How to Make Friends in English in 30 Minutes

rolling hi hi hi Internet

welcome back to our weekly live stream

my name is Alisha and this week we are

going to talk about making friends in

English making friends in English so as

you join today’s lesson please make sure

to send a comment in the chat please

make sure to like and share the video

and we’re gonna begin in about two to

three minutes so we’re getting

everything ready here for today’s lesson

I’m gonna cover three main things I’m

gonna talk about making like friendly

questions the kinds of fresh questions

you ask your friends that’s part one I’m

gonna talk about some responses some

sample responses to those questions and

then I’m gonna talk in part two about

talking about yourself so how do you

respond to these questions as well as

some other responses finally in the last

part of today’s lesson I’m going to talk

about making invitations how to invite

someone to something in a friendly way

so lots to do as always I see lots of

people on YouTube hi YouTube chat Thomas

County de Noronha Graciela Oh su URI

Thomas Felipe Nick grew us uh I can’t

read all the names Nick sushi oh hi hi

everybody great to see you thanks very

much for joining us again this week

Facebook I think Facebook is also up hi

Facebook Tong and Maggie Sufi Joshua

died hello falah hi everybody thanks

very much for joining us this week as I

said today’s topic is making friends in

English so as we wait we’ll wait one

more minutes I have one more

announcement I shared about this a

couple weeks ago but if you have not

seen it yet if you have not seen it yet

our channel English class 101 on YouTube

has started a channel memberships

channel memberships and part of the

channel memberships you get like bonus

resources to help you with your studies

also all of our members maybe there’s

some in the YouTube chat now get member

of badges so with every month

that you are a member you get a

different batch I’ve seen a few here and

there in the chats so I wanted to share

this again I’ve started seeing a few of

these two month badges here and there so

that’s super super cool so thanks very

much to our members and if you want more

information please check out the English

class 101 youtube channel oh right great

I think there are lots of people here

now great specs everybody for coming

I’m gonna get going with this week’s

lesson I’m going to share the video and

then I am going to start the lesson okay

so today as I said we’re talking about

making friends in English making friends

in English so let’s get going oh are we

okay

okay good alright so let’s begin then

with friendly questions friendly

questions so when I say friendly

questions I mean these are the questions

we ask our friends when we see them so

you can use these with like your

classmates with your co-workers perhaps

these are just those kind of nice simple

questions that feel friendly so if you

want to become a little bit closer with

someone you can ask them these sorts of

questions so let’s begin first with this

one this one I have marked with a star

because it’s one that you use maybe when

you’re first getting to know someone

this question is what do you do for fun

what do you do for fun this means what

are your hobbies what are your hobbies

but we generally don’t say what are your

hobbies or what is your hobby it sounds

kind of stiff to use that expression

instead we say what do you do for fun

what do you do for fun so you can use

this or just what do you like to do for

fun is also okay I’m going to talk about

answers to this in part two of today’s

lesson so at natives to B this sounds

like what do you do for fun so what do

you like to do for fun that’s what it

sounds like in native

speed I want to focus here for now on

these questions

so these are all relating to past

activities so last weekend last month

since the last time I saw you and so on

so first are these two the patterns here

are what did you do last weekend what

did you do last weekend and what did you

get up to last weekend so at native

speed it sounds like what did you do

last weekend and what did you get up to

last weekend for even what did you get

up to last weekend so what did you get

up to last weekend

these are asking about the listeners

activities what did the listener do the

previous weekend so I’m going to talk

about responses for this so you should

be prepared this is a good question for

you to practice practice asking this

question yes but also practice your

responses to this question like if you

went to a party if you went to a concert

if you studied whatever have a short

answer ready so we’ll practice answers

in part two of today’s lesson for now

practice this question let’s focus on

the question what did you do last

weekend what did you get up to last

weekend this one this is another really

really good question to practice your

responses to and also get comfortable

asking people this question the question

here is how have you been how have you

been native speakers will reduce this

part this part how have - how of how up

so this becomes how apostrophe ve health

house and the y-o-u becomes yeah have

you been have you been so this uses yes

this uses this present perfect tense

this question means since the last time

I met you how are you that’s what it

means since that time until now what has

your status spin how have you been the

answer to this question is short good

great busy okay that’s the kind of

answer that we use for this question

have you been good

have you been great I talked about this

in a video 25 phrases intermediate

