 Hello everyone. Good evening. Welcome to Learn English with me on Learn English Live. So it's great to see all of you today. We are going to have a lesson on reading this evening or this morning depending on what time it is where you are. So let's take a look at the chat and see who we have here so I can welcome all of you. So let's see. We have Dewey. Dewey, you are the first person to arrive according to what I see. So gold star for you. Hi Jonathan. I hope your lovely, lovely daughter is doing well. Grotrudas, it's great to see you here again. This week with Michelle, of course, Michelle. You are my favorite Frenchman and then we have Vachuda. Hello Vachuda. It's lovely to see you here. I have not seen you lately. So Michelle, thank you so much. My son Pasha, he celebrated his 14th birthday this past weekend and he was very excited because he received a sweatshirt like this. So I have a hooded sweatshirt on today and he received a hooded sweatshirt that has ramen noodles on it and he loves ramen noodles. He wants to eat them every day and so it looks like a packet of ramen noodles. He really liked this sweatshirt. So thanks for asking. Hello Leila. It is great to see you. I'm doing well today. I'm doing well. So like I mentioned today we are going to do a lesson to practice our reading skills as well as our comprehension skills. So I am going to share with you a couple of photos first that go along with what we're going to read about today from my blog post. So let's just take a look at what I want to share with you today from my blog post. So this was day 28 of our trip to Russia. We were in the country for 28 days at this point. Oh I understand Vashuta. I understand. The time is difficult for many students who live on the other side of the globe. So if you have not you can check out the full blog that I have here. It is under gibsonfamilyadoption.blogspot.com and you can read the entire adoption story if you would like. So I wanted to just share with you a couple of photos. So here is a photo of my husband and I with both of the boys. We took a nice trip on a boat and took a tour of Moscow with the boys prior to returning to the United States with them. So we are going to read about the day that was our last day in Moscow. So that is what we're going to read about today in our lesson. So let's go ahead and get started. Let me share my screen with you and we will take a look at our reading for today. So what I would like for you to do is to read the material and then we are going to discuss in the chat. I hope that this is a lesson that you will find a little challenging but rewarding for you. So here we go. Today is our last day in Moscow as we fly out early tomorrow morning. Chad and I are very ready to go. The boys don't know what to expect so they are none the wiser. Okay I will read this one more time. Now remember this is a blog and a blog is not a formal a formal piece of writing. A blog is more like written speech. So in this blog I am writing as if I were just talking to you telling you my story. Okay so there are things that we could improve upon in my writing. So let's listen again and again if you would like to read along with me and shadow my speaking that would be great too. Shadowing is a technique where you attempt to read or speak along with me simultaneously. So at the same time you don't imitate you actually say the words that in the same manner that I say them with the same rhythm and rate. So here we go. Today is our last day in Moscow as we fly out early tomorrow morning. Chad and I are very ready to go. The boys don't know what to expect so they are none the wiser. So students what does none the wiser mean? What do you think here? What does none the wiser mean? Let's take a look at the chat and see what you think none the wiser means. I had a great day today. My students really worked hard today. I hope you have had a nice Tuesday or that your Wednesday is beginning and it's started off well for you. So Gertrude says she has no idea. Does anyone else have any suggestions what the saying none the wiser means? So Layla says they don't know what will happen to them and Michelle says there are more wiser than them. All great points. Afon, hello Afon. Nice to see you. Welcome to my live lesson. It means they are wiser. Not knowing or understanding what to do is it correct? Okay so we are going to actually go to Oxford Learner's Dictionary and we are going to search none the wiser. So none the wiser is an idiom and as you can see here on the screen it talks about how you do not understand something even after it has been explained to you. You could say that you do not know or find out about something bad that somebody has done. In this instance being none the wiser means that they they wouldn't understand what was going to happen even if we had explained to them because as Layla said they didn't know what was going to happen. They'd never flown on a plane across the ocean. They had been on one plane right before from the region they lived in to Moscow. That was the first time they'd ever been on a plane. They hadn't had many experiences so they've lived what's called a sheltered life. A sheltered life means you haven't had many experiences. So they were none the wiser. It was a new situation for them. So let's go ahead and take a look back at the reading and let's try it one more time. Remember if you're going to shadow with me you're going to try and read along with me with the same rhythm rate and intonation. So here we go again. Today is our last day in Moscow as we fly out early tomorrow morning. Chad and I are very ready to go. The boys don't know what to expect