Shadowing Practice: 2356 - Learn Some New English While You're At It - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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hey there Michelle how's it going today good Lindsay Lindsay do you try to get multiple things done at once oh I absolutely do especially when I'm working online I if I have to wait if the
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thing is you know the little wheel is moving I have to go to another window and start something else it's crazy that's funny yeah well I'm glad to talk to you today I mean should we record a
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podcast episode while we're at it I think we might as well since we're on the phone hey while we're chatting while we're at it let's get going let's do a episode two might as well well all right yes
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might as well all right so today we are going to talk about a very useful expression used to talk about productivity in English lindie we just said it what is it we said it the phrase is while
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we're at it and I love that this came up in your real life real English with your native speaking friends what were you doing when this came up I think she I I think my friend was talking to my
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daughter and she said oh uh should we take our shoes off while we're at it something like that
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and I just realized that this was a very I said that's a good one a lot of a lot of these a lot of my recent episodes have come from this one friend speaking P oh that's so funny did she
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know she's such a great source of ideas I told her I said I said you're really I said you've given me a few ideas today um but but it's true they're all good so I don't know it's it's you
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know I don't walk into it it's not like I walk into my conversations with my friends saying okay I'm listening for ideas but when they come up that would be C all right I have my notepad let's
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talk about it no it's just that sometimes all of a sudden I'll hear something I think that's good that's good that's good yeah so the most important thing for our listeners to know here guys is that this is real English coming directly from our conversations with our native speaking
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friend so go ahead and hit that follow button and while you're at it leave us a review right well oh my gosh I just I did not even think about say wait you didn't I didn't even think about that's hilarious while you're at it all right go ahead and leave us a review let us know what you think
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about this podcast right I want to call out fuia who left us a review on January 10th and she or he said love it five stars and then they said without a shadow of a doubt these girls are the best oh my
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gosh Michelle that is fantastic very good English thank you so much that's so such a nice review yep so go ahead and leave your review everyone to get your name announced on the show so Michelle
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do you other than your friend who's giving us so many great ideas we have to send her a thank you
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um do you find yourself using this expression a lot absolutely and it sounds like you do too because you just used it I swear I did not even plan that I did that's so funny I thought you
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were just being Zippy and let's go for it um not Zippy not going for it yes just natural um yeah I I definitely use this it's extremely useful um but what what does it mean while we're at it while
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you're at it what is it let's break it down so it means while we're doing something we might as well do something else get something else done and so what I said was go ahead and hit the follow button
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and while you're at it meaning while you're in your Apple podcast app or your Spotify app you might as well go ahead and leave us a review so while you're at it leave us a review perfect right
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it's it's it's convenient so it would be a good idea okay you have it open already so it's it's usually out of convenience and it does we've talked about that expression kill two birds
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with one stone it's kind of like that um but yeah this one is to me is very in the moment or while making plans so like our beginning our example in the beginning imagined that we were just having
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a video chat anyway and figured we might as well record I also just think well I like it more than two birds with one stone two birds with one stone feels violent it feels like what I said naturally
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without even thinking about it at the top of the show I never would have said and if you want to killed two birds with Stone go ahead and also leave us a review it just isn't as common it doesn't feel as natural so this is a much better go-to option for our listeners I think right right
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and I believe that we spoke about the other one and and that yeah it's interesting there are some things that we teach that are just going to be everyday roll off the tongue kind of expressions
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and this is one of them whereas two birds with one stone is very useful and you'll hear it it's a little bit more you have to put a little bit more effort into to it it has more imagery um yeah and
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I think it also appears at a different place in the statement I think that would tend to appear at the end right hey you know while we're in town let's pick up some milk and also get gas kill
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two birds with one stone at the end right you're commenting on what you're doing but while you're at it I'm saying that kind of at the beginning or it could also be at the end you know what I
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mean right right right right and guys while we're at it I just want to uh let you know that we are going to do a SP yeah we're going to do a Spotify poll later on in this episode so guys sometimes we
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interact with you by well we put a poll on every day but these ones these special ones are ones that we share the results so it's a great way to interact so if you're listening on Spotify you
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can answer this poll so let wait until further in the episode and we'll give you the question all right so should we do some examples to make this Crystal Clear for our listeners yes exactly
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so um here we go here's One Lindsay could you pick up your shoes and move them off the carpet and while you're at it can you put your umbrella in the stand perfect exactly so while I'm at what
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Michelle while I'm at the business of cleaning up things moving my shoes organizing right right you've kind of I'm imagining you came in the door and you just kind of threw everything and I'm I'm
