ENGLISH CONVERSATION Conversation tips to sound like a native speaker Rachels English
Do you love summer as much as I do?
We’ll celebrate the end of summer in this video by studying several conversations about your summer.
You’ll study some important reductions and learn the phrasal verb, wrap-up,
as well as great vocabulary words like opportunity and chaotic.
Watch all the way to the end to learn things like what is an extended family versus a nuclear family
and how to use ‘bookend’ and ‘tied to’ figuratively.
Mom, how’s your summer been?
It’s been good.
We usually go out to Colorado late May, early June,
but this year, we had an opportunity to babysit our grandson in Philadelphia.
You’re welcome.
Opportunity.
This is a great vocabulary word.
It means a set of circumstances that make something possible.
We had a trip and so we invited my parents to come take care of Stoney while we were gone.
Sample sentences: I had the opportunity to go to NYC for the weekend
because my friend was out of town and offered me her apartment.
Or, my work offered to fly me to a conference in Anaheim
so I took the opportunity to visit Disneyland while I was there.
But this year, we had an opportunity to babysit our grandson in Philadelphia.
You’re welcome.
Do you know the term babysit?
This means to care for someone else’s children.
It’s also a noun.
Every month or so, David and I hire a babysitter to watch Stoney so we can go out.
In the US, the term has evolved and we now use the terms ‘house-sitter ‘and ‘pet-sitter’
to refer to people paid to look after our houses or pets while we travel.
These can be used as a verb as well:
I’m going to house sit for my aunt and uncle for a month while they’re in China.
But this year, we had an opportunity to babysit our grandson in Philadelphia.
You’re welcome.
In late July….in late June, so we waited to go out to Colorado until we did that.
What are you going to do to wrap-up your summer?
Um, we’re almost at the end here.
Wrap up: this phrasal verb means to end something.
Notice the W is silent.
What are you doing to wrap up your summer?
Another example sentence with this phrasal verb:
I think we covered everything – why don’t we wrap up the meeting?
This verb can also mean to cover in something.
For example, you might wrap up a gift before giving it to someone:
cover it in nice paper, maybe a bow.
When I was at the beach this summer with Stoney, he got cold when he got out of the water.
I said, “come here and I’ll wrap you up in a towel.”
Wrap up.
What are you going to do to wrap-up your summer?
Um, we’re almost at the end here.
Well, I have a, we spent a week here in a camp with my extended family.
Extended family is different from your nuclear family.
A nuclear family is made up of just two generations:
a parent or parents and his or her children.
An extended family goes beyond that:
spouses of children, children of children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etcetera.
I have a vocabulary video that goes over the terms we use for various family members.
I’ll be sure to link to that video at the end of this video.
Well, I have a, we spent a week here in a camp with my extended family.
And then we’re going to go visit some friends in Northern Michigan,
and then, we’re going to drive up to Isle Royale National Park
which is an island in Lake Superior.
A national park is park set aside by the national government for conservation
and the preservation of wildlife,
and the enjoyment of the people.
In the US, we have about 60 of these parks.
You’re looking at some pictures that I have taken while enjoying some of the national parks of the US.
Then, we’re going to drive up to Isle Royale National Park
which is an island in Lake Superior.
Is there anything else like kayaking or biking or is it mostly just hiking?
Oh, it’s mostly hiking, although they do have kayaks.
Kayak, this word is a palindrome,
which means it’s spelled the same way forward and backward.
Have you ever gone kayaking before?
I find it very tiring!
Is there anything else like kayaking or biking or is it mostly just hiking?
Oh, it’s mostly hiking, although they do have kayaks.
But I don’t think they have bikes out there.
Are you going to do any swimming or is it really chilly up there?
It’s cold.
Yeah.
It would be really cold.
Yeah
Did you hear how I described the water in Lake Superior?
I said ‘chilly’.
This is another way to say ‘cold’.
You wouldn’t say ‘chilly’ for something that was very cold or extremely cold.
It’s cold, it’s not comfortable, but it’s definitely not as cold as it could be.
It’s chilly.
Are you going to do any swimming or is it really chilly up there?
It’s cold.
Yeah.
It would be really cold.
Yeah.
The water.
How’s your summer been?
It’s been great! We started out…
One of the things that is fun about our summers
is we have David’s family’s beach week at the beginning of the summer to get things going.
And then we have my family’s week here at Lake Michigan at the end of the summer.
So we have these two really great weeks that’s sort of bookend our summer and…
mark it.
That’s nice!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Bookends: there are objects that you use on a bookshelf to keep your books upright,
often one on either side of a set of books.
But we can also use this term figuratively.
This would be anything that appears on either side of something.
Here, I’m talking about two vacations that bookend our summer:
one at the beginning with David’s family,
and one at the end with my family.
We have two great vacations to bookend our summer.
So we have these two really great weeks that’s sort of bookend our summer and…
mark it.
That’s nice.
Yeah!
Yeah!
The month and a half or so in between has been pretty chaotic.
Chaotic. This word is spelled with a CH, but it’s pronounced with a K sound.
Chaotic.
Chaos.
Chaotic means disorganized, in turmoil.
It often refers to too much going on, being too busy.
The month and a half or so in between has been pretty chaotic
with getting ready to go on a maternity leave and working extra overtime.
We had two terms related to work there.
‘Maternity leave’ refers to the period of time a woman takes off from work after having or adopting a baby.
‘Paternity leave’ is the time that a man takes off from work when welcoming a new baby to the family.
Maternity, paternity.
Notice in both of these words, the first T is a True T because it starts a stressed syllable.
The second T is a Flap T because it comes between two vowels but doesn’t start a stressed syllable.
