Shadowing Practice: American Culture You NEED To Know - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vanessa: Hi. I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Do you know these very American things? Let's talk about it.

Do you know this song? Most Americans immediately recognize this tune, even though my poor singing. You're immediately able to recognize this song because it is a common feature of American culture. So today I would like to help you learn 10 common things.

Some of them are expressions. Some of them are activities. Some of them are cultural elements that all Americans know and you should too. Now of course, the US is an incredibly diverse place with a lot of people who have various backgrounds. So this might not apply to everyone.

I can't speak for all people living in the United States. But these are generally known things in the US that it's kind of fun to be able to know as well. So let's get started with the first one.

And to help you remember everything that you learned in this very American lesson, you can download the free PDF worksheet that I've made for today's lesson. It includes all of these expressions, cultural elements, and ideas that I've talked about in this lesson.

Plus, you'll see Vanessa's Challenge Question so that you can answer it and use what you've learned. You can download that PDF with the link in the description.

All right. Let's get started with our first very American thing that almost all Americans know what it is. If I asked you, "What are you doing for the fourth," would you know what I mean?

You might look at your calendar and say, "November 4th? December 4th?" No. When someone asks you, "What are you doing for the fourth," they always mean July 4th. And that's because July 4th is the American Independence Day. And we usually just shorten this to the fourth.

"What are you doing for the fourth? I'm going to the lake for the fourth.

I'm not really doing anything for the fourth, but maybe I'll try to find some fireworks." We often shorten Independence Day or July 4th to just the fourth. And now you know that too.

If I said to you, "Whoa, I just found a Benjamin on the street. I can't believe it." Huh? Would you think that I found a guy named Benjamin on the street and I just feel so excited?

Maybe he's my long lost friend. Nope. If I said I found a Benjamin on the street, that means a $100 bill. And that's because Benjamin Franklin is the guy who's on the $100 bill. So if you say, "Oh man, I really just need to earn some Benjamins this weekend. I need to pay my rent. I'm falling behind." That means you need to make several hundred dollars. It's just slang for a hundred dollars. So I hope for you, you find a Benjamin on the street someday. That would be amazing.

If my husband Dan said, "Did you eat the last piece of cake?" I might say, "I plead the fifth." What is happening here? Am I telling him that I'm guilty? Or am I telling him I'm not guilty? I didn't do it. Well, this expression I plead the fifth has to do with the fifth amendment to the constitution. And that means that I don't need to tell you because maybe it will hurt me in a court of law later. This is a very legal type of statement.

But we often use this in daily conversation to say yes, but I don't want to tell you.

So when my husband asks me, "Did you eat the last piece of cake," and I say, "I plead the fifth," he knows, yes, Vanessa ate it, but she doesn't want to tell me.

So you can use this very American expression when you want to tell someone yes, but maybe you feel embarrassed to tell them yes directly. You can just say, "Ah, I plead the fifth." Great expression. In 2004, I was a senior. Does this mean I was old in 2004? What if I told you also that in 2008, I was also a senior. Huh? If you're in America, you can probably guess that this means I was in high school in 2004 and I was in college in 2008.

A senior means you are in your last year of high school or your last year of college. So in the US, we often have terms for first, second, third, and fourth year in high school and in college. So if you are in ninth grade, you are a freshman. If you are in 10th grade, you're a sophomore. Notice that the O in the middle of this word is silent, sophomore. If you're in 11th grade, you are a junior. We could say, "I'm in my junior year. I'm a junior." And if you're in two 12th grade, so the final grade of high school, you are a senior. And this type of system also applies to college.

You are a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior in college, especially when you go to a four year college, these type of terms apply. So it's quite common that when you are a senior, you think you are much better than freshman. "Oh, I was never so small. They're so much like just little children, those freshmen. We are seniors." I think this is pretty common in high school that you see the people who are younger than you as so much younger. "I wasn't like that when I was a freshman." But really, you were. So this type of system is quite common in the US. And now you know about it too. When you arrive in the US, you will probably need to fill out a visa form. And at the bottom of the visa, you need to sign your John Hancock.

Is your name John Hancock? Well, if it is, you definitely need to do that.

