SPEAK With Me: English Speaking Practice

0:00 She seems so nice.

0:01 Did you hit it off immediately?

0:03 If I asked you this, would you know how to respond?

0:06 Or would your heart start to beat fast?

0:09 Would your palms start to get sweaty?

0:11 If that's the case, never fear.

0:13 In today's lesson, I'm going to help you

0:15 learn how to speak about friendship in English,

0:18 and you better listen up because at the end of today's lesson,

0:21 you're going to have the chance to speak

0:23 with me about everything that you are about to learn.

0:26 So, listen up.

0:27 If you're new here, hi.

0:29 I'm Vanessa from speakenglishwithvanessa.com, and for over the past 10 years,

0:34 I have been teaching now more than 7 million

0:37 of you real-life English that real speakers use in everyday conversations.

0:43 And for each new free English lesson here on my YouTube channel,

0:47 I create for you a free PDF worksheet.

0:51 This is to help you learn everything

0:53 that you are about to see in today's lesson.

0:55 It includes all of the important vocabulary,

0:58 some extra sample sentences, plus in this worksheet,

1:02 I have included for you a bonus quiz so that you can test yourself,

1:07 see if you really understand everything you're about to learn,

1:11 plus on the last page, you can answer Vanessa's challenge question.

1:17 This is your chance to be able to use the vocabulary and make sure

1:21 that you can take it out into the real

1:23 world and include it in your conversations.

1:26 That's the goal, right?

1:27 So, how can you get this free PDF worksheet?

1:30 All you need to do is click on the link in the description,

1:33 enter your name and email address,

1:35 and voila, just like that, you will get this PDF

1:39 worksheet plus bonus quiz and challenge question in your email inbox.

1:44 It is my gift to you.

1:46 So, click on the link in the description to get this worksheet right now.

1:49 Well, before we have our conversation about friends in English,

1:53 you need to learn some key vocabulary to talk about friendship, right?

1:58 So, we're going to learn first some phrases to talk about those really close,

2:02 really special best friends in our lives, and then you're going to learn some

2:06 vocabulary to talk about friends who are friends,

2:10 but they're not the closest friends.

2:12 Let's start with those close friends, though.

2:14 My go-to person.

2:16 You are my go-to person whenever I need relationship advice.

2:22 This is the person who you trust the most to get advice from.

2:26 My go-to person.

2:28 You can also be a go-to person for things beside advice.

2:31 You are my go-to person whenever I want

2:34 to eat something delicious because you're always cooking something great.

2:38 To bond over something.

2:41 My best friend and I bonded over our love of reading.

2:47 [laughter] Here we are talking about connecting and deepening

2:49 your relationship because you have some kind of common interest.

2:53 You might say, we bonded over music.

2:57 Well, if you have the same taste in music, you might say, we bonded over music.

3:02 We go way back.

3:05 My best friend and I were in high school together.

3:09 We go way back.

3:10 If you've known someone for a long time, this is the perfect phrase to use.

3:14 You have experienced a lot of life together.

3:17 We go way back.

3:18 We've been friends since the diaper days.

3:23 [laughter] Quirks.

3:23 I like this phrase.

3:25 Quirks.

3:25 He is my friend even though he knows all of my quirks.

3:30 Quirks are those strange little things that maybe annoy some people,

3:34 but other people who truly love you can still be your friend.

3:39 So, maybe if you really don't like vegetables,

3:43 one of your quirks might be, I don't like to eat anything green.

3:47 It's one of my quirks, but I hope you can still be my friend.

3:51 It's not true for me, though.

3:52 I love most things that are green.

3:56 [laughter] To hit it off.

3:56 This is the phrase I used at the very beginning of this lesson.

3:59 We hit it off immediately because we bonded over our love of music.

4:06 When you have an instant connection with someone, you hit it off.

4:10 To look out for someone.

4:14 In elementary school, I used to look out for my friends when

4:18 they forgot their lunch at home, I would share mine.