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you know saying can you just pick those up and yeah and the concept of this I some I find that people are one of two ways right and I hate it when people do this they they create buckets but I'm doing it right now um people either like to peace meal work for example cleaning I think
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we've had this conversation yeah uh peace meal cleaning like a little every day or they like to get it all done at once maybe once a week um it sounds like I think you mentioned before you're
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more of a peac Mealer is that right Michelle or yeah and and you are all at once at once yeah so I'm taking out the trash and while I'm at it I want to clean the kitchen clean the bathroom I
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don't want to go back to this work every day I just want it to be done for the week and then I revisit it the next Sunday so that's that's how this while you're at it kind of fits in do you peac mail things or do you do things um all at once right what does peace mail mean peace mail
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is a great bonus for today oh my gosh peac mail means you do things in pieces you do things in pieces you know in phases or you come back to it but that's not who I am okay excellent all right
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what's the next example Lindsay all right so I could say let's see I could say Okay first let's wash our hands oh and wash the tomatoes while we're at it yeah yeah you got the sink onink
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on yeah exactly what's another example Michelle I'll Bo I'll boil the water and while I'm at it I'll preheat the oven perfect yeah so it just fits so naturally and the other thing I love about this
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phrase It's a good transition so if you're taking ielt and you're putting together a speaking answer it's a really nice way to transition to ideas uh it just it brings your phrases together instead
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of saying and next I'm going to and then I'm going to and while I'm doing that I'm going to it's just natural right very natural all right we have a few more examples to make sure our listeners 100% get
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this all right all right here we go yes go ahead I did my cardio at the gym and I figured while I was at it I should also lift weights oh I love this cuz now we're seeing that we can do this in different different tenses right yes yes share so like yes exactly so you're telling stories you can
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use it I mean this is just so versatile it can be used for anything I feel exactly I could see using it for the past tense I wouldn't use it for the present perfect tense I I never hear while I've
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been ated that doesn't make any sense doesn't make any sense either right not real that's not yeah no that's tricky um all right one more example Lindsay all right if you're going to watch TV
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at least fold some laundry while you're at it yeah and you know if have teenagers or something you're probably likely to say this to them right right yes exactly exactly so yeah to me this expression
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sounds pretty light pretty friendly but I mean in the wrong tone or in a nasty way it could be on the route like you know more strict side like that last example at least fold some laundry while
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you're at it that could be oh yeah little bit a little bit snarky but I think with basic things I think it's just very useful what do you think Lindsay yeah I think it's really useful I do hear
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it sometimes to to snap s at people if someone's in a fight maybe they'll say oh go you know get out of the house and well you're at it go pick up something maybe not a serious fight or something
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but yeah sure it doesn't always have to be used in a positive tone it could be in a more snarky or or you know you're fighting with someone it could it could work there too yes yes yeah so
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let's talk about some other Expressions now we've been throwing this one around pretty naturally I think you used it right at the beginning and I thought oh I hope I put this one in the plan and I did what is it yeah might as well so these these mean very similar things or you might hear
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them associated in the same statement right might as well might as well do something if you're going into the office anyway you might as well do payroll while you're at it so yeah
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it's not used in instead of this it's used in addition to this right right exactly these ones go along with it so this one also is a good one that goes along with it it's why not X
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so it's your birthday the cake is amazing why not take an extra slice while you're at it yes why not do this it just basically the idea here for today is this thing makes sense to do along
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with this other thing right right yes exactly yes exactly so yeah this is about productivity um and Lindsay do we have a poll for today so what's our Spotify poll we do have a poll so I think
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what we should do for a poll today is ask what we what came up in the cont ation cuz this is really about what kind of person are you right so do you pacil tasks or do you prefer to get everything
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done at once everything done at once let's say for Imagine in terms of cleaning the are you more like me you want to clean once a week and do everything maybe it takes three hours but you're done no more
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cleaning or you like Michelle you want to do maybe I don't know 10 minutes every night for example right so are you a peac Mealer or are you a get it done at once person that is our Poll for today
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Michelle that's a good yes that is a good one so guys definitely answer that and then we will be uh giving you the results uh in a future episode yeah and I also wonder if any of that is cultural
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too right is it personality is it cultural is it just your productivity style I mean both ways are good both ways you get the work done but how do you prefer to do it or another example I don't
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like to uh get work done during the day and then go work out and then come back and work after that I don't like to split it up like that I would like to just get all the work done and then be totally done go out and just go hang out or something do you know what I mean yeah yeah yeah no that's I
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mean it's it's definitely nice to feel that sense of accomplishment okay you completed your tasks instead of oh I have to go back and finish but but at the same time sometimes sometimes I want to do
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that and then I just my brain is I realize I'm wandering I realize it's is that I that if I I'll be more efficient if I actually do take a little break but of course it's more I would
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rather get it done but true can't that's a good point Michelle you can't force your way through it if if the ideas just aren't coming sometimes you do actually need that air get out go to the gym maybe go out for dinner or something and then come back and you have like a new brain