But this term, sign your John Hancock just means your signature. There's a little bit of American history behind this because John Hancock was a guy who signed his name big and large on the Declaration of Independence. So it was kind of a bold statement where these colonists in the United States or in the Americas told England, "We want to have independence." And it's a pretty big statement. Maybe there's some treason involved. So it's kind of scary to say, "I'm someone who supports this." But John Hancock signed his name really large on that document. So it was bold and courageous. It was a big move. So because of this, his name is synonymous now with a signature. Sign your John Hancock, put your John Hancock here. We don't always use this instead of signature, but you will definitely hear this. And it's steeped in American history and now you can use it too. Now we have two fun American idioms. One is if I said to you, "You shouldn't buy a new car. If you buy a used car, you get more bang for your buck." This expression, bang for your buck, kind of includes two American concepts. One is buck, which is slang for dollars. And the other one, bang, doesn't necessarily relate to guns, but I know guns are kind of culturally linked to the US. So we get this idea that you can get a great value for your money if you buy a used car. So you might say, "Yeah, you should get a used car.

It's more bang for your buck. Don't get a new car. It's better to get a used car." This is a great expression, more bang for your buck. When I was growing up, before we left for school almost every morning, it was pretty common for my sister and I to fight over who said, "Shotgun," first. Why were we trying to beat each other to say shotgun? What's that mean? Does that mean we want to carry a shotgun? Does that mean we were going hunting or shooting?

No. Instead, shotgun is the passenger seat. And for some reason, this is the most desirable seat in the car when you're not the driver. So kids, I guess, not too young, but high schoolers or older kids always want to call shotgun. And we use that expression, "I call shotgun," or just saying shotgun. And that means that's my seat. I claim it. And this is really common, especially with siblings, even with friends, too, that before you get in the car, if you're not the driver, you'd say, "I call shotgun." Well, maybe now you can call shotgun too.

Have you ever eaten the most tasty bonfire treat in the entire world? This is something I look forward to every time we have a bonfire. It is s'mores. S'mores. This is something I didn't realize was very American until I was talking to some international friends. And they said, "What? We just toast marshmallows. What do you put with them?" So let me explain to you a delicacy, something amazing that has a special place in my heart.

First, you have a graham cracker. This is a special type of cookie, even though it's called cracker, it's quite sweet. And then we have a piece of chocolate. So we often buy some Hershey's chocolate, break off a piece, put it on the graham cracker. And when you're having a bonfire, you set that close to the fire, not too close, but close enough that the chocolate gets a little soft. And then you take a stick and two marshmallows, you could do one, but two is better, and you toast them over the fire, very carefully to make sure that they don't explode into flames. Some people like that. Personally, I like them to be perfectly toasted and it is an art form. Let me tell you.

So you toast them. And then when they're toasted, you put them on the chocolate and you take another piece of a graham cracker and you slide the marshmallows off and there you have the perfect s'more. Toasty, warm, melty, gooey. So perfect. So the next time that you are at a bonfire, maybe you can introduce this idea to your friends, or if you're at a bonfire in the US, you will definitely see people eating s'mores. Please try it for my sake. I hope you'll love it.

All right. Now it's time for the song you have been waiting for. It is ...

Do you know this song? This song is Take Me Out to the Ball Game. And I included this here because there's a funny little story I wanted to share with you. One of my friends, you might follow his YouTube channel. His name's Jack. He has a YouTube channel called To Fluency and he's from the UK, but he's married to an American. And he told me that one time they were playing a game with some Americans. And the game was that you had to hum a song and your partner had to guess what it was.

So his wife drew a card and it said, hum Take Me Out to the Ball Game. And she's like, "All right, this is a good song. It's easy. He'll understand it immediately." So she started to hum.

And he just looked at her like, "What? I've never heard that in my life." So obviously that was not a good moment in their game for them, maybe a little funny, but because of this, I realized, "Oh, maybe this song isn't quite so well known internationally, but it is a staple of American culture because baseball is extremely common. And this song is sung before every baseball game.

So if you've ever been to any kind of big baseball game in the US, you've definitely heard this song.

And if you memorize the lyrics, you'll be able to sing along and cheer with everyone.

It's a great moment to kind of have that group feeling of excitement before a game. So make sure you check out Take Me Out to the Ball Game. You can search on YouTube and see some clips of crowds of people at baseball games, singing this song, quite fun and very American.

Take me out to the ballgame. Take me out to the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks.

I don’t care if I ever get back for it root, root, root for the home team. If they don’t win it’s a shame. For it’s 1, 2, 3 strikes you’re out at the old ball game! Our final very American thing today also has to do with baseball. What if I said to you, "Your speech was awesome. You knocked it out of the park." Did you give a speech about baseball? Are you playing baseball? No. This just means it was amazing. You did even better than expected. You knocked it out of the park.

Here we have the image of someone playing baseball. He's got a baseball bat, someone's pitching him the ball and he hits it. He doesn't just hit it into the outfield. That's where someone can catch it. He hits it beyond the field, out of the park. And this means it's a home run. No one can catch it. And it's great for his team. Everyone can get to home base and they might get a lot of points. So here knocking it out of the park is a great thing in baseball and in life.

