Shadowing Practice: 10 Real Idioms to Improve your English Fluency - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Come closer.

Let's be honest.

Some idioms are overused, especially in exams like IELTS.

For example, I was on cloud nine.

Oh, it was raining cats and dogs.

I don't think I've ever heard a native speaker use these idioms.

So what kind of idioms do native English speakers actually use every day?

Let's find out.

Hello, it's Keith from, yes, you guessed it, the Keith Speaking Academy.

Here to help you become a more confident speaker of English.

Very good.

So today, well, idioms.

Students, right, often memorize idioms like to be over the moon.

OK, but actually, you know, in IELTS, IELTS speaking, the examiner has heard these a thousand times.

So in this video, I want to show you 10 real idioms that native English speakers actually do use every day.

But idioms you may not have heard before or you're not so familiar with.

Right.

I want to show you how you can use these naturally in conversations and especially in the IELTS speaking test.

okay what I'll do is I'll go through the idioms I'll

give you the meaning the pronunciation the a real life example

and then how you can use it in the IELTS speaking test

if you are an IELTS student this is going to be really really helpful

if you're just a general English student it's going to be

really really helpful okay oh also as normal there is a pdf you can download these

just to review them and practice them.

There's also a nice story and a song in there

that is a really lovely way to review and help these idioms soak into your English being.

Are you ready?

Let's do it.

Okay, number one, to grab a bite

or we can say to grab a bite to eat

and the meaning here is just to get something to eat but quickly.

Maybe you rush into a restaurant and eat quickly or you get something in a coffee bar quickly.

It's just to get something to eat quickly.

Pronunciation, grab a bite.

Think of one sound, grab a bite.

Like buh-bye, buh-bye, buh-bye, grab a bite, grab a bite.

You could say, for example, let's grab a bite before we go to the cinema.

Okay, or I'm really hungry.

I just need to grab a bite before I go to work.

I help speak in part one, talking about food.

You could say, if I get up late, I'll grab a bite at a coffee shop on the way to work.

Part two, describe a time you were in a hurry.

You could say, I grabbed a bite at a small Italian restaurant.

Part three, eating habits.

You could say, nowadays, people often grab a bite instead of cooking at home.

There, you've got it.

Don't go and grab a bite.

Stay with me for number two.

Okay, number two, to be broke.

Now, you probably know the verb to break, right?

twig break to break it

and you probably know to be broken this is my old computer doesn't work it's very old it is broken

but this idiom is to be broke and it means to have no money look

I'm broke no money

so I could say for example I'm sorry I can't go

out to the pub I'm broke now in IELTS speaking part one talking about money you could say

when I was a student I was often broke part two

talking about describe a difficult time after losing my job I was totally broke.

Part three, talking about finance or youth, maybe you could say, well,

nowadays, many young people are broke because of high living costs.

All right, let's move on.

Right, number three.

I'm going to do some ASMR to introduce number three.

Twig, paper, and now a hole.

You see the hole?

Idiom number three is to pick holes in something.

And the meaning is really to find small mistakes or weaknesses in something.

often it's when you're being critical or unfair.

For example, you might say, he loves picking holes in everything I say.

Now, with pronunciation, pick, it's a short I, pick and hole.

Look at the mouth, holes.

I wouldn't link, I would have a pause here, pick holes, okay, to pick holes.

Now, in IELTS speaking part one, talking about personality, you could say,

I try not to pick holes in other people's ideas.

Part two, describing a disagreement, maybe.

You could say, during the meeting, my boss picked holes in my proposal.

Hmm.

That feeling of it's unfair, right?

And part three, talking about maybe teamwork or critical thinking, you could say, well, in meetings,

some people focus on picking holes instead of offering solutions.

OK, are you the kind of person who picks holes in other people's ideas?

OK, let's move on.

OK, number four is nothing to smile about.

Number four is to be under the weather.

Imagine the clouds above and it's raining and I'm here under the weather.

But idiomatically, it means to feel ill.

You don't feel well.

You feel sick, right?

