WARM-UP VIDEO FOR VOCALIZED /l/

Instructions.  some British accents, 'l' sometimes gets replaced by a vowel-like sound, so 'film' might sound like 'fium' or 'fiwm'. Listen to this TEDx talk by Maisie Williams and type expressions that contain a 'vocalized /l/'.

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Exercise. Complete each gap with suitable words and expressions you hear from the video.

I got very ordinary grades. I wasn't quite good enough to get a gold star, and I also wasn't quite bad enough to be kept (1) …………... I walked that nice center line where if I kept my mouth shut in class, then I could probably get away with not being spoken to you by teachers for weeks on end. Everything about me was pretty damn ordinary, except for (2) ………….. on the inside. I had big dreams. Shock. cranking up the volume to drown out the noise and letting my body move to the beat. It's hard to describe (3) ………….. . I was harnessing emotions that I didn't even really know the names of yet. I was summoning all of this energy and feeling it flow through my body and out of my fingertips. I was alone in my own head, and (4) ………….. most alive. I didn't really know much about the big wide world then, but I knew that this feeling was addictive; At eight years old, I was enrolled in dance class. And by ten, I informed my mother that I didn't want to (5) ………….. anymore. I wanted to be like Billy Elliot and go to stage school. This was the first opportunity or challenge I was presented with. and into a world of jazz hands and dorm rooms. It was good news followed by bad news: I had got in, but the fees to attend a (6) ………….. this were not cheap, and despite my best efforts, I had not received any government funding. I auditioned again the following year. with specialists who would help train you up for your performance at the end of the week. After meeting a woman (7) ………….. Louise Johnston in an improvisation acting workshop, she gave me the words "bowling (8) ………….. ," and asked me to create a short scene inspired by these words. After making her laugh with a fictional story, of how I threw a bowling (9) ………….. at my brother and it bounced, she asked me to join her acting agency. I didn't really know what this meant. I knew that I would do auditions (10) ………….. and maybe become an actor, but I still had big dreams of becoming a professional dancer, so this woman was going to have to work a lot harder than that and trying but failing to land the part in the hit sequel "Nanny McPhee"to "The Big Bang," my second audition was for a show (11) ………….. "Game of Thrones." This was the third opportunity or challenge I was presented with. I climbed the steps to the Methodist Church and listened to an annoying girl with her even more annoying mother tell me all about the number of auditions she had done prior to this one. (12) ………….. about her pet fish. My name (13) ………….. , then I stepped inside. I had a hard Bristolian accent and dark rings around my eyes that were so big they took up half my face Throughout my time in this industry, it has been a minefield. I have grown from a child into an adult, and from (14) ………….. into a whopping five (15) ………….. . (Laughter) I have constantly been trying to say the right thing, however, I know that this is something that I can help change. This last year in the industry, we've seen a huge shift with the Me Too movement. The industry is (16) ………….. gatekeepers holding all of the power and selecting who they deem talented enough to advance to the next level. More often than not, it's easier to catch the attention of those people if you have graduated from an expensive school. But even then, I have so many friends who are fresh out of (17) ………….. , having trained for years and are still no closer to creating a career. Now, I'm not claiming that with Daisy I can make everybody a star, and over 30,000 comments asking when the Android version was going to be coming. Despite our app being imperfect, buggy and literally (18) ………….. one man alone, this was exactly what we needed for people to invest. We learned a lot from our angry users and our scary investors. which we will be launching in April. Within the industry, there is a common phrase which I think (19) ………….. pretty familiar with. And that is, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." And with Daisy, I hope to give that power back to the creator.

Key: Look at the key and say aloud the script from the video to improve your English.

