English Skills for the RealWord Spoken English Practice

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hi everybody my name is Alisha and today

we’re gonna be talking about 15

questions that you should know so these

are 15 questions that not necessarily

you need to know how to ask them perhaps

you know some of the questions already

but you will probably also hear these

questions as well so we’ll practice a

few different answers for these

questions too so let’s get started do

you like American food the first

question is do you like American food

you will probably be asked this question

do you like American food you can either

say yes or no or you can give a specific

example someone says do you like

American food yes I love Philly

cheesesteaks I would recommend saying

yes or a little or or or you can just

say I don’t know what do you recommend

have you been to the United States

the next question is have you been to

the United States have you been to the

United States so someone asks you have

you been to the United States you should

reply with either yes I have or no I

haven’t or maybe no I haven’t yet but I

want to when you want to ask someone

this question you can say have you been

to Japan have you been to Egypt have you

been to China whatever you can use your

own country when you ask this question

how are you how are you when someone

asks how are you don’t say I’m fine

thank you and you please don’t say that

please say something more natural like

good great I’m good how are you

something like that is much better than

I’m fine thank you and you be a little

more genuine in your reply also when you

ask this question maybe one point to

help you sound a little more natural

when you ask someone else don’t like try

to say how are you how are you instead

of how are you or and make sure your

intonation is correct I’ve had a few

people ask me how are you like a little

too moon yeah with this question or like

how are you but how are you should be

the intonation with this how are you how

are you it’s a little bit more natural

how long have you been studying English

how long have you

studying English great question to know

the answer to your answer should be I

have been studying English for

blah-blah-blah years or bla bla bla

month several more weeks but if that’s

too much for you you can just use the

time how long have you been studying

English six years how long have you been

studying English two months so just pick

the time if the whole sentence is quite

long for you how old are you

we don’t really go around asking people

how old they are like just the first

time you meet them necessarily

especially if they’re older much older

than you like in particular it’s

sometimes considered rude to ask

especially women how old they are so

just be careful with this question but

if you’re about the same age group you

know maybe you’re at an event or a party

or something and you just want to check

how old the other person is you can use

this phrase when you reply to this just

say I’m plus the number to make a really

simple response so how old are you I’m

15 how old are you I’m 42 whatever the

answer is just stick five in front of it

not i but i’m i am but use the

contracted form to sound more natural

i’m number if you want to make a full

sentence you can say i’m number years

old don’t forget that s in years i’m a

million years old what did you say what

did you say if you couldn’t quite hear

something that someone else said you can

use this question to confirm sorry what

did you say it’s a little nicer than

just saying what what did you say or

what did you just say sorry what did you

say I couldn’t hear you what’s this

what’s this when you don’t know what

something is what’s this when you’re out

for dinner you’re out for lunch or

something and you find a new food or you

just you’re curious just say what’s this

to reply to this question just say it’s

bla bla bla

what’s your name what’s your name of

course you should know how to ask this

question and how to answer this question

what’s your name is a little more

natural than what is your name again

contracted form will help you sound much

more natural so what’s your name someone

asks you you can just give your name

Alicia that’s fine you can say Alicia

you can say I’m Alicia that’s fine too

you could say my name is or my name’s

Alicia either any of those are fine in

more formal situation a business

situation I would I would use my name is

Pablo and while I shake hands or

something what’s your phone number the

next one is what’s your phone number I

would not ask this question right away

like maybe you’ve met the person a few

times but you would like to contact them

whether it’s because you’re romantically

interested in them or because you want

to be better friends with them but just

that if you meet someone for the first

time and you’re like what’s your phone

number like a little it’s a little too

much so use this question after you’ve

met the person a few times and you know

you want to become better friends when

you want to give your phone number just

say it’s and the number that’s fine just

it’s blah blah blah or my phone number

is blah blah blah with the number 5 5 5

1 million and 5 to 6 when is your

birthday so maybe you want to plan a

birthday party for example or it’s just

another fun question the first time you

meet someone when did your birthday so

when you want to tell someone your

birthday just give the month and the

date mmm

January 15th August 42nd that’s a real

day if you want to make a full sentence

you can say my birthday is month date

where are you from

the next word the next question is where

are you from

this can refer to your country or your

city mmm but I feel like prop more stuff

and it refers to your country so where

are you from

your answer should be I’m from places

I’m from China I’m from Japan I’m from

Vietnam I’m from America

whatever I’m from where did you learn

English the next question is where did

