Shadowing Practice: How to answer 'How was your weekend?' (without sounding boring!) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hey there!
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I'm Emma from mmmEnglish.
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Today I want to help you with one of the trickiest moments in small talk.
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It's that question that comes around every single week.
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How was your weekend?
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Does this question ever make you panic a little?
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Especially when the honest answer is nothing, nothing exciting anyway.
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So then you panic and you wonder what should I say?
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If I just say nothing, they'll think I'm boring.
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It'll be really awkward and the conversation will just sort of end.
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Don't panic because this speaking practice lesson will help to quash those fears.
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You can have a really quiet weekend and still sound confident,
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friendly and interesting when you talk about it.
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So here's the thing about small talk in English -speaking countries.
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Talking about your weekend is completely normal.
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In fact, it's expected actually.
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It's a really light and easy way to connect with people especially on a Monday morning or on a Friday afternoon.
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Now in some cultures, this can feel a little strange, maybe even nosy.
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Sometimes my students say to me, why should I tell my colleagues about my personal life?
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And I'm curious, let me know down in the comments if it's common in your culture to talk about your weekend with your colleagues.
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Well here, it's the opposite.
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If you don't engage, if you don't respond,
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that will feel rude, it will feel like you're intentionally distancing yourself from them.
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So if you don't really want to share about your personal life,
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it's totally okay to just keep it short or even to make something up.
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The goal is just to keep the conversation warm and to keep the conversation moving, okay?
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Today I'm going to tell you about my quiet, uneventful weekend like they often are.
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Not every weekend is exciting, right?
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But it doesn't need to stop your conversation short especially if you know what to say.
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Before we start,
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let me quickly explain how this practice works because it is so powerful for your pronunciation and your speaking fluency.
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You're going to hear the exact same story three times over.
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First, you'll just listen.
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Then, you'll repeat after me, phrase by phrase.
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And the third time, you'll shadow me.
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And that means speaking at the same time as me.
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Just like you're singing along to your favourite song, especially when you know the lyrics.
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And when you have practised imitating me enough and you want to practise speaking in real conversations yourself with real people,
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then come and join Hey Lady.
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As a member, you'll have unlimited conversation practise.
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Lots of speaking opportunities whenever you need it.
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So there are plenty of informal conversations
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that happen inside Hey Lady where you can practise talking about your weekend and asking questions about other people's weekends.
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In step one, just listen, listen for new words, listen to the tone of my voice.
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Hey Emma, how was your weekend?
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Not too eventful, but I got lots of things done around the house.
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On Saturday, I spent quite a bit of time in the garden actually.
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I planted some tomatoes and snow peas and tidied up a bit.
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Then I watched a great movie and my Sunday morning, oh, it was bliss.
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It was bucketing down outside and I had nowhere to be so I let myself have a slow start.
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Oh, I got stuck into a good book for a few hours
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and later on I took the dog for a walk
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and I made a big batch of pumpkin soup which will keep me going all week.
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So even though I didn't do much, it still felt really productive.
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What about you?
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Now in step two, repeat after me.
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You'll hear me say the line and then there'll be a pause after so you can copy me exactly as you hear.
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Hey Emma, how was your weekend?
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Not too eventful.
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But I got lots of things done around the house.
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On Saturday I spent quite a bit of time in the garden actually.
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I planted some tomatoes and snow peas.
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...and tidied up a bit.
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Then I watched a great movie.
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And my Sunday morning, it was bliss.
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It was bucketing down outside.
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And I had nowhere to be.
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So I let myself have a slow start.
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Oh, I got stuck into a good book for a few hours.
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And later on I took the dog for a walk
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and I made a big batch of pumpkin soup which will keep me going all week.
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So even though I didn't do much, It still felt really productive.
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What about you?
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Now try to shadow me, speak along with me, following the rhythm and the intonation of my voice.
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Hey Emma, how was your weekend?
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Not too eventful but I got lots of things done around the house.
