Hello and welcome back to another shadowing practice, or welcome if it's your first time tuning in.
My name is claire and i'm a native speaker from the united states and an english teacher.
If you want more videos like this to help with your english pronunciation intonation, just overall sounding more natural and fluent, check out my shadowing practice playlist.
But if you've seen all those already and you have notifications on and you're always waiting for a new shadowing practice video with me which I know so many of you are, because you were in the comments letting me know that this is the type of content that you want to see
First of all, I'm so pleased that it's helpful to so many of you.
I'm so grateful for your support in watching my videos, subscribing to my channel and for some of you joining as a member here on my channel.
It means so much to me for you guys to support me in that way.
So here's my little reminder to like the video, subscribe and check out the memberships by clicking the join button below.
If getting a shadowing practice video from me here on YouTube once a month, maybe twice, is just not enough for you, then I'm happy to share that.
I have started doing weekly live shadowing practices in my online learning community, Next Level English.
So the link to join that is in the description of this video.
When you join.
It's a monthly subscription to be a part of a community where you get access to live shadowing practices with me, group coaching calls with other English learners, but also with either myself or a native speaker, and all my course material and exclusive videos, daily practices, listening exercises, grammar quizzes and, of course, direct messaging with me so I can address all of your English questions.
So if that sounds interesting to you, check out the link in the description, and i would love to see you in my community, get to know you and help you personally on your journey to english fluency.
All right, without further ado, let's start our shadowing practice today.
So the structure is going to be the same as always.
First, repeat after me and then shadow what I say.
So you say it at the exact same time as me, matching my intonation pronunciation rhythm, and this is going to help you overall with your English fluency, which includes feeling more confident when you're speaking english, and i'm going to point out some specific pronunciation tips along the way.
So overall, it's just really going to help you with your english skills.
Now today's video is a request of contractions generally a few contractions that you might have some questions about how to pronounce them or how to quickly speak them in english.
So I've come up with a story that has loads of contractions in there and I will point out each one to you so that you can feel confident using them when you speak English.
All right, guys, let's get started.
So first, repeat after me.
I thought I'd wake up early today.
I thought I'd wake up early today.
I told myself I'd go for a run.
I told myself I'd go for a run.
Make a healthy breakfast.
Make a healthy breakfast and start my day right.
And start my day right.
Awesome.
So the one contraction that we see in this first section is I'd.
And that of course is the words I and would contracted together.
And we pronounce this I'd.
I'd.
I thought I'd wake up early today.
I told myself I'd go for a run.
All right, let's shadow this all together.
Say it with me.
I thought I'd wake up early today.
I told myself I'd go for a run, make a healthy breakfast, and start my day right.
All right, repeat.
I would have done all of that I would have done all of that if my alarm hadn't betrayed me.
If my alarm hadn't betrayed me.
For some reason, it didn't go off.
For some reason, it didn't go off.
All right, here we have three different contractions.
Would've, which is would and have.
Would've, would've.
So make sure that it is a voiced v sound very quickly at the end.
Would've, would've.
And hadn't, that's had and not together, hadn't.
And at the end here, in rapid speech especially, we have that stopped T sound.
So not hadn't, but hadn't, hadn't.
So again, in a lot of my shadowing videos I point out the stopped T because it is a big question for a lot of people, especially in the american english accent.
We stop our t's a lot when they're in the middle of the word or at the end of the word.
It almost sounds like a d sound.
Or you can just think of the sound stopping and we have didn't Didn't, which is did and not.
Again, we have this stop T at the end.
This N apostrophe T sound doesn't need to be overcomplicated and it's probably a little bit easier to learn it within the phrase.
It didn't go off.
It didn't go off.
You can hear how the sound stops.
Didn't, didn't go off.
Okay, let's shadow this section.
Say it with me.
I would have done all of that if my alarm hadn't betrayed me.
For some reason, it didn't go off.
Alright, repeat after me.
Instead, I didn't get up on time.
Instead, I didn't get up on time.
I didn't run.
I didn't run.
And I've only had coffee instead of food.
And I've only had coffee instead of food.
Okay, again, we have the contraction didn't, so more opportunities to practice that one.
But we also have I've, which is I have.
I've.
I've.
So let's shadow this all together.
Instead, I didn't get up on time.
I didn't run.
And I've only had coffee instead of food.
Repeat.
I keep thinking I'll do all that tomorrow.
I keep thinking, I'll do all that tomorrow.
But I've said that before.
But I've said that before.
So I've got great intentions.
So I've got great intentions.
They just haven't turned into actions yet.
They just haven't turned into actions yet.
Okay, the contractions we have here are aisle aisle, And the L sound here can be a little bit tricky for some people, but don't overthink it.
You don't need to necessarily position the L too far back in the throat.
If your native language tends to have very forward L's, you can still keep the L quite forward.
I'll, I'll, that works in English as well.
And in rapid speech, it ends up sounding like I'll, I'll.
Instead of I'll, we have I'll, I'll.
I'll do all that tomorrow.
We have I've again, but I've said that before, but I've said that before.
In rapid speech, you might not really hear that that voiced sound, but I've said that, right?
But I've said that, but I've said that. so it's easier this is why shadowing practice is so good it's easier to learn it in the context of the whole phrase and then that pronunciation really starts coming and finally we have the contraction haven't which is have and not haven't haven't and again we have that n apostrophe t ending that sounds like it just stops in american english pronunciation anyway haven't haven't and one last thing i want to say i just want to point out you can see here i've got great intentions i've got The phrase I've got has the same meaning as I have.
You can either say I have got or I have, and they mean the same thing.
But you will hear a lot of native speakers use this phrase.
I've got great intentions or I've got work tomorrow.
It's just a phrase that we commonly use.
So that's a good one to also have in your back pocket.
Okay, let's shadow this final section all together.
I keep thinking, I'll do all that tomorrow.
But I've said that before.
So, I've got great intentions.
They just haven't turned into actions yet.
Okay, let's take this entire story and shadow the whole thing together without stopping.
So here is the part where you can repeat this as many times as you need to.
Pause the video, slow it down, whatever you need to do.
Keep this one as a regular practice so you can really get used to pronouncing these contractions in a real world context.
Here we go.
I thought I'd wake up early today.
I told myself I'd go for a run, make a healthy breakfast, and start my day right.
I would have done all of that if my alarm hadn't betrayed me.
For some reason, it didn't go off.
Instead, I didn't get up on time, I didn't run, and I've only had coffee instead of food.
I keep thinking, I'll do all that tomorrow, but I've said that before.
So I've got great intentions.
They just haven't turned into actions yet.
All right, guys, thank you so much again for joining me for today's shadowing practice.
Check out my other practices if you're wanting more of this.
Again, if you want even more regular shadowing practices with me, I'm now doing live weekly shadowing practices in my community.
The link for that is in the description below.
Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you next time.
