30 Minute American English Native Speaker Conversation

30 Minute American English Native Speaker Conversation

Welcome to Mind Life In English, hosted by Profe Lao.

In this episode, you'll enjoy 30 minutes of authentic American English conversation designed to help you improve your listening, speaking, pronunciation, and overall communication skills. By listening to natural conversations inspired by the way native speakers communicate in everyday situations, you'll become more familiar with common expressions, conversational vocabulary, sentence patterns, and the rhythm of spoken American English.

This lesson provides valuable exposure to practical English used in daily life, including casual discussions, everyday interactions, and realistic communication scenarios. As you listen, try to repeat key phrases, imitate the pronunciation, and practice speaking along to develop greater fluency and confidence.

Whether you're learning English for work, travel, school, interviews, or personal growth, this episode will help you understand spoken American English more easily and communicate more naturally. Regular listening and active speaking practice are among the most effective ways to build strong English skills.

This episode is suitable for learners at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels who want to improve their English through engaging and practical listening practice.

Stay consistent with your learning journey, and let every episode bring you one step closer to speaking English with confidence and clarity.

Follow Mind Life In English for more educational episodes featuring English speaking practice, listening exercises, vocabulary building, pronunciation tips, and real-world conversations that help you communicate naturally in English.

Hosted by Profe Lao.

Keywords:
American English, English Conversation, English Listening Practice, Spoken English, Native Speaker English, English Speaking Practice, Learn American English, Everyday English, English Vocabulary, English Pronunciation, English Fluency, Real English Conversations, English Communication Skills, English Language Learning, Education Podcast, Mind Life In English.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Alright, hello. Today I have a special guest. Her name is Samara. Samara. What's your middle name, Samara? Uh it's Danielle. Danielle. Samara Danielle. But we call her Samara. Do you have any nicknames, Samara?

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Um, my friend calls me Aira. I don't like Sam. I'm not a Sam. She's not Sam.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Don't call her Sam. Nobody say Sam in the comments. Yeah, or Sammy. I'm not Sammy either. It's not Sammy. What does your friend call you? Uh she calls me Ara. Era. Oh, that's cute. Samara. Era. Nice. I like it. And Samara, how do I explain Samara's relation to me? Well, it's a little complicated, but basically, um, her mom uh used to be married to my dad many years ago. So she was like my stepmom. But now she's not married to him anymore. And she had a daughter, Samara. And now, how old is Samara today? I am twelve. Twelve years old. So technically she's not my sister, but I think of her like, you know, like a half-sister or something like that, because uh her mom was kind of like my second mom. So that's kind of the the relation here. And she very kindly agreed to make a video with me and to showcase her natural English. She is a native English speaker from where are you from? What is the state? Oh, Maine. So you're from the state of Maine, which is where I'm from also. Yes. Where is Maine in the United States? It's in the eastern part. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

And also It's like it's on the upper part of it. It's Northeast.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Yeah, northeast, definitely. It's uh on the border of of what country? Canada. Canada. Have you ever been to Canada? No, I have not been to Canada, but I've heard about it. Yeah. It's very strange that we're so close and we've never been there. I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

And they've been to places like further away, so Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Samara has traveled to she was in Puerto Rico where I just was. She's been on cruises. Yeah. Where have you been?

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Uh I haven't been like a lot out of the state, but most of my out of state stuff has been on a cruise, like going to Puerto Rico and like San Juan and that kind of stuff. Have you been to did the cruise stop at Mexico or no?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Um the first one I went on did, this one didn't though. So you've been maybe to some islands in the Caribbean? Yeah, definitely. Okay. Would you like to travel somewhere else?

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Um, I don't know. I really like like where I've been. But probably somewhere like oh, like Hawaii. I'd love to go to Hawaii. I haven't been to Hawaii, I'd love to go there. So you like tropical places? Yes, I like tropical. I don't want to go and travel somewhere cold.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

What do you think about living in Maine in general? Like the with the four seasons and the winter?

