Learn English With News | Learning English With CBS News https://rachelsenglish.com/learning-english-with-cbs-news/

Learn English With News | Learning English With CBS News https://rachelsenglish.com/learning-english-with-cbs-news/ Video Text: https://rachelsenglish.com/learning-english-with-cbs-news/ Today we’re studying English with news. We’re looking at how people speak so quickly and so smoothly while still being clear. Two news hosts. One doctor, who’s being interviewed and we are going to study their beautiful voices to find tips that can help you with English fluency. Let’s start right off with Gayle King’s first sentence. This morning we’re looking at increased screen time during the pandemic is affecting our vision. Increased screen time. So, right away she’s giving us an example of one of the main points that Americans do for smoothness changing T pronunciations. In this case, the ED ending of increased is a T sound. Increased. Increased, tt. But she said increased screen time with no T. Listen. I’ll slow that down for you. No T, no ED ending. One of the rules of pronunciation of T is that we often drop the sound between two other consonants. In this case, S and S. So the past tense, increased sounds just like the present tense increase because we dropped the T. And we’ll hear T pronunciations dropped or changed all the time. Why? Let’s look at the pronunciation of T. T, a stop of air, a release, it’s a sharp sound. But the character of American English has a lot of smoothness. No sharp points. We value linking and smoothness from word to word. So by dropping the T here, it’s a smoother link. With the T, increased screen time. Increased screen time. Not that smooth. Let’s drop the T. Increase screen time. More smooth. More sloppy, more lazy, more drunk sounding. Maybe that’s what it feels like to you if your native language is very sharp and clear. Embracing this sloppiness can help you find your American voice as you speak English. You know, the rules for how Americans pronounce ED endings are actually pretty complicated. I’ll put a link to the playlist that covers that topic in the video description. Let’s listen to Gayle again. But first, if you like this video or you’re learning something new, please like and subscribe with notifications, continue your studies with me every Tuesday. No T in increased. Just in time. It’s important that as you study a tip like this, you also practice it. We’re going to play it again. Twice in slow motion, say it with her the second time. Then twice at regular pace, say it her out loud the second time. This morning we’re looking at how increased screen time during the pandemic is affecting our vision– Let’s keep going. Since this pandemic first hit the average screen time per person has spiked more than thirteen hours a day that’s a lot. One of the ways thirteen is different from thirty is the T. Thirteen. That’s a true like what Gayle did. Thirteen Thirteen. She did first syllable stress, thirteen. You’ll hear it both ways. Thirteen and thirteen. Thirty always has first syllable stress and always has a flap T. Let’s keep going. According to Eyesafe Nielsen estimates of 60 percent of people in one recent survey say they were worried about how this will affect their eyes. Affect their eyes. Looking at the text, what do you notice about the T in affect? It comes between two other consonant sounds. The K sound before it and the TH sound after it. The T may have been dropped, was it? Let’s listen. affect their– Affect their. No T. Affect their eyes. Try that with me. Affect their eyes. Affect their eyes. Let’s keep going. Doctors also say they’re seeing uptick in vision issues like dry eye yup, I got that. Doctor Christopher Starr, he was an ophthalmologist said, while Cornell medical in, medicine rather in New York. Did you hear how she corrected herself? She misspoke, she corrected it and then she said rather. So the word she meant wasn’t medical rather it was medicine. While Cornell medical in, medicine rather in New York. Let’s keep going.