so they are none the wiser. So Michelle says they are ignorant on the future events. So in this sentence when I said the boys don't know what to expect I probably didn't need to say so they are none the wiser because those two phrases they don't know what to expect. They are none the wiser. Those two phrases are very similar. They have the same meaning or intention. But as a native speaker I often will use idioms in my speaking and writing to help paint a picture for my listener. So when we are having conversation we will use idioms and slang and idiomatic expressions and maybe proverbs when we want to help our listener truly understand our message. So they are none the wiser. Okay so let's move on to our next sentence and again let's think about this in a step process. The first step will be you are going to read it to yourself. The second step will be I will read it and then you will imitate and then the final step will be you can shadow and read it with me. Yes Gertrudis it's a little redundant to say they didn't know what to expect and they were none the wiser. It's a little redundant. It's probably not the best writing but I was trying to portray the emotions of the event to my audience. Remember I wrote this blog when I was actually in Russia and I had many family members and friends who they would read it because it was the only way they could keep up with us as we were going through the process since we were overseas and back then there were cell phones but it wasn't quite as easy to communicate with someone out of the country. So let's take a look at this next slide. Chad and I both have a little anxiety about getting through the airport with them mostly due to concerns with our paperwork. Okay so I just read that sentence without a motion. I read it so that the pronunciation of the words were clear. Now I'm going to read the sentence with some emotion and give stress to the words and let's see if you can imitate with me. Yes Leila you have not had experience traveling alone so you are none the wiser. That is correct. So here we go. Chad and I both have a little anxiety about getting through the airport with them mostly due to concerns with our paperwork. Okay I'm going to give it a moment so you can finish reading and now I would like to just highlight a couple of things here. Okay so if I were to say a little anxiety hello Javier nice to see you. Chad and I both have a little anxiety. Hey Alyssa great to see you here in the chat. A little anxiety. We're doing another reading lesson today Alyssa so I am going through. I'm going to read the sentence first. You can then imitate with me and then I would like to work on you shadow reading so you saying the sentence along with me as we go through the lesson and we're going to answer questions about what we read. Chad and I both have a little anxiety. We have a little anxiety about getting through the airport with them mostly due to concerns with our paperwork. So do you think my usage of the word little accurately portrays how we may have been feeling? Chad and I both have a little anxiety about getting through the airport with them mostly due to concerns with our paperwork. Do you think we have a little anxiety? What do you guys think? So this is a continuation of my blog which I wrote about the adoption of our sons for those of you who are just joining. Do you guys think that my sentence and usage of the word little to describe the anxiety? Do you think that's an accurate usage of how I really felt? Let's see what you all are thinking. Chad and I both have a little anxiety about getting through the airport with them mostly due to concerns with our paperwork. So Michelle you're saying maybe you had you had you were stressing about it a bit. Let's see what anyone else thinks. The technique that I used here is I actually downplayed the emotion and by downplaying it there is a nuance to the reader who thinks well maybe they're actually feeling more anxiety than a little. A bit of anxiety would be a good way to describe. Chad and I both have a bit of anxiety. Vashuta yes a little worried about it and Laila were anxious but to be honest we had more than just a little anxiety. We were very anxious. We were nervous. We were worried about taking our young children into an airport in a foreign country that spoke a language that we did not but my children did speak Russian and so I was worried that my children would maybe say something in Russian that we wouldn't understand but the airport officials would understand and we would get in trouble. So yes it was a very interesting situation. So to be honest I should have said Chad and I both have a lot of anxiety about getting through the airport because we were concerned about our paperwork. I should have said we have a lot but I downplayed the emotion so the reader will realize oh actually they're feeling a lot of anxiety here. Laila it's a nuance that you can use when to help the reader kind of recognize oh well maybe they're a little more nervous than what they're saying because my audience of readers when I wrote this blog post were my family and close friends so they knew me and they knew my husband and they would be able to read this and say hmm I bet they feel more than just a little nervous. I hope that helps Laila. So let's take a look. Yes Michelle we did we over you but you overcame your anxiety your sentence would be but you overcame your anxiety that is correct we did. Okay so let's take a look at this next pass passage and I have a question after this passage for you I'll have a question. So listen carefully first we'll read it through three times at least. Everything is in order we