0:00 This is the English lesson you are looking for.
0:03 Do you want to express yourself comfortably and naturally in English?
0:08 Do you want to stop using subtitles when you watch movies and TV shows?
0:12 If the answer is yes, you're in the right place.
0:15 Today, you're going to learn the best method for learning real English,
0:20 not that old textbook stuff that nobody uses in the real world,
0:24 but real-life English.
0:27 And how will you do that?
0:28 You're going to test out my proven conversation breakdown method,
0:34 the method that thousands of my students have used to improve their fluency
0:39 and really be able to use real English.
0:42 If you're new here, hi, I'm Vanessa, and here on my YouTube channel,
0:46 I teach you real English that real people use in the real world.
0:51 Today, you're going to meet two very special people.
0:54 They are my neighbors who have recently moved from New York City to the
1:00 very small town where I live in the countryside.
1:03 You will immerse yourself in a clip of our real conversation together.
1:08 You will see the full transcript.
1:10 You will see some key vocabulary,
1:13 and you will have a chance to boost your listening skills,
1:16 and then something special will happen.
1:18 After you immerse yourself in this conversation clip with my neighbors,
1:23 you are going to get a chance to dive deep,
1:25 to truly break down this conversation.
1:28 We'll be focusing on three vocabulary phrases
1:32 that I want you to be able to use in your daily life.
1:35 These are three phrases that were just naturally used in the conversation,
1:40 and you will see my husband and I explaining these conversation expressions together.
1:45 This is a great way to be able to really remember what you're learning
1:49 when you hear two people having a conversation about vocabulary.
1:54 We're going to tell expressions and stories and samples,
1:57 and really help you be able to remember this.
2:00 Because that's the goal, right?
2:01 And if you enjoy this quick short clip of my conversation breakdown method,
2:06 I want to invite you right now for Black Friday to join me in
2:11 my course,
2:12 The Fearless Fluency Club, where we use this conversation breakdown method every single month.
2:18 And right now for Black Friday,
2:20 I am offering a huge 55% discount on my means you get lifetime access
2:30 to the entire course,
2:32 all five plus years worth of lessons
2:36 that we will be studying month by month together,
2:39 immersing yourself in real-life English.
2:42 I'll tell you a little bit more about this Black Friday deal at the
2:46 end of today's lesson.
2:47 But if you're interested,
2:48 you can just click on the link in the description
2:51 and learn more about it right now.
2:52 And like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet for you with all
2:58 of today's important English concepts,
3:00 including the entire transcript of today's conversation, the key vocabulary phrases, a little quiz,
3:08 and a bonus speaking practice.
3:12 This bonus speaking practice is going to help you be able to really speak
3:17 out loud and use what you've learned.
3:19 You're going to be repeating after my voice, and this is completely free.
3:24 All you need to do is click on the link in the description to
3:27 download the free PDF worksheet,
3:30 and included with that is the speaking practice.
3:33 So, click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address,
3:37 and voila, just like that,
3:39 the free worksheet and speaking practice will land in your email inbox.
3:43 This is my gift to you.
3:45 All right, let's get started with the conversation.
3:48 You're going to meet Lindsey and Danny, my wonderful neighbors,
3:52 and immerse yourself in our real-life conversation.
3:57 Let's watch.
3:58 Hi everyone.
3:59 I'm here with my lovely neighbors, Lindsey and Danny,
4:03 and we're going to be talking about you guys' experience living in big city,
4:08 New York, growing up in different places,
4:12 and now living somewhat rurally in the country, kind of comparing those experiences.
4:18 And I think my students will have a lot to say about this cuz
4:20 everyone lives all over the world.
4:23 >> >> Um so, let's start at the very beginning.
4:25 Can you tell me, where did you grow up?
4:28 Like what was it like where you grew up?
4:31 I don't know who wants to start, but >> >> Okay.
4:34 I grew up in Manhattan in New York.
4:36 Um and that was all I ever knew.