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it's amazing yeah it is it is amazing yeah so all right so guys definitely answer that poll so let's do a role play and put this together all right so here we are friends we're building a DIY
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bookcase now what is DIY DIY is do it yourself so this could be from Ikea or somewhere where we have to build our own bookcase oh no this never goes well for me never goes well all right let's see
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how it goes today all right okay okay so can you go in the other room and grab the instructions sure oh and you might as well grab the hammer while you're at it it's in that drawer oh okay
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no problem Oh and why not get us a lemonade while you're at it anything else no that's it so I was starting to get was I starting to get a little bit like gez Michelle you what's my next order yeah
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and do this and do that yes exactly so I asked you to go in the other room and grab the instructions and you said sure and so I said oh and you might as well grab the hammer while you're at it so
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you're going in the other room anyway so you might as well do this while you're at it so again those two expressions are used really a lot of times they're used together yeah yes I love that might
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as well I agree so again they're not replacing each other necessarily but they they're associated with each other and and we can start talking about that more on the show too instead of replacement phrases Associated phrases you know in the same context in the same situation that's a great
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way to learn new vocabulary right right yeah it's it's funny yeah because sometimes it's not always okay what are what are multiple ways to use this but what are some things that you'll hear around
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it exactly I love that idea yeah and then I said oh you said oh and why why not get us a lemonade while you're at it and now you're pushing the the boundaries now I'm pushing it yes so I used I used
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while you're at it I twice I might not do that but but exactly just to give you another example I mean another thing you might say uh instead of while you're at is why not get us a lemonade
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while you're out or while you're in the kitchen or while you're while you're there yeah physical location right right right right right exactly um so I so we we haven't even started building
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the bookcase so I'm not sure if this bookcase is gonna get built Mich I'm not I'm not sure if I'm confident in this well especially I'm already and we haven't even started and I'm ready for my lemonade and yeah I can tell who's in charge I don't seem I don't seem very committed yeah I
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love it so this is great Michelle is there another episode our listeners should check out right away when they finished this episode today yes so we do have this was uh what episode 2326 was what
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do birds and efficiency have in common so going back to that idea of the birds and the stones I love it and again talking about efficiency today what is your style there are a lot of ways to get
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things done and it just depends on how you want to design your life so it's kind of cool especially in the beginning of the year to sit down and think about what is your efficiency style are there any adjustments we want to make for 2025 if you're a peac Meer does that work well for
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you or do you want to become an all you know all or nothing all at once task right uh task rabbit
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you know someone who just gets these things done all at one time so take some time to reflect on how you get things done interesting uh yeah definitely all right guys remember to check out that poll and thank you so much for listening today all
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right Michelle you have a good one I'll talk to you soon all right you too bye
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “2356 - Learn Some New English While You're At It”. This video has 80 sentences and 3315 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:52. The speaker talks fast, about 209 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 86% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| listener noun | /ˈlɪs(ə)nɚ/ | Someone who listens, especially to a speech or a broadcast. |
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| bookcase noun | /ˈbʊkˌkeɪs/ | A piece of furniture for the storage and display of books. |
| gosh | /ɡɑːʃ/ | A mild expression of surprise or enthusiasm. |
| tense noun | /tɛns/ | The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists. |
| productivity noun | /ˌpɹɒdʌkˈtɪvəti/ | The state of being productive, fertile, or efficient. |
| 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… |
| shoe noun | /ˈʃu/ | A protective covering for the foot, with a bottom part composed of thick leather or plastic sole and often a thicker heel, and a softer upper part made of… |
| snarky adjective | /ˈsnɑɹ.ki/ | Snide and sarcastic; usually out of irritation. |
| interact verb | /ɪn.təˈɹækt/ | To engage in communication and other shared activities (with someone). |
| laundry noun | /ˈlɔːn.dɹi/ | A laundering; a washing. |
| fold verb | /ˈfəʊld/ | To bend (any thin material, such as paper) over so that it comes in contact with itself. |
| instruction noun | /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/ | The act of instructing, teaching, or providing with information or knowledge. |
| hammer noun | /ˈhæmɚ/ | A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding. |
| cardio noun | /ˈkɑɹ.di.oʊ/ | Exercise with the goal of raising the heart rate by walking or running on the treadmill. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. | |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| come back verb | To return to a place. | |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. | |
| go along with verb | To acquiesce to or comply with a proposal, despite lacking a desire or value for it. | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| call out verb | To specify, especially in detail. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have come · you've given · we've talked |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might as · might not do |
| Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea | should we record · should we take · should we do |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was talking · were just being · were just having |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 122 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, shoe /ˈʃu/, instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/, accomplishment /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ.mənt/
- Long words — get the stress right: productivity /ˌpɹɒdʌkˈtɪvəti/, accomplishment /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ.mənt/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, continuous /kənˈtɪn.juː.əs/, hilarious /hɪˈlɛə.ɹi.əs/
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 listener, phrase, bookcase.
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.