I'm a bit under the weather today.

We often say I'm a bit or I'm a little under the weather.

Notice the stress under the weather D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D Under the weather I feel under the weather

I'm under the weather I was under the weather I will be under the weather

Remember that trick that when you're practicing phrasal verbs

or idioms just change the tense two or three times Great practice for fluency and confidence

So using this in IELTSpeaking in part one, questions about health of course, you might say, well, if I'm under the weather,

I usually stay at home and rest.

Part two, maybe describing a time you were sick.

Well, last week I felt under the weather for a few days, actually during my holidays.

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That always, no, not always, that sometimes happens, right?

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When you go on holiday, suddenly, boom, you fall sick.

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You feel under the weather because, I don't know, you suddenly relax and your body collapses.

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Happens to me quite a few times.

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Number three, not number three, IELTS speaking part three, talking about topics of health and lifestyle,

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you might say people often feel under the weather when they don't get enough sleep.

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There's a correlation there, right?

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Okay, I hope you're not feeling under the weather because we're Moving on to number five.

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Number five is lovely and it's to be swamped.

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Now, a swamp is this.

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So lots of grass and mud and reeds.

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And if you stand in that, you sink and you're surrounded by horrible things.

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And it means to be extremely busy.

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You may be familiar with to be snowed under.

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Well, this is even stronger, even busier, right?

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I'm swamped.

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You can be swamped with emails, swamped with meetings, I'm swamped with reports, I was swamped with meetings,

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I'm going to be swamped with emails, and so on.

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Remember that trick?

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Just change the tense and make it into a full sentence.

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Even better practice.

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swamped pronunciation swamp swamp swamped swamped i'm swamped you're swamped we're swamped

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okay nice using this in ielts speaking maybe let's have a

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look get my notes up in part one talking about work or study of course of course right?

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I've been swamped with assignments lately.

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Part two, describing a busy time.

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When I started my new job, I was swamped with tasks.

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Tasks.

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Good, right?

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Part three, talking about modern life.

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Nowadays, we are swamped with information because of the internet.

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Lovely.

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Lots of ideas.

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Let's move on to the next one.

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Now, number six, you may have heard before, is to make up your mind.

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To make up your mind, meaning to decide something, right?

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Pronunciation, often, if you like, you can link make up, make up as in make up the face, make up your mind.

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The your often becomes your, make up your mind.

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Of course, you make up your mind.

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I make up my mind.

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We often say can't make up your mind.

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She can't make up her mind.

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She couldn't make up her mind.

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Okay.

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Everyday use, you could just say, well, I can't make up my mind what to say at this party or at this speech,

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on this speech, in this speech.

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using in IELTS I guess the topic of decision making

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and making decisions is quite common

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so in IELTS part one talking about decisions for example are

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you know are you good at making decisions well no I'm

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terrible at making up my mind part two describe a difficult

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decision I had to make up my mind about changing jobs part three again decision making

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people need to take time to make up their minds about major life choices such as getting married

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or starting a new career.

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Okay there are some ideas I've made up my mind it's time to move on to idiom number seven.

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Now this is cold water.

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Something interesting I noticed when I was living in China that people tend to drink hot water a lot.

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In England, people often drink cold water.

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I mean, not even room temperature, but like with ice, really cold.

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Idiom number seven is to be in hot water.

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Not literally, idiomatically, but you can imagine the metaphor.

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If you are in hot water, you're in trouble.

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And it means to be in trouble.

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and probably you're going to have problems or some kind of punishment, probably, right?

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We say to be in hot water or to get into hot water.

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To be in or to get into then hot water, okay?

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Everyday use.

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You could use this, for example, at work.

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You could say, well, I got into hot water for missing the deadline.

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In IELTS Speaking, IELTS Speaking Part 1, you could talk about work, you could talk about school, right?

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I was in hot water for being late, often happens.

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Part 2, describing a difficult situation.

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I got into hot water when I forgot to submit my assignment.

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Will probably happen.

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In part three, talking about society and maybe about the government,

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for example, you could say politicians often get into hot water for saying the wrong thing.

