Shadowing Practice: How to answer 'How was your weekend?' (without sounding boring!) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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101 משפטים
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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.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 101 sentences and 1157 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:51. The speaker talks at a steady 118 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| nowhere adverb | /ˈnoʊ.(h)wɛɹ/ | In no place. |
| panic noun | /ˈpænɪk/ | Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals; (countable) an instance of this; a fright, a scare. |
| productive adjective | /pɹəˈdʌk.tɪv/ | Capable of producing something, especially in abundance; fertile. |
| soup noun | /sup/ | Any of various dishes commonly made by combining liquids, such as water or stock, with other ingredients, such as meat and vegetables, that contribute the food… |
| bucket noun | /ˈbʌkɪt/ | A container made of rigid material, often with a handle, used to carry liquids or small items. |
| batch noun | /bæt͡ʃ/ | The quantity of bread or other baked goods baked at one time. |
| tomato noun | /təˈmeɪ.toʊ/ | A widely cultivated plant, Solanum lycopersicum, having edible fruit. |
| pumpkin noun | /ˈpʌm(p).kɪn/ | A domesticated plant, in species Cucurbita pepo, similar in growth pattern, foliage, flower, and fruit to the squash or melon. |
| bliss noun | /blɪs/ | Perfect happiness. |
| pea noun | /piː/ | Any of certain plants of the family Fabaceae: Pisum sativum and others. |
| tidy adjective | /ˈtaɪ.di/ | Arranged neatly and in order. |
| shadow noun | /ˈʃædəʊ̯/ | A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object. |
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| colleague noun | /ˈkɒliːɡ/ | A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate, a workmate. |
| practise verb | /ˈpɹæktɪs/ | To repeat (an activity) as a way of improving one's skill in that activity. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| tidy up verb | To make clean, to make satisfactorily neat. | |
| come around verb | /kʌ.məˈɹaʊnd/ | To change one's mind, especially to begin to agree or appreciate what one was reluctant to accept at first. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| follow up verb | To take further actions remaining after an event; to continue, revisit, or persist; especially, to maintain communication or verify. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 28 contractions and reduced forms, such as you'll, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, quash /kwɑʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: unlimited /ʌnˈlɪm.ɪ.tɪd/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like nowhere, panic, productive.
דקדוק בסרטון הזה
המבנים שהדובר משתמש בהם הכי הרבה, עם המילים המדויקות מהסרטון:
| מבנה | בסרטון |
|---|---|
| משפטי זיקה (Relative clauses) who / which + clause — מידע נוסף על אדם או דבר | soup which will · person who asked |
| הווה מושלם (Present perfect) have/has + past participle — פעולה שקרתה בעבר ועדיין יש לה חשיבות או השפעה עכשיו | have practised · I've also shown |
| עבר ממושך (Past continuous) was/were + -ing — פעולה שהייתה בתהליך בזמן מסוים בעבר | was bucketing |
| עצה עם “should” should + verb — לומר מה כדאי או מומלץ לעשות | should I say · should I tell |
מהי טכניקת השאדואינג?
שאדואינג היא טכניקת למידת שפה מבוססת מדע שפותחה במקור להכשרת מתורגמנים מקצועיים ופופולרית על ידי הפוליגלוט ד"ר אלכסנדר ארגואלס. השיטה פשוטה אך עוצמתית: אתה מקשיב לאודיו באנגלית ילידית וחוזר עליו בקול רם מיד — כמו צל העוקב אחרי הדובר עם עיכוב של 1–2 שניות בלבד. בניגוד להאזנה פסיבית או תרגילי דקדוק, שאדואינג מכריח את המוח והשרירים בפה לעבד ולשחזר דפוסי דיבור אמיתיים בו זמנית. מחקרים מראים שזה משפר משמעותית את דיוק ההגייה, האינטונציה, הקצב, הדיבור המחובר, הבנת השמיעה ושטף הדיבור — מה שהופך אותו לאחת השיטות היעילות ביותר להכנה לIELTS Speaking ולתקשורת באנגלית בעולם האמיתי.