Learn English with Stories Advanced Vocabulary Grammar Pronunciation Practice

hello hello welcome to today’s live

English lesson here on the speak English

with Vanessa

YouTube channel today I have something

special for you we’re gonna be learning

English through a story and you’re

especially gonna be practicing quick

speaking so you’re gonna be thinking

about sentences answering questions and

this is something that we haven’t done

here on the YouTube channel before so I

want to introduce this concept to you

and help you to speak today so if you

are watching live if you’re

participating live I recommend doing

that participating answering questions

saying them out loud if you’re watching

the replay no problem you can benefit a

lot you can do the same things repeat

out loud you can pause the video if you

need more time you can repeat and think

about the answer to questions a little

bit longer it’s great it’ll be here on

YouTube for you to enjoy thanks so much

for joining me from Columbia Xavier

welcome yes scene in Algeria thank you

so much for coming in Austria wonderful

ileus in Austria Hutu in Indonesia

thanks for coming today if you are new I

want to introduce myself

oh really quick I’m Vanessa hi and I

teach English here on the speak English

with Vanessa YouTube channel and on my

website speak English with Vanessa comm

pretty clear right in today’s concept

the story concept is something that

members of The Fearless fluency Club The

Fearless fluency Club is my monthly

course for learning English members of

this course already know this concept

because each month I provide a new story

and a new idea so that they can practice

in this way so I want to introduce this

concept to you I’m gonna be sharing my

screen a lot so that you can read with

me

look at the questions and try to be as

interactive as possible

first of all let’s take a look at my

screen so that I can show you exactly

what this story concept is and then

we’ll get started with it so I’m gonna

share my screen here with you all right

let’s take a look at add my screen you

can see here we’ve got a couple

different folders here this is Google

Drive if you’re familiar with Google

Drive then you probably know what this

is here we have the story that’s what

we’re gonna be focusing on today and

this is the typical material that’s

available for fearless fluency Club

members they have a story folder which

is available here we’ll take a look at

that in just a moment

video lessons vocabulary grammar

pronunciation mp3 versions of all of

those transcripts for all of the lessons

a lesson guide and just a general how to

use this course guide so let’s go back

to the story because we’re gonna take a

look at this today in more detail

typically in the course I provide for

audio files because there’s four

different versions of the story and

there’s a PDF version and you’re gonna

see this also today because we’re gonna

take a look at this story I’ve changed

the story just a little bit to fit our

YouTube friends here instead of just

course members because course members

are gonna be more familiar with the

general story the fool idea so I wanted

it to fit you as well to help you as

much as possible and typically in the

story there are different elements like

vocabulary so all the monthly vocabulary

words I included in this story and these

are words that members have already

learned in the vocabulary lesson and

grammar points which are also included

in this so you’re gonna see a lot of

different colors extra vocabulary that

I explained at the end down here so this

is a little bit more intensive than what

we’re gonna do on YouTube but I still

want to share this concept with you

because it’s really valuable the the

next part are questions about the story

so this is what we’re gonna focus on

today I’m gonna I made a new file so

that it’s a little more bright and

colorful and easy to understand through

YouTube and I’ll explain this concept in

just a moment and this is available in

the course this is not what we’re gonna

do on YouTube but there are three

versions of the story there’s the

regular version this is the story too so

this is gonna be another verb tense

using I in the present and then the

third story is in the future using we

instead of I or you so these are just

options that are not we’re not going to

talk about today on YouTube but they’re

available in the course so this is a

concept that you can get in more detail

but let’s look at what we’re gonna do

today in the course or in the in our

wonderful live YouTube lesson because I

have a special picture and story to

share with you does anyone know where

this picture was taken this is a pretty

typical city in the u.s. I went there a

couple weeks ago if you look closely at

the taxis you might see where it is yes

a lot of people are saying New York City

correct yes this is in New York City and

I want to know have you ever taken a

taxi have you ever taken a taxi in New

York if you have taken a taxi in New

York or even in the u.s. in general it

can be pretty crazy and hectic there’s a

lot of taxi drivers every country has

their own style for getting a taxi and

trying to get a fare

a payment for the taxi trying to trying

to use a taxis different in every

country so this story today we’re going

to talk about is getting a taxi in New

York and in the story I changed some of

the things from the course so if you

know this from the course in our story

we’re gonna be talking about Sam Sam is

gonna take a taxi in New York and we’re

gonna read and answer out loud about his

experiences so let’s go down imagine

this picture we’re gonna take a look at

the story now so I’ve broken this story

