Shadowing Exercise:
Often when meeting people, it’s difficult to understand or say someone’s name because you’re unfamiliar with English names. This exercise is designed to help you become familiar with common names and to get used to saying them correctly.
Using the list of 100 Most popular English names, first open and download the PDF file. With the file open, play the male and female recordings and follow along as the speaker reads each name on the list. Then play the recordings a second time and repeat each name out loud after the speaker says it. Try to pronounce the names exactly the same way the speaker says them. If you struggle with one, pause the recording and say it several times until you can say it the same way the speaker says it.
NOTE: The speaker will only say the first 50 male and first 50 female names. Read the others to become more familiar with them too though. Many of the names have nicknames. We’ve only included the nickname if it’s more common to hear than the original name.
Speaking Exercise:
Pretend you’re in a conversation with the speaker. First, press the record button, then quickly press the play button for the audio file. When the speaker finishes his statement and pauses, give your answer to his question. Repeat this until you’ve answered all questions. If you don’t have time to give your answer before the speaker starts talking again, you can pause the audio file and then press play again to hear the next question when you’re ready. But be sure to keep recording the whole time, don’t stop recording yourself.
Speaking Exercise Transcript
- Hi, I’m John, What’s your name?
- Nice to meet you. How long have you been with that company?
- How did you get into this line of work?
- Oh interesting. What exciting projects or new ventures has your team been working on recently?
- Sounds exciting. What challenges do you see on the horizon for the industry?
- Yeah, those are good thoughts. What potential opportunities do you foresee coming soon for your team?
