Listen to this . I can speak to myself and explain to myself in English , but when I have to speak in front of people or with people , I run out of words . Why Does it sound familiar ? Hi , I'm Sharon and welcome back to Look and Listen English Lessons . I'm Sharon and welcome back to Look and Listen English Lessons .
Many of you probably find yourself struggling with the speaking part .
Even though you can understand and express yourselves in writing , still something blocks you up and disables you from opening your mouth and just speaking , and that is why I decided to make this special video showing different accents and pronunciations and how we can improve our speech with fun exercises and theatrical improvisations .
Against all odds , I finally succeeded to make this Zoom session , hopefully to inspire you , with my dearest , dearest friends who come from different places and kindly agreed to share with you the difficulties and challenges in speaking English . So let's meet them and find out more about them . So we're going to start with a short introduction .
David , David , go ahead .
Thank you everybody . Hi , my name is David . I come from Ecuador . The city is Quito . My profession is football coach . The most difficult thing for my English is the pronunciation and verbs . I speak with some people of America or English , british . It's very difficult to understand some people there . I'm happy to have you , miss . Thank you very much everything .
Good luck everybody . Thank you David .
That was amazing , thank you . We can clap David . Thank you so much . All right , amazing , thank you , we can clap David . Thank you so much .
All right .
Let's move on to Janet . Hi Janet .
Hi everyone . My name is Janet . I am originally from Ukraine and now I am in Italy and I promote and manage YouTube channels .
Thank you , Janet . Let's move on to Shai Shai , Hello Shai .
Hi everybody , hi Sharon , hi , my name is Shai . I'm originally from Israel . My professional is a diving instructor . I used to live for many , many years in Galapagos in the Pacific Ocean and I met a lot of people and I worked most of the time in English .
Right , that's why I'm , you know .
I invited you , shai , because I know that you spent so many years working with tourists in Galapagos and you had such amazing life there , full of adventures , so I'd like you to share with us , if you have I don't know a story that you can share that something that could have happened with one of the tourists that had problem with his or hers accent , because
many people you know speak English , but unfortunately , they all come , you know , with different accents and some few have heavy accents and sometimes it might get dangerous , right , shai ?
Exactly so .
I don't remember a special story , but , as you've been telling , it's sometimes becoming very , very complicated when you're getting a group of eight people and each one of them coming from another place around the world , and all of us usually communicate in English , unless if they speak Spanish , that it's the national language there , and you're hearing very different
types of accents and you need to work with your ears to understand . And what helps us is that most of the time we are talking about something very technical , that everybody makes the same practice on the same techniques . That help us to understand each other .
Could you share with us maybe an occasion that something dangerous happened during diving with someone who couldn't understand you so well ?
I can think about things like that happened that occurred to me , but it's not something that I can put the finger and say that happened because they couldn't speak English .
Mostly that's happening because they're not doing what you're telling them to do , but but usually when you're saying to them no , no , and they're approaching to places they're not supposed to get to , to visit there , and think that can happen .
I'm not trying not to talk about problems and things like that in a place like this , because I love my profession and I would like all the people that can do it to dive and I don't want them to get scared .
Absolutely , absolutely , thank you . Thank you , shai . Let's move on to Sasha . Sasha , share with us .
Hi everybody , I'm Sasha . I'm originally from Russia , but now I live in Tbilisi , Georgia , and I have a travel agent there agency , I'm sorry , travel agency there and I show people our beautiful Tbilisi and Batumi in Georgia . Overall , that's it , I guess .
All right Now . Was there any kind of you know story you would like to share with us , something that you know ? An interaction between cultures and languages .
Well , the biggest interaction is actually with the people that live in Georgia . Biggest interaction is actually with the people that live in Georgia because the elderly people speak Russian , so it's easier for me , but the younger people they speak English and not a very good English , so we kind of managing understanding each other , but it's not always working .
But I have a funny thing that I actually catch accents from hearing . So a lot of times when I talk to people for a long time I'm starting to speak in their accent and then if you can't understand him , so he can't understand me because I'm not speaking with his accent . That's the funny things that can happen .
But overall , mostly I speak because when I'm showing the city I'm the one who's speaking .
And did you get from people that , although their English is not fluent , they have the ability to communicate ? Or they won't , or they try , or they're reserved and blocked .
They just don't want to talk in english no , actually , because I try to make my tours uh very fun and uh interactive . I I always uh tell people to speak up and they try , they try and we manage to understand each other in our , in our I say our accents , because my accent is now theirs .
It's funny , it's challenging , but you know you manage to do it because you have to .
Thank you . Thank you , sasha . That was great . Okay , now it's Monica's time . Oh , oh , my god . Oh , this is Betty . Oh hi , betty , hi . I'm so glad that you're here , my love , oh my god , this is so thrilling that you're here . Thank you , betty . Oh , this is Betty . Guys Clap for Betty .
Okay , yeah , Monica , go on . Hi Sean , Hi everybody . My name is Monica , I come from Spain , I am a ballet teacher and the most difficult thing for me in English is the pronouns . I know my accent is very , very heavy and difficult . Very much my communication with others .
So , okay , hopefully we're going to work on it , monica , right , but you are fabulous , you are amazing . Thank you , Monica , okay .
Thank you , John .
Thank you , let's move on to . Unless someone wants to say something , no , that's okay . Right Now , this is the second fun part of this session . Now what I want to do with you is just a short warm up . We're going to work on pronunciation , right ?