4:41 Uh so, very normal for me, but as I've learned later on,
4:45 it it's very different than a lot of people I know where they grew
4:48 up,
4:48 but you know, I grew up living in an apartment building.
4:52 Um so, um I had shared an apartment with my family.
4:55 Um and I was on the my floor of my apartment had maybe like
4:59 30 other people.
5:00 Oh.
5:00 Um I was on the 10th floor of a 16-floor apartment building.
5:04 Okay.
5:04 Did you have an elevator?
5:06 I did have an elevator.
5:07 >> Okay.
5:07 I know a lot of New York apartments are like walk-up.
5:09 No, that would be that would be a lot >> >> to go 10 floors.
5:13 Um but yeah, so um there was a lot I lived on the Upper
5:18 East Side of Manhattan,
5:20 >> Okay.
5:20 Um which is kind of a residential neighborhood.
5:23 Um there was a park uh pretty close by um along the East River.
5:30 Uh-huh.
5:30 Um so, there was a a long promenade that we would walk on.
5:34 Um and I also went to Central Park a lot,
5:37 which is kind of the main big park in Manhattan.
5:40 Um so, that was kind of my uh you know, outdoor space.
5:44 Yeah, which I imagine is really different from growing up elsewhere.
5:48 >> Yeah, no yard, nothing like that. >> you wanted to go outside,
5:52 did that mean that you had like your parents had to go with you?
5:55 Or were you allowed to go alone to the park?
5:58 Good question.
5:59 Independence Yeah, at some So,
6:01 like I think when you live in in the city,
6:03 you get more freedom earlier because you don't have to drive.
6:07 So, you know, when we're very young, yes,
6:09 parents would have to like bring us places, but um you know,
6:13 I think by like middle school time, um like, you know, 10 years old,
6:18 we're going with friends, walking around the city, um going to parks,
6:22 going to like restaurants and stuff like that.
6:25 >> Okay, I would have been very envious of that as a middle schooler.
6:29 >> >> Yeah.
6:29 So, tell me, Danny, I know you didn't grow up in New York.
6:32 Where did you grow up, and like what was that environment kind of like?
6:36 I feel like it's maybe similar to mine.
6:38 I grew up um in Ohio, uh suburb of Cleveland Okay. >> uh called Beachwood.
6:45 And it was um the the classic suburb where all of the houses were
6:51 very similar sizes.
6:54 We all had a yard, front and a backyard, um sidewalks,
6:59 and nice like evenly sized uh like blocks.
7:02 Okay.
7:03 Um and then we had to drive everywhere.
7:06 >> >> Okay.
7:07 Was there anything you could walk to?
7:09 There was a gas station.
7:11 Okay, fine.
7:14 And uh that was about it.
7:15 Okay.
7:16 You could walk to your school, I think, right?
7:19 The only school that I could walk to was the um it was called
7:23 Hilltop,
7:24 and it was like third through sixth grade.
7:29 Okay.
7:29 Um and so, once I was like old enough, like fifth or sixth grade,
7:35 I would walk, but we had different schools for um that,
7:40 for um after sixth grade, like middle school,
7:43 and then a different school for high school,
7:44 and those were all too far. >> much like a driving culture.
7:47 Very much.
7:48 >> Which I think is more standard in the US Yeah. >> than your experience.
7:52 At what age do kids just ride the subway by themselves?
7:55 >> of varies.
7:56 Um I didn't start going up by myself until high school.
8:00 Okay.
8:00 >> Um I also didn't really need to go by myself until high school,
8:03 but yeah, then I would like ride the subway to school with friends.
8:06 >> Okay.
8:06 And maybe that's different now, too.
8:08 Probably a little different.
8:09 >> >> There's also like I went to high school in a completely different
8:13 borough than where I was living.
8:15 So, I went to school in the Bronx, which required the subway.
8:19 Okay.
8:19 So, That's a long commute.
8:21 Yeah, how long did that take you to get to school?
