00:04Hello, my name is Chris and welcome to this English Comprehension video.
00:12Now today we will listen to four native English speakers talk just a little bit about their lives.
00:25We will listen twice. The first time, no text on the screen. It is your job to try and listen
00:38and understand the story.
00:42What are they saying? Then we will listen a second time and the text will be on the screen for
00:52you.
00:53At the end, I will also explain some of the interesting vocabulary from each text.
01:04But for now, let's go and listen to person number one.
01:15Hello, my name's Kadisha and I'm 15 years old. I come from a town called Normal in Illinois.
01:22Yes, the town is called Normal. Everybody makes jokes about my town and it's kind of annoying but I love
01:30my town.
01:31There's lots of different sports to do. The schools are pretty good and I have heaps of friends there.
01:37I have one little brother, Jackson. He's nine and a sister, Aaliyah. She's six.
01:44They're cute and all but sometimes annoying, especially when I have to babysit them.
01:57Hello, my name's Kadisha and I'm 15 years old. I come from a town called Normal in Illinois.
02:04Yes, the town is called Normal. Everybody makes jokes about my town and it's kind of annoying but I love
02:13my town.
02:14There's lots of different sports to do. The schools are pretty good and I have heaps of friends there.
02:20I have one little brother, Jackson. He's nine and a sister, Aaliyah. She's six.
02:27They're cute and all but sometimes annoying, especially when I have to babysit them.
02:39Okay, so let's have a look at what Kadisha said.
02:43The first interesting vocabulary point I thought was kind of annoying. Kind of annoying.
02:53Kind of is a way of saying just a little. Kind of.
03:00I could say, for example, it is kind of cold today. It's a little bit cold today.
03:07Another interesting vocabulary point was when she said the schools are pretty good. Pretty good.
03:17She could have said quite good or rather good.
03:23But pretty is more common in informal speaking, especially with a younger person like Kadisha.
03:34Another interesting part there that I heard that a younger person says heaps.
03:41I have heaps of friends there. Heaps means a lot.
03:47She has a lot of friends there.
03:50But heaps is very common with a younger person.
03:55It's an informal way of saying a lot of.
04:07Hello my name is John and I'm an artist from San Jose in California.
04:12I'm 29 years old and I'm single, but I don't live by myself.
04:16I have the best roommate in the world.
04:19Her name is Clara and she's a dancer and is my best friend.
04:23We met about six years ago now and we've been living together for the last three years.
04:29We do everything together, including going on vacation.
04:32Two years ago I traveled around Europe for three months and Clara surprised me by coming to visit for two
04:38weeks in Italy.
04:40We had an amazing time and it was the best two weeks of my vacation.
04:45When we're not together we always send messages and normally they're very funny.
04:49She's hilarious.
04:58Hello my name is John and I'm an artist from San Jose in California.
05:03I'm 29 years old and I'm single, but I don't live by myself.
05:09I have the best roommate in the world.
05:11Her name is Clara and she's a dancer and is my best friend.
05:16We met about six years ago now and we've been living together for the last three years.
05:22We do everything together, including going on vacation.
05:28Two years ago I traveled around Europe for three months and Clara surprised me by coming to visit for two
05:33weeks in Italy.
05:35We had an amazing time and it was the best two weeks of my vacation.
05:40When we're not together we always send messages and normally they're very funny.
05:44She's hilarious.
05:50Okay, so let's have a quick look at what John said.
05:54There were two points there which were very interesting because he is American.
05:59They were different than what a British English speaker would say.
06:06For example, the first one, roommate.
06:10That is American English.
06:12In British English you would say flatmate.
06:17And another one was on vacation.
06:21That is what you use in American English.
06:24In British English you would say holiday.
06:37Hello, my name is Kevin and this is my wife Beverly.
06:41We're retired and we live in Michigan in the USA.
06:45I used to be a cop and I retired almost eight years ago now.
06:50And I was a secretary in the local high school and I retired last year.
06:55Although I still go to the school almost every day as our grandson Grady goes there.
07:01He lives with us and he's a good kid.
07:04He likes football and video games and he gets pretty good grades at school.
07:09When he goes off to college we're going to buy an RV and travel the country.
07:21Hello, my name is Kevin and this is my wife Beverly.
07:25We're retired and we live in Michigan in the USA.
07:29I used to be a cop and I retired almost eight years ago now.
07:34And I was a secretary in the local high school and I retired last year.
07:39Although I still go to the school almost every day as our grandson Grady goes there.
07:45He lives with us and he's a good kid.
07:48He likes football and video games and he gets pretty good grades at school.
07:53When he goes off to college we're going to buy an RV and travel the country.
08:00Okay, let's talk about what Kevin and Beverly said now.
08:05They used the verb to retire.
08:08Prons a retret.
08:09Yes, they are both retired now.
08:13Kevin used to be a cop.
08:17Now when we use used to in English plus the infinitive of a verb,
08:24it means we did something for a very long time but now it is finished.
08:31For example, I could say I used to be single.
08:37In my past I was single but today it is finished.
08:42I am married.
08:44Another example could be she used to live in New York.
08:50She used to live in New York.
08:52For a period of time in her past she lived in New York but now it is finished.
09:00And then finally my last little piece of vocabulary I thought which was interesting was RV.
09:06I don't know if you know this but an RV, it is a camper car.
09:12A recreational vehicle we say in American English.
09:18A camper van.
09:19And when their young grandson Grady goes off to college they are going to buy an RV.
09:29Okay, so that is the end of our listening understanding.
09:33How did you go?
09:36Which person was the most difficult for you to understand?
09:42Which person was the easiest?
09:45You can let me know in the comments below.
09:49And if you like this video please press the like button and don't forget to subscribe.
09:54There are so many more videos on my channel to help you learn English.
10:01Thanks for watching, everyone.
10:02I will see you next time.
10:03Bye bye.
10:04Bye bye.
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