Shadowing Practice: 5 Common British English Expressions (Episode 3) - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
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hello
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and welcome back to English with Lucy today we have another
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episode of my fabulous five common British expressions now before we
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get started make sure you connect with me on all my social media
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which is right here
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and I've got my Instagram account obviously you can subscribe to my YouTube you can also like me on Facebook
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and for my Chinese followers I have my Weibo account as well okay
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so our first expression is a piece of cake
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and this is very similar to easy peasy lemon squeezy
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which we've discussed in a previous video and basically it means very easy
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so I might come out of a particularly easy exam saying
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that exam was a piece of cake that exam was really easy
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so number two break a leg actually looks really rather cruel
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but I promise you it's positive And break a leg means good luck, so before a race, before a job interview,
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before a test, instead of saying good luck, I might say break a leg.
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Do really well.
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So since we're talking about legs, let's bring arms into the equation as well.
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Number three is it cost an arm and a leg.
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And this basically means something was really expensive.
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If I say my bag cost an arm and a leg, I mean it cost a lot of money.
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Now the next one isn't particularly nice.
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It is to pop one's clogs and this actually means to die but we use it quite affectionately.
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It's like a nice way of saying that someone's died.
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So I'm going to a funeral this Sunday.
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My neighbour's popped his clogs.
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It's a way of saying my neighbour's died
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but we don't want to say the death word so we say they've got their clogs.
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And then we have number five, to call it a day.
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And this means to end a task.
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So for example, I'm feeling a bit tired, I think I'll call it a day.
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And that means I think I'll stop here, let's finish.
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So as we've come to number five, I think I'll call it a day now.
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Bye!
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Thank you so much for watching this episode of Five Common British Expressions.
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I hope you liked it
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and I hope you learned something make sure you connect with all my social media as I said before
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and have a very lovely week bye this wine is off

About This Lesson

You're practicing English with "5 Common British English Expressions (Episode 3)" using the Shadowing technique — a method originally developed for professional interpreter training.

Focus on sounding like the speaker — not just repeating words. With 15–30 minutes of daily practice, you'll build real-world speaking confidence.

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.