4:21 This is what friends do, right?

4:23 We try to care for someone or protect them.

4:27 We are trying to help them, especially when they need it.

4:31 So, when I had each of my children, my neighbors looked out for me,

4:36 and they were constantly bringing us dinner and trying to help us.

4:41 This is what good friends do.

4:42 To be a listening ear.

4:45 You need all parts of this phrase in order for it to be grammatically correct.

4:50 You might say something like this, my sister is a listening ear for me.

4:55 Whenever I'm going through a difficult time or just want

4:59 to talk something through to understand what I should do,

5:02 she is a good listening ear.

5:05 She doesn't respond immediately.

5:06 She doesn't try to be judgemental.

5:09 She is just simply listening to me, and that's what good friends do, right?

5:13 All right, we have two final phrases to talk about those really good friends.

5:18 This is the next one.

5:19 To go out of your way.

5:21 I always go out of my way to make sure

5:24 that my friends feel cared for when they're having a hard time.

5:28 This is something that good friends do.

5:29 We go out of our way.

5:31 We do something that's a little bit more than is necessary.

5:35 So, when one of my friends is feeling sick, I don't just text her and say,

5:40 "Hey, I hope you're feeling better." I'll make

5:42 a meal and go bring it to her house.

5:44 This is something that is extra above what is necessary for being just a friend.

5:51 I want to do something to make her feel cared and loved.

5:54 So, I will go out of my way to help my friends.

5:57 It's what good friends do.

5:58 And our final phrase for good friends is a very fun one.

6:02 To be attached at the hip.

6:05 Your hip bone is right on your side.

6:08 If you are attached at the hip, you are always together.

6:13 This is a phrase that I like to use for my kids.

6:17 For better or for worse, my kids are always attached at the hip.

6:21 They are always playing together, sometimes fighting together,

6:24 but they are attached at the hip.

6:26 They can't do anything without each other.

6:29 They have to be together.

6:30 They want to be together most of the time.

6:33 They are attached at the hip.

6:35 All right, now let's go on to some phrases

6:36 that you can use for people who are friends.

6:39 It's important to have these acquaintances in your life,

6:43 but they're not the best of friends.

6:45 How could you use to describe these people?

6:47 You might use this phrase, see each other around.

6:51 We see each other around work, but we don't really hang out after work.

6:55 Okay, so maybe when you're at work,

6:58 you would say that person is a close person to you at work,

7:03 but they're not a close friend.

7:04 We see each other around work, but that's about it.

7:08 To lose touch.

7:09 We're not talking about a physical touch,

7:11 we're talking about that connection and communication.

7:15 So, you might say, after college,

7:17 we just lost touch because we moved to different cities.

7:21 This happens.

7:22 You can't stay best friends long distance with everyone,

7:26 so you might easily lose touch with most people.

7:31 To drift apart.

7:33 This is talking about the slow process of becoming less good friends.

7:39 Nothing in particular happened to hurt our friendship.

7:44 We just drifted apart.

7:46 I would say this is especially true for childhood friends.

7:50 For me, the best friends that I had in childhood were so special.

7:55 We were attached at the hip as kids,

7:57 and then as we got older, we just drifted apart.

8:01 Our adult selves were not as close as our childhood selves were.

8:07 We just drifted apart.

8:08 Do you have a work buddy or a gym buddy?

8:12 This phrase buddy is already very casual,

8:14 but when we add another word to the front,

8:17 we are specifying this person is my casual friend in a specific situation.

8:24 Yeah, he's just my work buddy.

8:25 We hang out during our lunch breaks, but that's it.

8:28 We've never gone out after work or done anything outside of the workplace.

8:33 He's my work buddy.

8:34 We could say the same for gym buddy.

8:37 If you happen to go to the gym every Friday at the same time as someone else,

8:42 maybe eventually you start to wave.

8:44 You might introduce yourself.

