Today’s challenge: Answer the question: What do you do? Learn to talk about your work or field of study in English.
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Video Transcript:
Rachel’s English community! It’s time for another Rachel’s English video challenge!
Several months ago, you all sent in 50 videos introducing yourself for the Rachel’s English Introduce Yourself video challenge! It was absolutely amazing to meet all of you! And, it’s time for your next challenge.
A very common question that you’ll get asked in the US after you introduce yourself is, “What do you do?” Let’s see some people answering this question.
>> Hey. I’m Steve, and I’m a carpenter.
>> Hi. I’m Tom, and I’m a Rachel’s English teacher.
>> What do you do, Krista?
>> I’m a music teacher. I teach pre-K through 6th grade music.
>> Oh cool!
Other kinds of answers you may hear: I’m retired. I’m a student at the University of Florida studying Chemical Engineering. I just finished school and I’m looking for work.
So, my challenge to you is, make a video saying what you do in English. Learn to introduce your occupation or field of study. Go ahead and say your name too: I’m Rachel, and I teach English as a second language and make YouTube videos.
Last time there were a lot of ways to get the video to me: Twitter, Facebook. This time it’s different! There’s only one way to turn in your videos. Upload your video to YouTube, and send the link to this email address: admin@RachelsEnglish.com. Put “Video Challenge” in the subject. In a couple of weeks, I’ll compile everyone’s videos for the results video. So get your camera ready! I can’t wait to learn more about you.
So practice your English and make me this video!
And, it’s a different day now. Obviously I’m at home. And, I’ve been thinking about this. I’ve been thinking about how the first question an American will ask when you introduce yourself is “What do you do?” Um, our culture seems very focused on people’s occupation. And I wonder what it’s like in your culture. Um, I, I don’t think that this only happens in America, but maybe it does. In your culture, what is the first question that someone asks you when they’ve just met you? Or maybe there isn’t one. I should also say that I don’t think that this question is the first question asked all the time, period, in American culture, um, but it’s definitely one of the main questions. Um, so I’m curious: what do you think of that? Is it off-putting to you that people feel like they need to know what you do for work in order to start to understand you? And what’s it like in your culture?
Anyway, for better or for worse, that’s how it is in America. So let’s do go ahead and practice these sentences and make a video.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
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