Shadowing Practice: How to answer 'How was your weekend?' (without sounding boring!) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Les maken...
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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.
📺 Zelfde Kanaal
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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze video bevat 101 zinnen en 1157 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 9:51. De spreker praat in een gelijkmatig tempo van ongeveer 118 woorden per minuut, prettig om te shadowen. 85% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden; de rest kun je beter vooraf bekijken.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
15 woorden uit de video die het leren waard zijn, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| nowhere bijwoord | /ˈnoʊ.(h)wɛɹ/ | nergens, nergens heen |
| panic zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈpænɪk/ | paniek |
| productive bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /pɹəˈdʌk.tɪv/ | productief |
| soup zelfstandig naamwoord | /sup/ | soep |
| bucket zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈbʌkɪt/ | emmer |
| batch zelfstandig naamwoord | /bæt͡ʃ/ | lot |
| tomato zelfstandig naamwoord | /təˈmeɪ.toʊ/ | tomaat |
| pumpkin zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈpʌm(p).kɪn/ | pompoen |
| bliss zelfstandig naamwoord | /blɪs/ | gelukzaligheid, verrukking |
| pea zelfstandig naamwoord | /piː/ | erwt |
| tidy bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈtaɪ.di/ | net, proper |
| shadow zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈʃædəʊ̯/ | schaduw |
| phrase zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | uitspraak |
| colleague zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈkɒliːɡ/ | collega, medewerker |
| practise werkwoord | /ˈpɹæktɪs/ | oefenen |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| come around werkwoord | /kʌ.məˈɹaʊnd/ | bijkomen |
| find out werkwoord | ontdekken, onderzoeken |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 28 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals you'll, you're, don't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, quash /kwɑʃ/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: unlimited /ʌnˈlɪm.ɪ.tɪd/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Spreek zin voor zin na op normale snelheid en herhaal elke zin tot je ritme gelijk is aan dat van de spreker.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als nowhere, panic, productive.
Grammatica in deze video
De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:
| Structuur | In de video |
|---|---|
| Betrekkelijke bijzinnen who / which + zin — extra informatie over een persoon of ding | soup which will · person who asked |
| Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt | have practised · have unlimited · I've also shown |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — iets dat op een moment in het verleden bezig was | was bucketing |
| Advies met “should” should + werkwoord — zeggen wat een goed idee is | should I say · should I tell |
Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?
Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.