have the boys passports and adoption decrees but there is always that nagging feeling that we won't be allowed to leave the country. Okay so let's look at a couple of words here. So first of all I want to point out I don't think the usage of a comma is the best choice here. Hey Anna great to see you. This isn't really a very well constructed sentence. I think either I should have used a period and say everything seems to be in order period. We have the boys passports maybe I should say everything seems to be in order I think and then use a period here. We have the boys passports and here you see the apostrophe after s because this is a possessive noun. We have the boys passports and adoption decrees. The adoption decree ah thank you Jonathan. The adoption decree is the official document that Russia gave us that said that we are their parents. So it's a very important paper that we have with us at all times to show that these children are our children. We have the boys passports and adoption decrees but there is always that nagging feeling that we won't be allowed to leave the country. So now let's try shadow reading okay so remember with shadow reading you are going to say the words as I say them and try to use the same rate and rhythm in the reading. So here we go everything seems to be in order. We have the boys passports and adoption decrees but there is always that nagging feeling that we won't be allowed to leave the country. Okay you guys are doing a great job. Thanks Anna for stopping by I hope you have a productive meeting. So students what does the word nagging mean? What does the word nagging mean? I would like for you to use the word nagging in a sentence. So write your sentence in the comments so you're going to use the word nagging in a sentence. Nagging I can't wait to see what your sentence will be. Remember here I will read you the sentence again. We have the boys passports and adoption decrees but there is always that nagging feeling that we won't be allowed to leave the country. So let's see what you guys come up with. What do you guys think here? Let's use nagging in a sentence. Do we need to look up the word? We can look it up for sure. So Michelle thinks a fear of others so nagging is used to describe feeling. The word feeling. Nagging feeling. Beshuda says maybe a painful feeling. Gertrude says persistent. You guys are really thinking very thoroughly that is fantastic. So let's go ahead and go back to our Oxford Learners Dictionary and we're going to look up the meaning of the word nagging. Layla says I have don't forget your article. I have a nagging feeling that I won't speak English well while traveling. So let's do nagging. So nagging is an adjective which means continuing for a long time and difficult to cure or remove. A nagging pain or a nagging doubt. Oh Alyssa my boss keeps nagging me to do every single little task. I am sorry. That is frustrating. So the example here nagging feeling. So it is we're going to take a look here at what nagging means. It means continuing for a long time and difficult to cure or remove. So it is something that is excuse me it's always there it's present and yes Layla nagging something that's nagging is annoying as well. A nagging feeling. So let's take a look again. We have the boys passports and adoption decrees but there is always that nagging feeling that we won't be allowed to leave the country. Now remember guys what are we feeling anxious about? We are feeling anxious due to here. We are anxious that maybe the officials at the airport will look at our paperwork and find something wrong with it. Maybe they will find something wrong with it and that feeling that anxiety it's a nagging feeling it's always there as we are preparing to return home to the United States. So now let's try guys let's use a sentence with the word nagging. Alyssa and Layla did a great job with it. Let's see if anyone else can give us an example of a sentence with the word nagging. I would love to see some more examples. Does anyone have any other thoughts? Let's see here. Ooh, dwee. I love it. Great. I feel terrible asking you this but it keeps nagging at me. Great. So it's this persistent feeling that you can't stop so you need to ask this question. Good. My sister has a nagging feeling before her wedding. Uh-oh. Is she getting cold feet Layla? Cold feet is a way to describe someone who is reconsidering their choice of doing something. When I fly to the USA I always have a nagging feeling. So gratuitous don't forget your article. When I fly to the USA I always have a nagging feeling. So you could use the word nagging to describe other nouns. I have a nagging pain in my shoulder a nagging pain in my shoulder. So about three months ago I slept funny on my shoulder and ever since then every once in a while I'll get this nagging pain in my shoulder. So it can be regarding pain as well just like we said a nagging pain or doubt. So we doubted that we would make it through the airport safely and be able to get on our plane to come home. Okay so let's take a look at our next one I'll wait a moment and see if we have any other sentences. So if we wanted to use the word nag in another way you there are many other ways you can use nag as a verb. Vishuddha says I had a nagging feeling that I had forgotten to cook. I have a nagging pain in my side recently. Okay so Leila you would say I have had a nagging pain in my side recently. If you wanted to say I have a nagging pain you would say I have a nagging pain in my side today but recently means you've had it over a period of time that is recent. When I fly to the USA I always have a nagging feeling. Yes so Alyssa a