Shadowing Practice: Ashley Benson Tells Us About Her First Times - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hi, I'm Ashley Benson and I'm at BuzzFeed today and I'm going to be doing First Times.

First red carpet experience, I'm pretty sure it was a Hilary Duff movie,

2000, I think, and it was at Universal Studios and I was a huge, I mean, huge fan.

I love Hilary.

I think I was 12.

I thought it was very cool.

I had no reason to walk the red carpet and I did

and I had a horrible outfit on i'm pretty sure

it was a orange tank top with this horrible like there was these belts

that were in like huge like thick belts i looked like a wrestler i mean it was insane

but i was very very excited to do

that i was like this is basically my premiere first crazy rumor i heard about myself it was rumored

that i dated every guy on pll which i dated none of them so that was a Fun one.

First kiss.

My first kiss was actually on screen on a soap opera that I was on and I was so terrified.

It was in this party scene so there was a ton of extras around but I was so nervous.

I broke it into hives, like shaking, crying and I was like, everyone has to watch me do my first kiss.

I didn't know what to do.

But yeah, it was pretty funny.

Very embarrassing.

My first bad date.

I've never really been on dates. So, I don't know.

Oh, I should, I have yet to have one.

I don't go on dates, you know, cause I'll never show up.

I make the plans and I just cancel.

Or I did, I did do that.

First memory you have from working on PLL.

First memory, I think when we were filming the pilot, we were filming in Vancouver in Canada.

It was Thanksgiving in America.

And obviously like they don't do that there, but we had the biggest

Thanksgiving dinner at this hotel.

And it was my first night meeting all the girls

and the producers and the director and it was a very nice bonding experience.

And then being freezing cold, shooting outside, frozen.

I mean, it was so hard.

We were in small dresses, literally about to die.

It was so cold.

So yeah, being cold and eating a ton of Thanksgiving food.

First memory of being a six chick in 13

Going On 30, having to cut bangs.

I cried my eyes out for days, and I tried to pin them back after I was done filming that movie.

I don't know how to do my hair, and, you know, I think I was 13 or 14 when I did that.

It was just really hard for me to make the bangs work, and then the growing out period was really awkward.

First show you ever binged.

I don't watch a lot of TV, but Handmaid's Tale was, right when I heard about it, I spent a whole day and watched every episode.

Mrs. Maisel, I binged as well, which is really good.

I'm about to start Euphoria.

I haven't been in the country, so I can now watch HBO back here, and I'm probably gonna take a day to watch that,

because I heard it's amazing.

and there was a blast after.

Well, so funny enough, when I met her at Sarah's birthday, I hadn't watched Handmaids yet, and my best friend Isaac was sitting next to me,

and he started sinking in the chair when she walked in.

I'm like, are you okay?

What is going on?

He's like, it's Offred, it's Offred.

I was like, what are you talking about?

Who is that?

What do you mean?

So then I finally, he was like, Lizzie, I'm like, what is it?

He's like, Handmaid's, so I was like, okay.

So I called him out.

I was like, Lizzie, my friend's obsessed with you and freaking out

and he's shaking doesn't know what to do

so she put a napkin on her head

and become she became like offered she was like hi Isaac

and she put the thing on she was embarrassing

if they were joking around it was so funny he the photos

and the video you see my friend he's just like shaking

and just going in so embarrassed he's like why did you do

that I was like you have to say

that you like the show come on oh first memory from moving to New York my first memory

I lived in Soho at the time and I got this really cool loft with my friend.

Downstairs there's a great restaurant, one of my favorite restaurants, and I would just go there every day, all day.

I lived above it, so it's really bad because you just eat all the time and drink, and that's what I did.

First thing you do on your phone when you wake up.

First thing I do, check my messages, I guess.

I definitely don't do social media to clear my head.

First PL co -star you'd call to hang with right now.

I can't choose.

I mean I haven't seen Tyler in forever and like that's my little angel baby.

I texted you the other day you didn't respond Tyler.

Rude. So rude.

First cell phone.

My first cell phone was a razor.

I had the hot pink razor and then I rhinestone my sidekick in all pink rhinestones.

I'm like who?

Those sidekicks were insane but so fun.

And then I got a Blackberry so I could have like BBM.

First project of yours you'd re -watch right now.

Uh Spring Breakers probably.

First celebrity crush.

I think Jonathan Taylor Thomas would be a good one.

Chad Michael Murray was a crush.

And then Leonardo DiCaprio always.

Yeah well I had posters of Justin Timberlake everywhere.

I'd kiss him every day before I went to school.

First big purchase as a celebrity.

A house I think.

Maybe a purse.

100

I try to be really cautious with my money.

101

This is so embarrassing

102

First AOL screen name everyone's gonna hate me

103

This is actually embarrassing, but this is how I was when I was younger.

104

It was called wish for fame number three really proud of that one

105

That is so embarrassing

106

First thing you kept from a set.

