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