8:23 An hour.
8:24 As a high schooler?
8:25 >> As a high schooler.
8:26 Yeah.
8:26 >> But what do you do
8:27 as a high schooler in the subway to like entertain yourself?
8:31 >> You're usually traveling with a group of friends.
8:33 Oh, that's fun.
8:34 So, that's pretty fun.
8:35 Um but you know, like I don't know.
8:37 I remember doing homework on the subway
8:39 and stuff cuz you had like an hour to kill.
8:41 Yeah.
8:42 I mean, that sounds kind of nice.
8:44 Like I think living in the city, you miss nature, but as a teenager,
8:48 that independence is like the thing that everybody wants.
8:52 Maybe it's more possible.
8:54 >> Yeah.
8:55 You like little adults earlier, maybe.
8:57 >> For sure.
8:58 Definitely.
8:58 So, I'm curious, for you guys, now you live here in Asheville,
9:04 when when did you first start to think about moving
9:09 or like leaving the city?
9:10 Cuz you guys met in New York.
9:12 And I guess that we could back up.
9:13 At what point did you move to New York?
9:15 So, I moved after college um for a job.
9:19 Um and then, how long was I there?
9:22 A couple years before I met you.
9:25 Um and coming from Ohio to New York,
9:30 like I was I wouldn't say overwhelmed,
9:33 but I knew that this wasn't like what I wanted for like forever.
9:37 Okay.
9:37 Um and so, when we met, like I I was pretty like honest,
9:42 and I said, you know,
9:42 like I don't I don't think that I see myself here forever.
9:46 I'd like to like move eventually.
9:48 Okay.
9:49 At the time, I was like, New York forever.
9:52 Uh-huh.
9:52 But you're like, I love Danny.
9:54 It's okay, we'll figure it out.
9:55 Exactly.
9:56 He had to like slowly convince me.
10:00 Which like I think we both um had actually never really hiked before meeting
10:05 each other and we kind of got into nature together.
10:08 Um so we started like vacationing
10:10 and like hiking and
10:12 and kind of seeing the outside world a little bit more
10:15 and realizing like,
10:16 "Oh, New York City has none of this to offer."
10:20 >> We took a lot of road trips to like Maine and there's like,
10:24 you know, national parks
10:25 and things like that
10:26 and that was how we were vacationing.
10:28 >> You're sneaky like, "I'm going to show Lindsey other places
10:31 and maybe she'll want to move."
10:32 >> It just it worked out. >> got to say I think like more
10:36 so than me Lindsey really loved the outdoors
10:39 and like just the fresh air.
10:41 So it wasn't it wasn't hard to convince her.
10:43 Yeah, it was just like within you somewhere.
10:45 Yes, it was there.
10:46 It was there.
10:47 Great work immersing yourself in
10:49 that clip of a real-life conversation with three native English speakers.
10:55 It's kind of easy to just understand my voice alone during these lessons,
11:00 but when you add one extra person and then another extra person,
11:05 this can really make it a little more difficult to understand.
11:08 So with this conversation breakdown method,
11:10 it will be much easier to understand
11:13 and you will be amazed at how your listening skills
11:16 and your speaking skills improve.
11:19 So let's go to the second part of today's lesson,
11:22 which is immersing yourself by learning three key vocabulary phrases.
11:27 You're going to see my husband Dan
11:29 and I helping you to learn how to use those words in your daily
11:33 life and these words were used in the conversation you just saw.
11:37 Let's watch.
11:39 Are you ready to get started?
11:40 I'm ready.
11:41 >> All right, let's get started with the first phrase.
11:43 Ooh, to have an hour or to have time to kill.
11:47 And this doesn't mean you're killing anything.
11:50 It just means that you have time that is not scheduled.
11:54 It is time that you have free to do anything that you want.
11:58 Although sometimes you might be kind of like stuck.