you learn English where did you learn

English if you’re speaking great English

you can say I learned English at English

class 101.com yes you did cuz you’re

watching no anyway where did you learn

English in this case in the case of like

these videos I learned English online or

I learned English from and then the

school name or the program name so I

learned English from English class

101.com for example if you studied

English at university you can say I

learned English at university or I

learned English from my friends perhaps

where do you live where do you live

depending on the situation where you’re

asked is this can mean your country like

I live in America I

live in China sometimes it’s about the

place in the city where you live

sometimes it’s about the country where

you live so you can kind of feel I think

which question which type of question is

being asked where do you work where do

you work is talking about your job you

can use the pattern I work at company

name or I work for company name either

it’s fine I work at ABC company I work

for ABC company either is okay but you

know if if you have answered with the

wrong information the other person will

just ask you like oh I mean where is

your office or oh I mean which company

do you work for use the force for this

one where is the bathroom where is the

bathroom very important question where

is the bathroom in American English

where is the bathroom or where is the

restroom is more common than where is

the toilet using the word toilet is a

little bit too direct in American

English so I recommend bathroom or

restroom in this lesson you’re going to

learn how to ask what someone’s job is

in natural English of course you can

just say what is your job this is

correct English but it sounds too direct

and awkward native English speakers

almost never say this in a social

situation instead they use a different

question but before we master that we

need to compare it to a very similar

question what are you doing I’m

presenting a video about English what do

you do I’m an English teacher do you see

the difference these two questions what

are you doing and what do you do sound

similar but mean different things the

first one is asking what you are doing

right now this minute you answer it

using an ING verb what are you doing I’m

reading I’m watching TV while the second

is actually a shortened version of what

do you do for a living this is how we

ask what is your job in natural English

let’s practice this question what do you

do what do you do

when native speakers of English asked

this question it can come out very fast

and sound more like what do you do in

order to tell it apart from what are you

doing just listen for the in sound on

the end of the question if it’s not

there then you’re being asked what your

job is so how would you answer this

question just think of it as if the

other person is asking you what is your

job you could answer with I am plus your

job I’m a teacher I’m a teacher or I’m

an engineer if you want to learn more

job names go to English class 101.com

and check out the core word lists these

cover job vocabulary and more and

include a picture and audio to help you

perfect your pronunciation

you can also mention the place that you

work at starting with I work at I work

at a hospital I work at a hospital I

work at a law firm I work at a law firm

if you work for a big company that is

well known you can say I work for and

then the name I work for Microsoft I

work for Microsoft I work for the New

York Times I work for the New York Times

now it’s time for Alicia’s advice when

you ask the question what do you do and

the other person tells you their job

it’s polite to make some kind of

positive comment about his or her job

for example how interesting or that must

be exciting or even oh really

remember to sound sincere and today

we’re gonna be talking about the top 25

English phrases so let’s get started

the first phrase is hello hello of

course is used as a greeting you can

greet your friends you can greet your

co-workers your family with this phrase

just by saying hello hey hi what’s up

hello sup yo pretty much any time of day

you can use hello hello the next phrase

is good morning good morning

used as a greeting in the morning you

can kind of feel when morning ends for

you good morning is nice and polite or

even just morning with your close

friends or close co-workers the next

phrase is good night good night is fine

we don’t use this to greet other people

we use it when we’re saying goodbye to

other people at night family members

particularly mothers and fathers to say

good night to their children before they

put them to bed you can say it to your

friend in a text message or in an email

if you’ve been talking for a while good

night so the next word to talk about is

goodbye use it when you say goodbye to

your friends when you leave your friends

goodbye bye of course take care have a

nice day

peace out that’s another way to say

goodbye okay the next phrase is I’m plus

your name of course this is a way to

introduce yourself you can use I’m in my

case Alicia I’m Alicia to introduce

yourself in any situation new friend I’m

Alicia

okay the next phrase is what’s your name

what’s your name is used to ask someone

else what their name is

so what is your name sounds a bit try to

use what’s your name

if you forget someone’s name you can say

sorry what’s your name or sorry what’s

your name again next phrase is nice to

meet you nice to meet you

any time you meet someone new nice to

meet you is fine

good to meet you is a little more casual

great to meet you sounds very excited

pleasure to meet you sounds like maybe a

formal situation or a business context

okay the next phrase is how are you how

are you is Ann it’s just a friendly way

to check in with the other person you

can use it with friends your family your

co-workers maybe even your boss to a

certain degree how are you how you doing

the next phrase is I’m fine thanks and

