well hey there i'm emma from
english and i'm really excited that we
get to spend some time together
improving your english speaking skills
today we're going to practice with the
um english imitation technique which is
one of the most effective ways that you
can relax your accent and fix your
pronunciation problems so you speak
english more clearly and confidently
it's so effective because it teaches you
to hear the sounds and the patterns of
english and then trains you to produce
those same sounds yourself through
repetition and controlled practice if
you haven't done a lesson like this
before don't worry it's really simple
and i'm going to explain each step for
you so that you know exactly what you
need to do
all you've got to worry about right now
is speaking out loud with me
we all know that if you don't practice
your speaking and your listening skills
regularly your fluency can quickly
disappear and we definitely don't want
that right one of the best things that
you can do to stop this from happening
is to sign up for the next language
sprint created by our dear friends at
lingoda in just 90 days the lingoda
language sprint will help you to boost
your speaking skills and your listening
skills by challenging you to attend one
of their online classes
every single day and if you attend every
class lingoda will happily give a
hundred percent of your cash back plus
for the first 10 people that sign up to
the sprint using my link in the
description below you'll get to jump
into a zoom call with me to hang out and
get some extra tips to help you complete
the challenge there are two different
ways that you can participate you can
sign up for the super sprint which is 30
classes a month for three months now if
you complete all of those classes you'll
get a hundred percent of your cash back
and alternatively if you join just the
regular sprint which is 15 classes a
month for three months
you complete that you'll get 50 of your
cashback to find out more about lingoda
to hear how the sprint works and find
out for sure if you can really get that
refund well check out my video up here
it goes into much more detail if you'd
like to join the next sprint and win the
chance to hang out with me on a zoom
call then make sure you use the link
down in the description below
to secure a spot you'll need to sign up
and pay your deposit by
december 28th plus if you use this code
down here you'll get a 10 euro discount
off your deposit good luck
if you're new to english or new to the
imitation technique there are just three
steps that you need to follow i'm going
to go through it really quickly with you
now but if you've practiced with some of
my other imitation lessons you probably
know what you're doing right so you can
just skip on ahead to this point right
here and get started now
so three steps step one is listen and
read you're just going to get familiar
with the story and get comfortable with
my tone of voice
step two is listen and repeat so you
listen to what i say and then i'll pause
so that you can repeat you need to copy
me exactly as you hear me
so step number two is one you can repeat
until the words are coming out of you
naturally until you're able to pronounce
the words without hesitating or getting
tongue-tied it's okay to practice
several times on step two before you
move on to step three you can even slow
down the speed to practice slowly before
returning to regular pace you can do it
no one else is around
slow it down practice carefully first
and then increase the speed to a regular
pace now step three is a bit of a
challenge even for a native english
speaker because for this step you'll be
listening to me
and also saying what i'm saying at the
same time
it's tricky
but it's the best way to develop a
really natural rhythm as you speak in
english so you'll hear what i'm saying
and what you're saying at the same time
and you'll need to
adjust the sounds that you make to try
and match mine
you're going to make a lot of mistakes
but who cares
it's a lot of fun and it's pretty much
like singing your favorite song right
when you first start to learn a song you
can't do it all straight away but it
does get easier with practice right and
then you start having fun
in today's imitation lesson we're going
to be talking about social norms now
social norms are rules of behavior that
are socially and culturally accepted in
a society
it's a really interesting topic that i
think we can all relate to but i've
chosen it because
i'm going to introduce some really
interesting vocabulary and help you to
expand the words and expressions that
you have to talk about this topic now
some of these words are quite advanced
but generally the tone will be quite
conversational and reasonably informal
alright let's get into it
step one's easy you're just listening
and reading and it's as simple as it
sounds
have you ever stopped and wondered why
things are the way they are
i find it really fascinating how many
things we do in our daily lives that are
just accepted and they're rarely
questioned
it's just the done thing
and if you do something differently
something out of the ordinary it can
create confusion or angst or frustration
among the people around you
at best you create minor discomfort but
at worst you face backlash and you're
shunned from your family or your social
circle
messing with what is socially acceptable
can be brutal but what's accepted and
totally normal here
might be at odds with what's acceptable
where you are
and that's why it's so fascinating when
two sets of social norms clash
you know it really makes people confused
or awkward because technically in that
situation
neither of them is doing anything wrong
they're both doing what's expected of
them in their culture and that's totally
normal
but the other person is like
really shocked i'll give you an example
here in australia it is really common to
greet friends with a hug and a kiss
a kiss
now it's hilarious when you get
introduced to an italian or a brazilian
in a social context because they go in
for a double kiss