debilitating pain. A nagging pain is something that is annoying but I wouldn't consider a nagging pain to be debilitating. It's a nagging pain is something that's just kind of always there. It's there. It's not pleasant but it's not debilitating. Okay so yes good nice Leila. Okay so let's try this sentence. I know that hundreds of families leave the SVO airport every month with their newly adopted children so I am sure it will be fine. Okay so now let's read through a second time this time you can imitate after me so that means you're going to read the sentence after I do. I know that hundreds of families leave the SVO airport every month with their newly adopted children so I am sure it will be fine. My friend's behavior is okay so you would need to change your sentence for shoduck because nagging is an adjective. It's supposed to describe a noun so I guess here you could say my friend's behavior is you could say my friend's nagging behavior is annoying because then nagging is describing behavior. I just think arranging that sentence differently would help. My friend's behavior my nagging friend's behavior you could say that too because then nagging would describe friend. My nagging friend's behavior is annoying. That would be a great sentence. Okay so now we're going to do some shadow reading remember so you're going to read along with me and attempt to imitate the rhythm rate and stress. You are welcome Vashuda here we go. I know that hundreds of families leave the SVO airport every month with their newly adopted children so I'm sure it will be fine. Okay so you heard the emotion there and the stress of specific words so let's try it again. Leila yes you always have a nagging feeling before any travel I hate this feeling yes it's that feeling of did I forget something I have this nagging feeling that I forgot something so let's try it one more time with some emotion and intonation and the rhythm like mine. Let's do some shadowing here we go I know that hundreds of families leave the SVO airport every month with their newly adopted children so I'm sure it will be fine when I say it will be fine I am saying what I'm sure it will be fine what do I mean there guys when I say it will be fine what do you think I mean there when I say it'll be fine I'm sure it'll be fine there's a little bit of a delay in my feed so so yes Michelle Michelle says all everything will go well no worries yes Jonathan Vashuda says believing nothing wrong is going to happen there's no reason to be anxious yes so Leila that's exactly what I'm saying here so as I'm writing in this blog I'm talking about how I'm nervous but I'm also trying to say I'm trying to say I want to think things are going to be fine because many other people have done the same thing that we are doing and it worked out it worked out means that everything ended in a positive way so Chad did it work out we got out of the airport my husband's doing the dishes what so he's agreeing he's saying that was a scary situation hello Mia we're saying he said it was a scary situation you had official people from Russia officers in uniform right so military men and women in official uniforms with guns and not just handguns but semi-automatic weapons machine guns and dogs and it was a little intimidating not a little it was very intimidating intimidating means they seemed very powerful and we seemed to be powerless we felt like we did not have any power in the situation but yes by my writing here Gertrudis I'm trying to convince my reader everything will be fine and I'm also trying to convince myself that it'll be fine okay so let's move on Chad is worried although he doesn't say it about the mechanics of hauling all of the luggage and boys through everything okay so we're gonna try it again this time I want you to imitate what I read Chad is worried although he doesn't say it about the mechanics of hauling all of the luggage and boys through everything okay so now we're gonna try one more time but this time I want you to use shadowing okay and I'm sorry for the noise my husband is doing some dishes it's his chore today on our chore board Chad is worried although he doesn't say it about the mechanics of hauling all of the luggage and boys through everything okay so we're going to take a look at a couple of words in this sentence let's start with the word mechanics mechanics what do we think mechanics what does the word mechanics mean Chad is worried about the mechanics of hauling Chad is worried although he doesn't say it about the mechanics so let's take a look at mechanics so this is an example of down here the mechanics of something so the mechanics is the way something works or is done the way something works or is done procedure yes that's good so Jonathan we're not talking about the airplane we're talking about the process of hauling hauling is another word you haul something means that you are going to take something with you you're going to move it from one place to another he was worried about the procedure the regulation the process of moving all of the luggage and the boys through the airport how are we going to navigate through the airport with two small children and a bunch of luggage like we had a cart full of luggage that we had to push and get through a big airport so it was a lot to think about and you're in a foreign country you don't speak the language so it just makes you feel uncomfortable so you can haul you can haul goods in a vehicle from one city to another i'm going to haul my kids to school you can say i'm going to haul the kids to school meaning i'm going to take them to school hauling can be used let's take a look at the word hauling