Joins us with some solutions and whether he thinks products like blue-like glasses can help. Good morning to you doctor, good to see you. What a nice greeting she gave him. Good morning to you doctor, good to see you. Let’s talk about that phrase “Good to see you”. This is a phrase I use quite a lot when I spend times with friends or family. It’s so good to see you. Do you see we have one letter T here in the word “to”? To is a word that reduces and that means we change a sound. We almost always change the vowel to the schwa and sometimes, we change the true T to a flap T. The flap T sounds like the D in American English. The D between vowels. So here it comes after a D and guess what? She just attaches the schwa to good. Goodto, goodto, good to see you. Take a listen. good to see you. Now since this is a common phrase, let’s practice it. You’ll hear it in slow motion twice, say it out loud the second time. Sing that song. Good to see you. Then you’ll hear it at regular pace twice, say it with her the second time. Let’s keep going. Hi Gayle, how are you? I’m alright with my dry eyes sitting up here but a lot of people are looking at their screens more than ever. A lot of. This three-word phrase is very common. The T comes between two vowels and pretty much all the time, a native speaker will make this a flap T. You won’t hear a true T. A lot of, a lot of. It’s a flap T linking, smoothing things out. A lot of. A lot of. You can say that V sound or not. A lot of or a lot of. She drops the V, that’s a reduction and of is a word that we usually reduce. A lot of. A lot of. That phrase begins and ends with a schwa. You want it to be as fast and simple as possible. A, a. A lot of. A lot of. Let’s listen to just that in slow motion a few times. And now let’s hear it at regular pace. Changing that T, smoothing out English. Let’s keep going. Can you explain why it’s such a bad, why it’s bad for your eyesight to begin with? Yeah, it’s multifactorial. We call it the “Computer Vision Syndrome”. And it uh, it combines– It combines. We’ve studied a drop T, a flap T and now Dr. Starr is giving us an example of another way we change the T, the true T sound. It’s a stop T. For this we stop the air. It. But we skipped that T release. Instead, we’re going to the next word. So there’s really a quick stop of air and that’s the stop T. That’s not actually a sound rather it’s an abrupt stop of sound. It combines. It combines. Let’s look back at that stop. Here, I slowed down the clip to just twenty five percent and you can see the volume of the voice below. Let’s just listen to this clip once. This gap here is the stop T. Let’s take just this part here and listen to it by itself so we can see is it really silent, is there really a stop of air of sound. So I’ve isolated just that spot let’s listen to it. Sort of strange isn’t it? It’s just the room noise really. He hasn’t really engaged his voice here. Let’s go back to the original clip. There’s another spot over here where we see something similar and guess what that is. It’s the B on combines, combines, bb, B is also a stop consonant. Let’s listen to this phrase again. So it becomes ihh, ihh. And then a little stop of air, and then the next word. So, true True T, tt, Flap T, [flap] drop T and now stop T. These are our four T sounds. Let’s listen again to this stop. It combines– Actually there’s one more kind of T. Let’s see if we can find it. Both eyes strain from just staring at the computers which are right in front of you. Okay there we had it. Eye strain. When we have a T followed by R like in train, try or in this case, strain. It’s pretty common for that T to become a CH. S-CH-rain. Strain. It’s not very strong but it’s not a T, a T either. T,t, train. It’s more common to hear ch, ch train.. It’s light. C h,ch, strain. We’re going to listen to just strain in slow motion. You won’t hear T but you will hear CH. strain– So when do you do a true T? T. Let’s keep listening and I’ll tell you.

