Shadowing Practice: Describing Places | Practical English Conversation - Learn English Speaking with Video
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32 sentences
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1
I heard you guys are from the same country.
2
So, whose hometown is nicer?
3
Definitely mine.
4
What are you talking about?
5
It's clearly mine.
6
No way!
7
The views in my hometown are absolutely breathtaking.
8
You should see it, Tom.
9
It's up in the mountains, and you have to take this narrow, winding road to get there.
10
When you get there, you'll be surrounded by beautiful snow -capped peaks and crystal -clear lakes down in the valleys.
11
It's especially beautiful in the winter when everything is covered in pure snow.
12
I've got to be honest, Frank.
13
She makes a strong case. That may be.
14
But she didn't talk about how cut off her hometown is.
15
It takes forever to get there.
16
And when you do eventually make it, you can forget about having any kind of internet connection.
17
It's completely cut off from the modern world
18
That's not necessarily a bad thing, though Sometimes it's nice to get away from it all
19
Sometimes, but not always
20
With my hometown, you don't have to make that choice
21
It's a beautiful coastal town with spectacular views of the bay from the cliffs.
22
The beach has the softest sand you can imagine, and it's really clean, too.
23
The water is clear enough to be able to see the ground even when you're swimming far offshore.
24
The town has great transportation,
25
and is convenient to get to from just about anywhere in the country.
26
We have one of the best weekly markets in the country and our internet connection is second to none.
27
That all sounds great.
28
But what about in summer when the whole place is filled with loud tourists?
29
Or what about the frequent flooding damage every time there's a typhoon?
30
It's a dangerous place to live
31
Come on, Tom Admit that my hometown sounds better
32
Don't listen to her, Tom You know my hometown is better
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Describing Places”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: hometown, Tom, beautiful. This video has 32 sentences and 314 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:53. The speaker talks slowly, about 109 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hometown noun | /ˈhoʊmˌtaʊn/ | An individual’s place of birth, childhood home, or place of main residence. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| sand noun | /sænd/ | Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in… |
| crystal noun | /ˈkɹɪstəl/ | A solid composed of an array of atoms or molecules possessing long-range order and arranged in a pattern which is periodic in three dimensions. |
| narrow adjective | /ˈnæɹəʊ/ | Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth. |
| flood noun | /flʌd/ | An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water. |
| frequent adjective | /ˈfɹiː.kwənt/ | Done or occurring often; common. |
| swim verb | /swɪm/ | To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means. |
| coastal adjective | /ˈkoʊstəl/ | Relating to the coast; on or near the coast; longshore. |
| convenient adjective | /kənˈviː.niənt/ | Serving to reduce a difficulty, or accessible with minimum difficulty; expedient. |
| cliff noun | /klɪf/ | A vertical (or nearly vertical) rock face. |
| spectacular adjective | /spɛkˈtæk.jə.lɚ/ | Amazing or worthy of special notice. |
| offshore adjective | /ɒfˈʃɔː(ɹ)/ | Moving away from the shore. |
| surround verb | /səˈɹaʊnd/ | To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions. |
| breathtaking adjective | /ˈbɹɛθˌteɪ.kɪŋ/ | stunningly beautiful; amazing |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| cut off verb | /ˌkʌt ˈɔf/ [ˌkɐɾ ˈɔf] | To remove by cutting. |
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 | be surrounded · is covered · is filled |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the softest · the best |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | are you talking · you're swimming |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | have to take · have to make |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, didn't, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, spectacular /spɛkˈtæk.jə.lɚ/
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 hometown, necessarily, sand.
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.