SPEAKER_00 2:39

I really like it because it's definitely like when you start to get sick of one season and the other one comes along. Like you have winter is pretty cold and snowy, and I like winter, but then I'm definitely sick of it and I'm really happy for when spring and summer come along. So it's nice with the four season change because you kind of get some of everything.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

So you like it, but you do prefer when it's warm?

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yes. I don't like when it's humid. I'm not like I like warm, but I don't like like crazy hot. But yeah, I definitely prefer like warmer seasons.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Like me. Yeah. I I think most people in Maine do prefer when it's warmer here, but they they tolerate the winter. Definitely. You find stuff to do in the winter. You like to go uh snowshoeing with probably with your dad and stuff. Yeah, I go snowshoeing.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

I really like I mean my sister like make snow forts. It's just it's really fun. And like obviously we have a tradition of like making snowmen and that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Oh yeah, she has a little sister named Farah who is seven, right? Six. She's six still.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Six years old. I'll turn I will turn 13 in four months and then she will turn seven in five months. Your birthday is in August. Yeah, August 23rd.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah, so basically Samara is being very like nice right now and and chill and and stuff. She's trying to um, you know, speak in a nice way for you guys. But sometimes Samara, when she gets um, you know, excited about something, she talks really fast, super fast. And I told her that my my students they they really like to be challenged with real English. So I told her, just be normal, talk as fast as you want. But you can let let me know in the comments how you what you think about Samara's English if you think that it's easy to understand her or it's difficult because yeah, people always say that they understand me, but I want to bring on guests on the show to see how easy or difficult it is to understand them. So I'm gonna pass you the mic and you can hold it. And I want you to just tell me a little bit about about you, about your your life here, here on this this farm, and what you like to do, and and what are the things, you know, what do you do in a typical day here?

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Um, I definitely really like it here. We have a lot of animals, so a typical day is definitely taking care of them. I go out and I feed the farm animals with my mom, I feed the cats, and then I have to hold my parrot a lot because parrots need a lot of attention. So um your parrot? Yeah, my parrot. Her name's Kiwi, and I she definitely needs a lot of attention. I like to hang out with the cats, so a lot to do with animals, and then I also am a gymnast, so I do gymnastics here, which is really fun. I kind of have like my whole little routine. Um yeah, and I I also really like doing art. I'm actually just about to get into a paint project, so that's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

You like uh gymnastics a lot. You're very passionate about that. And um painting also and being with your animals. How many animals do you have here?

SPEAKER_00 5:27

I think we have 46 or 47, which I cannot believe how little we have. I cannot remember the last time that we weren't in the 70s. And the number is so high because you have a lot of chickens, right? Yes, we have 29 chickens, but we are hatching chicks. We have five eggs, so fingers crossed, some hatch. Um they should hatch in like two days, so I'm really excited. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yeah, she she loves the chickens. They all have names, and they're they're all very unique because they're all different kinds of chickens, right? They have different um appearances.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Yes, we ha yeah, they're mostly different kinds. Maybe like a few of the same breed, but then with also like hatching chicks. We have like some mixed breeds, and yeah, they're really cute, and they all have their different personalities. Chickens are not as like a lot of people think chickens are pretty like dumb, but they're actually they can be pretty intelligent and I love their little personalities. Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Do you think that they they have a bond with you? Like they they um feel something toward you?

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Um, I would say some do. Some are a little bit more leave me alone. I I think they definitely like us when we give them food. It's like they're like, yeah, we love you and you have food for us, but some definitely are friendly and very affectionate.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Some you you pet and you you hold them and you touch them.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Yes, we have definitely a few who l enjoy being pet and are very chill with being picked up, and then we have some that are total spazzes and just want to like be like, feed me but leave me alone, please.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

How would you describe what does a spaz, a total spaz mean for someone who doesn't know English?