8:46 You they're not a close friend,

8:47 but you could say, "Oh, yeah, she's my gym buddy.

8:49 I see her every Friday." And our final phrase to talk about friends

8:53 that are not the closest friends is one that I actually already used.

8:57 Did you pick it up?

8:58 It is the word acquaintance.

9:01 Practice this pronunciation with me.

9:03 Acquaintance.

9:04 Acquaintance.

9:06 This is someone who you are kind of friends

9:09 with, but you don't really rely on them.

9:12 You haven't really bonded with them deeply.

9:15 So, you might say, yeah, I have a bunch of acquaintances,

9:18 but they're not really close friends.

9:20 I only have a couple close friends and a lot of acquaintances.

9:24 Pretty common.

9:25 Okay, now that you have a great vocabulary foundation to talk about friendship,

9:30 it's time to take it up a level.

9:32 You're going to see a sample conversation between my husband Dan and I.

9:36 We're going to use a bunch of the vocabulary that you just heard.

9:39 I want you to pay attention because after this, it's going

9:42 to be your turn to speak with me using all of these phrases.

9:47 Are you ready?

9:48 Let's watch.

9:49 Hey, Dan.

9:50 Hey, Vanessa.

9:50 Guess what?

9:51 I ran into an old friend at the grocery store the other day.

9:54 We go way back, but we just lost touch over time.

9:58 That's so cool.

9:59 Did you two hit it off when you started talking?

10:01 We actually did.

10:02 It was like no time had passed.

10:04 That's so nice.

10:05 Yeah, well, what about you?

10:06 You've been friends with Brad for a long time, right?

10:09 Yeah, actually, we were work buddies for about 2 years,

10:12 and then one day we hung out and we really bonded over heavy metal music.

10:16 I love that for you.

10:18 You never know when your quirks are going to make you a good friend.

10:21 That's so true.

10:22 Okay, now that you've seen the sample conversation,

10:25 it's our turn to speak together.

10:27 I'm going to ask you a question, and then I will pause.

10:31 During that pause, I want you to speak out loud,

10:34 try to use the vocabulary that you've learned today.

10:36 If you need to pause this video and have

10:38 a little more time to think about it, totally fine.

10:41 And you're welcome to review this section as many times as you need to.

10:45 Are you ready?

10:46 Let's do it.

10:47 Tell me about a time that you hit it off with someone instantly.

11:02 Oh, that's so interesting.

11:03 Did you bond over anything in particular?

11:17 Ah, that's so great.

11:18 I'm glad you have a good friend.

11:20 But sometimes friendships don't always stay close.

11:24 Have you ever had a friend that you drifted apart from?

11:38 Yeah, I think that's happened to everyone.

11:41 Well, thank you for telling me about your friendships.

11:43 I'll talk to you later.

11:45 Well, great work practicing speaking with me today about friendships.

11:49 I want to remind you that you can download the free PDF worksheet.

11:55 It includes all of today's vocabulary, the sample conversation,

11:59 a chance for you to write out your answers to the conversation,

12:02 as well, plus a bonus quiz, so that you can test yourself.

12:08 See if you can remember these phrases,

12:10 so that when you go out into the real world, you can use them yourself.

12:14 How can you get this free worksheet?

12:15 All you have to do is click on the link in the description,

12:18 enter your name and email address,

12:21 and voila, just like that, I will send this and the quiz to your email inbox.

12:25 It is my gift to you.

12:27 Well, thank you so much for learning English with me.

12:30 Now, I have a question for you.

12:31 Let me know in the comments,

12:33 what is something that you love to do with your best friend?

12:36 I can't wait to see what you have to say,

12:37 and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

12:42 Bye.

12:43 But wait, do you want more?

12:45 I recommend watching this video next,

12:47 where you will practice speaking with me about technology.

12:51 What can you say if you are addicted to your phone, but you want to stop?

12:56 Well, I've got a great phrase for you in that lesson, and I'll see you there.