in two different sections this is the

first section I’m gonna read it out loud

you might remember we already talked

about these colored parts these colored

parts are not relevant to us on YouTube

because we haven’t studied in depth

these vocabulary words or this

pronunciation point or this grammar

point

but in the full course members have

already studied that so this is

reinforcing those concepts so you can

imagine that that’s what the colors are

for but we’re not gonna focus on that

today what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna

read this story and then we’re gonna

answer some questions about the story so

listen carefully try to imagine what’s

happening if there are some new words

for you don’t worry imagine the concept

imagine the context so that you can try

your best to fully understand what’s

happening

are you ready if you want to read with

me go ahead I’m gonna read it and you

can read at the same time you can listen

and then we’ll answer some questions

alright let’s get started it was Sam’s

first day in the US and his plane had

just landed in the New York Airport when

he stepped outside he instantly got

mobbed

dozens of taxi drivers shouting at him

taxi taxi taxi here sir

taxi American taxi drivers certainly

didn’t use subtle marketing techniques

he had taken a taxi probably hundreds of

times in London but at that time he had

felt more comfortable because it was his

hometown

how could he choose a taxi driver that

wouldn’t rip him off thankfully a kind

looking taxi driver came over to him and

said sir

don’t listen to those crazy drivers I’ll

take you peacefully where you want to go

Sam felt relieved that someone else was

aware of the hectic situation outside

the airport Sam told the driver the name

of his hostel which was supposed to be

just 15 minutes away from the airport

after about 10 minutes Sam looked around

and began to feel a little concerned he

had no idea why he felt uneasy but then

he realized that the taxi had been going

back and forth on the same streets oh no

he didn’t want the driver to drop him

off in the middle of nowhere but he

didn’t want to pay for a scenic tour

around New York he spoke up excuse me I

could be completely wrong but based on

Google Maps I believe we’re going in the

wrong direction the driver looked

worried for a moment but then he said

without missing a beat oh no problem Sam

we’ll get there in just a moment

instantly the taxi turned around and

zoomed straight ahead towards the

highway Sam let out a sigh of relief and

thought I guess taxi drivers don’t have

an incentive to be completely honest

with tourists it’s just one of those

things

that could happen in any country all

right that’s the end of our story for

right now so how did you do listening to

this story could you understand the

general ideas the general concepts Sam

has a problem on the taxi the taxi

driver tries to get some extra money

from him so now that we’ve listened to

the full story we’re gonna go back and

answer some questions I’m gonna show you

what’s actually happening first of all

I’m gonna read a sentence from the story

and then I’ll ask a question

and the question is exactly the same as

the sentence so you need to pretty much

repeat what you heard in that sentence

this is called a mirroring technique so

you’re taking my sentence and reforming

it to create an answer if you want to

use the same vocabulary go ahead if you

want to use the same verb tense go ahead

if you want to change it and use maybe a

word that’s similar no problem I’m gonna

show you the question and after a couple

seconds I’ll give you maybe 10 seconds

to think about an answer for each

question and then I’ll show you a

possible answer there are a lot of

answers if you want to write an answer

in the chat box if you want to write an

answer in the comments no problem but I

also recommend saying it out loud this

is a good chance to speak quickly think

quickly and answer these questions some

of the questions will be much easier

than other questions because it’s a

short answer and you just heard the the

sentence before that the idea here is

not to be so complex

the idea is to reform your own sentences

with the material that I’ve already

given you so this is a good step to help

you speak confidently and understandably

let’s go back to my

and go to the first question about this

story okay so here we have the end of

the story and what I’m gonna do is I’m

gonna read the story one sentence at a

time and then you’re gonna see the first

question all right so our first question

let’s take a look at the story I’m gonna

read it and then I’m gonna ask you this

question are you ready I’m gonna start

reading the story and then I’ll ask you

the question it was Sam’s first day in

the US and his plane had just landed in

the New York Airport question number one

where did Sam’s plane land I I recommend

staying a full sentence because you want

to challenge your English skills to say

as much as possible so you could just

say the place but I recommend using a

subject a verb a full sentence all right

let’s take a look at it it landed in the

New York Airport great or he landed in

the New York Airport Sam landed in New

York excellent so here this question is

pretty straightforward pretty simple

because I just read the sentence and

that’s the concept you’re repeating it

and trying to create your own sentence

okay let’s go to the next part I want

you to listen and then try to think of

what you can say for this question I’m

gonna read the story when he stepped

outside he instantly got mobbed by

dozens of taxi drivers shouting at him

taxi taxi taxi here sir taxi question

number two what happened to Sam when he

