Shadowing Practice: 10 relationship expressions in English - a Mini English Lesson - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Mini English Lessons In today's mini English lesson,
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we're going to teach you some great expressions for talking about relationships and friendships.
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And to help me with today's lesson, I've got my very good friend, David Tennant.
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I'm going to tell you the story of our friendship, which of course is completely true.
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And while I tell you it, I'd like you to look out for some useful relationship expressions that we'll talk about at the end.
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So David and I met through mutual friends several years ago we met at a party
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and we hit it off immediately we got along really well
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and we started hanging out all the time
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and we spent lots of time together we became really good friends unfortunately things became a bit difficult for david
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when he began to develop feelings for me
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i didn't want us to become more than friends at the
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same time david began to be very jealous of my successful teaching career in the end we fell out
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and we stopped talking completely we lost touch for a long time
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but after a while David began to see the error of his ways
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and he contacted me to see if we could be friends again.
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I agreed that we could make up and get back in touch and since then we've been the best of friends.
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I can't imagine my life without him.
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Thank you David for being part of today's mini English lesson.
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So let's look at some of the expressions that we heard in my story of my friendship with David.
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First of all, when we met, we hit it off.
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This means we immediately liked each other.
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We hit it off.
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And then I said that we got along really well.
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If you get along with someone, you have a good, friendly relationship.
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You could use it about your colleagues, your family.
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You can also use it in the negative, like, uh, I don't really get along with them.
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When I talked about David's romantic feelings for me, I used the expression, he developed feelings for me.
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We don't need to say romantic.
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Everybody understands that that's what we mean.
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But I didn't return his feelings.
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So you can develop feelings for someone and you could return them or not return them.
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I didn't return them, which means I didn't want us to be more than friends.
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Again, this means a romantic relationship.
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So more than friends is a useful expression we can use.
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When we had an argument, I said we fell out.
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If you fall out with someone, you stop being friends.
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But after some time, we made up.
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If you make up with someone, you become friends again.
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Similarly when we stopped being friends we lost touch, we stopped talking and then afterwards we got back in touch.
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We started talking again.
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Finally I said that I can't imagine my life without him.
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This is a lovely expression to show how important somebody is for you and that one is completely true.
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So there you go loads of great expressions that you can use to talk about all different kinds of relationships.
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Now you just need to go out there make some more English friends so you can make use of them.
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Bye!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “10 relationship expressions in English - a Mini English Lesson”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: expression, david, feelings, relationship, lesson. This video has 45 sentences and 551 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:46. The speaker talks fast, about 199 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| mini adjective | /ˈmɪn.i/ | Miniature, tiny, small. |
| romantic adjective | /ɹoʊˈmæn(t)ɪk/ | Fantastic, unrealistic (of an idea etc.); fanciful, sentimental, impractical (of a person). |
| friendship noun | /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/ | The condition of being friends. |
| afterwards adverb | /ˈæf.tɚ.wɚdz/ | At a later or succeeding time; after that; |
| similarly adverb | /ˈsɪm.ə.lə.li/ | In a like style or manner. |
| mutual adjective | /ˈmjuːt͡ʃuəl/ | Having the same relationship, each to each other. |
| jealous adjective | /ˈd͡ʒɛl.əs/ | Suspecting rivalry in love; troubled by worries that one might have been replaced in someone's affections; suspicious of a lover's or spouse's fidelity. |
| colleague noun | /ˈkɒliːɡ/ | A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate, a workmate. |
| expression noun | /əkˈspɹɛʃ.n̩/ | The action of expressing thoughts, ideas, feelings, etc. |
| teach verb | /ˈtiːt͡ʃ/ | To pass on knowledge to. |
| argument noun | /ˈɑɹɡjʊmənt/ | A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason. |
| friendly adjective | /ˈfɹɛnd.li/ | Generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with in character. |
| unfortunately adverb | /ʌnˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt.li/ | Happening through bad luck, or because of some unfortunate event. |
| load noun | /loʊd/ | A burden; a weight to be carried. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| fall out verb | To come out of something by falling. | |
| get along verb | To interact or coexist well, without argument or trouble. | |
| make up verb | /ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/ | To constitute, to compose. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I can't imagine my life without him.
- We don't need to say romantic.
- Everybody understands that that's what we mean.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | started hanging · stopped talking · stop being |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | we're going to teach · I'm going to tell |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | need to say · need to go |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 14 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, can't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: friendship /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/, expression /əkˈspɹɛʃ.n̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: similarly /ˈsɪm.ə.lə.li/, unfortunately /ʌnˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like lesson, mini, romantic.
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.