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Nowadays, they get cancelled very, very easily.

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Anyway, let's not get into hot water.

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Let's move on to idiom number eight.

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Right.

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Number eight is to be up in the air.

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Like one sound up in the air, up in the air.

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Now, it's not literal, although there was a film called Up in the Air.

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Oh, with George Clooney.

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And what was the name of the girl from Pitch Perfect?

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Anna Kendrick.

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And it was about them being up in the air, literally flying.

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That's literal.

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But when we're talking idiomatically, up in the air means something is not yet decided.

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And it's something is up in the air, not you.

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You can't say I'm up in the air.

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No, that means I'm literally flying.

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But something is up in the air.

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Pronunciation, up in the air, up in the air.

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It's like one sound, up in the air with the, up in the air.

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I'm up, no, I'm not up in the air.

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The plans are up in the air.

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The choice is up in the air.

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My next video is up in the air.

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It's not yet decided.

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Okay.

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An everyday example, we could say talking about holidays.

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Yeah.

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Our, I don't know, our travel plans are still up in the air.

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We don't know yet.

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When it comes to IELTS speaking, well, in part one, if you're talking about plans, You could say simply, well, my weekend plans are up in the air at the moment.

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Part two, describing future plans.

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You might say, I'm thinking about moving abroad, but it's still up in the air.

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Great sound, up in the air.

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Part three, decision making, society.

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You might say many people's career plans are up in the air because of the economy or because of the recession, whatever.

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Okay, up in the air.

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Have you got anything up in the air at the moment?

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I wonder.

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Let me know.

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In the meantime, let's move on to the next idiom.

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Right, for idiom number nine, a quick test for you.

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What's this?

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Ear.

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This.

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Nose.

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Mouth.

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chin.

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And if you keep your chin up, it means to stay positive in a difficult situation.

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To keep your chin up.

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I keep my chin up.

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He keeps his chin up.

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You keep your chin up.

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Exactly.

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Okay.

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So stay positive in a difficult situation.

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For example, a friend might say, you know, if you're having a difficult time, don't worry.

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Things will get better.

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Just keep your chin up.

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you're like great advice thank you just keep your chin up

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in IELTS speaking talking in part one about difficulties you might say even

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when I fail I try to keep my chin up part

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two describing a challenge you could say one time I lost my job

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and my family encouraged me to keep my chin up

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part three talking about resilience keeping going stamina resilience it's important

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for people to keep their chin up in tough times for people to keep their chin up in tough times

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so just notice that you know the change in my your his her there right good

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so i know we've had nine idioms

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stay calm keep your chin up we're nearly at the end

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the last one you may know number 10 here it comes

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right number 10 is to touch base with someone to touch

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base is i think it's from baseball where they have four bases

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and you run and touch the base and then you're safe but notice the idiom is to touch base.

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Know the, to touch base.

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So the meaning idiomatically is to make brief contact with somebody,

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to update, check in, update on information and how things are going.

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Typically we can say with friends, right?

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Well, let's touch base next week and finalize our plan.

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okay let's touch base

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so in IELTS speaking this could be used in part one talking about friends

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and communication you could say well I live away from home

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but I try to touch base with my family at least

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once a week in part two you could describe work or a study project you could say

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I had to touch base with my manager to confirm the details.

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And in part three, talking generally about workplace, collaboration, things like that, you could say,

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well, generally in business, it's important to touch base regularly to make sure everybody is on track.

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Okay. On track.

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Another idiom, following the correct path.

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On target, touch base.

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Okay.

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How often do you touch base with your friends and family, I wonder.

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Now, these idioms are, well, they're very natural.

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They're the kind of real idioms that native speakers use every day.

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And if you're in the IELTS speaking test, it's the kind of idiom that will not impress the examiner, but will make, it will catch their attention.

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It'll be like, ooh, that's nice, which is what you want, right?

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You want it to sound natural, context sensitive.

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One thing is learning these, another thing is actually being able to use them.

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I do understand that.