stepped outside the airport now this is

Liz

in practice you’re not reading the story

with me you only see the question what

happened to Sam when he stepped outside

the airport I’ll give you just a moment

to think about an answer we’re using an

important vocabulary expression and

you’re repeating it so that you can

remember it this is the first step to

remembering new expressions is

repetition oh we’ve got our lovely

answer he got mobbed by dozens of taxi

drivers who were shouting at him here a

lot of you in the chatbox are using this

great expression got mobbed by maybe

this is the first time that you’ve ever

heard this expression but even if it is

even if you’re not exactly sure what it

means you’re repeating it from my story

and you’re repeating it in a full

sentence that’s wonderful this

expression we can imagine a mob a mob is

a crowd of people a huge crowd of people

and they’re running at you and you feel

kind of overwhelmed because there’s so

many people so here to get mobbed by

someone means that a lot of people are

running at him the taxi drivers are

running and shouting and Sam feels a

little bit overwhelmed alright let’s go

to the third question I’m gonna continue

reading American taxi drivers certainly

didn’t use subtle marketing techniques

he had taken a taxi probably hundreds of

times in London but at that time he had

felt more comfortable because it was his

hometown question number three why did

Sam feel more comfortable in London why

did Sam feel more comfortable in London

try to create a full sentence here

starting with hee or starting with a sub

jekt here why did he feel more

comfortable great listening skills I’ll

give you just a moment I’m gonna take a

sip of water all right I see a lot of

great questions and answers coming into

the chat box we could say he felt more

comfortable because London was his

hometown you could say just this final

part London was his hometown great but I

want to give you a possibility of

answering in a more complex way so

there’s a couple correct answers here

don’t worry if your answer is not

exactly like mine but this is good

listening practice alright let’s go to

the next one oh let’s not look at the

answer all right the next part I’m gonna

read how can he how could he choose a

taxi driver that wouldn’t rip him off

thankfully a kind looking taxi driver

came over to him and said sir

don’t listen to those crazy drivers I’ll

take you peacefully where you want to go

question number four what did the kind

looking taxi driver say to Sam Oh what

do you think did you hear what he said

what did the kind looking taxi driver

say we could say a short sentence here

you could say a longer sentence it’s up

to you I’ll give you just a moment to

think about what the taxi driver said

okay let’s take a look at our answer

here the taxi driver he said not to

worry about the other drivers and he

would take Sam where he wanted to go you

can say this in a couple different ways

you could just say he said and then you

could use the same words I said he said

don’t listen to those crazy drivers I’ll

take you peacefully where you want to go

you can directly repeat that or you can

use this kind of mirroring speech he

said and using slightly different

sentence structure you’ve got a couple

different options and a lot of them are

correct this is practicing listening

skills repeating changing sentences to

fit different sentence structures

alright let’s look at the next one I’m

gonna read continue reading our story

Sam felt relieved that someone else was

aware of the hectic situation outside

the airport Sam told the driver the name

of his hostel which was supposed to be

just 15 minutes away from the airport

question number five where did Sam want

to go and how far away was it how far

away was it where did he want to go and

how far away was it so we need two

pieces of information here you can make

a sentence with these in any way you’d

like you can simply repeat the exact

same sentence that I said or you can

create your own sentence and use a

different grammatical structure it’s

your choice

okay let’s take

look at the answer where did say I wanna

go and how far away was it Sam wanted to

go to his hostel that was only 15

minutes away so we could say this in a

couple different ways you could say Sam

wanted to go to his hostel and then we

could make a new sentence here it was

only 15 minutes away great we’ve got a

lot of choices but here I chose to

combine these with the word that and

that’s just gonna give you another kind

of sentence structure that you can

integrate into your English learning

okay let’s get a question number six I’m

gonna continue reading after about ten

minutes Sam looked around and began to

feel a little concerned he had no idea

why he felt uneasy but then he realized

that the taxi had been going back and

forth on the same streets question

number six

why was Sam feeling uneasy

why was he feeling uneasy even if you’re

not certain about this word uneasy maybe

you’ve never heard it before maybe

you’ve never used it you can use the

context of this section that I already

read I already used the word he began to

feel a little concerned so here you can

listen for similar words and try to get

a feeling for the context here why does

he feel uneasy hmm what’s going on here

maybe this has happened to you in a taxi

before it’s quite an uneasy situation

all right let’s take a look at our

answer

he felt uneasy or he felt uncomfortable

or he felt concerned because the taxi

had been going back and forth the whole

time so here you’re mimicking my Senate

structure had been

we were using here had been going maybe

this is a pretty complex verb structure

