it and that might take a little bit of practice and it’s absolutely okay to repeat this step again and again if you want to.

It might take you a few goes to just loosen up your mouth muscles and relax your tongue and get into the swing of things. Just keep practising, just make sure you’re feeling really relaxed and natural before you move on to step number three.

And did you know that you can slow down the speed so that you can practise more slowly before returning to regular pace? This might also help you to practise.

Step three is a bit of a challenge. This time you’ll be listening to me and what I’m saying but you’ll also be saying it yourself at the same time.

Now because we’ll both be speaking together at the same time you can actually adjust the sounds that you’re making to match mine, especially the tone, the intonation.

And just so you’re ready for it, you are gonna mess this up. You’ll get tongue-tied, you’ll get stuck, don’t worry about it. It’s all part of the fun, it’s kind of like just singing along to your favourite song, you know, the first time you try you can’t do it, right? You don’t know the words but with a little practice, it gets easier and easier and you’ll start having fun.

Today we’re going to be practising using some of the phrasal verbs that I taught you a few weeks ago. So you might recognise some of them from this lesson up here and that is exactly where you can find all of the details around the meaning, the definitions, the explanations, the examples and I’ll link to that at the end of today’s practice.

But I also think that this speaking lesson is going to be awesome for any of you who are preparing for English speaking exams.

This topic is definitely going to be one that will be useful to talk about and I know that the phrasal verbs and the expressions you learn today are going to help you to confidently speak about it so let’s get started!

A year to remember or forget.

The first step: Listen and Read

2020 was an unprecedented year. In my mind, it will always be the year the world ran out of toilet paper. The year when it became acceptable to go to work in our pyjama pants. The year we all brushed up on skills and took up new hobbies. I started baking sourdough, along with everyone else!

But it’s also the year that millions of people around the world came down with a mysterious virus that quickly became a global pandemic. And tragically, more than two million people have passed away from it. But did you know that over sixty million people have successfully fought off the virus? Incredible!

People have been impacted in different ways and it has certainly highlighted inequality. There has been lots of financial uncertainty; people have lost their jobs; businesses have been impacted. Some have been lucky and had savings to dip into but other people have gone without essential items at times.

On a positive note, we’ve really seen people step up and help out their local communities where they can. We’ve rallied around our families and neighbours doing whatever it takes to help them get by. Collaboration between scientists and researchers has led to the development of multiple vaccines which are being rolled out in many countries right now.

And it seems to be working! Infection rates over the last few months have started to drop off. I hope you’re optimistic about the year ahead. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Step two: Listen and Imitate
Now you need to imitate exactly what I say. So that means you’re trying to copy my pronunciation, the word stress, the pause in every sentence. You can even try to imitate my facial expressions if you want to just to practise communicating with more than just words. There will be a pause after each sentence so that you can practise out loud straight after me okay? So just try to relax and go with the flow.

Step three: Shadow
Now we’re moving on to step three which is a little more challenging. Don’t forget that you can pause here and go back to practise section two as many times as you need to before you keep going. This is going to take a little bit of practice. So of course, 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. Even if you do get a little tongue-tied at first, you’re trying to copy the pattern of my speech as we go.

Awesome work! You did it, well done! There were lots of phrasal verbs in there and hopefully by practising out loud with me today, speaking with me today, you’re feeling more comfortable about pronouncing these phrasal verbs and using them really naturally as you speak in English.

Now what I do want to know is what was new or weird or wonderful for you in 2020? Did you take up a new hobby? What did you do to get by during lockdown? Or did you have to go without something important because you couldn’t get it at the supermarket or you know there was a period where you just had to get by.

Let me know down in the comments and looking forward to an amazing year ahead. I know that we’re all coming out the other side of this super excited. If you do have the opportunity to speak about the impact of the pandemic and what 2020 was like to you during an exam, a speaking exam, a written exam.

I really hope that this lesson has helped to inspire you to think about how you can use it to your advantage using some amazing phrasal verbs, some excellent expressions and different ways of sharing ideas about what we’ve been through together over the past twelve months.

Thanks for watching! Make sure you hit subscribe down there. Subscribe to the mmmEnglish channel and check out one of my latest lessons over here. See you soon!