WEBVTT FILE

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[Applause]

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hello-oh

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since we're talking about the TOEFL

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speaking being weird I might as well

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have a weird introduction and today

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we're going to talk about why big words

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will hurt you so this is the fourth

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video in our TOEFL speaking section is

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weird video collection and today I want

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to talk to you about big words so a lot

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of students a lot of you think that you

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don't have enough vocabulary for the

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TOEFL or for English in general and so

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you study vocabulary now I think a lot

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of you are right that there is a huge

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vocabulary gap between what an English

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language learner knows and what a native

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speaker knows but for the TOEFL speaking

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big words will hurt you do not try to

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use big words for the TOEFL speaking

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okay let me explain why and I'm gonna

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tell you for this video I'm going to

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tell you why you shouldn't use big words

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I'm gonna tell you what words you should

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use instead that you can use for almost

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any speaking response and I'm also gonna

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tell you how to make sure that you sound

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more like a native speaker okay so let

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me do that big words will hurt you so I

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wanted to just give you an example let's

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say that you learn the word accumulate

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okay you will learn the word accumulate

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and I usually hear it with weather

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forecasters talking about snow okay

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beautiful picture as always so they say

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that snow accumulates now if you look at

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your dictionary it says accumulate means

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to get together to collect to get bigger

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and bigger now you might see that word

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you might know the definition and you

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know how to use it so then you try to

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use it on the TOEFL they ask you do you

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prefer to work in a group or work as an

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individual you say I prefer to work in

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the group because that way we can

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accumulate our knowledge and bring it

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together to make our projects better

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so that's just an example so I for this

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accumulate it doesn't sound natural okay

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when you say I think it's better to work

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in a group so we can accumulate our

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knowledge we don't usually use the word

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that way so there's two reasons why it

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doesn't sound like natural English one

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reason is is because you're you're in

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English as a second language speaker so

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because of that you have some simple

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grammar mistakes some certain fluency

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problems and it sounds strange first of

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all for you to use a big word while

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making simple mistakes and it also

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sounds strange more importantly because

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we don't speak that way we don't talk

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with big words Americans don't like big

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words okay we don't like big words maybe

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some of us do but for the most part

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Americans value directness they value

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clarity remember the TOEFL is a test to

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see if you can go to the school in the

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States so we value directness when we're

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speaking if you want to sound natural

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you don't use big vocabulary words you

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sound simple and straight okay

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one reason for example that in English

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we have a lot of phrasal verbs

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we have a lot of phrasal verbs because

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they're more conversational like I don't

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say I exited the building I say I got

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out of the building right I don't say

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that I terminated the contract I say I

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ended the contract or let me use a

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phrasal verb there or I say that's

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something I finished up the contract

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something like that so in that situation

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we take these kind of difficult

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academic vocabulary that's useful for

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the reading section but not for the

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speaking section and we replace it with

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something more natural so one way that

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you can sound more natural is to use

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simple vocabulary phrasal verbs things

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that fluency that native speakers will

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use usually okay now I want to get to

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what you can use for almost phrases that

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you can use for almost any response okay

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and a lot of your responses you are

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going to give your opinion

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you give a example to illustrate your

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opinion and then a conclusion so you're

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gonna have these three things in a lot

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of your responses and every time you can

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say the same type of transition words to

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sound more natural sometimes teachers

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will teach you something that's a little

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difficult for example with this example

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for example they use as an illustration

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you might see that in some textbook some

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people might recommend it to you don't

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use it when you say as an illustration

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when I was five years old blah blah blah

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for example when I was five years old it

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sounds better I remember when I was five

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years old

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even better okay this does not sound

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natural we do not speak this way okay so

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try not to sound smart sound smart

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instead try to sound like you're you're

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fluent and you want to communicate okay

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you want to sound natural if you're

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giving your opinion in my opinion in my

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opinion bla bla bla

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let's say high high school students

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should wear school uniforms in my

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opinion I think high school students

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should wear a school uniforms let's

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sound even more natural I think high

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school students should wear school

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uniforms let's sound even more natural

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to me high school students should wear

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school uniforms much better okay so stay

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away from these like a formulaic

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transitions conclusion these are the

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reasons why I think students should wear

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school uniforms how about that's why I

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think students should wear school

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uniforms good so I think students should

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wear school uniforms even better okay so

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so that's it pretty much you want to

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make sure that you sound fluent okay

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that you sound like a native speaker so

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there's one other thing that you need to

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do that's very important is that you

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need to have somebody tell you if you're

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sounding a little bit like a robot

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sometimes you start using templates for

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the TOEFL or you're not sure how you

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sound to other people right you might

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hear a recording of yourself you should

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definitely record your voice you might

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ask your friend how you sound but what

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you really need is a professional to

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tell you how to sound more fluent and

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that's what we do at opel speaking

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teacher comm we do speaking evaluate we

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do a lot of stuff but one thing that we

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do is a speaking evaluation you get on a

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30-minute Skype call with a TOEFL

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speaking expert they give you some TOEFL

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speaking questions and they tell you

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exactly how you sound and let you know

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what you need to do what your weaknesses

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are what your strengths are how natural

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you sound and speaking the English and

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tell you how to okay so check that out

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that's it thanks for watching and bye

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[Music]