Shadowing Practice: Asking For & Giving Directions In English! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Excuse me, do you know where the Museum of Modern Art is?
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Yes, you should go this street down and then there is a and you should
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You know what, I might just use Google Maps.
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Thank you.
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How do you give directions in English?
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Hello, my name is Matty from POC English.
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And in this lesson, we are going to learn how to ask for and give directions.
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First, I will teach you different types of streets.
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Then we will learn prepositions of place to say where a building or a location is After that,
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I will teach you how to ask for and give directions in English And finally, I will show you a map
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and then you will have to give me directions Using the vocabulary
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and the language you have learned in this lesson So make sure you watch this video to the end Okay,
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let's start with different street types.
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What are the differences between avenues or roads or streets or lanes or ways or trails or maybe boulevards or highways?
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What are the differences?
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Let's start with number one, road.
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What's a road?
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A road is a way that connects two places so that people can walk or drive or ride easily.
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A road can be paved, maybe with asphalt, or even made of dirt or stones.
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So road is a general term.
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Now, what is a street?
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A street is a public road inside the city with buildings on one side or on both sides.
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What is an avenue?
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A wide street is called an avenue.
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So a street is narrow and avenue is wide.
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What are lanes or ways?
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Well, lanes and ways are narrow streets within residential blocks.
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What is a boulevard?
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A boulevard is a wide and important street in a city with an island in the middle,
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which is usually filled with grass, flowers or even trees.
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And finally, what's a highway?
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A highway is a very wide street with several lanes on each side,
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and cars usually go fast on the highways.
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Now, knowing different types of streets, it is time to learn the prepositions of place,
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to say where a building or a location is.
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Look at this scheme I've made for you.
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There are four buildings, buildings A, B, C and D.
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And there are two roads, first road and second road.
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Now, look at the first one.
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Where is building A?
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Building A is next to building B.
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or building A is across from building C.
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Now, it's across from or it's opposite building C.
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Where is building A?
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Next to building B or across from opposite building C.
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Now, where is B?
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B is between A and D.
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And where is D?
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D is next to B, right?
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But you can also say D is on the corner of 1st and 2nd street.
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So the prepositions you can use are across from or opposite, next to, between or on the corner of.
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Now, let's see how we can ask for direction from someone we have seen on the street.
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If you are not looking for a specific place, you can use this question.
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Is there a around here or near here?
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For example, is there a bank near here?
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Is there a supermarket around here?
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Is there a pet shop near here?
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However, if you are looking for a specific place, you can use this question.
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Where is the...
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And then in the blank, you say the name of the place.
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For example, where is the Battery Park?
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Or where is the Rockefeller Center?
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You can also use this question.
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How can I get to...
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How can I get to St. Patrick's Cathedral?
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Or how can I get to public library?
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Now, who are you asking these questions to?
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Strangers on the street, right?
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So you might want to be very polite.
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In this case, you can start your questions with Can you tell me?
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Or do you know?
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However, when you use these phrases at the beginning of your questions, the question structure has to change.
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These are called indirect questions and are very polite.
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How can you make indirect questions?
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Let me show you.
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Look at this question.
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Where is the Rockefeller Center?
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I want to make it more polite, so I start with do you know?
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When I start with do you know, I have to change something in the main question. But what?
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I have to change the place of my auxiliary verb and the subject of the question.
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What is the auxiliary here? Is.
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And what is the subject of the question?
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Rockefeller Center.
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So let's change the place.
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Do you know where the Rockefeller Center is?
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Now this is a very polite question.
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So you could either say, where is the Rockefeller Center?
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Or be more polite and say, do you know where the Rockefeller Center is?
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Let me show you another example.
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Look at the question.
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How can I get to public library?
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I can make it more polite by saying, can you tell me, but what should I do with the main question?
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Take the auxiliary verb and the subject of the question and then swap the location.
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What is the auxiliary? Can.
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And what is the subject?
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I So you can say, can you tell me how I can get to public library?
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So you could either say, how can I get to public library?
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Or be more polite and say, can you tell me how I can get to public library?
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If you want to be even more polite, instead of can, you can say could.
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Could you tell me how I can get to public library?
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Now, listen guys, normal questions are just fine.
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But if you want to be more polite, you can use indirect questions.
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Now, let's learn how to give directions in English.
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Look at the first picture.
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Imagine you want to go from point A to point B.
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What can you say?
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You can say go straight on or go straight ahead or you can say go along the road.
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So from point A to B, go straight on, go straight ahead or go along the road.
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Look at this picture.
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If I want to go from A to B, what can I say?
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That's right.
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Turn left.
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Or from point A to C, turn right.
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Turn left, turn right.
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Look at this picture.
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It's very interesting.
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How can you get from A to B?
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Turn left.
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Uh-uh.
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Turn left at which one?
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The first one or second one?
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That's why instead of turn left, you say take the second left.
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So take the second left will get you to point B.
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What can I do if I want to get to point C?
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Take the second right.
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Take the second left, take the second right.
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Take the first left, take the first right.