For all those hours as you said thirteen hours of more, but it also when we’re on the computers, when we’re staring and fatiguing our eyes– There were several true Ts there. Thirteen hours with a true, ttt teen. Thirteen. Also fatiguing, tt, fatiguing. In these cases, the T sound begins a stressed syllable. Thirteen, fatigue. So a T that starts a stressed syllable is a true T. Unless it’s part of the TR cluster then it’s probably a CH. Fatigue. Fatiguing. A T is usually a stop T when it’s at the end of a thought group or followed by another consonant. For example “It combines “or “what”? End of the thought group stop T. A T is usually a flap T between vowels like ‘a lot of’ [flap] a lot of. But not if that starts a stressed syllable. Look a t fatiguing. The T sound there is between two vowels but it starts a stressed syllable so it’s a true T. A T is also a flap T after an R before a vowel like in party. Rarara, party. A T is often dropped between two other consonants like “Affect their”, affect their eyes and there’s also one other time where we often drop the T. We’re going to skip ahead to find an example. Uh taking breaks we recommend every twenty minutes or so. Twenty. Dropping the T after N, that’s a common pronunciation. Internet, twenty, I want another. Internet. Drop T. Twenty. Drop T. I want another. Drop T. The doctor said twenty several times. Sometimes a true T but most of the time it’s dropped. Let’s listen. Uh taking breaks we recommend every twenty minutes or so. Take a break, look away, look into the distance at an object that’s twenty feet away of further. Looking out the window is actually perfect for twenty seconds or more. That’s what we used to call the 20-20-20 Rule– There’s another broadcaster in on this interview. Let’s hear what he’s doing with his Ts. It can be a really hard to take a break from this. Hard to take a break. Hard to. This is just like when Gayle said good to, good to see you. Hard to, hard to take a break. Taking the word to, making it just the schwa, attaching it to a word that ends with a D. Hard to. Hard to. Say that with me. Hard to, hard to. Hard to take a break. It can be a really hard to take a break from this. Oh you know, I thought of one other time we usually have a true T. When it’s part of a cluster. Looking at a window is actually perfect. Perfect. Perfect, ttt. True T release. But you know what? If that links in to another word that starts with a consonant like ‘It’s the perfect place’. then we’ll usually drop the T because it comes between two consonants. Perfect place, no T. Or at the end of a thought group “It’s perfect!”. A true T release. Are you feeling confused? The more you study spoken English, now that you know the rules, the more you’ll notice this and the more natural it become for you to do this. Now where going to skip around in the interview. If you want to watch the full interview, I’ll put a link to that in the video description. But we’ll skip around here for a short quiz. I’ll play a snippet and I’ll highlight in red the T to listen for. You tell me if it’s a true T, flap T, stop T or if it’s dropped. You’ll hear each example three times. Eight blinks. Eight blinks. That’s a stop T. Listen again. Try this one: Did you hear T? I did. That’s a true T. A T at the end of the word at the end of a thought group, that could also been a stop T. But he did a true T. What about this one? Computer [flap]. Computer, flap T. T between vowel sounds, doesn’t starts a stressed syllable, that’s a flap. This next one is tricky. You’ll be listening for three Ts. Irritated. Irritated. The first T is a true T because of this mark. This is the mark of secondary stress. Stressed syllable even if it’s secondary stress that will be a true T. But the second sound there, T between vowels, not starting a stressed syllable, that’s a flap T. Same with gritty. Irritated and gritty.

By changing so many ttt, sharp true Ts were able to smooth out the sound of English. In coming weeks and months, we’re going to study more ways to smooth out your speech to sound more natural and fluent when speaking English. Keep your learning going now with this video and be sure you subscribe and have notifications turned on for the channel so you’ll know when something new is coming your way. Also, be sure to check out my online school at rachelsenglishacademy.com to train your body and your voice for more comfortable English speaking. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. —— Learn English With News | Learning English With CBS News https://rachelsenglish.com/learning-english-with-cbs-news/

Learn English with News: ADVANCED English Conversation + Vocabulary Training | Free English Lesson Rachel's English 18:12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBU9ZWY8gCU

Learn English with News: ADVANCED English Conversation + Vocabulary Training | Free English Lesson https://rachelsenglish.com/learn-english-with-news-2/ Learn English with News: ADVANCED English Conversation + Vocabulary Training | Free English Lesson Rachel's English 18:12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBU9ZWY8gCU