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Um, it means like they kind of like are skittish or like nervous, a little bit like crazy, like they like to kind of just like run away from us and be like, leave me alone.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

They go crazy if you try to pick them up. Some some of them maybe.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

And you also have a um a some goats and a pig.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Yes, I have six goats and I have a pig and I love them so much. The pig is Pookie, and then I have the six goats, and I love all the goats so much.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

The the pig's name is Pookie, by the way, in case you didn't understand that. You have uh a couple dogs and three cats, and yeah, I think that's a fish. I think that's all the animals. And I have two leopard geckos in my room, Nick and Lisa.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Ah, Nick and Lisa, the geckos. Yes. In her room. Okay. They're like I I forgot about the gecko. Yeah, they're like I think they're like eight. They're pretty old now. I named them when I was really tiny, so they have classic names. However, Nick may be a Nick old. We don't know. Uh oh, you don't know the gender. Yeah, we know we know Lisa's a girl, but we don't know about Nick. Okay. Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Uh what do they do all day?

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Do they just chill out? Nick, he is kind of lazy. He's on the chubby side. He just like likes to lay around and then when it comes dinner time, he eats basically all the worms before Lisa can have any. But Lisa's fat. Yes. They definitely Leopard Gecko's like chilling, but Lisa definitely likes to walk around the tank a little bit more and like adventure more than he does. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Something interesting about you also is that you do homeschooling, or you've been doing homeschooling up until um now, and you are you're just completing now the end of the school year, like the sixth grade, right? So next year your plan is to do what?

SPEAKER_00 8:38

My plan is to go to school in the seventh grade, and I'm kind of nervous about it, but I'm also really excited.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

So she's gonna go to an actual school, not not being homeschooled, and she's you're going to like um a small private school, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Yes, it is a very small private school. Um, and there's I think there's only like a hundred a hundred and twenty to like a hundred and sixty students. Pretty small, like ten to fifteen students in each class. But I'm really happy because my best friend and little sister go there, so it's gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

And and what was your reasoning for why you wanted to go there besides your friend and your sister?

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Um, well, I'm thinking that once you go through school, you can't try it. So I think because I've never gone to school and I've always been homeschooled, and I love homeschool so much, but I'd love to try going to school and see if I like it, and I'd love to have like a bigger friend group, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

So for the experience to try it, because you can't go back and try it if you miss your chance, and uh to maybe make more friends. Yeah, definitely. But right now you have um you have your best friend, um, Autumn, her name is, right? And you have your sister. Do you have any other friends that you hang out with, or is that mostly it?

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Autumn is my best friend and she lives close, so she's the one I hang out with mostly. But I do have another best friend who lives, she sadly moved away. Her name's Annika. Um, but we still see each other every once in a while, which is really nice. But yeah, Autumn's definitely my main best friend. All right, nice. Yeah, I think it's good.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

The social situations at school, because I I went through all of the years of public school. Um sometimes it can be really great, sometimes it can be not so great, depending on, you know. But I went to a public school with, you know, a huge amount of students, and I think that a smaller private school, I don't know if it has to do with it being private, but just a smaller school with less people, I feel like it's gonna be better for for making friends because because it's smaller, so nobody gets left out, like nobody gets forgotten about and everybody like knows each other very well and stuff. So I think it's a good idea. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Yeah, I definitely think that there's only like I walked around and got I got to see the sixth grade classroom and I saw everyone in it and it's a very small classroom. There's only like I think it was like ten-ish people in it. So it's I think it's gonna be easier definitely to like, you know, what you said. She said ten-ish. We say ish, it's like uh about ten. About ten, ten-ish. Could be eleven, could be nine, somewhere around there. You kinda just round up to the closest number.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Sometimes we add ish to say like about that, you know, like oh this is this is like um grayish color, this thing. It's a grayish, like kind of gray. Yeah. All right. And so if you if you like it there and you wanna stay, could you could you see yourself I mean it's hard to know how you're gonna feel, you know, in the future, but could you see yourself um staying there, you know, up through until you graduate high school or or what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 11:27

