Speak With Me English Speaking Practice

Vanessa:
Hi, I’m Vanessa  

from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. It’s your 
birthday. Happy birthday. Let’s talk about it. 

Hey, I heard you have a birthday 
coming up. Do you got any plans?  

If I asked you this, would you know what to 
say or would your heart start pounding? Oh no,  

oh no, what do I say? Well, in today’s lesson, 
you are going to master some common answers to  

birthday questions, some common questions that 
you can ask other people when it’s their birthday,  

and at the end of this lesson, you’ll have 
a special speaking practice where you will  

finally have the opportunity to speak with me out 
loud. There will be a little mini conversation  

challenge. I want to help you be able to 
grow your confidence. When you can speak  

English confidently, the world opens up to you.
So let’s get started. But before we do, I want  

to let you know that to help you with this lesson, 
I have created a free PDF guide with all of these  

expressions, all of the questions, and the sample 
conversation so that you can master this topic.  

You can print it out, put it under your 
pillow, sleep on it, whatever you need  

to do to really feel confident in English.
All right, let’s get started with some common  

expressions to talk about birthdays. Let’s 
talk about some types of birthday parties.  

A birthday bash, this is a big party, 
lots of people, lots of presents, lots of  

games. It’s a big one. So you might say we’re 
throwing a birthday bash for my niece because  

she’s turning 10, double digits, quite exciting. 
To throw a party. Are you holding the party and  

throwing it? No. I mean, maybe you’re throwing 
some confetti, but this is just another way to  

say we’re having a party or we’re going to plan a 
party. We often use the verb to throw. You might  

say we’re throwing a party for my grandma’s 90th 
birthday. It’s going to be a big birthday bash. 

What if you’re not a fan of birthday bashes? You 
want to keep things more low key. You might say  

a gathering or a get together. This is something 
small and intimate, just family, a few friends  

maybe. You could say I’m not a fan of big birthday 
bashes, so we’re just going to have a little  

gathering at my house, or we’re just going to 
have a little get together at my house. This is  

true for me. Usually for my birthday we just have 
a little get together at my house with a couple  

of friends, maybe some family, nothing too big.
Surprise. Oh, what did I just do? I surprised  

you because it’s a surprise party. Usually with 
a surprise party, the person who is having the  

birthday doesn’t know about the party, this is 
the ideal situation. So someone is planning,  

inviting guests, setting up everything, and they 
try to get the birthday person to come into that  

area without knowing anything and they walk in 
and then everybody jumps up and says surprise. 

So I’m curious. Have you ever 
had a surprise birthday for you?  

Have you ever helped to participate in a surprise 
birthday? I don’t think that I ever have, but  

one time when I was in college, my friends 
threw a surprise birthday party for me  

and another friend who has the same birthday, and 
I didn’t want to go. I’m studying, I have a test.  

I can’t go down there now. I’m not going to go 
have dinner with you guys. No, I’m… I need to  

study. And then one of my friends finally realized 
that I wasn’t coming. And she said, “Hey, Vanessa,  

it’s a surprise birthday for you. Come on.” So 
I kind of had no choice at that point because I  

realized, “Oh, they’re doing something nice for 
me.” So you might say we’re throwing a party for  

Vanessa, it’s a surprise party. Don’t tell 
her. Well, unless you can’t get her to come. 

Next, let’s talk about some common phrases 
that are just associated with birthdays.  

The first one is RSVP. Now this is occasionally 
something that we use in spoken conversation,  

but it is more common on a written invitation. 
It could be a physical invitation, or it might be  

an internet invitation using Facebook events 
or something like this. But RSVP stands for the  

French repondez s’il vous plait. It means please 
respond. Please tell me if you’re coming. So  

usually you will see this sentence, RSVP by June 
30th, RSVP by Saturday whatever date. So there’s  

a deadline. Please tell me if you’re coming 
so that I can order the right amount of cake,  

so that I can make the right amount of food. This 
is just a polite thing to do to RSVP. Wonderful. 

Another common phrase for birthdays or 
for parties is BYOB. What if I said dinner  

and cake are provided. BYOB. What would 
that mean to you? Bring your old bag?  

Bring your old balloon? No, This means bring your 
own beer or bring your own booze. Booze is a slang  

term for alcohol. So this means I am not 
providing alcohol. If you want to drink alcohol,  

bring what you want to drink. Bring it for 
yourself. This is very common and it’s not  

really rude. In fact, it’s good to tell guests if 
they are allowed to drink alcohol at your house  

and you’re not going to provide any, it’s good to 
tell them I don’t have any, bring your own. BYOB.  

This is quite a common expression, especially 
in an invitation you might see that written.  