107

I've never Taken anything from sets

108

and I really I should have taken stuff from POL But I would try and I'd get in trouble.

109

So it's just I never succeeded.

110

I'm too obvious about it

111

Also taking like a statue like no worries guys didn't take anything first time you knew you were famous

112

Well, I don't think I'm famous, but I guess just when PLL was kind of going off and people started

113

Recognizing me more.

114

I was a Shay Mitchell Which is so funny for a first time getting paparazzi and we were out at this

115

restaurant called boa and We were walking in and at the time, you know your first experience of that.

116

It's like wow

117

This is really like cool, you know, so I remember me and Shay like just walking down the street

118

and we knew that there was a paparazzi guy there and we're like, we wonder if he'll know who we are

119

because the show had just come out and he did and we were like strutting down the street like so bad.

120

Now I'm literally like, look like crazy in every paparazzi, but I'm eating and like look at us and I hate,

121

I hate them, it gives me anxiety.

122

But for that first moment, I was like, this is rad.

123

Cool.

124

And now it just ruins your life.

125

My first apartment, my first apartment was in Sherman Oaks.

126

I was living with a roommate.

127

It was the worst property you'd ever see, but we had a spiral staircase.

128

That's the only reason I got it.

129

It's just to go upstairs to the roof.

130

It was horrible, it was like rat infested,

131

but I loved it and all I did was play video games and make cakes and order Pizza Hut.

132

First makeup fashion moment you really regretted.

133

All my red carpet photos from the 2000s are really bad, really bad, like I don't know what I was thinking.

134

Just look up old photos of me on red carpets and you'll see all my great choices.

135

This is the last one.

136

We finished.

137

First time you saw yourself in a magazine.

138

I think it was Soap Opera Digest because I was on a soap for a long time,

139

so I was always in that, just for the character.

140

And I thought it was pretty cool.

141

Okay, you guys, so I have a new collection for Pruebe Reveaux, it's the Benzo collection.

142

There's three different styles, you're gonna love them.

143

Here's one of the pairs, chic, fun, go get them.

144

I hope you enjoy, I worked kind of hard on them and I like them.

145

So, I hope you guys enjoyed this video.

146

Bye!

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Ashley Benson Tells Us About Her First Times”. This video has 146 sentences and 1515 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:28. The speaker talks fast, about 203 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
carpet noun	/ˈkɑɹ.pət/	A fabric used as a complete floor covering.
horrible adjective	/ˈhɔɹ.ɪ.bəl/	Causing horror; terrible; shocking.
shake verb	/ˈʃeɪk/	To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.
soap noun	/soʊp/	A metallic salt derived from a fatty acid, commonly used in cleaning products.
belt noun	/ˈbɛlt/	A band worn around the waist to hold clothing to one's body (usually pants), hold weapons (such as a gun or sword), or serve as a decorative piece of clothing.
insane adjective	/ɪnˈseɪn/	Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad.
bang noun	/ˈbæŋ/	A sudden percussive noise.
celebrity noun	/səˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ɾi/	Fame, renown; the state of being famous or talked-about.
opera noun	/ˈɒp.ə.ɹə/	A theatrical work, combining drama, music, song and sometimes dance.
rude adjective	/ɹuːd/	Lacking in refinement or civility; bad-mannered; discourteous.
crush verb	/kɹʌʃ/	To press between two hard objects; to squeeze so as to alter the natural shape or integrity, or to force together into a mass.
freeze verb	/ˈfɹiːz/	Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature.
rumor noun	/ˈɹumɚ/	A statement or claim of questionable accuracy, from no known reliable source, usually spread by word of mouth.
razor noun	/ˈɹeɪzɚ/	A keen-edged knife of peculiar shape, used in shaving the hair from the face or other parts of the body.
binge noun	/bɪnd͡ʒ/	A short period of excessive consumption, especially of food, alcohol, narcotics, etc.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
go off verb		To explode.
grow out verb		To allow (something, often hair) to grow unimpeded.
look up verb	/ˌlʊk ˈʌp/	To have better prospects.
show up verb		To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically.
wake up verb	/ˌweɪk ˈʌp/	To stop sleeping; to awake.
walk down verb		To continually advance (on an opponent) and punch (the opponent) in order to control the fight and dominate the opponent, while shrugging off the opponent's…

Sentences worth repeating

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

I didn't know what to do.
I've never really been on dates.
I'm like, are you okay?
I was like, what are you talking about?
What do you mean?

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	I've never really been · haven't been · haven't seen
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was rumored · was called
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	well, which is · Mitchell Which is
Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past	were filming · was sitting · were walking

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 45 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shake /ˈʃeɪk/, crush /kɹʌʃ/, cautious /ˈkɔːʃəs/, chic /ʃik/
Long words — get the stress right: celebrity /səˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ɾi/, anxiety /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/, paparazzo /ˌpɑ.pəˈɹɑt.soʊ/

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 carpet, horrible, shake.

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: Ashley Benson Tells Us About Her First Times - 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?

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