I definitely can. I think we're gonna see how this school year or like my the seventh grade goes, because my mom said I want you to at least try out this year. Uh, and then I'll see if I love it, I'll keep doing it. And if it's like, you know what, this was really like not for me, I'll go back to homeschool. But I'm really hoping it works out and I can get to go to there for longer. Nice. How far away is the school? Is your is your mom gonna drive you in the morning? Uh yes. My mom and my dad will drive me depending on who I am with. It's like twenty, twenty-five minutes away from my dad, and it's like thirty, thirty-five minutes away from my mom, so relatively close.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Oh yes, we forgot to mention her her parents are separated like mine are. We're at her mom's house right now, um, but her dad lives somewhere else, like thirty, thirty minutes away?

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Uh, I think about like forty, forty-five-ish, but yeah, pretty close.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Okay. Uh her mom is remarried to um, I'll let you say. Daniel. I love him so much. He is the best bonus dad ever. Uh, bonus dad. And he's been in your life since you were very little, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yeah, he's been in my life since I was like uh three, maybe about to turn four, right around there. So yeah, and he was just I immediately loved him so much. He's just the nicest guy. Yeah, Daniel's pretty great. He is, definitely. And he's the only one who he's the one giving you my squishies when my squishy obsession, my mom's like, no, and he's like, Yeah, I'll give you squishies. Yeah, Daniel likes to spoil everyone. Definitely. Yeah, he likes to spoil my little sister too. And for those who don't know, um, can you describe what the squishy is? Uh squishies, there are several different kinds. It's like a toy, and it's really fun to squish. They have like really nice textures, like slime, like they may have like slime in them, or just really different fun textures may have like glitter or beads in them, and I really love them, and they're so cute, and I love squishing them, and I'm having a little collection now. Are they all like uh dumplings or are they different things? Um, I have six squishy dumplings. They're very vir viral right now. But um the others, I have 12, and the other six are different. They can really be like they're probably every shape in the world. Some are just like a square or like a cube, while others are actual things like butter or cheeses. I love my cheese. I love my cheese. Okay. So they can be different things, but the dumplings are popular.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Yeah, the dumplings are probably my favorite. Okay. So if you didn't understand, um to squish is like to do this to something. It's like a specific kind of texture thing where you can go like this. And she has some I wouldn't say that they're like stuff to animals. They're they're not like stuffed.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

They're just like they're more rubbery.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Yeah, they're like rubbery little creatures that are full of something that you can squish.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Yeah, the dumplings are full of water and they have like s like well, some are full of water and have glitter in them, and then others kind of have this stuff, kind of a whip creamy texture in it. And it's I really like that one. So yeah, they can definitely have a lot of different textures in it, and they're really fun to squish.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Okay. They they feel like fun to to play with. It's a it's like a texture thing. Yeah. Alright, nice. Well, I'm going to take a look at my list here of some random questions to ask Samara. We are filming outside. It's pretty warm, and my camera tends to overheat. So it might just randomly shut off at at some point. So if that happens, it's okay. We'll just cut it there. We'll just end the video there. So if the video ends abruptly, that's what happened. But yeah, so I'm just gonna ask you questions until maybe it dies, or maybe just a few questions until we get tired. And yeah. So I'll ask you a question and then you can you can take the mic and you can answer as long as you want. Okay, what's what's a movie or show you can watch over and over?

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Oh, okay. Um, there's this show series, and it's called Gymnastic Academy, and I love it so much. I've probably watched it like eight times over and over again. Like I said, I'm a gymnast and it's all about gymnastics. So I really love that, and it's it's really fun because it's like teenagers around my age, so that's one I can just like watch over and over again, and I love it so much. It's like one of my favorite shows.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

That's cool. It's like uh they're like competing or something.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Um it's this the main character is named Kyra Barry, and she goes from the US to Australia for a three month a three-month like training process to try to get a scholarship at the gymnastic academy for three years.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

But is it like real real life or reality show or is it like fiction?