Learn English with News: ADVANCED English Conversation + Vocabulary Training | Free English Lesson https://rachelsenglish.com/learn-english-with-news-2/ Learn English with News: ADVANCED English Conversation + Vocabulary Training | Free English Lesson Rachel's English 18:12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBU9ZWY8gCU Video Text: I did some sledding recently and it got me thinking about winter sports. So let’s learn some new vocabulary today as we learn English with News. Watching a story about three weird winter sports. The sports are obscure, but the vocabulary isn’t. We’ll learn 29 words, phrases, and idioms, in this news story. I just used the word “obscure”. It’s an adjective that means not well-known, not known to most people. These sports are obscure. If you’re listing every sport you can think of, you might not even be on your list. This is also a verb that means to try to hide something or make something hard to understand. They tried to obscure the truth about the scandal. Now let’s check out this first part of this news clip. Hurtling along snow or ice on metal blades isn’t insane enough? Check out these other weird winter sports. Hurtling. Hurtle is a verb that means to move rapidly or forcefully. An object might be hurtling through space. On a roller coaster you’re hurtling through the air. Hurtle and hurtling sound just like the word with a D, hurdling, which we also associate with racing. A hurdle spelled with a D is this, And Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle. We have a related idiom here. When there are hurdles involved in a situation, that means there is some difficulty. For example, there were some hurdles involved in getting my son signed up for summer camp. Maybe I had to prove his age, that he’s gotten his vaccines, maybe I had to list any allergies, and so on. Extra things to do. So hurdling with a D, jumping over something. Hurtling with a T, moving very very fast. Hurtling along snow or ice on metal blades isn’t insane enough? That isn’t insane enough? This is a dramatic way to say that you think something is crazy, dangerous, or scary. It’s insane to ski a double-black diamond if you’re not an expert skier. We also use ‘insane’ to describe something that’s hard to believe. “I can’t believe you got a perfect score on the SAT. That’s insane!” Hurtling along snow or ice on metal blades isn’t insane enough? Check out these other weird winter sports. Let’s start with horse skijoring. Skijoring is putting a skier behind a horse with a 30-foot rope. Asking the skier to go around 16 to 20 gates, a few jumps, and the horse to go wide open. Here in Pennsylvania, this is not a winter activity I’ve seen, so I did some reading, and yes, I had to look up the pronunciation, and I found that the word “skijoring” comes from a Norwegian word meaning “ski driving.” It’s said to have originated as a mode of winter travel with a horse, dog, or motor vehicle pulling a person on skis through the snow. Now, skijoring is mostly a competitive sport. Let’s hear that word again. Skijoring Skijoring. Three syllables with stress on either the first or second syllable. The narrator puts stress on the second syllable here, “jor” Skijoring The man being interviewed put stress on the first syllable, “ski” Skijoring is putting a skier behind a horse with a 30-foot rope. Asking the skier to go around 16 to 20 gates, a few jumps, and the horse to go wide open. Wide-open. This means open all the way, like a door. “The door wasn’t cracked; it was wide open.”

But it also means without limits or restrictions. So, if the horse is going wide open, that means it is running just as fast as it can, as fast as it wants to. No restrictions or limits. You know what this reminds me of? Hurtling, with a T, to move rapidly or forcefully. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to be pulled by a horse when it’s going wide open. Let me quickly take 5 seconds of thanks to shout-out the people here on YouTube who support my channel through the membership. Thank you, thank you. Just click the join button to find out how you can support my channel and get perks like audio lessons and private posts. Okay, back to the news. Skijoring is putting a skier behind a horse with a 30-foot rope. Asking the skier to go around 16 to 20 gates, a few jumps, and the horse to go wide open. Still not crazy enough? Well, the skiers also try to gather rings that are suspended along the course and stack them on their arms. There are three terms here that are worth taking a look at. First is the verb “gather.” Well, the skiers also try to gather rings. When “gather” is used with an object, it means to bring together into one group, collection or place. “We gathered some firewood for our campfire.” But it doesn’t have to be a tangible thing, “Hey, we’re just trying to gather some ideas here in this brainstorm.” It can also mean to bring together or assemble from various places; “The college is gathering faculty from all over the country for a conference.” It can also be used without an object, and it means not to collect, but to bring around a central point. For example, “Gather around; it’s time to sing Happy Birthday!” That’s like saying, come here. Or, “Clouds are gathering in the southeast.” They are coming around a point, coming together, over there, in the southeast. Well, the skiers also try to gather rings that are suspended along the course. Suspended. The verb “suspend” has many meanings. Let’s focus on the definition used here. It means to hang something or attach an object to something above to allow free movement. “The chandelier is suspended from the ceiling.” In skijoring, the rings are suspended on polls; they’re free hanging to make them easier to grab. “Suspend” used without an object most commonly means to come to a stop; to cease operation for a period of time. “We aren’t sure if we want to keep our tv streaming service, so we suspended payments for now.” The third term in that clip is “stack.” Well, the skiers also try to gather rings that are suspended along the course and stack them on their arms. As a noun, a stack is more or less an orderly pile or heap. A stack of books. A neat stack of notes. The verb stack can be used with or without an object; meaning to pile or arrange objects on top of each other. “Let’s stack the boxes in that corner.” “The chairs easily stack on top of each other.” That means they’re stackable, an adjective now, which makes it easier to store them. Once I posted this to Instagram with the caption, Friday morning face stack! Let’s hear that bit again. Well, the skiers also try to gather rings that are suspended along the course and stack them on their arms. Next up, we have a couple of fantastic idioms that you can use in any context. Their use is not limited to sports. Guys that are doing it successfully have some ski racing behind them or, you know, a lot of skiing under their belt. To “have something behind you”. Literally, this is about order and orienting objects to one another. The wall is behind me. The camera is in front of me. But it has other meanings as well. To have something behind you means that you have experience doing something. “I have some competition behind me.” “I have some graduate work behind me.” “I’m not totally new at this. I’ve done this before. It’s not my first time. They have some ski racing behind them.”

