Dictation Practice Advanced English Listening Skills
hello hello welcome to today’s live
English lesson here on the speak English
with Vanessa
YouTube channel I’m glad you’re here to
learn English with me and today to
improve your listening and writing
skills of course when you improve your
listening and writing skills you’re
going to improve your speaking you’re
going to improve your communication in
general so today we have a special
dictation practice to help you really
learn the specific things about English
that maybe you miss when you’re
listening so today if you’re joining me
live welcome I’m glad you’re here hello
Edvin I’m glad you’re here we have
friends from Thailand
Rosario Lynn Brazil welcome Kevin and
Ecuador hello hello I’m glad you’re here
to join me today before we get started I
want to let you know this is like always
an active practice together so you need
to have a pen or a pencil and you need
to have some paper something to write
with
if you don’t have a pen and paper go now
and get some get something to write on
even if it’s a napkin even if it’s your
hand we need to be actively practicing
today’s dictation practice because this
is something that you can listen to but
you need to interact with you need to do
it yourself so take a moment get
something to write with get a piece of
paper get a notebook and prepare to
listen carefully for details and also to
be nice to yourself if you miss some
words don’t worry about it
thank you for joining me from Oman from
Iraq welcome Mauritania welcome I’m glad
that you are all
here in Cote d’Ivoire excellent
excellent first let me explain what is a
dictation practice I made a video a
couple weeks ago about dictation and how
it can help you to improve your
listening skills how it can help you to
improve your communication because
you’re listening for each detail and of
course how it can improve your writing
skills so what is dictation well it
means that one person today that’s me
one person is going to read a sentence
and you need to write exactly what I say
think about each detail each capital
letter each little piece of punctuation
you need to think about the details the
spelling the pauses prepare yourself
because this is a great way to make sure
that you’re understanding everything
maybe you feel like you understand the
general meaning but you need to
understand each word if you’re gonna
actually communicate in an active way in
an accurate way if you miss an important
word your conversation could have some
some negative effects so today are you
ready do you have those two things
something to write with and a piece of
paper mmm well today we’re going to be
talking about three dictation sentences
one of them is an easy sentence one of
them is a medium sentence and one of
them is an advanced sentence and the
good news is they each build on the
previous sentence so the first easy
sentence is our base idea and then the
medium sentence is going to add a little
bit to that and then the advanced
sentence is going to add even more so
what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna share my
screen
with you first of all because I want to
share with you a concept that we’re
going to talk about in the dictation so
in the dictation there’s a word that I
want to explain to you so I’m going to
share my screen and you’re going to take
a look at a picture a picture on this
screen let’s see if I can share alright
okay so I should be sharing my screen at
the moment here you can see a lovely
picture a lovely picture this is a
picture from Sunday on Sunday I was in
New York City visiting my sister so you
can see my sister here you can see Dan
my husband here and you can see her
husband Jorge here and we participated
in a New York event that’s pretty pretty
typical on Sundays in New York
it’s called brunch brunch this word
mixes breakfast and lunch together
brunch and it means on Sunday you don’t
go early in the morning and eat
breakfast at a restaurant you take your
time you go slowly and maybe 12 o’clock
maybe one o’clock maybe two o’clock you
go to a restaurant and you eat usually
breakfast food so there’s eggs and toast
and here there are some some special
drinks at this place they serve what did
they serve they serve like mimosas and
special kind of morning morning
alcoholic drinks unfortunately I didn’t
get to drink them because I’m gonna have
a baby but my family enjoyed it and I
just enjoyed being in the Sun outside
enjoying brunch enjoying brunch
so today’s sentences are about brunch so
I wanted to show you this picture so
that
you can imagine what’s going on I’m
gonna go back to my to my video here
hello hello we’re back so I wanted to
show you this picture of brunch and
we’ll start with the first easy
dictation sentence are you ready for the
first dictation sentence it is all about