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Um, it is not cartoon, it is a like real reality kind of thing, but it is I think it's based off a true story, but it's not actually like a true story.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Okay, I see. So i it it's like a movie, maybe like a there's a script, but it's uh based off a true story.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Yeah, it's a script because there was one before it it's called gymnasti it's like a it's the same thing, but it's just called second chance instead. And that one was based off a true story. I'm not sure if Gymnastic Academy is, but I think it might be.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Do you recommend that people watch it? Is it entertaining? Is it good?

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Yes, I definitely recommend it. It's probably more of a girl show, but I think anyone who like wants to watch it definitely watch it because it's really awesome and I love it so much.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Alright. And it inspires you to do gymnastics.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Uh actually the whole reason I got into gymnastics was actually completely because of that show. I had had no interest in gymnastics my entire life. And then I watched that for the first time like six months ago, and now I'm just like got super into gymnastic gymnastics and like trained myself and learned a bunch about it. Amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Before she started gymnastics class, she she basically just trained herself a lot. She taught herself a lot of the a lot of things based off like YouTube videos and just practicing and stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Yeah, like people telling me stuff, YouTube videos, that show definitely a lot. I taught myself almost everything I know, but gymnastic classes have definitely helped me get correct posture and that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

And you're only in the beginner class, but like there's other levels you're gonna you're gonna keep advancing.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Yes, there's beginner, advanced, pre-team, and then you're actually on a team. Um yeah, and I'm really I'm definitely really loving it. And you told me that you're one of the best ones in your beginner class. I don't want to brag. I would uh but I am one of the better ones in the class, which was really thanks to my training. Um, because if I hadn't, I would have been the worst one there. And then because of the training, I came in being one of the better ones. But there are definitely people who are better than me in the class.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

And have you made friends with any of them, like to the point where you would hang out outside of gymnastics or not yet?

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Um there Elin. I would have hung out with her because we were like we're best friends in the class, but she went away, she's going away to summer camp for four months. So that kind of ended that, but she's coming back, or she says she is. I hope she will. Nice, cool.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Is there something like some other hobby or anything that you if you would like to try or you're interested in, but you haven't done it yet?

SPEAKER_00 18:26

I don't know if there's another hobby that I haven't tried that I'd like to do. My other hobbies are like I do soccer. I love soccer, but I've done that and then like yeah, most of my hobbies I think I've already done that I'm interested in doing.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

All right, nice. And anything else it like in life in general, doesn't have to be like a s like a hobby or something. It could be like, oh, I you know, I would like to see New York City or what like anything that you would like to do. I would like to learn how to bake a pie. I don't know. Anything that you would like to do at some point in the future.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Baking is one of my hobbies. I love baking. So I'd love to become a better baker, but then a lot of the things that I would like to learn how to do have to do with gymnastics. Like I am so close on a back walkover or like a front walkover or front handspring, and I'd just love to learn how to do those. That'd be really awesome.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

I love it. And she sends me videos, you know, because most of the time I'm not here. Right now I'm I'm visiting, but um most of the time I'm I'm out of the country and um Samara texts me, she sends me videos of her at her uh gymnastics classes and and doing the different things, and yeah, it's very entertaining for me. I love it. I love getting the videos.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

I'm glad, yeah. I sent you. I remember I sent you, I was like, Yeah, I got my pole over on the bar. I was so happy. Yeah, it's it's exhaust.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

It's my favorite reality show I watch. I'm so glad. All right. What quality do you most value in a friend?

SPEAKER_00 19:47

I in a friend value probably kindness. I definitely love like that's something I look for in a person, but I really like one of the best qualities is if they're funny. I love funny friends, but funny in a kind way. But I love when you get comfortable enough with them where you can make jokes that are like really funny. But yeah, kindness, funniness, creativity. Like I like creative friends, and my friend Autumn definitely is. We like the same stuff. We both love swimming, and we always come up with all these very creative, fun games that we do, and we're always like laughing so hard.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

You think Autumn has these these traits that you value in a friend?

