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