Maternity, paternity.
With getting ready to go on a maternity leave and working extra overtime.
The other term you heard was ‘overtime’. This refers to working more than your usual number of hours.
For example, in the US, at many companies, the standard work week is 40 hours.
Depending on your job, if you work more than 40 hours, that’s considered overtime and you might receive higher pay for those hours above 40.
A compound word, stress on the first word, over.
Overtime.
With getting ready to go on a maternity leave and working extra overtime
to get all my YouTube videos ready, to get everything for my academy ready.
So I’ve definitely been working more than normal and
too much, if that was my normal, something would have to change.
But it’s not the normal. It’s just to get ready for the new baby.
But the summer has been great! I love summer. You know, as an adult,
we don’t have kids in school yet
and neither of us works in the school system or the university system.
So summer is sort of just like
every day life but it’s not because you still always take vacations in the summer.
Summer is about, I don’t know, it’s something still so tied to the school schedule.
I’ve just used the term ‘tied to’, and I’ll use it several more times here.
This doesn’t literally mean that I am tied to an object.
We mean it to talk about something that is paired together, that goes together,
something that we must adhere to or rules that we must follow.
It usually implies some kind of a limit.
For example, I can work anytime from anywhere,
but I used to be tied to David’s work schedule.
We had to be in Philly on certain days.
An example sentence: I like to cook all sorts of different things,
but I’m tied to the ingredients I can buy in my town.
I can’t cook all the things I want, because I don’t have access to certain foods
needed to make some international dishes.
Summer is about, I don’t know, it’s something still so tied to the school schedule.
The summer is where even if you’re not tied to the school schedule, you’re doing stuff.
Probably ‘cause all of your other family, you know, is tied to a school schedule.
But yeah, we feel really lucky that we get to take advantage of it with the two weeks,
with one week with each of our families and…
Yeah, I hadn’t thought about that but that they’re just at the perfect time.
Um, with those space in between to…
Right?
do other things.
The start of summer…
The end of summer, and then a few:
want to take a trip in the middle to go do something extra exciting somewhere you can?
But yeah it’s a fun way to sort of start and end.
Yeah.
The summer.
Thank you Mom for sitting down to talk with me about this.
Now let’s get a different perspective
from my cousin’s 10-year-old daughter.
So Ani, how was your summer?
Good.
How was your summer?
This is a conversation starter question you can use with somebody
that you see around the end of August or beginning of September.
So Ani, how was your summer?
Good.
What did you do?
What did you do?
Did you hear how I pronounced this phrase?
We can take the words ‘what’ and ‘did’
and combine them by making the final sound of WHAT a D instead of a T.
WUD. WUD.
That’s something you’ll hear Americans do.
Also, it’s common to take an ending D sound and combine it with ‘you’ to make a J sound.
Wa-ju. Wa-ju. Wa-ju-do?
Do you hear the J sound?
Wa-ju. Wa-ju do?
What did you do?
We went to San Francisco and I saw this really cool breakdancing show.
Breakdancing.
Chances are, you know what this is.
In New York City, it’s common to see fabulous dancers performing on sidewalks and in subways.
We went to San Francisco and I saw this really cool breakdancing show.
Or seeing that, like, big prison.
Alcatraz?
Yeah. And the Golden Gate bridge.
Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge are two popular sights in San Francisco.
Have you ever visited either of them?
Or seeing that, like, big prison.
Alcatraz?
Yeah. And the Golden Gate bridge.
Did you tell her about going to camp?
Did you go to camp?
Yeah, we also, I also went to camp at Everheart.
Is it sleep-away?
A sleep-away camp is one where you send your kids and they stay over night, usually for a minimum of a week.
This is different from a day camp,
which is typically near your home,
and where you would send your child during the day only.
In the summer in America, when kids aren’t in school,
it’s pretty common to send your kids to camp for families who can afford it.
Is it sleep-away?
Uh-huh.
How long?
One week.
Fun.
Did you love it?
Uh-huh, my programs were rock climbing,
arts and crafts, swimming.
What did you do in the arts and crafts?
Notice how I’m pronouncing ‘arts and crafts’.
Two things: The word AND is reduced:
arts and– arts ‘n’ crafts.
Also, I drop the T in ‘crafts’.
This is because it comes between two consonants, F and S.
However, I didn’t drop it in the word ‘arts’.
Why? It does come between two consonants there.
It’s because of the R.
We DO pronounce the T if it comes after an R and before another consonant,
but we usually drop the T if it comes after any other consonant and before another consonant.
Arts and crafts,
arts and crafts.
What did you do in the arts and crafts?
What did you make?
Wa-ju make?
Another example of taking ‘what did you’ and reducing it to ‘wa-ju’.
Wa-ju make?
Just like Wa-ju do? at the beginning of this video.
Try that out loud with me now.
Wa-ju.
Wa-ju make?
Wa-ju make?
What did you make?
Um, so we made this, like,
floral painting thing.
That sounds pretty.
And we also did tie-dye.
Tie-dye.
A favorite summer camp activity.
Have you ever done tie-dye?
Notice the two words are spelled differently,
but they both make the AI as in BUY diphthong.
Tie-dye,
tie-dye.
And we also did tie-dye.
Wow! You did a lot!
Mmm-hmm.
What a great summer.
Yeah.
How old are you?
Ten.
That’s a good ten-year-old summer.
Yeah.
Thank you Ani for letting me interview you!
Earlier in the video, when we were talking about extended family,
I told you about a video I made on family vocabulary.
Click here to watch that video to see the various terms we use for family members in English.
To see other English conversations analyzed like this,
click here for a full playlist.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.