Shadowing Practice: A1 English Listening Practice - Daily Routine - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Hey everybody, welcome to this A1 English listening practice video.
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70 sentences
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Hey everybody, welcome to this A1 English listening practice video.
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You can use this video to practice your listening and comprehension as I speak.
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You ready?
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So, today I'm going to talk about my daily routine.
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My routine is different on weekdays and weekends.
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I'll tell you about my routine on weekdays.
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So, I normally wake up at about 6 or 6.15 a.m.
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I like waking up early.
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I don't like getting up late.
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When I wake up, the first thing I do is read my Bible.
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Then, I study languages for a little while.
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Currently, I'm studying Indonesian.
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I like to study in the morning because I feel motivated.
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Other people prefer studying in the evening.
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Do you like studying in the morning, afternoon, or evening?
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So, after I study, I usually eat some fruit.
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This is my first food of the day.
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Then, I start my work.
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I usually start working at 7.30 a.m.
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Most other people start at 8 a.m.
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or 9 a.m.
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I like starting early though.
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I'm an English teacher and I teach many students.
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I have different students every day.
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Some days I have many classes and other days I have fewer classes.
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Most of my students are from Brazil and Russia, but I have students from many other countries too.
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Every day I talk to people from all over the world.
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This is really fun.
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I love my job.
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So, during my work day I have some breaks.
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Sometimes, I have a 30-minute break between classes.
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During my breaks, I eat, study, and hang out with my wife.
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My last class usually ends at 4.30 or 5.00 p.m.
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Many Americans get off work at 5.00 p.m.
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After I get off work, I eat dinner.
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My wife cooks dinner every weekday, so we eat at home.
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I'm always hungry when I finish work.
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In the US, people eat dinner early, like at 6pm.
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This is very common.
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In other countries, people eat dinner late, like at 9pm.
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I don't like this.
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For us, dinner is the biggest meal of the day.
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We eat a lot for dinner.
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My wife and I eat meat, vegetables and other food.
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Some days I exercise in the evening too.
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I don't exercise every day, only some days.
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I should exercise more though.
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After I exercise and eat dinner, I eat dessert.
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I normally have milk and cookies.
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I love milk and cookies.
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After dessert, I study my languages more.
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Then, I spend time with my wife.
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Lastly, I take a shower, brush my teeth, and get ready for bed.
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I usually go to bed at 10pm.
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So that's my normal routine on weekdays.
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I like to have a consistent routine.
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I plan my days and I try to follow my plan.
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Some people don't like planning their days.
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They prefer to do different things every day.
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I like doing different things too, but I like having a general plan to follow.
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If I don't have a general plan, I feel lost.
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I like having a daily routine.
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However, on the weekends, I do many different activities.
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My weekends are very different from my weekdays.
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But I always wake up and go to bed at the same time every day.
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That doesn't change.
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I like to start and end every day at the same time.
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Okay, that's all for today.
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Leave a comment and tell me if you have a daily routine.
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I'll see you next time.
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About This Lesson: Mastering Your Daily Routine in English

Dive into practical English speaking practice with this engaging A1 English listening lesson focused on a daily routine. This video provides an excellent opportunity to enhance your English fluency by immersing yourself in common everyday activities. You'll hear about waking up, studying, working, taking breaks, eating meals, and evening habits, all presented in clear, accessible English.

Through the speaker's detailed account, learners will:

  • Practice Vocabulary: Expand your word bank for daily actions (e.g., wake up, get up, study, work, eat dinner, exercise), times of day (morning, afternoon, evening), and common objects (Bible, fruit, cookies).
  • Understand Grammar Patterns: Solidify your understanding of the simple present tense for describing habits and routines, adverbs of frequency (normally, usually, sometimes, every day), and prepositions of time (at 6 a.m., in the morning, during my breaks).
  • Engage in Speaking Contexts: Learn how to effectively describe your own day, compare routines with others, and express personal preferences about activities or timings. This prepares you for real-life conversations about daily life.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases for Daily Routine