That is, they have some experience in ski racing. They’ve already done that. Be careful not to confuse this with “putting something behind you,” which means to forget about a bad experience, to try to move on. “We had a huge fight, but we’ve put it behind us.” Another way to say you have accomplished something or have practice at doing it is to say that you “have it under your belt.” A lot of skiing under their belt. I read that this idiom came into English as a way to reference how much alcohol a person has drunk. But as in idiom it means, experienced. Once you’ve worked hard at a skill, the ability is under your belt. It’s in you. You can do it. “I’ve got Over 10 years of teaching under my belt.” Or, “I’ve got 10 years of teaching behind me.” Again, take care that you don’t accidentally say a really similar idiom that has a different meaning and that would be below the belt. Don’t say “below the belt” when you mean “under the belt.” Hitting below the belt is when an opponent unfairly targets a weakness or vulnerability. As with boxing, you can’t hit your competitor’s lower abdomen; it’d be too painful, and it’s prohibited. So let’s say you’re fighting with your partner and they bring up something your mom said that was hard for you to deal with. In this fight, bringing that up, man, they know you’re sensitive about. You could say, that’s below the belt. Or, that’s a low blow. Below and under, similar meanings. But ‘below the belt’ and ‘under the belt’, different meanings. If you have experience, you have it under your belt. Let’s go on to the next segment. The whole race only lasts about 20 to 30 seconds, and takes skiers at speeds of up to 40 miles an hour. The skill set is missing a few brain cells. Making some calculated decisions and definitely accepting the risks. Skill set is a term you might see related to a job post. What are the skills required for the job, what are the skill sets they like to see in job applicants? Those would be skill sets. So this guy is joking here, the participants are a little crazy, “missing a few brain cells”. We use this term to mean not smart. If you’re willing to let a horse pull you up to 40 mph, you might be missing a few brain cells. Let’s face it, it’s an insult, but he’s using it jokingly. Let’s hear it again. The skill set is missing a few brain cells. I love this next collocation. A collocation is a pair of words that often occur together. This collocation is an adjective plus a noun. making some calculated decisions– Calculated decisions. Calculated, you’ve thought it over thoroughly, you’ve weighed all the risks and rewards, you’ve done your homework on this issue. You’re not just randomly choosing. So as you’re going down this course you’re making calculated decisions about how to use your body. Intentional, thought out. Something you can do in the moment when you’re experienced. Making some calculated decisions and definitely accepting the risks Coming to terms with possible consequences, and being ok with whatever happens. Risk acceptance. Let’s keep going. Next, why waste that snow shovel on your driveway when you can use it for racing? It’s kind of a crazy idea but a lot of people end up really liking the feel of it. Felt great! Let’s do it again! Shovel racing started in the 1970s at the Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico. The course is a thousand feet long with a 400 foot vertical drop. The resort still hosts the world championship. The record for the fastest time is 13.5 seconds at almost 75 miles an hour. Oh wow! That set a record I think for height of shovel. Did you catch what the racers are sitting on? Next, why waste that snow shovel on your driveway when you can use it for racing? Not a traditional sled, but it takes you down the hill pretty quickly. And did you hear the phrase used to describe how high the hill is? The course is a thousand feet long with a 400 foot vertical drop.