I got very ordinary grades. I wasn't quite good enough to get a gold star, and I also wasn't quite bad enough to be kept (1) (after school) . I walked that nice center line where if I kept my mouth shut in class, then I could probably get away with not being spoken to you by teachers for weeks on end. Everything about me was pretty damn ordinary, except for (2) (how I felt) on the inside. I had big dreams. Shock. cranking up the volume to drown out the noise and letting my body move to the beat. It's hard to describe (3) (how it felt) . I was harnessing emotions that I didn't even really know the names of yet. I was summoning all of this energy and feeling it flow through my body and out of my fingertips. I was alone in my own head, and (4) (I felt the) most alive. I didn't really know much about the big wide world then, but I knew that this feeling was addictive; At eight years old, I was enrolled in dance class. And by ten, I informed my mother that I didn't want to (5) (go to school) anymore. I wanted to be like Billy Elliot and go to stage school. This was the first opportunity or challenge I was presented with. and into a world of jazz hands and dorm rooms. It was good news followed by bad news: I had got in, but the fees to attend a (6) (school like) this were not cheap, and despite my best efforts, I had not received any government funding. I auditioned again the following year. with specialists who would help train you up for your performance at the end of the week. After meeting a woman (7) (called) Louise Johnston in an improvisation acting workshop, she gave me the words "bowling (8) (ball) ," and asked me to create a short scene inspired by these words. After making her laugh with a fictional story, of how I threw a bowling (9) (ball) at my brother and it bounced, she asked me to join her acting agency. I didn't really know what this meant. I knew that I would do auditions (10) (for films) and maybe become an actor, but I still had big dreams of becoming a professional dancer, so this woman was going to have to work a lot harder than that and trying but failing to land the part in the hit sequel "Nanny McPhee"to "The Big Bang," my second audition was for a show (11) (called) "Game of Thrones." This was the third opportunity or challenge I was presented with. I climbed the steps to the Methodist Church and listened to an annoying girl with her even more annoying mother tell me all about the number of auditions she had done prior to this one. (12) (And also) about her pet fish. My name (13) (was called) , then I stepped inside. I had a hard Bristolian accent and dark rings around my eyes that were so big they took up half my face Throughout my time in this industry, it has been a minefield. I have grown from a child into an adult, and from (14) (four feet tall) into a whopping five (15) (feet tall) . (Laughter) I have constantly been trying to say the right thing, however, I know that this is something that I can help change. This last year in the industry, we've seen a huge shift with the Me Too movement. The industry is (16) (built with) gatekeepers holding all of the power and selecting who they deem talented enough to advance to the next level. More often than not, it's easier to catch the attention of those people if you have graduated from an expensive school. But even then, I have so many friends who are fresh out of (17) (art school) , having trained for years and are still no closer to creating a career. Now, I'm not claiming that with Daisy I can make everybody a star, and over 30,000 comments asking when the Android version was going to be coming. Despite our app being imperfect, buggy and literally (18) (built by) one man alone, this was exactly what we needed for people to invest. We learned a lot from our angry users and our scary investors. which we will be launching in April. Within the industry, there is a common phrase which I think (19) (we're all) pretty familiar with. And that is, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." And with Daisy, I hope to give that power back to the creator.

Sources: 

Channel: TEDx Talks. Don't strive to be famous, strive to be talented | Maisie Williams | TEDxManchester: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTYOpfGvlwc

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Compiled by Top Grade Edu

WARM-UP VIDEO FOR SILENT /r/

Instructions. In some British accents, 'r' is only pronounced if a vowel follows, so you won't hear /r/ in expressions like 'the cart' or 'report'. Such words are especially difficult to catch if some other sound is missing. For example, in 'report' the /t/ after the silent 'r' may be missing too, so you might hear 'repo:'. Listen to this TEDx talk by Maisie Williams and type expressions that contain a 'silent /r/'.

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Exercise. Complete each gap with suitable words and expressions you hear from the video.

What point am I trying to make? And who the hell thought it was a good idea to give me a TEDx talk? So here's (1) ………….. tell you what I know: I'm the youngest (2) ………….. siblings. My parents divorced when I (3) ………….. months old. I really was the icing on the cake of a terrible marriage. (Laughter) and I was going to stop at nothing until I made it my profession. At eight years old, I was enrolled in dance class. And by ten, (4) ………….. my mother that I didn't want to go to school anymore. I wanted to be like Billy Elliot and go to stage school. which boasted opportunities of making you a star. This was the second opportunity I was faced with. I (5) ………….. into singing, acting, dancing and modeling. The talent show consisted of workshops and seminars Was this going to take time away from the 30 hours of dancing I was doing a week? And what if I didn't get (6) ………….. ? Was this going to be too upsetting? And do actresses have teeth like mine? Because if they do, I'm yet to watch any of their movies. After meeting Louise in the February of 2009 and trying but failing to land (7) ………….. in the hit sequel "Nanny McPhee"to "The Big Bang," my second audition was for a show called "Game of Thrones." And also about her pet fish. My name was called, then I stepped inside. I had (8) ………….. Bristolian accent and dark rings around my eyes that were so big they took up half my face and a hole in the knee of my trousers which I tried to cover with my left hand as I was talking to the kind lady who taped my audition. But as soon as she pressed (9) ………….., it all drifted away. Much like when I was dancing in my mother's living room, I was angry. And for this, I was perfect. After getting (10) ………….. and shooting the pilot episode, the show slowly grew to become one of the biggest shows in television history. To this day, we've smashed previous HBO viewing (11) ………….. . We've been nominated for over 130 Emmys, making us the most Emmy-nominated show to ever exist. We've recently finished shooting our eighth and final season, which is predicted to smash (12) ………….. that we've already broken. And nearly a decade to the day since my first audition, I'm still wondering, and trying to stop saying"like, like" all of the time. In February of 2017, a friend of mine, Dom, and I were swigging (13) ………….. in my kitchen, and he confessed to me that there is a huge problem with the creative industries. More often than not, it's easier to catch the attention of those people if you have graduated from an expensive school. But even then, I have so many friends who are fresh out of (14) ………….. , having trained for years and are still no closer to creating a career. Now, I'm not claiming that with Daisy I can make everybody a star, but I do believe that the key to success within creative industries is collaborating. (15) ………….. are only as good as their (16) ………….. . Musicians are only as strong as their (17) ………….. . And (18) ………….. need their teams. (19) ………….. the company, we self-funded. I had a pot of cash from "Game of Thrones" that I was free to invest wherever I liked. I only found out what it is about six months ago. And from what I can gather, it's a product which proves as a problem worth solving with the minimum (20) ………….. . So basically from my point of view, you're marketing something which you know is going to be good one day, and over 30,000 comments asking when the Android version was going to be coming. (21) ………….. being imperfect, buggy and literally built by one man alone, this was exactly what we needed for people to invest. (22) ………….. a lot from our (23) ………….. and (24………….. . And over the last six months, we have grown (25) ………….. to 16 people. From then till now, we've been building version two, which we will be launching in April. And with Daisy, I hope to give that power back to the creator. I want to encourage people to create a list of contacts that they will work with (26) ………….. as they take their first steps into the fickle and often challenging creative world. I am of the generation who grew up with the Internet. into the slightly dystopian, ad-riddled hellscapes that social media platforms have become. I hope to create a space where people can boast (27) ………….. and creativity rather than what car they are driving and whether or not they bought it in cash or on finance. when you don't know what the hell is going on. Refuse to hold yourself back, (28) ………….. dream big. Thank you for listening. (Applause)