learners must know so there are some

more examples of that there so yes this

is Fabiana on youtubes question is is

this in the past this is for a

conversation now but you have not met

that person for like a month or two

months or something or a long time and

you meet that person again and you want

to know since last time since two months

ago since a month ago how have you been

in that time period

what was your status we’re good–we’re

bad were you busy how have you been

that’s what this question means how have

you been similarly similarly means kind

of the same kind of the same is this

question what have you been up to what

have you been up to so again here we see

this present perfect tense so just like

how have you been what have you been up

to is asking about some time in the past

the last time you met that person until

now this conversation so in the past you

saw this person

some like last month and you want to

know about their specific activities

until now what have you been up to up to

been up to means doing so a different

way to say this sentence is what did you

do since the last time I saw you what

did you do since the last time I saw you

but we do not say that we don’t use that

expression we say what have you been up

to a native speed what have you been up

to what have you been up to so what have

you been up to I’m going to talk about

sample answers to this in a moment as

well so these two questions are asking

about a point in time in the past and

all that time until the conversation so

these are really really good questions

to practice so practice the

question as well lots of students only

practice the answer please practice the

question to ask people the question as

well finally this one this is a simple

past tense question so this is a

question that’s good for someone you saw

like last week or someone whose plans

you knew about like I know my friend is

going to a birthday party or I know my

friend is taking a trip or I saw an

Instagram my friend had a barbecue

whatever you know the other person’s

plans you want to ask about this

specific plan you can say how was your

your so that means your plan how was

your trip or how was your event or how

was your party so very simple sentences

how was your trip how was your event

how would you barbecue how was the beach

whatever so you can use that simple past

tense expression so do not use a present

perfect they’re not how has the beach

bin

how has the beach bin would not make

sense there so there’s certain cases

where that would be okay but for this

type of question simple past tense use

simple past tense here okay finally

finally I’ve included this one here so

this one this this star question and

this one up here what do you do for fun

these two questions these are used when

you are trying to like make friends with

someone for the first time like it’s

kind of an introductory conversation

this is um if you don’t know the person

very well yet but you want to see them

again in the future like you think we

can be friends or we can go for coffee

whatever um I have here do you use

Facebook or line or whatsapp or hello

talk whatever your application do you

have facebook or do you use facebook so

please I recommend I recommend this

question do you use Facebook or do you

use line I do not recommend give me your

facebook or please give me your line so

it sounds pushy it sounds like too much

this question do you use Facebook

there’s a chance the person may think

hmm I don’t want to give my information

to this person so do you use Facebook if

I don’t want to give my information I

could say no or just for friends or just

for family members in that case don’t

push that person for their contact

information if they say yeah I do

then you can say something like okay can

we exchange can we exchange like can we

exchange profiles are like can we become

friends on Facebook in that case good

but this question is a good introductory

question do you use not can I have or

give me it sounds too pushy it sounds

rude so I would not I would not

recommend that one alright so these are

the questions I want to begin with today

I’m going to talk about answers sample

answers and ways to talk about yourself

in part so we’ll take a quick break it’s

a bit warm in here today yeah yeah okay

we’ll take a quick break as always we

have free stuff free stuff for everybody

watching this week if the topic is of

course making friends so I was thinking

about things that would be helpful as

you make your friendship I’ve chosen a

couple PDS one this oh yes over here yes

yes okay for now

so I chosen a couple PDFs I thought

would be useful in making friends first

one this is the food one the food one

just because in so many cases we go for

food and drinks with our friends so this

on the back I like the back side a lot

this on the back it’s hard to see I’m

very sorry this on the back there’s some

phrases here the lights are very bright

today there’s some phrases on the back

that you can use when you are eating at

restaurants it’s so hard to see today

I’m so sorry I will read them I will

read them for example it’s delicious or

it’s tasty it’s very

good smells nice also I’m a vegetarian

or I’m a vegan or I can’t eat pork these

sorts of expressions are on the dining

dining PDF you can find this from the

link below the video on youtube or above

the video on Facebook also this is the

family the family and relatives PDF but

on the back on the back of this one is a

set of expressions called

first meeting first meeting so here

there’s nice to meet you where are you

