Shadowing Practice: 10.Talking about the news - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hello.
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You're listening to Real Easy English from BBC Learning English.
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I'm Beth.
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And I'm Neil.
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This is the podcast where we have real conversations in easy English for you to listen along and learn.
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As always, you can find a text version of this episode to read along on our website: bbclearningenglish .com.
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So Beth, how are you this week?
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I'm very good, thank you.
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How are you, Neil?
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I'm very well, thank you.
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What are we talking about today?
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We are talking about how much we follow the news.
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Ah, the news.
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OK, so what do we mean by follow the news?
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it on the radio or watch it on TV quite regularly.
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Yes, and you can also follow sports, can't you?
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So, if you like a particular sport, For example, football team, you might check your phone a lot to find out the score,
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to follow and see how they're doing.
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Yeah, exactly.
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So Neil, do you follow the news?
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Yes, I think it's difficult not to follow the news.
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First thing in the morning I lurk on my phone to see
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if anything big has happened overnight and then i check a lot during the day just to see what's happening.
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So I do follow news.
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How about you?
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Yes, I'm the same, so I get notifications on my phone throughout the day,
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but sometimes I find that that's a little bit too much.
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Sometimes you need a break when you're working and you don't want to
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see the news all the time and my phone does notify me a lot about the news.
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Yeah, I think
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you can have too much news and it can be not very good for you to read lots of
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usually quite bad news.
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Yes, definitely.
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So why do you like to follow the news even though it can be too sad?
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That's a very good question.
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I think it's a bit of a habit.
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It's a bit addictive and I think We sometimes feel like we need to know what's happening.
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even if we have actually no control over what is happening.
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Yeah, I completely agree because even though I get notifications and I...
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read the news, I sometimes feel like I still don't know enough about what's going on
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because there's so much information out there and
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so many different ways to get the news that it's not enough to just read one article.
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There's so much information that you want to understand.
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news habits changed since you started.
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working at the BBC.
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Yes, I think they definitely have.
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I think I probably pay more attention to the news now than I did in the past.
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And for example, I already knew some information about certain topics,
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but now I want to learn even more.
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So I try to pay more attention to things that maybe I wasn't as interested in, in the past.
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see me and you pay more attention to the news?
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Well, I used to be a journalist at the BBC,
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so probably I used to pay more attention or follow the news more than I do now,
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because now I make these programmes about English.
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Maybe it's good that you don't follow the news as much as you did, because it's not always good.
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It's not.
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It's often bad news.
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OK, let's recap the vocabulary we learned during the conversation.
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We had follow the news, which means to be interested in the news.
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We used to and to means more than is needed of something.
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So I watch too much news.
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Yes.
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We also had enough, which means as much as is needed of something.
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So, If you think you watch Enough news.
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You don't need more and you don't need less.
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And we've had already, which means before now.
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Yes, I said that before I worked at the BBC, I already...
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followed quite a bit of news.
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And I can't believe it is already the end of this episode and it's the end of the series.
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Yes, that's sad news.
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So, we will be back with more Easy English podcasts for you.
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But for now, you can find lots more activities and courses to help with your English on our website bbclearningenglish .com.
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Thank you for listening.
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See you soon.
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Bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “10.Talking about the news”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: follow, English, Bbc, attention, Neil. This video has 75 sentences and 718 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:53. The speaker talks at a steady 122 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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
The 13 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| habit noun | /ˈhæb.ɪt/ | An action performed on a regular basis. |
| podcast noun | /ˈpɑdˌkæst/ | A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on… |
| notification noun | /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/ | The act of notifying. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| journalist noun | /ˈd͡ʒɝnəlɪst/ | The keeper of a personal journal, who writes in it regularly. |
| overnight adverb | /əʊvə(ɹ)ˈnaɪt/ | During or throughout the night, especially during the evening or night just past. |
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
| notify verb | /ˈnoʊtɪfaɪ/ | To give (someone) notice (of some event). |
| addictive adjective | /əˈdɪktɪv/ | Causing or tending to cause addiction; habit-forming. |
| lurk verb | /lɝk/ | To remain concealed in order to ambush. |
| recap verb | /ɹiːˈkæp/ | To seal (something) again with a cap. |
| programme noun | /ˈpɹoʊˌɡɹæm/ | UK, New Zealand, and India standard spelling of program. |
| regularly adverb | /ˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ.li/ | With constant frequency or pattern. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'm very good, thank you.
- I'm very well, thank you.
- What are we talking about today?
- Yes, and you can also follow sports, can't you?
- I think it's a bit of a habit.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to be · used to pay · used to and |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | news, which means · enough, which means · already, which means |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is needed |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | You're listening · are talking · they're doing |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 17 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, regularly /ˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ.li/
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 habit, podcast, notification.
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.