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So to help you a little bit we've got this PDF.

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You can download this.

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You can review this.

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You can watch the video again.

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Get the pronunciation.

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Review them.

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There's a story and a song to help you review them.

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But start practicing them.

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Start speaking them out loud.

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Trying to use them in different contexts especially for IELTS speaking.

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And slowly, slowly build them up.

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And once you're really confident you can use them in the test.

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If you're not confident, just forget about it.

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Don't worry about it.

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At least you'll be able to understand them.

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If you want more idioms like this, join my YouTube channel membership.

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I'm doing an extra video with five extra videos, five videos, five extra idioms,

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real idioms like this, that are there, private, for members only.

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You can join for a monthly fee of $2.

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The price of a cup of coffee, well, depending on the country you live in, but more or less.

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And you know what?

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What you can also do is just join once and then binge watch everything and then unjoin if you want.

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I'll let you make up your mind, entirely up to you.

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But there's lots of videos there, extra videos for members only that you can get.

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Just go to the channel where it says subscribe there's a little button next to

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that says join click there

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and you're in for me now i'm gonna get a bite um it's very hungry work right all of this

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and thirsty work stay out of trouble don't get into hot water

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and i look forward to seeing you in the next video take care my friend all the best now bye

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “10 Real Idioms to Improve your English Fluency”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: idiom, ielts, swamped, speaking, weather. This video has 301 sentences and 2860 words to shadow. The speech runs for 20:59. The speaker talks at a steady 136 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

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
idiom noun	/ˈɪdiəm/	A manner of speaking, a mode of expression peculiar to a language, language family, or group of people.
swamp noun	/ˈswɑmp/	An area of wet (water-saturated), spongy (soft) land, often with trees, generally a rich ecosystem for certain plants and animals but ill-suited for many…
chin noun	/ˈt͡ʃɪn/	The bottom of a face, (specifically) the typically jutting jawline below the mouth.
bite verb	/baɪt/	To cut into something by clamping the teeth.
pronunciation noun	/pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/	The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken.
idiomatically adverb		In an idiomatic manner.
nowadays adverb	/ˈnaʊ.ə.deɪz/	At the present time; in the current era.
twig noun	/twɪɡ/	A small thin branch of a tree or bush.
examiner noun	/əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/	A person who investigates someone or something.
resilience noun	/ɹɪˈzɪl.ɪ.əns/	The mental ability to recover quickly from depression, illness or misfortune.
verb noun	/vɝb/	A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.
literal adjective	/ˈlɪt(ə)ɹəl/	Exactly as stated; read or understood without interpretation; according to the letter; not figurative or metaphorical; following the letter or exact words; not…
tense noun	/tɛns/	The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.
unfair adjective	/ʌnˈfɛɚ/	Not just.
assignment noun	/əˈsaɪn.mənt/	The act of assigning; the allocation of a job or a set of tasks.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
make up verb	/ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/	To constitute, to compose.
find out verb		To discover, as by asking or investigating.
get up verb		To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb.
go through verb		To travel from one end of something to the other.
look forward to verb		To anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

All right, let's move on.
You see the hole?
I'm a bit under the weather today.
Let's move on to the next one.
We often say can't make up your mind.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	are overused · be broken · be swamped
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've ever heard · has heard · I've been swamped
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	person who picks · nice, which is
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	may not have · might say · may be

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 78 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, recession /ɹɪˈsɛʃn̩/, correlation /ˌkɔɹ.əˈleɪ.ʃən/, politician /ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/, collaboration /kəˌlæbəˈɹeɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, examiner /əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/, resilience /ɹɪˈzɪl.ɪ.əns/, disagreement /dɪsəˈɡɹiːmənt/, correlation /ˌkɔɹ.əˈleɪ.ʃən/

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 idiom, swamp, chin.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: 10 Real Idioms to Improve your English Fluency - Learn English Speaking with Video

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My 10 Best Idioms for IELTS Speaking

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Stop Sounding Like a Beginner! 50 English Idioms to Speak Fluently

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?