Dinner and cake provided. BYOB. Excellent.
Make a wish. Usually after we sing Happy  

Birthday, you blow out the candles and you 
close your eyes and you make a wish. There’s  

kind of a superstition that if you tell people 
your wish, it will never come true. So usually  

it’s a surprise. I will never tell you what my 
birthday wishes are because it probably won’t  

come true then. This is kind of a superstition. 
But you might say, after I blow out the candles,  

I’m going to make a wish. But often you will hear 
people say this, so after they sing Happy Birthday  

and you blow out the candles, someone will say, 
all right, make a wish. And they’re telling you  

this is the time to make a wish. This sometimes 
happens at children’s parties more often that  

someone will say it. So they’re reminding their 
child this is the time to make a wish, close  

your eyes and make a wish. Don’t tell anyone. 
This is a fun little tradition I would say. 

A goodie bag. This is like a little 
plastic bag of, in my opinion, usually junk  

that is given to all of the kids at a children’s 
birthday party. I’m not a big fan of goodie bags  

because they’re usually made up of junk, it’s 
stuff that comes from the dollar store and  

parents feel some kind of social pressure to give 
out a goodie bag at their child’s birthday party,  

but usually those things just end up in the 
trash. So for me, I would rather do a craft at the  

birthday and the children can take home the craft 
or maybe there’s an extra cupcake and the children  

can take home a cupcake. This seems a little 
bit better to me. I think that the idea of a  

goodie bag is falling out of tradition a bit, but 
there’s still a little pressure to give something  

to your guests, this is only for children’s 
birthdays, to give something to your guests. 

A sweet 16. If I said, I can’t believe your 
daughter is already old enough to have her  

sweet 16. How old do you think that she is? 
Sixteen years old. For some reason, 16 is a  

big number. I think this is because this is when 
you can get your driver’s license in the US,  

so it’s usually just for girls. I hate to say 
it, but usually teenage boys who are 16 years old  

aren’t usually labeled as sweet. Maybe that 
was just my experience when I was a teenager,  

but usually a 16-year-old girl might 
have a sweet 16 party. And this is a  

big birthday bash to celebrate turning 16.
The next big birthday is turning 21. And  

this is for anyone, boys or girls. And this is 
a big birthday because you can finally legally  

drink alcohol. So a lot of people will have 
a 21st birthday party with their friends  

where they get to go to a bar or they go to 
a pub or they go to a brewery or a restaurant  

and they get to drink alcohol in public. That’s 
not to say that nobody drinks alcohol before 21,  

but usually your 21st birthday is kind of a 
symbol of now I am an adult. There you go. 

After 21, you have to wait a long 
time for your next big birthday.  

If I said, I don’t feel that old, but 
somehow I’m already over the hill.  

What do you think over the hill means? Well, 
the average life span is about 80 years,  

I think now it’s a little bit more than 
80 years old, but what is halfway? Forty. 

So this birthday is a little bit 
dark, a little bit depressing,  

but we say that when you turn 40 years old, you 
are over the hill, and any time after 40, if you  

don’t want to tell someone your age, you can just 
say I’m over the hill or I’m way over the hill,  

because you are past the peak of life and 
now you’re just going down the other side,  

very sad. So usually if you go to the grocery 
store and you buy any kind of balloons or  

birthday bags or birthday decorations for a 40th 
birthday, they all are black or gray or have to do  

with like gravestones or skeletons. It’s very… 
it’s a little bit silly because obviously when  

you’re 40, you’re still young, but it’s just 
this silly idea that now you’re over the hill. 

Our last birthday expression, before we get 
to some common birthday questions is a trip  

around the sun. This is just another fun way to 
say that you’re one year older. So if somebody  

is having a birthday, you could tell them 
congrats on another successful trip around the  

sun. They have successfully gone around the sun 
one more time, which is one more year. Congrats  

on a successful trip around the sun. You did it.
All right, let’s go onto some common questions  

that you might get asked on your birthday or 
you could ask someone else on their birthday  

and we’ll talk about some common answers 
as well. Any plans for your birthday?  

This is an extremely common question. If someone 
asks you any plans for your birthday? You could  

say, yep, we’re planning a big bash this weekend. 
It’s going to be exciting. Or no, we’re just  

going to have a small gathering with a couple of 
friends. Excellent. Any plans for your birthday? 

What do you want to do for your birthday? This is 
a great question to ask if you know that you will  

also be included in the birthday plans. If you 
are a family member or a close friend who will  

help to organize the birthday activities, you can 
use this question. What do you want to do for your  

birthday? That kind of is asking, hey, what should 
I plan for your birthday? And you could say,  

yeah, I’d like to have just a small get together 
at the house. Maybe we can have a cookout, maybe  

some cake, just some kind of small get together.
A little bird told me it was your birthday.  

What would you like? This expression, a little 
bird told me, is kind of almost a universal idea  

I think. A lot of languages have this concept of 
hearing something from a little bird. You’re not  

saying who told you, but you’re just saying a 
little bird told me that it was your birthday  

or that your birthday is coming soon. Do you have 
this type of expression in your native language?  

It’s a great one to use for birthdays. You could 
just say a little bird told me it’s your birthday.  

What would you like? You’re asking for a present 
idea. What kind of present should I give you?  

And an answer to that could be, yep, 
my birthday is coming up on Saturday,  

but instead of a present I’m asking that everyone 
bring some kind of food or drink to the party.  