from

like how are you what’s your name those

are the questions that come before these

questions so if you want to practice

some other like kind of first time

questions that come before this one you

can check out this PDF too and of course

there’s lots of family vocabulary words

so if you want to get these please find

these and more from the link below the

video on youtube or above the video on

Facebook okay

let’s continue if you’re just joining

today’s lesson is about making friends

in English and it is very warm so today

we’re gonna continue on to part two of

today’s lesson part two of today’s

lesson is talking about yourself and

answering answering that’s very

answering these questions so let’s move

along let’s move along and if you

haven’t already we really appreciate it

if you like and share the video yes it

is really live yes it is really live I

don’t see any other questions yet so I

will continue along okay

so let’s go to part two part two is

talking about yourself talking about

yourself so first I want to look at how

to answer this question right here

because lots of people have questions

about this one so in part one I

introduced this question what do you do

for fun what do you do for fun this

question again is about your hobbies

what is your hobby this is the natural

way to say my hobbies are your hobbies

rather so when you want to explain it

you can use very simply I like to in

some cases for example I like to take

photos or I like no to eating and

drinking or I like going dancing or I

like hiking

I like having parties whatever your

hobby is you can answer it very simply

with this I like pattern so lots of

students ask what’s the difference

between I like to take photos and I like

taking photos there’s no difference

there is no difference you just choose

you can choose whichever you prefer

I like taking photos and I like to take

photos have the same meaning so that’s

up to you similarly I like to eat and

drink with my friends or I like to go

dancing I like to hike I like to have

parties all of those have the same

meaning as the ing form so please don’t

worry about that just be careful don’t

use to and ing like I like to eating is

not correct not correct so please choose

to and regular infinitive verb or no to

and ing form so use something like this

to explain your hobbies if you have some

sample hobbies you should send them in

the chat send them in the chat so um

let’s see other questions I thought I

saw one I like to watch TV yes says

someone good good I like to take walks

and take pictures perfect someone says

uh you write about food yes I do write

about food I post about it on Instagram

the links there if you want to read that

to check it out I like drawing and

painting how about you yeah I like

eating I like going to music events too

I like to do those things those are my

hobbies I like eating to other hobbies

uh-oh oh I missed a question when we go

to speak about hobbies we put ing on the

end not always you can you can that’s my

point so you can choose there are two

ways I like to take photos or I like

taking photos no - these are the same

this and this these two ideas are these

two sentences express the same idea I

like taking photos sorry I like taking

photos or I like to take photos they are

the same you can choose you do not have

to use this so you can choose between

these okay other points ah okay I like

to listen to music nice good I like to

learn English yeah okay good

lots of good examples let’s move along

to the next point let’s look at

responses to this next question the next

question I talked about in part one was

this what did you do last weekend or

what did you get up to last weekend

that’s at native speed what’d you do

last weekend or what did you get up to

last weekend to answer to answer last

weekend

last weekend I last weekend I in your

response use a simple past tense verb

because this is last weekend a specific

point in time last weekend so don’t use

present perfect tense here last weekend

I met up with friends I met up with

friends met is past tense

meet meet I met up with friends what is

this up so I could say I met my friends

that’s fine but we often use met up with

it kind of has a little more of a

friendly casual feel I met up with some

friends we ate dinner together something

like that so your verbs need to be past

tense past tense verbs another example

last weekend

I cleaned my house cleaned my house

so again past tense cleaned cleaned

cleaned is the past tense of the verb

clean I cleaned my house last weekend I

clean my house I met up with my friends

I studied for a test I slept a lot

whatever you did last weekend use a

simple past tense verb to answer this

question so last weekend I went to a

music event and I saw some friends

tonight

I think that’s true okay so these are

very simple short answers to this

question that’s perfect its natural it’s

good onward onward to this one this

pattern can be used to answer this how

have you been this question how have you

been how have you been the answer to the

question I’ve been I’ve been this is

again is the reduced form of I have I

have

I’ve been again short is best short is

really good I’ve been good I’ve been

busy I’ve been

alright I’ve been hanging in there

hanging in there it’s hard to see

hanging in there hanging in there is

used when we’re like maybe we have a

challenge at work or in our personal

lives and it’s tough but we’re doing our

best I’m hanging in there I’m hanging in

there that’s what we like to use in

those times you can say I’ve been tired

