Meet Tom Imitation Exercise
I’m here to make a video with my friend Tom.
We were in a show together.
It’s true.
About 10 years ago.
Mm-hmm. We were in love with each other
in the show.
We were! Our characters—
Right.
—were in love with each other.
It was not a ‘show-mance’ situation.
We were not in love.
No.
No. Just the show.
That was beautiful.
Thanks.
Ok, no, we’re good. We’re good. Ok. Are
you ready?
I’m ready.
Ok, me too.
Hi everyone. I’m here with my friend Tom.
Tom’s going to be teaching a course for me
starting in February. Now, if you don’t care
about the courses, don’t worry. This video
is also going to have a pronunciation exercise
at the end.
So, I’ve known Tom for 10, probably more
than 10 years. More than 10.
It is more than 10.
A long time.
Yeah. It’s, like, 12, 13 years.
Anyway, he’s going to be a fantastic teacher,
let me tell you why. First of all, he’s a
musician. And, if you know anything about
my background, that is also mine. My training
was in classical singing. I didn’t train in
linguistics or even in ESL. And, so he has
the same background that I have. He thinks
about rhythm and pitch the same way I do,
and he also has a very good ear, to pick out
specifically what’s not going right in a word
or a phrase. Also, Tom’s an actor. He has
a Master’s degree, which he got from Harvard
University.
Very impressive.
And, tell me a little bit about, I mean, I assume
you studied speech, and phonetics, that kind
of thing.
Yes, absolutely. IPA was taught in speech
class. Um, we had speech and voice class,
which are two separate things. So, speech
was about the articulation and mechanics of
the mouth as you’re making the sounds, to
be understood from the stage. And then voice
was about opening up the body for more of
a placement exercise, so that you were resonating
in a way that got the sound out into the house,
or the audience. Um, obviously speaking from
stage and speaking in everyday is very different.
Um, there’s some things you just don’t need
to worry about, speaking everyday English.
But, can I say?
Yeah.
Placement is a huge issue that I’m always
talking about with my students.
Absolutely.
So, I’m really glad to hear that you have
a background in that too.
For sure. Yeah. And there’s lots of exercises
to try and open up placement, for someone
who comes from a language where, maybe things
are nasalized, and you want to bring it down.
Yeah, that’s so important.
There are lots of exercises to try and
open up the chest.
And Tom’s also been studying with me since
September, so by the time the course starts
it’ll be four, or four and half months.
And, I just, I feel like you’ve learned a
lot.
I have.
You’ve learned a lot about my style.
Yeah.
So, Tom. Take his course, and get to know
him. You’ll love him as much as I do, I’m
sure.
Please, we have five spots left and I would
love to have you in the class.
I did promise there was going to be a pronunciation
exercise component, so we’re going to turn
that conversation into an imitation exercise.
So you’ll hear little fragments of the conversation
three times, then there will be a space for
you to repeat. Now, you might not be able
to get in every sound, but that’s ok. We’re actually
focusing on the rhythm and the stress here.
So, for example, if you were to hear the phrase:
I don’t know [3x], and you thought, I don’t
have time to say all those sounds, then just
do the rhythm and the pitch: uh. We’re practicing
getting that in our ear. It’s not about the
sounds. It’s about the rhythm, and the pitch,
and the character of American English. Have
fun with it.
Hi everyone.
I’m here with my friend Tom.
Tom’s going to be teaching
a course for me
starting in February.
Now, if you don’t care about
the courses, don’t worry.
This video is also going to have
a pronunciation exercise
at the end.
So, I’ve known Tom for
10, probably more than 10 years.
More than 10.
It is more than 10.
A long time.
Yeah.
It’s, like, 12, 13 years.
Anyway, he’s going to be a fantastic teacher,
let me tell you why.
First of all, he’s a musician.
And, if you know anything about my background,
that is also mine.
My training was in classical singing.
I didn’t train in linguistics or even in ESL.
And, so he has the same background that I have.
He thinks about rhythm and pitch the same
way I do,
and he also has a very good ear,
to pick out specifically what’s not going
right in a word or a phrase. Also,
Tom’s an actor.
He has a Master’s degree, which he got from
Harvard University.
Very impressive.
That’s it, and thanks so much
for using Rachel’s English.