So if you do something really awesome, better than expected, you can use this expression. "Oh man, I can't believe it. But I talked to someone in English the other, and I think I knocked it out of the park. I explained myself exactly the way I wanted. I did it. And they understood me." Congratulations, you knocked it out of the park. Well, congratulations. Now you are in the loop to all of these American secrets, all of these things that most Americans know. And now you do too. If you are American and you're watching this, let me know in the comments, did you know all these things? I think they're pretty common in American culture, but let me know in the comments. And I would love to see what you have to say. Don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet so that you can learn all of these American concepts. Print it out, put it under your pillow, sleep on it, dream about it. I hope it will help you to expand your English knowledge and be more confident as you speak. And now I have a question for you. Have you ever celebrated the fourth? If you live in the US, maybe you've joined a 4th of July celebration, but I want to know. Have you ever celebrated the fourth?

Let me know. And I will see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.

The next step is to download the free PDF worksheet for this lesson.

With this free PDF, you will master today's lesson and never forget what you have learned.

You can be a confident English speaker. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “American Culture You NEED To Know”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: song, baseball, fourth. This video has 40 sentences and 2559 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:05. The speaker talks at a natural 159 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 26 of its 40 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
shotgun noun	/ˈʃɑtɡʌn/	A gun which fires loads typically consisting of small metal balls, called shot, from a cartridge.
bonfire noun	/ˈbɑnˌfaɪɚ/	A large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal.
cracker noun	/ˈkɹækə(ɹ)/	A dry, thin, crispy baked bread (usually salty or savoury, but sometimes sweet, as in the case of graham crackers and animal crackers).
toast noun	/toʊst/	Bread that has been toasted (cooked lightly by browning).
freshman noun	/ˈfɹɛʃ.mən/	a person (of either sex) entering the first year of an institution, especially a high school (ninth grade for US, grade 9 for Canada, grade 7 for Philippines)…
buck noun	/ˈbʌk/	A male deer, antelope, sheep, goat, rabbit, hare, and sometimes the male of other animals such as the hamster, ferret, salmonid, shad, skunk and kangaroo.
bang noun	/ˈbæŋ/	A sudden percussive noise.
plead verb	/pliːd/	To present (an argument or a plea), especially in a legal case.
marshmallow noun	/ˈmɑɹʃˌmɛl.oʊ/	Marsh mallow, a species of mallow, Althaea officinalis, that grows in marshy terrain.
worksheet noun		A sheet of paper or computerized document on which problems are worked out or solved and the answers are recorded.
sophomore noun	/ˈsɑf.mɔɹ/	A second-year undergraduate student in a college or university, or a second-year student in a four-year secondary school or high school.
signature noun	/ˈsɪɡ.nə.t͡ʃə/	A person's name, written by that person, used as identification or to signify approval of accompanying material, such as a legal contract.
graham noun	/ɡɹæm/	Flour made by grinding wheat berries including the bran.
shorten verb	/ˈʃɔɹtn̩/	To make shorter; to abbreviate.
sling noun	/ˈslɪŋ/	An instrument for throwing stones or other missiles, consisting of a short strap with two strings fastened to its ends, or with a string fastened to one end…

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
break off verb		To remove a piece from a whole by breaking or snapping.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
fall behind verb		To be late (for a regular event)
fill out verb	/fɪl ˈaʊt/	To complete a form or questionnaire with requested information.
grow up verb		To mature and become an adult.
look forward to verb		To anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Do you know this song?
"What are you doing for the fourth?
Am I telling him that I'm guilty?
Does that mean we want to carry a shotgun?
Does that mean we were going hunting or shooting?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if you're not the driver, you'd say · if you memorize the lyrics, you'll be
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've made · you've learned · Have you ever eaten
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	people who have · people who are · guy who signed
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	might not apply · might look · might say

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 56 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shotgun /ˈʃɑtɡʌn/, freshman /ˈfɹɛʃ.mən/, marshmallow /ˈmɑɹʃˌmɛl.oʊ/, shorten /ˈʃɔɹtn̩/, celebration /ˌsɛl.ɪˈbɹeɪ.ʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: delicacy /ˈdɛlɪkəsi/, synonymous /sɪˈnɑnɪməs/, desirable /dɪˈzaɪəɹəbəl/, celebration /ˌsɛl.ɪˈbɹeɪ.ʃən/

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 shotgun, bonfire, cracker.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: American Culture You NEED To Know - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?

2 Tips For Improving Your Listening Skills