Okay. You don’t need presents, you don’t need 
more stuff. You’re just asking that people bring  

food and drinks to your party. Simple. And it’s 
a good way to give at a party and participate. 

How old will you be? Or maybe if it’s on 
someone’s birthday, oh, how old are you now?  

Don’t ask an adult this. I would say after the age 
of 21, usually it’s not a good idea to ask someone  

how old are you or how old will you be. In 
American culture, it is quite rude to ask  

someone their age when they’re an adult. For a 
child, it’s no problem. Children love telling  

people their age. Usually they’re very specific, 
like I’m seven and a half, I’m eight and three  

quarters. They’re very specific about their age 
because they’re so proud of it. But once we become  

adults, we become a little bit more hesitant 
to share our age, especially with anybody.  

And it’s not required in social circumstances to 
say your age. So I recommend asking how old are  

you now, or how old will you be only to children.
When someone invites you to a party, you can ask  

is it a surprise party? That way you can 
not be the one who spoils the surprise.  

So maybe they forgot to tell you, oh, it’s a 
surprise party. So it’s a good thing to ask  

is this a surprise party? And they might say, 
oh no, he knows about it. Or he might say,  

oh yes, it is. Don’t tell him. It’s a great 
question to ask. Is it a surprise party? 

Do you need me to bring anything? Can I bring 
anything? This is a great question to ask any time  

that you go to someone’s house for dinner, for a 
meal, for even just tea or coffee, and especially  

for a birthday party or a holiday gathering, it’s 
great to ask do you need me to bring anything,  

or what can I bring? I ask this all the time and 
I really appreciate it when my guests ask this,  

because maybe it would be nice if someone else 
made the salad or someone else made a dish for  

the meal or maybe even someone just brought 
a game or something to do. This can help to  

ease the burden of the person who is throwing 
the party or just having a holiday gathering. 

So this is a great question to ask, I highly 
recommend it. And if someone asks you,  

oh, can I bring anything? You can think, 
okay, well, yeah, maybe bring your own booze.  

Or, yeah, do you have a favorite board game? Maybe 
after dinner we could play a game. Bring a game.  

Or could you make a salad? Could you make a 
dessert? Not even make, could you just bring  

one? You can buy it, that’s okay. But this kind 
of question can help to have everyone feel like  

they’re participating in the evening.
All right, now that we’ve practiced  

some common expressions for birthdays, 
some common questions for birthdays,  

let’s go on to our conversation. I’d like you 
to see this sample conversation that I had with  

my husband, Dan, about birthdays. You’re going 
to recognize a lot of these questions, a lot of  

the expressions about birthdays. Listen to this 
conversation carefully because in just a minute,  

Dan will leave and I will be asking you those 
questions and it will be your turn to speak out  

loud. Let’s watch the sample conversation.
Hey Dan. 

Dan:
Hey Vanessa. You have a  

birthday coming up, don’t you?
Vanessa: 

Yeah. Pretty soon. Another trip around the sun.
Dan: 

Cool. Do you have any plans for your birthday?
Vanessa: 

Yeah. I’m going to have a big birthday bash. 
I would love for you to come. I can send you  

an invitation.
Dan: 

That sounds fun. Do you need me to bring anything? 

Vanessa:
You can bring your  

favorite party game and a big appetite for cake. 
All the other details will be in the invitation. 

Dan:
Sounds great. I’ll be there. 

Vanessa:
Great. See you then. 

Okay. You watched the sample 
conversation. Now it’s time to  

take a deep breath and practice this yourself. 
I’m going to ask you a couple questions and  

I will pause, I will be listening to you. 
No matter where you live around the world,  

I will be listening and we will be having this 
conversation. If it seems too fast for you,  

if you want to try it again, the good news 
is that you can click pause on the video  

and go back and practice it again. No 
problem. Are you ready? Let’s get started. 

Hey, a little bird told me that your 
birthday is coming up. Do you have any plans?  

That sounds like fun. Is it a birthday 
tradition or is that something new?  

Cool. I would love to come. Can I bring anything?  

Great. I’ll be there. I can’t wait to 
celebrate another trip around the sun. 

So how did you do with this little sample 
conversation? I hope that it was a good challenge  

for you and it helped to boost your confidence 
speaking in English. That is the goal. You can  

always go back and review this. So now I have 
a question for you. Let me know in the comments  

when is your birthday. If you want to tell me just 
the month, that’s fine. The month and the day,  

that’s fine. Just the year, that’s fine. 
Or all of it, go ahead. It’s your choice. 

Well, thank you so much for learning English 
with me. And don’t forget to download  

the free PDF for this lesson with all of these 
phrases, questions, and the sample conversation,  

plus Vanessa’s challenge question so that you 
can practice everything that you’ve learned.  

Well, thanks so much and I’ll see 
you again next Friday for a new  

lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.
The next step is to download the free  

PDF worksheet for this lesson. With this 
free PDF, you will master today’s lesson  

and never forget what you have learned. 
You can be a confident English speaker.  

Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel 
for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.