and some countries it's even a triple
kiss
but that little interaction can be so
confusing and awkward it's the meeting
of two different social norms and i mean
how strange is it when you hear a woman
asked a man to marry her
why is that so strange
it's just not the done thing
it's not the norm so it confuses us
if you stop and think for a minute there
are so many of these situations things
that we never question because
it's just the way things are
step two listen and copy now you need to
imitate exactly what i say and that
means you're trying to copy my
pronunciation
my word stress and the pause between
each word in my sentence you can even
try and imitate my facial expressions
just to practice communicating with more
than just words there'll be a pause
after each part of the sentence and you
can practice out loud
after me okay just try and relax and go
with the flow it's just you and it's me
we're gonna have some fun
have you ever stopped and wondered why
things are the way they are
i find it really fascinating how many
things we do in our daily lives that
i just accepted and they're rarely
questioned
it's just the done thing
and if you do something differently
something out of the ordinary
it can create confusion
or angst or frustration among the people
around you
at best you create minor discomfort
but at worst you face backlash
and you're shunned from your family or
your social circle
messing with what is socially acceptable
can be brutal
but what's accepted and totally normal
here
might be at odds with what's acceptable
where you are
and that's why it's so fascinating when
two sets of social norms clash
you know it really makes people confused
or awkward because technically
in that situation
neither of them is doing anything wrong
they're both doing what's expected of
them in their culture
and that's totally normal
but the other person is like
really shocked
i'll give you an example
here in australia it is really common to
greet friends with a hug and a kiss
a kiss
now it's hilarious when you get
introduced to an italian
or a brazilian in a social context
because
they go in for a double kiss
and some countries it's even a triple
kiss
but that little interaction can be so
confusing and awkward
it's the meeting of two different social
norms
and i mean
how strange is it when you hear a woman
asked a man to marry her
why is that so strange
it's just not the done thing
it's not the norm
so it confuses us
if you stop and think for a minute
there are so many of these situations
things that we never question because
it's just the way things are
step three shadow me before we get to
step three i've got to tell you or
remind you if you've practiced with the
imitation technique before
you can pause here okay you can go back
and practice section two as many times
as you need to before we keep going
in fact you should just practice the
sounds
loosen your mouth focus on the way that
i'm linking words together as i speak
naturally all of these things take
practice
be patient with yourself okay
but when you are ready for the challenge
it's time to shadow me and that means
hearing the sounds and speaking at the
same time so you'll probably get a
little tongue-tied and the words might
come out a bit weird
don't worry all right you're trying to
copy the rhythm
and the tone
just try and copy the rhythm
have you ever stopped and wondered why
things are the way they are
i find it really fascinating how many
things we do in our daily lives that are
just accepted and they're rarely
questioned
it's just the done thing
and if you do something differently
something out of the ordinary it can
create confusion or angst or frustration
among the people around you
at best you create minor discomfort but
at worst you face backlash and you're
shunned from your family or your social
circle
messing with what is socially acceptable
can be brutal but what's accepted and
totally normal here
might be at odds with what's acceptable
where you are
and that's why it's so fascinating when
two sets of social norms clash
you know it really makes people confused
or awkward because technically in that
situation
neither of them is doing anything wrong
they're both doing what's expected of
them in their culture and that's totally
normal
but the other person is like
really shocked i'll give you an example
here in australia it is really common to
greet friends with a hug and a kiss
a kiss
now it's hilarious when you get
introduced to an italian or a brazilian
in a social context because they go in
for a double kiss
and some countries it's even a triple
kiss
but that little interaction can be so
confusing and awkward it's the meeting
of two different social norms and i mean
how strange is it when you hear a woman
asked a man to marry her
why is that so strange
it's just not the done thing
it's not the norm
so it confuses us
if you stop and think for a minute there
are so many of these situations things
that we never question because
it's just the way things are
hey you congratulations on making it all
the way through that lesson it was a bit
of a mouthful i know
make sure you save this lesson to a
playlist so you can keep coming back to
it and practicing with me once you get
comfortable with my examples of social
norms then you can try adapting your own
ones ones that are relevant to you and
to your experience in fact
i'm really curious about the social
norms where you live
what's socially acceptable and what's
not is it acceptable for women to ask
men to marry them should be are there
any social norms that are being
challenged at the moment
let's keep this conversation going i
want to see your comments down there now
you may not know that i have imitation
courses available on the english website
so you can actually keep practicing this
way for hours with me if you want to the
link is in the description down below or
you can scoot over right up there
thank you for joining me thank you for
watching and check out these lessons
here if you want to keep practicing
right now see you in there