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On Saturday, I spent quite a bit of time in the garden actually.
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I planted some tomatoes and snow peas and tidied up a bit.
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Then I watched a great movie and my Sunday morning, oh it was bliss!
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It was bucketing down outside and I had nowhere to be so I let myself have a slow start.
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Oh I got stuck into a good book for a few hours and later on, I took the dog for a walk
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and I made a big batch of pumpkin soup which will keep me going all week.
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So even though I didn't do much, it still felt really productive.
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What about you? So well done!
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You got your speaking practice in today and hopefully I've also shown you
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that you can answer this really common small talk question in a way
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that helps you to share more about yourself and to keep the conversation going.
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Something I really want to highlight for you is just how relatable this kind of response is.
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By sharing this information, even if it doesn't seem important or super interesting,
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you're sharing more about yourself and about your interests and you're making it easy and enjoyable to talk to you.
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So when I answered that question, I talked about gardening, a movie, the weather, sleeping in, reading and cooking.
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So the person who asked that question, how was your weekend?
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Well now they have a whole range of different topics or ideas that they can follow up with,
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they can ask more information about to keep the conversation going.
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Can you think of a follow -up question that you would ask me?
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Write it down in the comments if you can think of a way to keep that conversation going.
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In fact, practising these simple everyday conversations is something that you can do so easily inside Hey Lady.
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Click here to find out more and to come and join us if you can.
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I hope that you enjoyed today's speaking practice.
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I'll see you again same time, same place next week.
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See you then.
📺 Mismo canal
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Este vídeo tiene 101 frases y 1157 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 9:51. El hablante mantiene un ritmo constante de unas 118 palabras por minuto, cómodo para el shadowing. El 85 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
15 palabras del vídeo que vale la pena aprender, con su pronunciación y significado:
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| nowhere adverbio | /ˈnoʊ.(h)wɛɹ/ | en ninguna parte, en ningún lugar |
| panic sustantivo | /ˈpænɪk/ | pánico |
| productive adjetivo | /pɹəˈdʌk.tɪv/ | productivo |
| soup sustantivo | /sup/ | sopa, caldo |
| bucket sustantivo | /ˈbʌkɪt/ | balde, cubeta |
| batch sustantivo | /bæt͡ʃ/ | hornada, tanda |
| tomato sustantivo | /təˈmeɪ.toʊ/ | tomate, jitomate |
| pumpkin sustantivo | /ˈpʌm(p).kɪn/ | calabaza, calabazera |
| bliss sustantivo | /blɪs/ | euforia, dicha |
| pea sustantivo | /piː/ | guisante, ervilla |
| tidy adjetivo | /ˈtaɪ.di/ | pulcro, prolijo |
| shadow sustantivo | /ˈʃædəʊ̯/ | sombra |
| phrase sustantivo | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | frase |
| colleague sustantivo | /ˈkɒliːɡ/ | colega, compañero |
| practise verbo | /ˈpɹæktɪs/ | practicar |
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| come around verbo | /kʌ.məˈɹaʊnd/ | entrar en razón |
| find out verbo | averiguar, anoticiarse | |
| follow up verbo | dar seguimiento, dar un seguimiento |
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 28 contracciones y formas reducidas, como you'll, you're, don't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, quash /kwɑʃ/
- Palabras largas — cuida el acento: unlimited /ʌnˈlɪm.ɪ.tɪd/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/
Cómo practicar con este vídeo
- Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
- Haz shadowing frase por frase a velocidad normal, repitiendo cada una hasta que tu ritmo coincida con el del hablante.
- Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como nowhere, panic, productive.
Gramática en este vídeo
Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:
| Estructura | En el vídeo |
|---|---|
| Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa | soup which will · person who asked |
| Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora | have practised · have unlimited · I've also shown |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — una acción en curso en un momento del pasado | was bucketing |
| Consejo con “should” should + verbo — decir qué es buena idea | should I say · should I tell |
¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?
Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.