Full video

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in this American English pronunciation

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video we're going to study American

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English by looking at a short

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text topic free

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time I call this a Ben Franklin exercise

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this is when you take very good notes

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very detailed notes on what you're

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hearing and then go back and try to

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record yourself based on what you've

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written down the notes did you write

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down a flap

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or the way two words link together after

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you've recorded yourself compare it to

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the original did you do everything that

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you wanted to do in this video we're

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going to take notes

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together one of my favorite things to do

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with a free day is to ride my bike

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sometimes I'll ride along the Hudson

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River or in Central Park and sometimes

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I'll go visit friends in

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Brooklyn one of my favorite things to do

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one of my favorite I definitely hear one

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and fave as being stressed of my is very

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quick very different than one and fave

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of my of my of my of my of my so I'm

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using the schah here and I am giving the

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V sound of my of my of my of my of my

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but it's very flat and quick one of my

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favorite one of my favorite one of my

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favorite I noticed that I'm dropping the

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middle unstressed syllable in favorite

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so it's not

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favorite but simply

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favorite favorite favorite things and I

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notice that I am making that a stop te

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I'm not releasing it I'm going straight

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into the th one of my favorite things

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one of my favorite things to do with a

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free day one of my favorite things to do

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with a free day one of my favorite

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things to do with a free day one of my

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favorite things to do with a free day so

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I notice both the Words Free and day

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have a lot more length than the others

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things is a Content word it is a noun

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but it's more generic than free and day

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I think that's why I didn't give it as

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much time one of my favorite things to

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do with a free day one of my favorite

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things to do with a free day one of my

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favorite things to do with a free day

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one of my favorite things to do with a

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free day I notice with the word to I am

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reducing that to the schwas sound it's

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not to do it's to do to to to to do to

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do to do to do with a free day also the

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article uh of course is awah now I

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pronounced the ending th unvoiced with a

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witha sometimes when people link the

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ending th that is unvoiced into a voiced

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sound like the vowel schah they will

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voice it and say with

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with but I left that unvoiced with a

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with a with a free day with with a free

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day with a free day with a free day is

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to ride my bike ride bike those were the

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two longest words in that sentence

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fragment is to ride my bike I notice

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again I reduced this to the schwas sound

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it's not to it's to T is to is to is to

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is to ride is to ride is to ride my bike

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is to ride my bike is to ride my bike is

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to ride my bike sometimes I'll ride a

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Ong the Hudson River what did you hear

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is the most stressed syllables

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there I'm hearing

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some

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ride HUD

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Riv as you practice your own speech

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listen to it and make sure that you can

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pick out stressed syllables in a

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sentence if you can't then they all

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sound too much the same and we're

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lacking good rhythmic contrast so it's

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always good to study other speech and to

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note what do you hear as being the

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longest syllables usually it will go

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along with adjectives adverbs nouns and

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verbs sometimes I'll ride along the

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Hudson River sometimes I'll ride along

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the Hudson River sometimes I'll ride

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along the Hudson River what else do you

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notice I noticed the ending s here is

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pronounced as a z sometimes I'll ride

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also did you notice how I pronounced

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that contraction I didn't say is ale I

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said all

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all so it sounded a lot like this word

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in fact it sounded just like this word

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all

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all I used the a as an law vowel

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sometimes all sometimes I'll ride so I

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reduced the contraction which is already

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a reduction of I will to all all all

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sometimes I'll ride sometimes I'll ride

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sometimes I'll ride sometimes I'll ride

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along the Hudson River the Hudson River

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the wordthe pronounced with the

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schah sometimes it's pronounced with an

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E vowel that would be when the next word

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begins with a vowel or diff thong here

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it begins with a consonant the H sound

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Hudson Hudson so it was awah the Hudson

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the Hudson River the Hudson River the

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Hudson River the Hudson river did you

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notice how the second and unstressed

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syllable of Hudson was pronounced it's

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written with the letter O but there's

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the schah vowel in there as an

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unstressed syllable it's very fast

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sun and when the schah is followed by

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the n Sound you don't need to worry

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about making a separate schah sound it

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gets absorbed by the

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n Hudson Hudson the Hudson River the

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Hudson River the Hudson River or in

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Central Park I noticed I did not reduce

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the word or that can be reduced

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to Hudson River or Central Park but in

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this case I didn't I said or wait I just

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realized I miss missed the word in or in

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Central Park or in Central Park do you

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hear how fast the word in is or or Orin

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or in Central Park Central stressed

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syllable of central is the first one sen

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s the second syllable has the schah

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troll troll troll Central Central

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Central did you notice I'm making more

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of a CH sound here instead of a t sound

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for the T in central

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Central troll troll this can happen when

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the t is followed by an R Central

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Central Central Park and sometimes I'll

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go visit friends in Brooklyn and

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sometimes I definitely dro the D in that

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word and sometimes and sometimes

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reducing the word and and sometimes and

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sometimes and sometimes let's talk about

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stress in that last part of the sentence

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and sometimes I'll go visit friends in

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Brooklyn what did you hear as being the

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most stressed syllables some sort of but

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even stronger

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VI

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friends Brook verb noun noun the content

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words and did you notice the contraction

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ale again pronounced with the a as in

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law vowel reduced to all all all

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all and sometimes

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and sometimes I'll and sometimes I'll go

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visit friends in Brooklyn also all of

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these words as always in a thought group

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were very connected I had a stop te here

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and visit so I didn't bother to release

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it which would have made a little Gap in

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my line visit friends visit friends

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visit friends visit friends visit

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friends in Brooklyn also the ending z

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sound of friends linked into the

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beginning vowel of the next

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word friends in friend in friends in

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friends in Brooklyn visit friends in

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Brooklyn visit friends in Brooklyn visit

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friends in Brooklyn one of my favorite

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things to do with a free day is to ride

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my bike sometimes I'll ride along the

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Hudson River or in Central Park and

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sometimes I'll go visit friends in

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Brooklyn I hope this has giv you some

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ideas on how to take notes and study the

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speech of native speakers do this on

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your own take video and audio clips that

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interest you or that have topics that

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are important to your field of work

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after you take good notes record the

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text yourself and compare to the

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original recording what do you still

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need to work on or what did you do well

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this is a great way to improve your

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pronunciation that's it and thanks so

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much for using Rachel's English so this

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is what I like to do with a free day

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what do you like to do with a free day

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record yourself talking about it and

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post it as a video response to this

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video on YouTube I can't wait to hear

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about it

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don't stop there keep learning with my

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fun American English and real life

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playlist my reduction in Linkin playlist

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or any of the playlists on my channel

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and don't forget to check out Rachel's

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english.com where there is lots more to

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work with