or I’ve been better

you might hear that too which means the

person has like some tough times or some

challenges you can also talk about a

specific activity especially in response

to this question what have you been up

to

remember this up to is about an activity

like what were your activities since the

last time I saw you you can you if you

get asked this question you can respond

with the same pattern I have been and

just substitute an activity I’ve been

working I’ve been studying I’ve been

traveling a lot for business so you can

use this I’ve been for these two

questions to respond to these two

questions so this is quite useful short

is good too

short is very good Oh someone wrote how

have you been up to be careful how have

you been up to

how have you been what have you been up

to your question weird changes here how

have you been what have you been up to

how have you been what have you been up

to I’ve been busy at work good

I’ve been working Oh Jacqueline on

Facebook good points in this pattern if

you want to use I’ve been I’ve been and

then you want to use this ing you need

to you need to use the ing form of your

verb in this pattern we cannot use the

infinitive form this to take to have to

go I talked about we have to use the ing

form there so I’ve been working I’ve

been working ok no other quest can I use

I’ve been hanging around um

I would say I’ve been hanging out I’ve

just been hanging out you could say

which means I am not doing anything

special just hanging out hanging around

is used for a specific place so I would

say like oh there’s some stranger

hanging around our studio today that’s

what we would say for a specific place

so you don’t want to use hanging around

to talk about yourself we use that when

we’re talking about kind of suspicious

people sometimes so I don’t know onward

I’m running out of time as always let’s

talk about the last point here the last

point for a response to a specific or

rather for a response to a simple past

tense question this one we talked about

before how was your trip how was your

event how was your party for this one we

cannot use this present perfect response

pattern because this sentence is a

simple past tense sentence how was your

trip remember this is present present

perfect this is simple past so we have

to use a simple past tense response it

was it was where it is this thing it was

my party was the trip was the event was

it was so it was okay it was great it

was not bad it was not so good so again

very short very short answers are

great natural easy to remember - so I

recommended to my students actually we

did practice sessions with these

questions as well like these questions

are very common and you will be asked

these questions by native speakers so

just practice them and practice those

responses like you know your hobbies you

know what you like to do what you don’t

like to do so you should be able to

think of the verbs you need to use to

answer these questions so practice these

drill these like the answers are quick

short and easy to remember and they help

your conversation flow much more

smoothly I think so those are ways to

talk about yourself and to respond to

those questions alright good let’s take

one more break and then we’ll get to the

last part of today’s lesson making

invitations making invitations okay can

struck out be used instead of hang out -

no you cannot use struck out you cannot

use struck out struck out is used in

baseball or in editing to mean you were

removed from batting in baseball or to

mean removed from a text when you’re

editing something so know do not use

struck out instead of hang out okay

onward so I said oh there they are the

ones that I showed you earlier if you

missed it I showed a couple of free PDFs

I thought would be helpful for today’s

topic when you’re out eating with

friends this is the dining cheat sheet

or when you are chatting with a new

friend on the back of the family cheat

sheet is a meeting for the first time

thing also in general if you are a

person that likes to travel a bit

we do have a travel cheat sheet and

there are some famous places if you’re

going to the USA and you want to

practice some famous places you can try

picking this one up as well depending on

your hobbies if shopping is something

you’re interested in

there is a shopping PDF - and you can

take a look at some of the vocabulary

words on the back there so for whatever

your hobby is for whatever verbs you

need to use to explain yourself

you can try picking up one of the cheat

sheets that we have from the link below

the video on youtube or above the video

on Facebook and try to find a couple

verbs that you think maybe you can use

to talk about yourself and your

activities okay so with that let’s go on

to the last part of today’s lesson is

Facebook okay all right okay let’s go

my Facebook’s being read all right then

we’ll go to the last part of today’s

lesson today’s lessons final point is

making invitations making invitations so

here I prepared several example

invitations these are for you to change

as you need to so let’s begin with this

first one by the way so you don’t have

to include this by the way just by

chance during conversation are you doing

anything today are you doing anything

Friday are you doing anything Saturday

are you doing anything Monday yes you

can use on here using on here does not

change the meaning are you doing

anything on Saturday are you doing

anything on Friday you can use on I

didn’t use on here because I ran out of

space on the board that’s it so the the