you if you saw English in three minutes

we talked a lot about this phrase

instead of I’m fine thank you and you

say I’m good thanks

how are you just shorten it and make it

a little bit more natural how are you

good how are you great how are you not

so good how are you okay and so on so

when someone says how are you offer I

usually say I’m good

this week I pop a blog give some

information about what you’ve been up to

maybe a hobby something that you did

recently an event something interesting

you saw whatever people want to make

that connection with you and it’s a good

chance for you to continue speaking the

next word is please

please as a polite phrase used when you

want something from someone else you can

use this as a response when someone

offers you something like in a

restaurant for example would you like

more water would you like something to

drink

oh please the next phrase is thank you

thank you is used to express your

appreciation you can use thank you with

everybody the next phrase is you’re

welcome you’re welcome when someone says

thank you you can say you’re welcome

no biggie I use no biggie as in no

biggie is short for no big problem next

word is yes yes of course yes means is

any positive expression someone asks you

a question and the answer is a positive

answer you say yes yep uh-huh yeah we

know next I’m guessing I knew it yep the

next word is no no is a negative

response to something when you have to

give a negative answer so as you can

probably guess the long form of no is

negative I like to use nope it’s very

very casual not gonna happen my parents

would use that with me to soften that a

little bit if you want to show a

negative response to something like

let’s go for dinner tonight what do you

want to do like do you want to go out

not really

hmm no I don’t think so hmm to soften it

the next word is okay okay this word

comes from copyeditors okay when they

had to check a manuscript they had to

label the manuscript all clear AC but

because they were copy editors and they

have a very very sick sense of humor

they thought they would mark it okay for

all clear to make a joke because o and K

do not start all and clear but it caught

on among everybody in the world anyway

okay is used to agree with somebody else

well it can be used actually to express

a positive or kind of a slight negative

I feel transitioning in your

conversation you can say okay now we’re

going to talk about blah blah okay

the next phrase is excuse me excuse me

it’s used to get someone’s attention in

English when you don’t know the other

person for example in a store a

supermarket

maybe a stranger on the street you need

to ask directions you can use excuse me

you can use excuse me in the supermarket

excuse me can you tell me where the hot

sauce

if you’ve done something rude in public

you can use excuse me I personally do

not do rude things in public ever I’m

sorry is the next word we’re gonna talk

about I’m sorry is used to apologize

when you have made a mistake or someone

you know it’s made a mistake and you’re

connected to it or you just feel bad you

can use I’m sorry

you made a mistake at work I’m sorry you

forgot to feed your cat I’m sorry sorry

about that you bump someone next to you

oh sorry what time is it is the next

phrase when you need to check what time

it is what time is it when you ask

someone else what time it is maybe you

say this to yourself to check your watch

check your phone check a clock pretty

straightforward phrase there aren’t

really any short version so that’s an

easy one

where is that plus a location so you can

use this for a building or a store we

don’t we’re not going to use this where

is the for a place a city name or a

state name or a country name to do that

you would need to remove the but where

is the bank where is the post office you

can use this to ask directions to ask

for help in your house or at work where

is the copy machine where is the file

I need where is the bla bla bla where is

the bathroom is perhaps a very important

question to know the next one is may I

use the restroom may I use the restroom

is a polite and soft expression that you

can use if you need to use the toilet

you need to use the washroom and when

you’re at someone’s house for the very

first time when you’re in a place that

you’re that is new to you you can ask

may I use the restroom more casually can

I go to the bathroom to be very polite

you could say may I go to the bathroom

the next phrase is I would like to order

something you can use this at a

restaurant probably or in any situation

where you need to place an order I’d

like a pizza

I’d like beer can I get the check please

this will be used at a restaurant when

you’ve finished your meal and it’s time

to go can I get the check please in a

very very casual situation you can just

say check please that’s fine the next

phrase is see you soon see you soon is

used with friends and family members

perhaps when you expect to see them

again soon after saying goodbye to them

this is used at the end of the

conversation you’re going separate

directions

see you soon see ya is also good or just

see you to make it a little more formal

you can say I’ll see you again soon make

a full sentence

the next phrases see you later see you

later is very similar to see you soon

but the point is would see you later is

that you’re probably going to meet that

person again later on in the same day

the last phrase is really really is a

very useful word because you can use it

to show you are interested in a

conversation with upward intonation

really really tell me more or to show

that you’re not so interested in the

conversation with downward intonation

really so there are many other words

that you can use similar to really in

this way like seriously or oh oh and so

on so it’s a really good practice for

your intonation want to get cheat sheets

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language gifts of the month in this