this picture this picture is our theme
today our theme today so the first
sentence is Sunday brunch will be $19
each so what I want you to do on your
paper I want you to write this sentence
you can write it in the chat box you can
write it in the comments or you can
write it on your paper and this will
help you to correct it and to go back
our first easy dictation sentence is
Sunday brunch will be $19 each let me
say that quickly
Sunday brunch will be $19 each Sunday
brunch will be $19 each Sunday brunch
will be $19 each hmm so I would like you
to try to write this as accurately as
possible in your notebook in the chat
box in the comments if you’re trying to
write it yourself in your notebook maybe
don’t look at the chat box or the
comments for a moment because you want
to try to improve your own skills first
of all Sunday brunch will be $19 each
all right now that you have had a couple
moments to write this down let’s take a
look at the correct answer I have here
on my screen the correct sentence so
we’re going to share this Sunday brunch
will be $19 each so I’m going to share
my screen again and we’re going to take
a look
at the correct answer for our easy
dictation this is just the easy
dictation and we’re going to go to the
medium and then advanced all right here
we have our easy dictation Sunday brunch
will be $19 each typically when we write
prices we use this dollar sign here
before 1919 and this is true in New York
Sunday brunch was nineteen dollars per
person and in the city where I live it’s
much cheaper you can go to a restaurant
for mmm maybe ten dollars but in New
York my sister said $19 each is a really
good price especially if they include
breakfast plus three drinks so it was
vacation for us and we enjoyed eating
Sunday brunch so let me know how did you
do how was your first dictation sentence
Sunday brunch
will be $19 each if you missed the
beginning of this lesson we talked about
brunch brunch is breakfast plus lunch
and it’s a typical weekend meal usually
we eat it late one o’clock and you can
eat some breakfast foods so you could
see our first dictation sentence Sunday
brunch will be $19 each are you ready
for the medium dictation we’re going to
add to the sentence
same concept but we’re going to add
let’s go to the second one
get your paper your pencil ready it is
I’m going to say it slowly two times and
then I’m going to say it at a quicker
pace a more conversational speed
after that so listen carefully the first
two times are a little slower only twice
are you ready
Sunday brunch is going to be $76 for the
four of us one more time slowly Sunday
brunch is going to be $76 for the four
of us and now I’m going to read it
quickly conversational speed if I were
talking to my sister I wouldn’t say it
slowly like this I would probably say it
quicker so I want to test your ears I’m
gonna say it a couple times quickly
Sunday brunch is going to be $76 for the
four of us Sunday brunch is going to be
$76 for the four of us
Sunday brunch is gonna be $76 for the
four of us
whoo all right are you writing down are
you preparing Sunday brunch is gonna be
$76 for the four of us how is it going
can you you feel like you can hear each
word are some parts of it more
complicated let’s take a look at the
correct answer I’m going to share my
screen and we’ll see how it goes
let’s see how how did you do okay here
you can see the medium dictation Sunday
brunch is going to be $76 for the four
of us I could say Sunday brunch is going
to be $76 total that’s fine but in a
conversation we often use this final
expression for the four of us there are
four people me my husband my sister and
her husband four people for the four of
us for the four of us
Sunday brunch is gonna be $76 for the
four of us okay
are you ready for the next level the
next level builds on this idea but we’re
gonna add we’re gonna add a little bit
another expression that maybe two
expressions that I hope will be useful
to you and maybe a little new so let’s
prepare for the advanced advanced
dictation it is are you ready
Sunday brunch is going to stretch my
budget but don’t worry about it it’s on
me so this one is a little longer
there’s a couple different expressions
here we’re still talking about money
we’re still talking about Sunday brunch
but you need to make sure that your
punctuation is correct and also spelling
correct words maybe some of these words
you don’t know I’m gonna say it one more
time slowly and then I’m gonna say it
quickly Sunday brunch
is going to stretch my budget but don’t
worry about it
it’s on me hmm if you don’t know what
the full sentence means don’t worry
about it we’re gonna talk about it
just imagine the same idea Sunday brunch
sitting outside in the Sun enjoying
eating together now I’m gonna say it
quickly a couple times are you ready
let’s make sure that we can all see it