let's do that next so i'm going to add another slide and we will look up the word haul so haul is a verb and it means to pull something or somebody with a lot of effort it also means to move yourself somewhere slowly and with a lot of effort so we could say it would be probably to haul something or somebody that would be a best description of what we're doing here so we're going to say this here is our example of hauling to pull something or somebody with a lot of effort but it's a present progressive here we have a verb and it's an idiom it's a verb form we were nervous about hauling the boys and the luggage through the airport it was going to take a lot of effort i hope that that is helpful for you guys okay i will haul my bird to my friend's house before i will travel okay so leila your bird would that take a lot of effort to take your bird and its cage and all of its supplies if it's something that would take a lot of effort then yes or maybe slightly difficult that would be appropriate i'm going to haul my furniture across the united states to my new home i'm going to haul my new furniture across the united states to my new home he hauls her at home after dinner um so you could say bashoota if you had someone who was large and you had to pull them out of their chair you could say i hauled her out of her chair and put her to bed so bashoota you could say i hauled her out of her chair and put her to bed if it was a person that was a larger person and you were smaller it would take a lot of effort yes michelle we probably needed someone to help us but it costs what yeah but it costs so much money that people couldn't afford to go with us yes leila they will haul new cars to several countries that is a great example we haul h u h a u l alissa haul h a u l um we haul our furniture with the moving truck or in the moving truck we haul our furniture in the moving truck or we haul our furniture with the moving truck okay now why do you think i use the word mechanics in the sentence or what is another word that could be used instead of the word mechanics so let's take a look at this sentence and what else could we use besides mechanics i think some of you mentioned alissa said procedure i think that would be a great synonym to use anyone else have any other ideas grotrudus i hauled my daughter to school because she didn't want to go there yes perfect because another definition of haul is to move someone okay to force somebody to go somewhere they do not want to go that is another example of haul somebody i hauled my daughter to school because she didn't want to go there very nice good work okay so what's another word that we could use besides mechanics yes that's correct a system hmm that's good jonathan yes you could say sense system and do we um yes anyone would have to have a passport there are just a lot of things someone would have to do to come along with us but the main thing was the money and the time steps good steps great synonym to describe this the mechanics the steps he was worried about the steps of making it through the airport with the children about the steps that you need to do it yes how are we going to travel through the airport to get on the airplane the steps we needed to take very nice okay let's see here we're going to have to move a little bit more quickly through the rest of this so let's talk about our next slide it won't help that we are going to be leaving in the middle of the night so may have some very cranky little guys i will try it again this time i want you to imitate after me please it won't help that we are going to be leaving in the middle of the night so may have some very cranky little guys okay now let's try shadowing it won't help that we are going to be leaving in the middle of the night so we may have some very cranky little guys so let's take a look at this i suggest that i did not write this sentence as well as i could have remember this is a blog so it is written informally hey arnold great to have you here thanks for stopping we are doing a reading lesson today so this is a blog post and my blog was an informal way to share with others about our adoption and it is as if i were speaking to someone but i think i need to add something to this sentence it won't help that we are going to be leaving in the middle of the night so may have so who may have i think i need to add we so we may have some very cranky little guys i think i needed to add that word to help the listener or the reader to understand a little bit better what does the word cranky mean guys does anyone know what the word cranky means hey arnold i have not seen you in the live stream before welcome to learn english live i teach here on tuesday evenings my time wednesday mornings if you are on the other side of the world in asia or the middle east or india or even if you're in europe like our friend michelle what does the word cranky mean guys weird or strange chica cranky let's see if anyone else has any ideas on the word cranky do you want to come up and say hi to the students my mascots here say hello students maybe they will be sleepy at that time are you cranky so easily get frustrated irritated agitated excellent yes alissa and leila correct so let's take a look at the definition of cranky again we're going to the oxford learners dictionary cranky is an adjective easily annoyed and north american english here is an example of cranky i will add a slide so you can see why is your dad trying to get your attention hmm he wants you to leave my husband's trying to get chica to go see what he's doing so let's make this bigger robin is always cranky oh whoops that did not work out let's try