for you but because I used it already in

the story I in the story I said he

realized that the taxi had been going

back and forth

I already used that so this is a good

chance for you to imitate that to mimic

that and to start to integrate it into

your own conversations that’s what this

whole story question concept is about

helping you to use complex ideas maybe

words that you’re not familiar with or

verb tenses that are new for you and to

use them pretty easily because you’re

imitating and mimicking okay let’s go to

the next section question number seven

I’m gonna read again oh no he didn’t

want the driver to drop him off in the

middle of nowhere but he didn’t want to

pay for a scenic tour around New York

question number seven what are the two

things that Sam didn’t want so in the

sentence I just read there’s two things

that he doesn’t want you can put them in

your sentence however you’d like you

could completely imitate mine

or create your own try to create a full

sentence he didn’t want or you can start

in another way I don’t want this

pretend that you’re Sam you’re in that

situation what’s something that Sam

didn’t want there’s two things all right

a lot of people are writing excellent

answers take a moment to write it take a

moment to say it out loud think to

yourself if you’re in a public place

let’s see what are the two things that

Sam didn’t what he didn’t want first of

all to be dropped off in the middle of

nowhere maybe this is a new expression

for you dropped off okay maybe that’s

new but you can

imagine from what I said what’s

happening he doesn’t want the driver to

open the door and tell him to go and

stay in this place in New York that he’s

unfamiliar way dropped off in the middle

of nowhere and the second part he didn’t

want to pay for a tour of New York in

the taxi

yes so you can include the words I used

you could create your own words but

you’re imitating that sentence structure

personally I completely understand how

Sam’s feeling I don’t want to be left in

the middle of nowhere and I don’t want

to pay extra money just to go in a taxi

I want to go to my destination and maybe

take another tour or do it a little more

consciously okay let’s go to question

number 8 I’m gonna read the next part of

the story he spoke up excuse me I could

be completely wrong

but based on Google Maps I believe we’re

going in the wrong direction all right

number 8

how did Sam know that they were going in

the wrong direction how did he know that

they were going in the wrong direction

what was his clue or his key and it’s

something that is really helpful and

handy to use when you’re traveling if

you don’t have access to Wi-Fi or

Internet service maybe it’s not so

possible but let me know how did he know

he was going in the wrong direction all

right let’s look at her answer based on

Google Maps they were probably going in

the wrong direction so the reason why I

included based on here and it’s up to

you if you don’t want to include this

it’s okay but in the this month’s

fearless fluency club lesson set based

on was one of the

vocabulary words so I wanted to

integrate this into the story and into

the questions to help members get a lot

of repetition to feel more comfortable

with it

so if you want to remember words this is

another great way just repeating it in

different styles in questions and

stories and answers based on Google Maps

they were probably going in the wrong

direction or according to Google Maps

great answer a lot of you are saying

according to it because of Google Maps

based on Google Maps there’s a lot of

different ways we can say this okay

let’s look at question number nine we’re

almost finished or how are you doing so

far I hope that these questions and

answers are useful for you let’s go to

the next part of the story the driver

looked worried for a moment but then he

said without missing a beat

oh no problem Sam will get there in just

a moment

question number nine how did the driver

react to Sam’s concern now here it’s

possible that there’s an expression I

used that’s new for you an idiom that’s

new for you if the expression in the

story is new for you try to guess what

the context is what he’s really trying

to say how did the driver react to Sam’s

concern I’m gonna read that part of the

story actually one more time the driver

looked worried for a moment and then he

said without missing a beat oh no

problem Sam will get there in just a

moment all right let’s take a look at

our answer and see how we can answer

this question the driver instantly

reassured him by saying we’ll get there

in just a moment you could say the

driver looked worried and then he said

we’ll get there in just a moment but

I use an important expression without

missing a beat without missing a beat

this is a great idiom in fact this was a

new vocabulary word that I wanted to

integrate into the story for course

members so that they could learn some

extra idioms and useful expressions and

you can guess what it means based on

these words instantly reassured him he

didn’t stop for a moment without missing

a beat

so the expression we’re talking about

here I’ll write it out is without

missing a beat without missing a beat so

this means if you imagine a drummer he’s

drumming and maybe something happens a

loud sound but the drummer doesn’t stop

he continues drumming so he goes without

missing a beat and exactly that’s what

the driver did to the driver realized oh

he caught me he knows that I’m trying to

get more money from Sam so he said it

quickly first he looks worried and then

he says oh no problem we’ll get there in

just a moment so that’s why I included

this idiom without missing a beat and if

