Shadowing Practice: 23.Talking about fashion - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hello, welcome to Real Easy English, where we have real conversations in Easy English to help you learn.
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Read along with this episode using the transcript on our website,
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bbclearningenglish.com OK Beth, I'm really excited about today's topic of conversation.
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OK, how come?
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Well, we're going to talk about clothes and fashion.
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Do you like to keep up with fashion, Beth?
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I would say not so much, but I try to think about what I wear and I try to not be old-fashioned.
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OK.
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What about you?
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I am interested in what I wear, but I don't spend a lot of money or time choosing stuff.
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Okay.
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Do you like to buy new clothes?
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Yeah.
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I don't do it very often, but I like to.
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I like to make the right choice.
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Okay.
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Yeah, I've started getting quite a few of my clothes second hand,
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but online, so there's so much choice and I can choose what I like.
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And as long as it's still quite new and it's not really used and falling apart, then I feel like I'm making a good fashion choice.
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So Beth, what kind of outfits do you like to wear?
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Well, I am quite casual in my clothes choices, I think, so I really like to wear trainers,
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maybe jeans or some loose trousers.
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I don't really like anything tight-fitting,
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I just want to be comfortable and I think I probably choose being comfortable over being fashionable.
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What about you?
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Yeah, it depends.
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Because I'm old...
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You're not that old, but carry on.
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Because I'm old, well, I like to be smart sometimes, it depends on the occasion, but I also like to be casual.
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So I like trainers, and I spend a lot of time choosing trainers, but not very often.
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So Neil, because you said you're old, I imagine that you don't really follow trends that much?
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Yeah, I don't try to wear the latest trends
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because I think it looks silly for somebody my age to try to look too young.
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but maybe general trends, like the type of jeans people wear during certain eras.
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Ah, I know what you mean.
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So, a lot of people now say that skinny jeans in the UK are not that fashionable,
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so they might wear some baggy jeans if that is a trend.
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I have to say I'm not very on it with fashion trends.
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So Beth, is there any item of clothing that you would really like to buy that you don't have?
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Actually yes, because at the moment we're getting into the winter here in the UK
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and I love the colour green and I don't have a green woolly hat
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and I love a woolly hat in the winter
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and I want a green one so I'm going to be looking out for one of those in the next few weeks.
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OK, let's recap the vocabulary that we used during the conversation.
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We had trends, new and popular clothing choices.
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And we had fashionable, something that is popular now.
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And we had old-fashioned, which means something that is not fashionable anymore.
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We had casual, which is used to describe clothes that are comfortable and practical.
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And smart, used to describe clothes that are formal and professional.
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That's it for this episode of Real Easy English.
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If you want more English practice, Try the London to Edinburgh Challenge, a video series for beginners.
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Find all the episodes on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.
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And next time on Real Easy English, we'll talk about music.
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Bye for now!
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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 “23.Talking about fashion”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: wear, trend, clothes, choice, English. This video has 55 sentences and 599 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:41. The speaker talks at a steady 128 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 82% 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 12 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| cloth noun | /klɒθ/ | A fabric, usually made of woven, knitted, or felted fibres or filaments, such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use. Sometimes… |
| fashionable adjective | /ˈfæʃənəbl̩/ | Characteristic of or influenced by a current popular trend or style; in fashion; in vogue. |
| jeans noun | /d͡ʒiːnz/ | A pair of trousers made from denim cotton. |
| trainer noun | /ˈtɹeɪnɚ/ | A person who trains another; a coach. |
| casual adjective | /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/ | Happening by chance. |
| depend verb | /dɪˈpɛnd/ | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition |
| beginner noun | /bəˈɡɪnɚ/ | Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started. |
| trousers noun | /ˈtɹaʊzɚz/ | An article of clothing that covers the part of the body between the waist and the ankles or knees, and is divided into a separate part for each leg. |
| transcript noun | /ˈtɹæn.skɹɪpt/ | Something which has been transcribed; a writing or composition consisting of the same words as the original; a written copy. |
| 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. |
| skinny adjective | /ˈskɪni/ | Thin, generally in a negative sense (as opposed to slim, which is thin in a positive sense). |
| outfit noun | /ˈaʊtfɪt/ | A set of clothing (with accessories). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| fall apart verb | To disintegrate, to break into pieces. |
| keep up with verb | To manage to remain beside or just behind someone or something that is moving away from one. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | fashioned, which means · casual, which is |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | I'm making · we're getting |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | we're going to talk · I'm going to be |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 19 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: fashionable /ˈfæʃənəbl̩/, casual /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/
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 cloth, fashionable, jeans.
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.