Here are some essential phrases and vocabulary from the video to boost your daily conversation skills:

  • To wake up / To get up: "I normally wake up at about 6 or 6.15 a.m. I don't like getting up late." – To wake up means to stop sleeping; to get up means to exit your bed.
  • Daily routine: "My routine is different on weekdays and weekends." – The sequence of actions you regularly follow each day.
  • To study languages: "Then, I study languages for a little while." – To dedicate time to learning a new language.
  • To start work / To get off work: "I usually start working at 7.30 a.m. My last class usually ends at 4.30 or 5.00 p.m. After I get off work, I eat dinner." – To begin working; to finish work for the day.
  • To hang out with: "During my breaks, I eat, study, and hang out with my wife." – To spend time casually with someone.
  • Biggest meal of the day: "For us, dinner is the biggest meal of the day." – The main or largest meal you eat.

Practice Tips for This Video: Enhance Your English Fluency

To maximize your learning from "A1 English Listening Practice - Daily Routine," try these specific tips:

  • Shadowing Technique: The speaker maintains a clear, moderate pace, perfect for shadowing technique. Play the video and try to speak along simultaneously with the speaker. Focus on mimicking their rhythm, intonation, and pauses to improve your pronunciation practice and natural speech patterns.
  • Mimic American English: Notice the speaker's American accent and common expressions (e.g., "get off work"). Pay attention to vowel sounds and the "r" sound at the end of words to gradually adopt a similar sound if that's your goal for English fluency.
  • Focus on Time Expressions: This video is rich in time references. Pause the video after sentences like "I normally wake up at about 6 or 6.15 a.m." and repeat them, paying close attention to the prepositions (at, in, on) and how times are pronounced.
  • Describe Your Own Day: After listening to a section, pause and try to describe your own routine using the same vocabulary and grammar structures the speaker used. For example, "I normally wake up at..." or "After I finish work, I..." This is excellent preparation for the IELTS speaking test or any conversation about personal routines.
  • Practice "Do you like...?" questions: The speaker asks, "Do you like studying in the morning, afternoon, or evening?" Practice answering this question aloud, explaining your preference and why. This helps you build confidence in expressing opinions.

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.

How to Practice Effectively on ShadowingEnglish

  1. Choose your video: Pick a YouTube video with clear, natural English speech. TED Talks, BBC News, movie scenes, podcasts, or IELTS sample answers all work great. Paste the URL into the search bar. Start with shorter videos (under 5 minutes) and content you find genuinely interesting — motivation matters.
  2. Listen first, understand the context: On your first pass, keep the speed at 1x and just listen. Don't try to repeat yet. Focus on understanding the meaning, picking up new vocabulary, and noticing how the speaker stresses words, links sounds, and uses pauses.
  3. Set up Shadowing mode:
    • Wait Mode: Choose +3s or +5s — after each sentence plays, the video pauses automatically so you have time to repeat it out loud. Choose Manual if you want full control and press Next yourself after each repetition.
    • Sub Sync: YouTube subtitles sometimes appear slightly ahead or behind the audio. Use ±100ms to align them perfectly so you can follow along accurately.
  4. Shadow out loud (the core practice): This is where the real work happens. As soon as a sentence plays — or during the pause — repeat it out loud, clearly and confidently. Don't just mouth the words: mirror the speaker's exact rhythm, stress, pitch, and connected speech. Aim to sound like a shadow of the speaker, not just a word-by-word recitation. Use the Repeat feature to drill the same sentence multiple times until it feels natural.
  5. Scale up the challenge: Once a passage feels comfortable, push your limits. Increase speed to <code>1.25x</code> or even <code>1.5x</code> to train high-speed language reflexes. Or set Wait Mode to <code>Off</code> for continuous shadowing — the most advanced and rewarding mode. Consistent daily practice of 15–30 minutes will produce noticeable results within weeks.

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