here all right
Sunday brunch is gonna stretch my budget
but don’t worry about it it’s on me
Sunday brunch is gonna stretch my budget
but don’t worry about it
it’s on me Sunday brunch is gonna
stretch my budget but don’t worry about
it it’s on me
whoo all right now this sentence because
it’s an advance sentence uses more
punctuation possibly more than one
sentence and it uses some words that are
beyond basic so I hope that for you
you’re listening you’re just gay
Sene if you don’t know exactly what it
is I’m going to read it one more time
and then let’s take a look Sunday brunch
is going to stretch my budget but don’t
worry about it it’s on me okay
I’m going to share my screen and let’s
check your answer okay let’s take a look
I’m curious how did you do with each
level let’s share this screen here okay
here is our advanced dictation Sunday
brunch is going to stretch my budget but
don’t worry about it
it’s on me it’s on me
mmm check each word check the spelling
check the punctuation and let’s talk
about what this sentence means
stretch stretch my budget so I mentioned
that in my city if I ate brunch it would
be half the price pretty cheap but in
New York everything is more expensive so
I said my budget this is the amount of
money that I want to spend my budget so
Sunday brunch is more money than I want
to spend but it doesn’t matter I want to
do it I want to go and experience this
so stretch my budget means it’s going to
expand the money that I want to spend I
have to spend more money than I want to
but don’t worry about it it’s on me I
want to ask you what do you think hello
I’m back what do you think is on me what
is on me it’s on me hmm this is an
expression that we can use in a lot of
different ways it’s on me it’s on the
house don’t worry it’s on the house
don’t worry it’s on me hmm yes
Lewis has the correct answer here in the
chat box he says I’ll pay the bill
I’ll pay for it beautiful yes I’ll pay
for it and when we went to to New York
City dan and I stayed with my sister we
stayed with her husband in their
apartment and it was really nice that
they let us stay in their apartment in
the middle of New York City such a
convenient location and we because we
were in their house we wanted to do
something nice for them so I used almost
this exact sentence I said Oh
Sunday brunch is kind of expensive but
don’t worry about it
it’s on us dan and I we paid for it we
paid for everyone because we wanted to
say thank you thank you for hosting us
in New York it’s on us it’s on me
great I want to know how did you do how
did you do with these three sentences
you can write them in the comments tell
me how you did with each one or in
general how do you feel about this
dictation practice was it interesting
was it useful to you did you build on
your vocabulary did you build those
skills we used Sunday brunch
we used prices we used some special
idioms like stretch my budget it’s on me
maybe these are new words for you but I
hope that you can listen carefully and
try to use that so my recommendation is
to use this idea of a dictation practice
and as you’re listening to up there
English materials as you’re listening to
my videos as you’re watching a movie or
other YouTube videos take one sentence
take two sentences and pause the video
go back listen again pause the podcast
go back listen again and try to write
them down the best way to do this is if
you can actually see a transcript or if
you can actually see the correct answer
in the subtitles if there are no
subtitles then it’s gonna be hard to see
if you have the correct answer but I
recommend using this with almost
anything use this with TED Talks use
this with course material that you have
feel free to use dictation to improve
your listening and also this is going to
help you improve your speaking skills
because when you can catch each word you
can imitate that yourself if you can’t
catch each word your sentences are going
to be missing some pieces it’s gonna be
a little more difficult so I hope that
today’s practice is useful for you feel
free to repeat it if you would like me
to do any of these dictation practices
in the future let me know in the
comments yes Vanessa I’d like to
continue this this is really fun and
interesting and useful I hope so so if
you are joining me live thanks so much
you guys have been writing a ton of
sentences you’re awesome
I think this is beautiful practice keep
up the good work and before we go today
if you would like to continue learning
with me keep up your English and keep up
this practice I have two recommendations
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much everyone
great dictation work today good exercise
for your listening skills your writing
skills and have a lovely Wednesday I’ll
see you again tomorrow bye everyone have
a great day see you later