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Yes, I would definitely say she is funny, kind, and creative, and she is also strong and smart, and she's amazing. Oh, that's so cute.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

I wish I had a best friend like that. I don't have one. Well, it's partially my fault because I always travel around so much. I never stay anywhere to to make friends. Next one is who has influenced you the most in life?

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Well, um, so many people, so many people. Uh I'd have to say my parents. Um, like my mom, my dad, Daniel, um, Kelly, definitely. They have all Kelly is uh your dad's partner. Yes, Kelly is my dad's partner. They definitely have all inspired me so much. And then like coming back to gymnastics, like Simone Biles. She's like such a great gymnast, and she's definitely inspired me to be a better gymnast. Simone Biles is cool. Yeah, she's awesome. She's like won so many Olympic medals.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, gymnastics is super cool. Also, it's it's very good for us, I think, to to stretch, to be flexible, um, to to be mobile, move our bodies. I think as we get older, as we age, to be able to move our bodies still, like in those ways, I think is very good for our health. So this is this is a great thing for you to practice your whole life, even if it's like not, you know, not competitively, but even just like by yourself at home. I mean a lot of adults they do yoga, which is like has similar things. So yeah, it's a really cool hobby. I'm glad you like it. Thank you. All right, maybe we'll do one more question and then we'll end it. All right. Unless there's anything else you want to do. Alright. What is Oh, this is a funny one. What's something you believed as a kid or when you were younger that turned out to be totally wrong? If you can't think of anything, don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Um let's see. Like for something, I think when I was little, I believed in like lying a lot, I guess. I was definitely a fibber and now I like can't even lie. But like I yeah, I like to sneak around a a lot. I remember one time there was a peanut butter cup, that's really yummy candy, um, on the island, and I was like, oh, if I eat it, someone's gonna notice. So I took a bite out of it and then left it, which was like way more noticeable. And I was so sneaky. I thought I was like so awesome, and it was like that's pretty obvious. That's just one of my mischievous things I do.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

So you used to tell some some fibs. A fib is a a little lie, like a small lie, white lie, we say. So you used to be a fibber. You used to lie a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Yeah, I used to do like harmless little lies. I thought it was like so clever back then. Now now I literally can't lie, makes me feel sick.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Yeah, same. It's very hard to lie. But yeah, a lot of little kids they they don't realize that it's that the parents can obviously see that it's a lie and they they think they'll get away with it, so they they tell little lies. It's funny.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Yeah. It's cute. Then when you get older you also have like the conscience that makes you feel guilty when you lie. And when you're little you don't really have that.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

It's good. You you develop the conscious conscience to not lie. That's good. Because some people don't ever develop that. Some adults are out here lying. Yeah, some people it gets worse. Slowly the lies build. They just get better at lying and it gets crazy. Yeah, I didn't rob the bank. Exactly. So I'm glad that um that's not you. All right. Well, I said that was the last question, but I want to do one more.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

So I'm fine with that.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

What's a challenge you're proud to have overcome?

SPEAKER_00 23:55

There's definitely a few. One is that when I was younger, I was very not okay with being left alone at all. And I've definitely overcome that where I'm okay to be like, yeah, I'm fine if I leave like left a home alone with Farah. Like it's okay now. Another one definitely was gymnastics, getting better gymnastics. I overcame a lot there. Overcoming that when I was younger, I struggled with reading a little bit. Um, not like badly, but I'm the kind of person that I have to want to do it, and if I don't want to do it, I'm not gonna try to do it. And then it just like I found a book that I loved and it took off. And now I'm like, like I read way above my grade level. So yeah, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Wow. So you went from not wanting to read or having resistance to reading to being like a better reader than than normal for your for your age.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Yeah, yeah. It was kind of went in steps where I wouldn't read, and then I was definitely not that good at reading, and then I was kind of like average, and then I just there I kind of came across some books like Wings of Fire, I Love the Dragon Books, and then like K Keep It Together, Keiko Carter, Just Be Cool, Genesis, and those are long chapter books, and I just fell in love with them, and now I just like read all the time, like ninth grade level.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

