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Hey there I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

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Today you and I are going to do some conversation practice.

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You're going to speak with me.

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We're going to practise speaking together using a dialogue and it's

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going to be a conversation between two friends,

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two friends who haven't seen each other

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in a little while so it's about catching up.

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This is such a great conversation topic to practise.

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I feel like it happens so often these days.

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Inside my English speaking community, I have this conversation

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all the time with friends that I haven't spoken to

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in a few weeks or even a few months.

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It's actually one of those conversations inside that community that

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sparked the idea for this lesson.

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But before we get into it, I want to teach you five useful

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English expressions first and you can listen out for them

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in the dialogue that we'll practise together, all right?

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This lesson is going to be short and sweet so let's dive straight in!

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Hey ladies!

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Do you want to practise English in real conversations?

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With really lovely speaking partners?

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Stop watching lessons at home on your own and come join us

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at Hey Lady!

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Hey Lady! is an online community for women.

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We'll help you to meet new speaking partners and practise

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real conversations in English.

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We offer a free trial so that you can experience everything on offer

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in a full membership and it's free for 10 days.

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I've put the link down in the description below so that you can start

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your free trial today.

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There are five really common English expressions that I'm going to

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teach you first before we practise speaking

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together in our dialogue

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and I want you to listen out for them because they're used

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in context and we're going to talk together using them later on.

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Are you ready?

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Long time no see.

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So this is an informal greeting, one that's used when you

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haven't seen someone for a long time, it's been a long time

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since you last met.

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So you use it when you greet someone. 

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You say their name, you say hello

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and then you use this expression.

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Hi Steve! Long time no see!

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Fancy seeing you here!

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This is another really useful expression especially when you're

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surprised to see someone

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but it's a pleasant surprise like

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you've run into them in a place where you didn't

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expect to see them.

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Now it is important to note that this expression can be used

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with a sarcastic tone and

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then it can mean the exact opposite.

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Listen out, compare.

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Fancy seeing you here!

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So a friendly greeting would signal

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a genuine expression of surprise when you meet someone

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and that sarcastic tone is really to sort of

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humiliate or mock someone or suggest that you're actually

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not very excited to see them at all.

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It's much more common to use it in the positive way 

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and that is how you'll hear it in today's conversation as well.

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Listen out for the adjective promising.

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If someone or something is promising, it seems likely

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that it will be very good or very successful 

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and it's often used with some of these verbs like look,

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seem,

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sounds and feel.

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So a situation feels or seems promising.

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An idea sounds promising.

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And the result looks promising.

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A blessing in disguise.

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This is a very useful idiom to know.

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If you say that something is a blessing in disguise

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then something that seems bad or unlucky at first

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actually results in something being good or something

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good happening later.

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So it can be a really good one to use when someone shares 

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bad news like they just lost their job.

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Then you can use this expression to suggest that even though

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the situation is bad right now, it might become better in the future.

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What's been happening in your world?

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So this is just a really informal question to find out the latest

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news about someone else's life

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and it's usually used with someone who is a friend, they're very

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familiar to you. It's not used in professional contacts at all.

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Okay, it's time for you to speak with me out loud, okay?

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We're gonna pretend that we are two friends catching up.

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You'll say one line and then I'll say the next,

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just like we would if we were having a real conversation together.

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You and me.

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So I'll start and you'll see your part of the conversation

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appear up on screen and once we get through it,

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once we complete the conversation, we'll swap places

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and we'll practise it through one more time.

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Make sure you listen up for those five natural English expressions

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during our conversation too.

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Ready?

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Lauren? Long time no see!

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Too long! Do you have a minute to grab a coffee?

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So what's news? What's been happening?

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I'm so sorry to hear that!

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It's been a really tough time, hasn't it?

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No? This sounds promising!

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Don't tell me it turned out to be a blessing in disguise?

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Oh Lauren! That's fantastic news!

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Incredible! I'm so happy for you!

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Okay so now we'll swap.

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I'll be Lauren and you be me.

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Emma! Fancy seeing you here!

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It's been such a long time since we last caught up.

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Sure, I'd love to!

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Well actually, the last few months have been pretty tough

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because I lost my job late last year.

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Thank you. I was really discouraged for a while.

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It was hard to be optimistic because there were

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so many lockdowns and many people lost their jobs.

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Yeah...

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but it's not all bad news!

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Well, after a month of feeling really sorry for myself,

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I knew I had to change my mindset.

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I needed to look for the positives.

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Kind of! I've been training to be a life coach.

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Thanks!

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I know what it's like to feel stuck or like

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important decisions in your life are being made by others.

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I just want to help people take back control of their life.

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Anyway, enough about me! What's been happening in your world?

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Nice work!

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I hope that you enjoyed practising with me like this today.

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If you want to grab the full transcript of this dialogue 

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so that you can practise with your friends at another time

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head over to the mmmEnglish website.

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The link is in the description below

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or if you're inside the Hey Lady! community and you're watching

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this video, the transcript is right below.

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You can click on it, open it and get started in your study groups.

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All right. Now I'm going to let you watch me do the conversation

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from start to finish so I'm both

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Emma and Lauren in this conversation.

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Lauren?

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Long time no see!

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Emma! Fancy seeing you here!

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It's been such a long time since we last caught up!

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Too long! Do you have a minute to grab a coffee?

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Sure, I'd love to.

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So what's news? What's been happening?

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Well,  actually the last few months have been pretty tough

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because I lost my job late last year.

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I'm so sorry to hear that.

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Thank you. I was really discouraged for a while.

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It was hard to be optimistic because there were so many

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lockdowns and many people lost their jobs.

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It's been a really tough time, hasn't it?

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Yeah.

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But it's not all bad news.

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No? This sounds promising!

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Well, after a month of feeling really sorry for myself,

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I knew I had to change my mindset.

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I needed to look for the positives.

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Don't tell me it turned out to be a blessing in disguise?

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Kind of! I've been training to be a life coach.

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Oh Lauren that's fantastic news!

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Thanks!

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I know what it's like to feel stuck or like

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important decisions in your life are being made by others.

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I just want to help people take back control of their life.

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Incredible! I'm so happy for you!

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Anyway enough about me. What's been happening in your world?

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Make sure you let me know if you enjoyed speaking with me today.

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Say hello down in the comments.

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I love popping down there reading your comments,

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catching up with what's happening in your world.

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Make sure you're subscribed to the channel

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and check out this lesson next!