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Or simply turn left, turn right.
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So if there are more than two intersections, you can use this phrase.
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Take the second, take the third, or take the fourth left.
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Take the second right.
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Look at this one.
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I want to say go and reach point B, but don't stop and continue going.
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What can I say?
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Go straight on past.
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B. It means go on, reach B, but don't stop.
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Continue going.
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Now, imagine B is a post office.
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I can say go straight on past the post office.
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All right.
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Now look at this one.
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What is this?
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This is a roundabout.
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A roundabout can have four, five or six possible directions.
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Okay how can I say which direction to take?
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Well the first thing I want to tell you is with the word roundabout we use the preposition at
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so we say at the roundabout okay now imagine i want to get from point a to point b
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or point a to point c
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or point a to point d what can i say i can use this phrase take the
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exit at the roundabout now instead of the blank part we should say first second third fourth fifth sixth seventh
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or as many exits as there are for example
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if you want to go from a to b you can
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say take the first exit at the roundabout from a to
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c take the second exit at the roundabout from a to d
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take the third exit at the roundabout there is also another way i can say turn right at the roundabout
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or turn left at the roundabout or go straight on past the roundabout.
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So there are many different ways of giving directions.
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And finally, after arriving, you can say it is on your right or it is on your left.
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Or you can use the prepositions of place that we talked about earlier in this video.
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It's between A and B.
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It's between gas station and the library.
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It's on the corner of 1st and 2nd street.
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And now, before we continue with the last part of this lesson,
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if you want to receive free PDF file of the lesson summary of this video
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and every other videos when I post one on YouTube, what you need to do is to give me your email address.
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How?
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Go to my website pocenglish.com.
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The link is in the description below.
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Type in your email address and click subscribe.
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You will receive an email with a pdf file of the
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summary of the lesson every time I post a new lesson on YouTube.
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And that is entirely for free.
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Okay, now let's get to the last part of this video.
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I have a challenge for you.
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Look at this map.
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It's a map of a part of a city.
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And then you see there are lots of intersections and there is also a roundabout.
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Now imagine we want to start from point A on the map, which is my house or your house,
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and we want to get to the hospital following the red path on the map.
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Excuse me, could you tell me how I can get to the hospital?
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So what you need to do is to give me directions to the hospital.
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So start typing and let me know in the comments down below.
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See ya.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 183 sentences and 1721 words to shadow. The speech runs for 13:00. The speaker talks at a steady 132 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- polite /pəˈlaɪt/ (adjective) — Well-mannered, civilized.
- lesson /ˈlɛs.ən/ (noun) — A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
- exit /ˈɛɡzət/ (noun) — An act of going out or going away, or leaving; a departure.
- avenue /ˈæv.əˌn(j)u/ (noun) — A broad street, especially one bordered by trees or, in cities laid out in a grid pattern, one that is on a particular side of the city or that runs in a…
- lanes /leɪnz/ (noun) — bowling alley
- auxiliary /ɔɡˈzɪl.(jə).ɹi/ (adjective) — Helping; giving assistance or support.
- phrase /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ (noun) — A short written or spoken expression.
- indirect /ˌɪn.daɪˈɹɛkt/ (adjective) — Not direct
- boulevard /ˈbuː.ləˌvɑːd/ (noun) — A broad, well-paved and landscaped thoroughfare.
- narrow /ˈnæɹəʊ/ (adjective) — Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.
- summary /ˈsʌm.ə.ɹi/ (noun) — An abstract or a condensed presentation of the substance of a body of material.
- blank /ˈblæŋk/ (noun) — The white spot in the centre of a target; hence (figuratively) the object to which anything is directed or aimed, the range of such aim.
- intersection /ˈɪntəɹˌsɛkʃən/ (noun) — The junction of two (or more) paths, streets, highways, or other thoroughfares.
- verb /vɝb/ (noun) — A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.
- trail /tɹeɪl/ (noun) — The track or indication marking the route followed by something that has passed, such as the footprints of animal on land or the contrail of an airplane in the…
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
- ask for (verb) — To request; to order.
- go along (verb) — To participate, cooperate, or conform.
- look for (verb) — To seek.
- do with (verb) — Only used in to do with
- go on /ˈɡoʊˌɒn/ (verb) — To continue in extent.
- make for (verb) — To set out to go (somewhere); to move towards.
- talked about (adjective) — Discussed by many people.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: sixth /sɪksθ/, seventh /ˈsɛvənθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: intersection /ˈɪntəɹˌsɛkʃən/, residential /ˌrɛzɪˈdɛnʃəl/, asphalt /ˈæʃfɑlt/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: auxiliary /ɔɡˈzɪl.(jə).ɹi/, intersection /ˈɪntəɹˌsɛkʃən/, residential /ˌrɛzɪˈdɛnʃəl/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, supermarket /ˌsupɚˈmɑɹkət/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like polite, lesson, exit.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | can be paved · is called · is usually filled |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have learned · I've made · have seen |
| Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea | should go · should I do · should say |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might just use · might want |
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.