WARM-UP VIDEO FOR GLOTTAL STOP

Instructions. In British English, the /t/ sound sometimes gets replaced by a 'silent' sound, so-called 'glottal stop', between vowels. Listen to this TEDx talk by Maisie Williams and type expressions that contain a glottal stop

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

I'm Maisie Williams. And I'm kind of just waiting for someone to come on stage and tell me that there's been some (1) ………….. miscommunication, and that I should probably leave. No? And I would be lying if I said it didn't take me one or two sleepless nights, trying to (2) ………….., too. At last, here I am. Upon finding out the news that I would be giving a TEDx Talk, I did (3) ………….. most people do and watched about 50 TED talks back-to-back, and read "Talk like TED"by Carmine Gallo for some inspiration. I wasn't quite good enough to get a gold star, and I also wasn't quite bad enough to be kept after school. I walked that nice center line where if I kept my mouth (4) ………….. class, then I could probably (5) ………….. with not being spoken to you by teachers for weeks on end. Everything about me was (6) ………….. damn ordinary, except for how I felt on the inside. I had big dreams. From as young as I can remember, I have dreamed of becoming a professional dancer. There are (7) ………….. memories from my childhood that I would really rather forget. But during those times of immense pain, 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 (8) ………….. my fingertips. I was alone in my own head, and 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; and I was going to stop at nothing until I made it my profession. (9) ………….. years old, I was enrolled in dance class. And by ten, I informed my mother that I didn't want to go to school anymore. for becoming a professional dancer. And when I look back now, both myself and my mother looked severely (10) ………….. place. But at the time, I was just too young and naive to feel inadequate. I didn't care. Once my audition was done, I returned home for two weeks of staring out the window, waiting for the postman, waiting for my ticket (11) ………….. my sleepy village and into a world of jazz hands and dorm rooms. It was good news followed by bad news: I had (12) ………….. , but the fees to attend a school like this were not cheap, and despite my best efforts, I had not received any government funding. I auditioned again the following year. in an improvisation acting workshop, she gave me the words "bowling ball," and asked me to (13) ………….. short scene inspired by these words. After making her laugh with a fictional story, of how I threw a bowling ball at my brother and it bounced, as I was talking to the kind lady who taped my audition. But as soon as she pressed record, (14) ………….. drifted away. Much like when I was dancing in my mother's living room, I harnessed all of my insecurities and self-doubt and let it flow through the words that came (15) ………….. my mouth. I was cheeky. I was loud. The series of events that had got me to that point were based mainly on luck and timing and were unable to be recreated. He suggested to me that we (16) ………….. social media, but just for artists to be able to collaborate with one another and (17) ………….. career. This was the fourth opportunity or challenge I was presented with. "(18) ………….. ," I thought. "How the hell do we do that?" And Daisy was born. 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 (19) ………….. 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. (20) ………….. app being imperfect, buggy and literally 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 we're all (21) ………….. familiar with. (22) ………….. , "It's not what you know, it's who you know." And with Daisy, I hope to give that power back to the creator. I want to encourage people to (23) ………….. list of contacts that they will work with and support as they take their first steps into the fickle and often challenging creative world. into the slightly dystopian, ad-riddled hellscapes that social media platforms have become. I hope to (24) ………….. space where people can boast their art and creativity rather than what car they are driving and whether or not they (25) ………….. in cash or on finance. In a world where literally anyone can be famous, I hope to inspire people to be talented instead.

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

I'm Maisie Williams. And I'm kind of just waiting for someone to come on stage and tell me that there's been some (1) (sort of) miscommunication, and that I should probably leave. No? And I would be lying if I said it didn't take me one or two sleepless nights, trying to (2) (figure that out) , too. At last, here I am. Upon finding out the news that I would be giving a TEDx Talk, I did (3) (what I think) most people do and watched about 50 TED talks back-to-back, and read "Talk like TED"by Carmine Gallo for some inspiration. I wasn't quite good enough to get a gold star, and I also wasn't quite bad enough to be kept after school. I walked that nice center line where if I kept my mouth (4) (shut in) class, then I could probably (5) (get away) with not being spoken to you by teachers for weeks on end. Everything about me was (6) (pretty) damn ordinary, except for how I felt on the inside. I had big dreams. From as young as I can remember, I have dreamed of becoming a professional dancer. There are (7) (certain) memories from my childhood that I would really rather forget. But during those times of immense pain, 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 (8) (out of) my fingertips. I was alone in my own head, and 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; and I was going to stop at nothing until I made it my profession. (9) (At eight) years old, I was enrolled in dance class. And by ten, I informed my mother that I didn't want to go to school anymore. for becoming a professional dancer. And when I look back now, both myself and my mother looked severely (10) (out of) place. But at the time, I was just too young and naive to feel inadequate. I didn't care. Once my audition was done, I returned home for two weeks of staring out the window, waiting for the postman, waiting for my ticket (11) (out of) my sleepy village and into a world of jazz hands and dorm rooms. It was good news followed by bad news: I had (12) (got in) , but the fees to attend a school like this were not cheap, and despite my best efforts, I had not received any government funding. I auditioned again the following year. in an improvisation acting workshop, she gave me the words "bowling ball," and asked me to (13) (create a) short scene inspired by these words. After making her laugh with a fictional story, of how I threw a bowling ball at my brother and it bounced, as I was talking to the kind lady who taped my audition. But as soon as she pressed record, (14) (it all) drifted away. Much like when I was dancing in my mother's living room, I harnessed all of my insecurities and self-doubt and let it flow through the words that came (15) (out of) my mouth. I was cheeky. I was loud. The series of events that had got me to that point were based mainly on luck and timing and were unable to be recreated. He suggested to me that we (16) (create a) social media, but just for artists to be able to collaborate with one another and (17) (create a) career. This was the fourth opportunity or challenge I was presented with. "(18) (Great) ," I thought. "How the hell do we do that?" And Daisy was born. 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 (19) (fresh out of) 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. (20) (Despite our) app being imperfect, buggy and literally 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 we're all (21) (pretty) familiar with. (22) (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. I want to encourage people to (23) (create a) list of contacts that they will work with and support as they take their first steps into the fickle and often challenging creative world. into the slightly dystopian, ad-riddled hellscapes that social media platforms have become. I hope to (24) (create a) space where people can boast their art and creativity rather than what car they are driving and whether or not they (25) (bought it) in cash or on finance. In a world where literally anyone can be famous, I hope to inspire people to be talented instead.

Sources: 

Channel: TEDx Talks. Don't strive to be famous, strive to be talented | Maisie Williams | TEDxManchester: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTYOpfGvlwc&t=6s

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Compiled by Top Grade Edu