12:01 So the example that comes to my mind is
12:03 if you're in line somewhere
12:05 or you're at the airport
12:07 and you have somewhere
12:08 that you are but you can't go
12:11 and do something.
12:12 So you just have time to kill.
12:14 So if you're in the airport and you're waiting for the airplane,
12:17 you might say, "I have time to kill.
12:19 I'll read this book."
12:21 Or "I've got an hour to kill, so I'll call my mom."
12:25 For example.
12:26 So this is time that you don't have something specific to do,
12:29 you just have to wait
12:31 or you have a gap between some kind of scheduled event.
12:35 You might say I have time to kill.
12:37 Yeah, I like that distinction
12:39 that you're kind of forced to have free time
12:42 because you're waiting for something,
12:43 but it's not happening now.
12:45 So I have an hour to kill until this event.
12:47 I can't go off and do something else.
12:49 I have to just be a little bit careful about what I do during
12:53 that free time.
12:54 And that's how it was used in the conversation.
12:56 Lindsey was talking about her commute to school on the subway
13:00 and she said it took an hour,
13:01 which to me sounds like a long time.
13:04 To kill.
13:04 To kill.
13:05 It's also a long time to go to school.
13:07 Like that's a long commute.
13:09 In the rest of the US,
13:11 if you said your school was an hour away,
13:15 I know Americans are known for driving long distances,
13:17 but that's a long time to get to school every day.
13:21 But for her she seemed kind of normal about it.
13:23 She just said, "Well, you know what?
13:25 I did my homework because I had an hour to kill."
13:28 >> Yeah, and you you can actually use your hands in the subway.
13:31 That's nice.
13:31 >> Yeah, when you're driving you can't do homework.
13:34 So she was kind of saying that she adapted to that scenario.
13:37 She couldn't really do very much during that free time,
13:40 but she could do homework and you know,
13:42 that doesn't sound that bad having a forced hour of doing homework.
13:46 Yeah.
13:46 Okay, not too bad.
13:48 >> I kind of want an hour to sit there and do nothing.
13:51 Yeah.
13:52 Yeah, that I guess that's what our kids do
13:53 when you drive them to school.
13:55 They have 30 minutes to kill and you're forced to drive.
13:58 I drive Theo to work well,
14:00 to school and work for me every day
14:02 and he seems to enjoy
14:04 that ride and we just we have time to kill.
14:07 We have 30 minutes to kill
14:08 and so we listen to an audio book usually
14:12 or sometimes we listen to music
14:13 or sometimes he's coloring
14:15 or writing back there.
14:16 He's always doing something.
14:17 >> >> I guarantee that.
14:18 Very active child.
14:20 All right, let's watch the original clip
14:22 so that you can see how an hour to kill
14:24 and a time to kill was used.
14:26 Let's watch.
14:27 I don't know.
14:27 I remember doing homework on the subway
14:29 and stuff cuz you had like an hour to kill.
14:32 Yeah, I don't know.
14:33 I remember doing homework on the subway
14:35 and stuff cuz you had like an hour to kill.
14:37 Yeah, the third vocabulary phrase is to see myself or to see yourself.
14:44 And here we're not talking about looking in the mirror.
14:47 It's a little more figurative than that.
14:49 We're talking about imagining yourself in a certain place or time in the future.
14:55 So for example, in the conversation with Lindsey and Danny, when they met,
15:00 Lindsey was a lifer in New York.
15:02 She had lived forever in New York
15:04 and she had no plans of going anywhere else
15:06 or moving anywhere else,
15:07 but Danny had come into New York and was living there.
15:10 And he said he was honest with her and just said, "You know what?
15:14 I don't see myself living here forever.
15:17 I would like to move at some point."
15:20 And that's really great.
15:21 That's a good beginning of a relationship, some honesty.
15:24 But he used that expression to see myself.
15:26 I don't imagine myself living in New York forever.
15:31 And I think that's a really common and great way to use this.
15:35 Yeah, so you can use it in the negative sense like that.