So wow, that's awesome. That's amazing. And I know, well, when I was here in the past years, you were always listening to the audiobooks. You always liked that. You always liked I think you always liked books, but you would spend more time maybe listening to them. Maybe now you read more of them. And you also always liked writing. You like to write your own stories, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Yes, I love the audiobooks, and I my dream job, um, which I hope will become true, is I want to be an author, 100%. I like language arts is my favorite subject in school. I love writing so much. I am currently working on two books. One, somebody said, Hey, I want you to try to make a story out of this. It's called Gnome's Adventure. And then the other, I am like 70 pages in. I'm writing it by hand, and I just came up with this. Uh, it's about a girl called Paisley, like managing middle school kind of. And I just I love writing. I don't know what it is about it, but I love it so much. Wow, amazing.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

I love it. I'm excited to read your books someday. Yes. I I will buy your books as soon as they're published. Well, even before they're published, I'll buy them. I'll read them.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Yes, you'll be you'll you'll have the privilege of being one of the first ones before they're even published.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Yeah, before anyone knows her, before she becomes famous, a famous author, I will read her books. That's awesome. My mom was like that. She always wanted to write books, but but she well, she wrote one. She had one, but um, I think she wanted to do more. But but yeah, I think you got the you got that spark, you got that fire, and you should definitely do it.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Thank yeah, thank you. Everyone always says like you have that talent that you can really bring it to life and I can picture it perfectly. And I hope that's really true because yeah, like I said, it is I love writing. I definitely want to make more books. Um the one I'm working on right now with Paisley, um, I'm it's gonna be a series of three. I'm only on the first book right now, and I'm really happy. It's gonna be like it's gonna be called BFFs, and the first one's gonna be like starting middle school, and the second one's gonna be managing middle school, and then the last one's gonna be pro at middle school. So You are you big plans, you already got it all planned out. Amazing. Yes, yeah, I definitely have the names planned out. I plan a lot, but I'm one of the um kind of authors that more of I have an overall vision of where I want the books to go, but I'm more right in the moment. I don't plan things out like as much as some authors would.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

See where it goes, yeah. Nice. That's that's amazing. You have uh you have a vision and I'm here for it. I love it. Awesome. Well, um hopefully one day I'll be able to announce on this channel that uh she has a book available to read. And you guys can read it and um practice your English English reading. So that's it. I I think we'll end it there. Thank you, Samara, for for coming on the show.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Thank you for inviting me. Oh, sorry. I didn't put the mic. Thank you for what was she saying? I just she didn't put the mic. Thank you for inviting me so much. It was such an honor. Thank you. Oh.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

Isn't she great? She can you believe she's old? She's 12 years old. Well, she's gonna be 13 in August. Yeah, she's she's so grown up. I can't believe it. Because last time I was here, you know, she was like a couple years younger, a few years younger, and so I'm uh I'm amazed every time I come here to see the the the growth. Um so yeah, so we're gonna go. I'm gonna let Samara go and get back to her life. And thank you for being here. Uh tell tell me in the comments what you thought about her her English, like how easy or difficult it was for you. I think it was pretty good. Samara has like a I would say she has a standard American English accent, which I think that I have too. A lot of young people, younger generations, they have this accent. Our our grandparents have like a more like traditional Maine accent, but the younger generations I think don't really have it so much anymore, so strongly.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

Yeah, definitely. Do you agree? Yeah, I'd say I don't think of myself having an accent because it's how everyone talks, but obviously from someone who speaks another language, probably sound like an accent, but like I definitely think of my grandma having an accent, a very mainer accent.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

Yeah, we a lot of the young people we what we have is the these I call it the standard American English accent. You know, it's the accent you hear when you turn on the TV and it's you know what what most people have, like younger people and um what they have on the news. But yeah, a lot of our a lot of our older generations are grandparents and stuff that you know have spent their whole life in the state and they they are from a a different time before the internet and before um you know certain uh things in the modern world, they they have a more than a lot of people.