series we’re going to learn some easy

ways to ask and answer common questions

in English it’s really useful and it

only takes three minutes in this lesson

you’re going to learn how to ask what

someone’s hobbies are without using the

word hobbies you’ve probably seen the

question do you have any hobbies or what

are your hobbies in an English textbook

before

however native English speakers almost

never use the word hobbies when asking

about them a much more natural way to

ask the same question is what do you do

for fun let’s practice this question

what do you do for fun what do you do

for fun you can also ask what do you do

in your free time what do you do in your

free time so how would you answer this

question let’s look at how native

speakers would do it the easiest way is

to say I like to or just I like followed

by what you like to do for example if

you like watching movies you could say I

like to watch movies or I like watching

movies I like to watch movies or I like

watching

movies and if you like golf you could

say I like to play golf or I like

playing golf I like to play golf or I

like playing golf you can emphasize how

much you like your hobby by adding a

word like really in front of like for

example I really like watching movies on

the other hand if you want to play down

how much you like something you can say

kind of for example I kind of like

playing tennis now it’s time for

Alicia’s advice if you don’t have any

special hobbies or don’t want to be

specific

a good way to reply is I like hanging

out with my friends and stuff like that

I like hanging out with my friends and

stuff like that just use I like and add

hanging out with my friends and then add

and stuff like that the topic of today’s

lesson is ten phrases to help you in an

emergency let’s get started call the

police please if you are telling someone

to call the police it means you’re

telling someone to dial 911 to call the

police or maybe there’s police nearby

and you tell someone hey call the police

the police are there to help you in any

situation that you might need them maybe

you’re lost maybe you lost your purse or

your wallet maybe you’ve been in a car

accident the police will help you so if

you tell someone call the police please

it means you need them to get the police

for you do you have a fever do you have

a fever if you are asking someone if

they have a fever you are asking them if

their temperature is higher than is

normal or safe if someone has a fever

that may mean they have an underlying

condition that needs medical attention a

fever may be a symptom of something much

serious it’s something you should always

take seriously so if someone has a fever

you may want to take that person to the

hospital I lost my passport I lost my

passport if you have lost your passport

it means you have lost the official

document with all of your information

that enables you to travel between

countries if you are in a foreign

country and you lose your passport

that’s a very serious thing because you

may be stuck in that country if you’re

not able to present a passport at the

airport you may not be able to go back

home or go to another country so if you

lose your passport you may need to call

your Embassy to get a replacement what I

like to do when I travel is I take

photocopies of my passport

so instead of carrying around my

physical passport instead I just carry

around copies of it so that my passport

can stay at the hotel in some safe place

I think I ate something bad I think I

ate something bad if you think you ate

something bad it may mean that you feel

sick after eating it you may have some

form of food poisoning if you think you

ate something bad you’re going to want

to watch your symptoms because if they

last for a few days you’re going to want

to go to the hospital I think I ate

something bad I need a doctor

I need a doctor if you say I need a

doctor it means you need medical

assistance medical attention you may be

very sick you may have eaten something

bad you may just feel sick in general

you may have a fever if you say I need a

doctor it means you want to be taken to

a hospital or you want a doctor called

to you because you’re really sick or not

feeling well I can’t find the way back

to my hotel I can’t find the way back to

my hotel if you tell someone I can’t

find the way back to my hotel it means

you’re lost it means you want to go back

to your hotel but you don’t remember the

streets you took you don’t remember

where it is this is a common thing that

happens in other countries in other

cities if you have the address you can

ask just about anyone how do I get back

to my hotel

could you please give me the directions

to get back to where I need to go is

there a pharmacy nearby is there a

pharmacy nearby a pharmacy is a place

that has medicine over-the-counter and

prescription drugs if you’re in another

city it’s always smart to know where the

pharmacies are in case you might need

anything asking is there a pharmacy

nearby you are asking where the nearest

pharmacy is in case you need to go and

buy medicine shampoo conditioner

toothpaste vitamins allergy pills

doesn’t matter a pharmacy will probably

have it can you help me can you help me

can you help me is a very very useful

phrase knowing how to ask for help is

extremely important if you ask can you

help me it lets other people know that

you are in need of assistance of

whatever kind asking for help is the

first question can you help me and

another person will say sure what do you

need and from there that’s when you

explain the problem you’re experiencing

I am lost I am lost if you say I am lost

it means you don’t know where you are

you can’t find your way you don’t

recognize anything around you you don’t

know how to get back to wherever you

need to be to say I am lost

let’s people know that they need to give

you directions that they can open up a

map for you and show you where you are I

am lost is a very useful phrase

especially for people like me I get lost

all the time I have a terrible sense of

direction so to tell someone I am

lost it welcomes their help in getting

you back to safety to wherever you need

to be I need an ambulance I need an

ambulance an ambulance is an emergency

vehicle and its purpose is to get to a

sick person and take them to the

hospital to say I need an ambulance

means it’s a medical emergency and you

need that emergency vehicle to come and

get you in this series we’re going to

learn some easy ways to ask and answer

common questions in English it’s really

useful and it only takes three minutes

in this lesson you’re going to learn new