Key: Look at the key and say aloud the script from the video to improve your English.

What point am I trying to make? And who the hell thought it was a good idea to give me a TEDx talk? So here's (1) (the part where I) tell you what I know: I'm the youngest (2) (of four) siblings. My parents divorced when I (3) (was four) months old. I really was the icing on the cake of a terrible marriage. (Laughter) and I was going to stop at nothing until I made it my profession. At eight years old, I was enrolled in dance class. And by ten, (4) (I informed) my mother that I didn't want to go to school anymore. I wanted to be like Billy Elliot and go to stage school. which boasted opportunities of making you a star. This was the second opportunity I was faced with. I (5) (entered) into singing, acting, dancing and modeling. The talent show consisted of workshops and seminars Was this going to take time away from the 30 hours of dancing I was doing a week? And what if I didn't get (6) (the part) ? Was this going to be too upsetting? And do actresses have teeth like mine? Because if they do, I'm yet to watch any of their movies. After meeting Louise in the February of 2009 and trying but failing to land (7) (the part) in the hit sequel "Nanny McPhee"to "The Big Bang," my second audition was for a show called "Game of Thrones." And also about her pet fish. My name was called, then I stepped inside. I had (8) (a hard) Bristolian accent and dark rings around my eyes that were so big they took up half my face and a hole in the knee of my trousers which I tried to cover with my left hand as I was talking to the kind lady who taped my audition. But as soon as she pressed (9) (record) , it all drifted away. Much like when I was dancing in my mother's living room, I was angry. And for this, I was perfect. After getting (10) (the part) and shooting the pilot episode, the show slowly grew to become one of the biggest shows in television history. To this day, we've smashed previous HBO viewing (11) (records) . We've been nominated for over 130 Emmys, making us the most Emmy-nominated show to ever exist. We've recently finished shooting our eighth and final season, which is predicted to smash (12) (records) that we've already broken. And nearly a decade to the day since my first audition, I'm still wondering, and trying to stop saying"like, like" all of the time. In February of 2017, a friend of mine, Dom, and I were swigging (13) (beers) in my kitchen, and he confessed to me that there is a huge problem with the creative industries. More often than not, it's easier to catch the attention of those people if you have graduated from an expensive school. But even then, I have so many friends who are fresh out of (14) (art school) , having trained for years and are still no closer to creating a career. Now, I'm not claiming that with Daisy I can make everybody a star, but I do believe that the key to success within creative industries is collaborating. (15) (Actors) are only as good as their (16) (writers) . Musicians are only as strong as their (17) (producers) . And (18) (designers) need their teams. (19) (To start) the company, we self-funded. I had a pot of cash from "Game of Thrones" that I was free to invest wherever I liked. I only found out what it is about six months ago. And from what I can gather, it's a product which proves as a problem worth solving with the minimum (20) (team effort) . So basically from my point of view, you're marketing something which you know is going to be good one day, and over 30,000 comments asking when the Android version was going to be coming. (21) (Despite our app) being imperfect, buggy and literally built by one man alone, this was exactly what we needed for people to invest. (22) (We learned) a lot from our (23) (angry users) and (24) (our scary investors) . And over the last six months, we have grown (25) (our team) to 16 people. From then till now, we've been building version two, which we will be launching in April. And with Daisy, I hope to give that power back to the creator. I want to encourage people to create a list of contacts that they will work with (26) (and support) as they take their first steps into the fickle and often challenging creative world. I am of the generation who grew up with the Internet. into the slightly dystopian, ad-riddled hellscapes that social media platforms have become. I hope to create a space where people can boast (27) (their art) and creativity rather than what car they are driving and whether or not they bought it in cash or on finance. when you don't know what the hell is going on. Refuse to hold yourself back, (28) (and dare to) dream big. Thank you for listening. (Applause)

Sources: 

Channel: TEDx Talks. Don't strive to be famous, strive to be talented | Maisie Williams | TEDxManchester: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTYOpfGvlwc

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Compiled by Top Grade Edu