15:38 Like I can't see myself staying in New York forever.
15:42 But you can use it the other way, too.
15:44 Like I can see myself moving to the mountains near Asheville.
15:48 Wouldn't that be nice?
15:49 For me personally, I often use this in the negative.
15:53 For example, if there's a car I didn't want,
15:55 like let's say a Tesla Cybertruck,
15:59 I might say I can't see myself
16:01 or I can't really see myself driving a Cybertruck.
16:04 I might look a little awkward in it.
16:06 Maybe everybody does, I don't know.
16:09 But I I could see myself in a a Tesla Model 3,
16:13 maybe if I want to go the electric route.
16:16 But most likely I'm going to drive a Honda Civic.
16:19 >> >> Okay, so we're going from absurd car to like slightly less absurd
16:23 to very normal.
16:24 Exactly.
16:25 Actually, the reality is I can really only see myself driving a minivan for
16:29 the rest of my life.
16:33 Minivan for life.
16:33 How about you?
16:33 What vehicle do you see yourself in 10 years from now?
16:37 Well, I think I can see myself driving the same cars
16:41 that we have now
16:42 because I The current one is the easiest.
16:44 >> I hate uh shopping for cars and doing research, which usually that's your job.
16:50 I'm a car guy.
16:51 And we have a Toyota and a Toyota car last forever,
16:55 so that's the dream, hopefully.
16:57 So I can see myself driving the same car, I think.
17:01 >> I hope so.
17:01 Yeah.
17:03 >> >> I mean, in 10 years our kids Matilda is going to be
17:06 11 years old.
17:08 That's still a child.
17:09 We're still going to be hauling around lots of stuff
17:11 and kids and it's going to be kid life still.
17:14 I can personally see myself updating the car a little bit.
17:18 Okay.
17:18 Yeah, I can see some kind of dragster out there.
17:21 It'd be pretty exciting.
17:23 Well, maybe that's something we can talk about in the future.
17:26 >> >> Well, let's watch the original clip
17:27 so that you can see how to see yourself was used in the conversation.
17:32 Let's watch.
17:33 And so when we met,
17:34 like I I was pretty like honest and I said, you know,
17:37 like I don't I don't think that I see myself here forever.
17:41 I'd like to like move eventually.
17:44 And so when we met,
17:45 like I I was pretty like honest and I said, you know,
17:48 like I don't I don't think that I see myself here forever.
17:51 I'd like to like move eventually.
17:53 Okay.
17:55 The next expression is to have something to offer
17:58 and you can use this in both the positive
18:00 or the negative way.
18:01 For example, you can say he has a lot to offer,
18:05 which is kind of generally saying
18:07 that this person can help you in some way.
18:10 So if you're hiring somebody, you might say, "Oh yeah,
18:13 I think Dan has a lot to offer here."
18:16 So you're not really saying specifically what he or she could do,
18:20 but you're saying that they can bring something to the table
18:25 that would There's another expression.
18:27 Something to the table that will help you in some way.
18:30 But you can also use it in the negative way.
18:33 So yeah, Dan over there, he's got nothing to offer us.
18:37 He's not going to help.
18:38 He's actually going to hinder us a lot.
18:39 Keep him away from this company.
18:40 Thank you very much.
18:41 >> Oh my, that would be quite uh extreme.
18:44 Well, we won't say Dan, we'll say Sam.
18:46 Okay, Sam.
18:47 Yeah, we're definitely talking about Sam.
18:48 Sam.
18:49 So in the conversation with Lindsey and Danny,
18:51 they used this in the negative sense.
18:54 They were talking about all the things
18:55 that they liked that were not in New York.
18:57 They like hiking, being outdoors,
19:00 and they realized that New York City had none of those things.
19:05 They've already named those things.
19:07 New York City had none of those things to offer.
19:10 So the phrase for all of these variations is exactly the same.
19:13 We're just swapping out one word.