We're going to show people how each one of you hear differently , ok , and what I want you to do is to try to imitate me , to copy me In in .
In , in .
Thank you , janet , on , on , on on . Thank you , janet , sasha year . Janet Sasha Year , year , year , Year . Thank you , sasha Monica , thought , thought .
Thought , thought . Thank you .
Shy Rough , rough .
Rough , rough .
Okay , okay , thank you , monica , go Go .
Go , go Go .
Late . You must be home and help , that's it . That was good Nice .
You must be home and help , that's thing that was good nice how , how did it feel like when you just read the ? How was the experience for you reading this text that you haven't seen before for the first time ? Who wants to say something ? David ?
In this text . My difficult pronunciation is the month . The final word is month . Month come or must be ? Uh , this word is difficult for me and a other difficult a quarter quarter quarter quarter yes yes , I don't know this pronunciation exactly I understand .
is there something similar in Spanish pronunciation ?
No , no , this word is no similar . No , okay .
And what about you guys ? Janet Shai Sasha your experience with the reading part .
I wish I had a better accent .
I think the most important is if the other side understands you , it doesn't matter how you use your accent or what kind of accent you have . While the other side , when you speak with somebody , is understanding and you can pass the idea that you want to pass , it's okay .
Absolutely , I agree with you , because it's not a matter that you need to change your accent . Yes , it is good to sound good in another language . It is good to sound good in another language , it is , but , uh , the main point is that you can deliver your message , uh , in a nice and clear way , as much as you can .
Okay , so it's not about really the accent . It's more about trying your best in your pronunciation and step by step . You know , and the most , the most important thing , it's not to be afraid of open your mouth . And we're going to finish our session .
If you don't mind , we're going to make a short improvisation now , so we're going to pretend that we are in the restaurant good , good afternoon , good evening .
Welcome to the Red Fox . How many are you ?
We are a four .
Sorry , I can't understand you once again .
We are four people and we do reservations .
Nice , lovely , oh , you made reservation . Great , jolly good . And your names , please Fox family , fox family . Let me look for you , right ? I can see here Fox family , two adults and two children . Oh , those are your girls .
Excuse me Sorry .
Those little girls that standing near you , are they with you or the other family ?
Yes , yes , two little girls that are standing near you are they with you or the other family . Yes , yes , two little girls .
I see , I see . Would you need a special chair for them ?
No , I don't think . Girls , do you think you need a special chair ? No , I'm big , I want pizza .
What is the menu of ?
the day . Wait a second . Let me take you first to your table . Would you like to sit down near the window , or maybe you prefer close to the chimney ?
What do you think , darling ?
Do you have a food , kosher , excuse me sir , do you have food kosher ?
I'm sorry , this is a cuisine restaurant . We don't have this kind of food here .
Ah no , Don't have Israeli food .
No , we are special in seafood . Ah , okay .
Nice .
I want fries . I love seafood . Girls , do you love seafood ? No , I want pizza .
I think I believe you came to the wrong place . If you're looking for fish and chips , you just need to cross the street Only chips .
You don't have a steak , you have chicken .
Johnson , what's going on in here ? This is outrageous . I'm sorry , my lady .
Those people came here . They're not supposed to sit here . Look at them .
They're supposed to be across the street how did it feel like when we just improvised ? That's nice , not only like a drama club how people understand each other and continuing the story more drama more drama , yes , and and what I like to when I watched you is that you were actually listening to each other , and that's very , very important . So what can I say ?
Thank you guys . Thank you so much being here . Do you want to say something ? Because we are about to finish our session , david , you've vanished somehow . Yes , someone .
Yes , I want to say thank you very much . I think your videos in this way can help very much people like me really .
Absolutely .
Muchos éxitos . Yes , thank you .
Say something , maybe , to your Spanish friends or people from Ecuador . What would you tell them If they are afraid to speak ? Say something in Spanish . If they are afraid to speak in English , what would you recommend them ?
Bueno , a todos mis amigos de todo el mundo , de España , de todo el mundo , les quiero decir que les recomiendo muchísimo entrar a los videos de Sharon . I want to tell all my friends from Spain that I highly recommend you to watch Sharon's videos .
You can learn a lot in pronunciation and in her English .
Yes , thank you . Thank you , principal , for you for this , hearing me today this class online with Zoom . I'm very happy . I study in this moment . Words , different words publication pronunciation . Different words publication pronunciation . Thank you , my friends in here , the distinct countries in the world .
As you can see , there are so many people with the same fears , just like you , but few drama games , fun exercises and encouragement might help people start opening their mouth and enjoy themselves . The fear of speaking a foreign language is mostly in your head , so this is not a physical limitation .
Therefore , the way to get rid of fear starts with awareness and positive thinking . Instead of thinking about failures , try to identify the opportunities that are in front of you , even if you can't see them at the moment . The way to do this is by trying to identify with your abilities and talents .
Identify with your abilities and talents the things that you know about , the things you can , and don't be afraid to challenge yourselves , and don't be bothered so much about other people's opinions about the way you talk and sound . That's it , guys .
Please give a thumb up if you enjoyed today's special and subscribe , and if you are ready to join us for this wonderful journey , don't forget to leave a comment and let me know about your difficulties in English . I see you next time . Have a great day . Bye .