you’d like you can go back to the

beginning of this lesson and review the

story so that you can get a full picture

of what’s happening alright let’s go to

question number 10 I’m gonna continue

reading instantly the taxi turned around

and zoomed straight ahead towards the

highway number 10 what did the taxi

driver do next

the taxi driver knows that Sam

understands now that he has been going

in circles for a long time to get extra

money so can you tell me in a full

sentence what does the taxi driver do

the purpose of these is to answer

quickly say it out loud

try to answer exactly what I said I’ll

read it one more time instantly the taxi

turned around and zoomed straight ahead

towards the highway alright let’s take a

look at our answer he immediately turned

around and headed straight for the

highway you could say he turned around

and zoomed straight ahead towards the

highway you can repeat exactly what I

said or you can change the Senate

structure a little bit like my answer no

problem this is giving you a more

advanced possibility but if you want to

repeat exactly what I said it’s still

repetition it’s still mirroring what I’m

saying and that’s useful okay

let’s oh I don’t want to show you the

answer yet let’s go to the final

question I’m gonna read the end of the

story Sam let out a sigh of relief huh

and thought I guess taxi drivers don’t

have an incentive to be completely

honest with tourists it’s just one of

those things that could happen in any

country question number 11 what is one

of those things that could happen in any

country you can give a clear short

answer for this or you can give a longer

answer for this what do you think could

happen in any country

hmm if you have ever experienced this

it’s quite frustrating but it’s just one

of those things and that is part of the

vocabulary that we talked about in the

lesson set for this what one of those

things just one of those things is a

vocabulary expression so I’m helping to

repeat that let’s take a look at our

answer taxi drivers aren’t always honest

with tourists you could get ripped off

by the taxi driver in any country now

here we’re using this expression that we

learned earlier in the story so for us

here on YouTube we’ve only repeated this

once but for 4 members of the course

we’ve been repeating this expression all

month in different variations in

vocabulary lessons in the conversation

lesson so you’ve been hearing this a lot

today we’ve only heard it once or twice

but if you’ve been hearing it for quite

a while it’ll be easier for it to to to

be used in the sentence so we can say

exactly what I said or we could say it

in a different variation some of you

said taxi drivers could cheat in any

country you could meet a taxi driver

like this in any country great you’re

making your own sentences taxi drivers

aren’t always honest in every country

great you’re taking the concept and

making it your own but using that basic

outline that I’ve given so far all right

all right everyone tell me how did you

do what did you think of this focused

story practice because here I’ve given

you the story and then we talked about

the questions from the story and because

it’s structured this is a good first

place to start to integrate complex

vocabulary complex

sentence structures this is a good place

to start because you’re not imagining it

completely yourself it’s already there

in the story and you’re just repeating

it or maybe changing the sentence

slightly if you’d like to fit what would

be best for you so I hope that this more

structured practice is useful for you I

hope that it was interesting and I hope

now when you take a taxi in any country

be aware because you never know it’s

just one of those things that could

happen in any country and if you would

like to have specific story lessons like

this every month this is just one of the

pieces of the fearless fluency Club

every month I offer the story video

lessons mp3s

transcripts all of this you can download

and listen to yourself

usually I try to have my husband Dan

also reading with me so you can hear

different voices and different styles of

speaking a man’s voice a woman’s voice

so if that’s useful for you and you’d

like to sit on the train and listen and

repeat or maybe in your office or at

home while you’re washing the dishes

repeating this story great I hope that

this will be useful for you you can

repeat this YouTube lesson or you can

learn like this every month this month

in May we’re talking about education and

college and universities in the fearless

fluency Club so if you join in May

you’ll get a new story not this story

this is a past story from January but

you’ll get a chance to get another story

about college and education and

different questions different vocabulary

words and in June there will be another

story in July another story to help you

really integrate your knowledge and to

remember it because that’s the purpose

have a lot of repetition so that you can

remember it if you would like to do this

there is a link in the description below

this video

that will give you more information

about the fearless fluency club and you

can also enjoy this lesson for free on

YouTube which is why I shared it with

you thanks so much everyone for learning

with me I hope it’s interesting and

useful and something that you can take

as another piece of your puzzle as

you’re trying to learn English learning

different concepts and different ways to

learn is useful so if this concept is

useful for you continue it and I hope

that I can continue to help you in this

way too thanks so much everyone have a

beautiful week and I’ll see you again

the next time bye