19:16 >> >> To have none of this to offer, to have nothing to offer,
19:20 to have something to offer, or to have a lot to offer.
19:24 And this is a great phrase you can use in an interview.
19:26 So Danny used this in a negative way.
19:28 Don't hire him, he has nothing to offer.
19:30 But if you want to get hired,
19:32 you could go to the interview and in that interview process say,
19:36 "I have a lot to offer this company."
19:39 You're not saying here's my specific skills yet.
19:41 You probably should say that at some point.
19:44 But when you say I have a lot to offer,
19:46 you're really saying I have a lot of skills
19:48 that I can use to help this company.
19:51 But we can also use
19:52 that in daily life in those other phrases
19:55 as well.
19:55 They have nothing to offer.
19:59 Uh, I hope that I have something to offer you with this course.
20:02 >> Yeah, I believe
20:02 that the Fluent Fearless Fluency Club has a lot to offer you.
20:05 >> Oh, yeah, I hope so, too.
20:07 Yeah, maybe you were taking other English courses in the past
20:10 and you realized that now they have nothing to offer you
20:13 because you have learned everything
20:15 that they could teach you
20:17 and now when you studied Vanessa's lessons,
20:20 you realized, "Oh, this has something to offer me.
20:22 This has a lot to offer me."
20:25 I hope that that's true for you.
20:26 All right, let's watch the original clip from the conversation
20:29 so that you can see how none of this to offer was used.
20:33 Let's watch.
20:34 How sweet.
20:35 >> Um, so we started like vacationing
20:37 and like hiking and
20:39 and kind of seeing the outside world a little bit more
20:42 and realizing like,
20:43 "Oh, New York City has none of this to offer."
20:47 How sweet.
20:48 >> Um, so we started like vacationing
20:50 and like hiking and
20:52 and kind of seeing the outside world a little bit more
20:55 and realizing like,
20:56 "Oh, New York City has none of this to offer."
21:00 Great work learning those three daily life English phrases
21:04 that you heard in the real conversation with Lindsey
21:08 and Danny.
21:09 Thank you so much to Lindsey
21:10 and Danny for letting me share this conversation with you.
21:13 And now I want to invite you,
21:15 if you enjoyed this type of lesson where you get access to real conversations,
21:21 broken down vocabulary that we really use in daily life,
21:26 plus we also have uh phrasal verb lessons and monthly pronunciation lessons.
21:32 We also have weekly live stream lessons with me
21:35 so that you can directly ask me any questions
21:38 that you want.
21:39 And many students meet together on Zoom so that they can practice speaking together.
21:44 Every Sunday a wonderful group gets together
21:47 and speaks to use
21:49 and practice what they have learned.
21:51 Right now for Black Friday, I am offering a huge discount,
21:55 a 55% discount on the lifetime membership of the Fearless Fluency Club.
22:03 You will get lifetime access to over 235 English lessons, over 45 natural conversations,
22:13 weekly live streams with me,
22:14 and weekly Zoom calls with other English learners
22:17 so that you can connect
22:19 and use what you're learning.
22:20 To get this limited time Black Friday offer,
22:23 you can just click on the link in the description to learn more about
22:26 the Fearless Fluency Club
22:28 and join me.
22:29 Continue learning real English every single day.
22:33 Well, thank you so much for learning English with me
22:35 and I want to know in the comments,
22:37 tell me where do you live?
22:39 Do you live in a big city
22:41 or do you live in a small town
22:43 or the countryside?
22:45 Where do you live?
22:46 Let me know in the comments.
22:47 I can't wait to learn more about you
22:49 and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my
22:53 YouTube channel.
22:54 Bye.
22:55 But wait, do you want more?
22:57 I recommend watching this video next for you will be able to continue to
23:01 immerse yourself in real life English.
23:04 My husband Dan and I answer your questions
23:06 that you asked us about daily life here in the US
23:10 and you will be able to learn a lot of daily vocabulary
23:14 as well.
23:14 I'll see you there.