meaning does not change with you if you

put on here you can use it so this is a

very open way to begin a plan so are you

doing anything on Saturday I’m going to

an event do you want to come so this is

like the first point or the first step

to ask if the other person has some time

another pattern hey of course you can

choose to remove hey but it sounds a

little more friendly if you have a

greeting hey do you wanna get a drink

tonight hey do you want to get a

tonight at natives fee do you wanna get

a drink tonight

sounds like do you want to get a drink

tonight so do you wanna wanna is want to

would you like to it sounds too formal

would you like to get a drink tonight

maybe if it’s like a date and it’s the

first time you’re asking this person on

a date okay would you like to get a

drink fine but do you wanna get a drink

tonight sounds a little more friendly a

little more friendly okay

next one are you free for lunch sometime

this week or next or next what is this

next this week or next you will commonly

hear this one next means next week but

we often drop that week are you free

sometime this week or next

so it means next week we just don’t say

it so are you free are you free this

means your schedule your schedule this

has nothing to do with price is your

schedule open that’s what are you free

we use the preposition for to show the

purpose is your schedule open to have

lunch sometime this week or next week is

what this sentence means but we do not

say that are you free for lunch sometime

this week or next that’s how it would

sound at native speed and you can use

all of these in text messages too onward

okay if you have questions I’ll try to

answer running out of time all right

next one is long a little bit long but

sometimes this is useful I’m gonna gonna

going to I’m gonna grab dinner in your

neighborhood tonight do you want to join

me

I’m gonna grab dinner in your

neighborhood tonight do you want to join

me so gonna going to wanna want to grab

grab means get or in this case eat

dinner it means it sounds like a very

casual I’m going to get dinner

I’m gonna grab dinner so I’m gonna grab

dinner in your neighborhood tonight

so this means I’m near you would you

like to come or in this case do you

wanna join me do you want to join me you

can use this to make a quick invitation

if you happen to be if by chance you are

in someone’s area friends area ok onward

one more this is good for when you don’t

give the other person a lot of time to

decide it is shop sorry for the short

notice

sorry for the short notice sorry for the

short notice but I’m going to a talk

event tomorrow do you want to come do

you want to come this part right here

sorry for the short notice means I’m

apologize I didn’t give you very much

time to prepare or to decide so you can

use this in invitations or like at work

also sorry for the short notice but

there was a change in plan

this is good for invitations finally one

point about group chats I know lots of

people I’m in some have group chats on

their phone so you don’t want to make an

invitation for one person how do you

make a group invitation you do that with

something like this this here says

anyone anyone or you might see does does

does anyone want to go bowling this

weekend does anyone want to go hiking

this weekend does anyone want to see the

new spider-man movie tomorrow does

anyone want to see Captain Marvel so

does anyone wanna does anyone wanna if

you have a group chat you can use this

pattern to make an invitation in your

group chat does anyone wanna does anyone

wanna okay someone said I didn’t

understand about grab to grab this is

what grab is this motion is grab we use

grab to mean get get dinner get lunch to

go and buy and eat that thing so it

sounds like a quick motion it sounds

like a quick casual motion

I’m gonna grab dinner I hope that that

helps you I have to finish though for

today oh I have to finish so I will

finish what am I talking about next week

I’ve forgotten

I’m talking about oh yes how to talk

about your holiday plan how to talk

about your holiday plans yes another

viewer request yeah I asked you guys on

Instagram a while ago for what you want

to learn about so thank you for your

great ideas I think it’s very helpful

for all of our learners so that’s

wonderful this is also a request how to

talk about your holiday plans so when I

say holiday here I mean vacations

vacation plans so different holidays in

different countries I’m going to talk

about how to explain those I think many

people have spring and summer vacations

coming so this will be next week’s topic

April 24th

please join us Wednesday at 10 p.m.

Eastern Standard Time that is New York

City time so we’re going to talk about

holiday stuff great we have to finish

there for today but if you have other

questions please send them in the chat I

will check the comments after this

lesson please don’t forget to check out

the free stuff from below the video on

youtube or above the video on Facebook

all this free stuff and free expressions

are free practice PDFs to help you learn

expression for your hobbies and for

talking about yourself if you have

anything else do I have anything else I

don’t think I have anything else I think

that’s it you knows a lot today thanks

very much for joining us this week we

really appreciate it thank you so much

for liking and sharing the video it’s

very helpful and I hope lots of people

can get some good stuff from this lesson

as always so enjoy the rest of your week

enjoy the rest of your evening

and I will see you again next week bye

my