Vertical drop. That’s about a 122 meter descent over a 305 meter length. Not very high compared to traditional skiing, but I’m not sure I’d agree to ride a shovel down that. Shovels have some very sharp edges. “Vertical drop” is another collocation that I hear a fair amount. Let’s list some synonyms for “drop.” We have: Decline. The hillside has a steep decline. Descent. Going down. The descent of the trail begins here. Plunge. I often think of this with water. He jumped off the cliff and plunged into the lake. Drop-off. A noun. Be careful, there’s a steep drop-off just off shore. Grade. There’s a 5% grade on this road. A second meaning of “drop” as a noun is a tiny bit of fluid, shaped like a sphere. A drop of rain. Eye drops. Today I will not have even one drop of alcohol. And third, “drop” occurs regularly as a verb, meaning, to fall unexpectedly or suddenly. I dropped my phone. Have you heard the idiom “to drop the ball”? This means to make a mistake, to not get something done. It has nothing to do with an actual ball. I missed registration for summer camp and now it’s full. I dropped the ball! You can also use “drop” as a verb to explain that something doesn’t matter anymore. I know we disagree, but let’s drop it and move on. And another meaning I use, meaning to release something to the public. My new videos drop on YouTube every other Tuesday. Ok, let’s take a look at the third and final unusual sport. Finally, there’s fat bike racing. Three, two, one, begin! You’ve probably seen them before. Mountain bikes with tires that are at least 4 to 5 inches wide. This makes them perfect for winter races that usually take place on snow-covered, cross country type trails. There are races all over the country, but the premier race in North America takes place on the 65 mile-long American Birkebeiner Trail in Cable, Wisconsin. My bike tires are definitely not that wide. How did she describe the width of the tires? Fat bike racing. Fat bike. To link those first two words smoothly, we put a stop T in fat so it’s not released. Fat bike. Fat bike racing. I like the way the landscape is described. Native speakers sometimes create strings like this: Snow-covered, cross-country-type trails. The formula is “Adjective + Adjective + type” or “Noun + Noun + type.” And there’s no limit to how many adjectives, nouns, or complex phrases you can string together. You end the phrase with “type,” meaning “that kind of thing.” Let’s practice building a couple of these descriptive strings. I’ll give you the noun, and you fill in the adjectives, the descriptive phrases. Let’s describe someone who’s very romantic. “He’s a roses and chocolates type guy.” you can also use ‘of’, type of guy. “He’s a sing-love-songs-in-public, send-you-gifts-at-work type of guy.” What did you fill it in with? Share your ideas in the comments. Now try one describing a super expensive car. “It’s a midlife-crisis, sell-your-house-to-pay-for-it type car.” How about describing a job you’ve always wanted? “It’s my dreams-come-true, once-in-a-lifetime type job.” If you think of other ways to string adjective phrases or noun phrases together, share in the comments! Last, let’s look at the word “premiere.” The premiere race in North America takes place on the 65 mile-long American Birkebeiner Trail in Cable, Wisconsin. Premiere as a noun is the first performance or exhibition. The debut. The opening. It’s the world premiere of a new opera. Or, As a verb: The movie is premiering tonight at midnight. And as an adjective: The premiere showing is tonight at midnight. But it can also mean the principal, the most important. The Met is the premiere opera house in the US. The hotel is one of the premiere resorts in the area. Here, she says “This race is the premiere race.” It’s more important than the others. There are races all over the country but the premiere race in North America takes place on the 65 mile-long American Birkebeiner Trail in Cable, Wisconsin.

Ok, great! We pulled out so many vocabulary words and idioms from these clips. Which words were new to you? Let me know in the comments below. I have several other Learn English with News videos, check them out on my YouTube channel. And be sure you subscribe with notifications on so you never miss a lesson. I love being your English teacher and accent coach. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. Learn English with News: ADVANCED English Conversation + Vocabulary Training | Free English Lesson https://rachelsenglish.com/learn-english-with-news-2/ Learn English with News: ADVANCED English Conversation + Vocabulary Training | Free English Lesson Rachel's English 18:12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBU9ZWY8gCU