that again we need to that's very interesting let's try that again robin was hiding easily annoyed in north american english easily annoyed the kids are we're getting tired and a little cranky so lopez welcome good evening everyone so yes we were going to leave in the middle of the night so we were going to have to wake up the children and leave or in the middle of the night and they're not going to be happy okay ah yes so cranky means easily annoyed they were easily there would be easily annoyed because they were tired robin is always cranky okay so let's take a look now remember let's imitate this first time through i am hoping once we get checked in and get rid of the language the luggage they will fall asleep on our laps as we wait to board the plane so lopez we are reading through a blog post together we're practicing imitating the reading and we're practicing speaking as the teacher is saying the words to get the rate and rhythm and stress and emotion of of this this is an informal writing a blog is like speaking so this is me speaking to my audience of my family and friends okay so i'm saying i'm hoping i am hoping once we get checked in and get rid of the luggage they will fall asleep on our laps as we wait to board the plane so students what does it mean to get rid of get rid of let's take a look at that hello carlos welcome what does it mean to get rid of ah well i'm glad you joined st falo pez i appreciate it we're here i'm here every week at this time get rid of what does it mean to get rid of something ah so jonathan you need to say i feel a little bit cranky when i can't go for a ride on my bike when i can't go for a ride you are in a better mood when you get to go for a ride on your bike i feel a little bit cranky when i can't go for a ride on my bike yes so we've got some answers coming in get rid of doesn't mean to get rid of alissa says to remove gratuitous remove we're not going to remove the luggage we're going to be able to leave the luggage so that they're going to put the luggage on the plane so we get to drop it off and the airline will take the luggage get rid of not to get over something get rid of so let's take a look at get rid of chica so these are idioms to get rid of i will share this with you get rid of we got rid of the luggage to make yourself free of something that is annoying you or that you do not want we're not going to throw away the luggage but we are going to give it to the airline to put on the plane so we don't have to push it or haul it around anymore okay get rid of means to erase but this is an idiom here guys to get rid of something to get rid of it to throw it away or to leave it somewhere so because you don't want it anymore we got rid of it we gave it to the airline so that we didn't have to carry it until we get to america and then we get it back hopefully because sometimes the airlines lose your luggage we did get it back so that was good okay so let's take a look at our last slide for today i will read it the first time through please imitate and read with me they didn't sleep at all during the four-hour flight from camerovo to Moscow so we will see we couldn't get seats all together for either flight so we will split up two and two yes leila i want to get rid of my negative feelings i want to get rid of my negative feelings that's okay save alopez you can come on time next week so now we're going to read again and i would like for you to work on imitating the rhythm the melody the stress the emotion that i use okay they didn't sleep at all during the four-hour flight from camerovo to Moscow so we will see we couldn't get seats all together for either flight so we will split up two and two so i'm explaining that when we were on the flight from the region of russia that they lived in to Moscow that they didn't sleep on a four-hour flight and so i wasn't sure the long flight from Moscow to the United States i wasn't sure if they would sleep and yes st valopiz so we will split up two and two that means that we will not fly in seats that are right next to each other yes gratuitous they're separated seats the seats are not all together there are two seats and two seats and two different places on the plane okay we made it through i hope you read this aloud as we went through the lesson we learned some new words today you can the first time read just to make sure you are fluent in reading the words correctly the second time you can read through and imitate the speaker the third time you can do shadow reading where you are attempting to read along and i am hoping to do some more lessons like this in the future thank you so much for coming to this lesson today do you guys have any questions before i sign off i would be more than happy to answer if you have any questions so i have a youtube channel myself which is learn english with sherry you can check under this feed today you have all of my social media i will actually share with you right here since we have some new people here i will share with you i am on just about everywhere learn english with sherry on tiktok instagram facebook and youtube that is my name for all of them and it's posted below okay leila thanks so much have a great one um i will post the links are below lopez saint lila val they're they're below thanks leila have a great one i will have homework here tomorrow and yes gratuitous reading in context is very important uh thank you everyone i really appreciate it you guys worked really hard today this is not easy easy information so well done great job everybody all right have a great rest of your afternoon morning evening and i'll see you next week be kind to one another see ya