Shadowing Practice: English Collocations: Family - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Lesson 1.
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Family.
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Let's begin our study of collocations by learning some common expressions about the family.
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Your parents and siblings, brothers and sisters, are your immediate family, and your extended family includes all your relatives,
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uncles, cousins, great-aunts, etc. You can use a family tree to diagram the relationships among your family members.
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A person who is related to you by a long series of connections can be called a distant relative.
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If you're lucky, you have a loving family or a close-knit family.
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These expressions refer to a family that has good relationships, where everyone loves each other and helps each other.
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If you were raised in a loving family, then you probably had a carefree childhood.
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That means you had nothing to worry about when you were young.
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On the other hand, a family in which the relationships are bad or unhealthy can be called a dysfunctional family.
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If the children experience abuse, poverty, or problems with the law, we can say they had a troubled childhood.
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Perhaps the parents went through a bitter divorce.
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That means a separation in which there were bad or angry feelings between the husband and wife.
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It's also possible to have a messy divorce,
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with a prolonged legal battle involving lots of conflicts about the separation of the former couple's assets, money and possessions.
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The decisions about the separation of assets are made in the divorce settlement.
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A family in which there are divorces or separations is sometimes called a broken home.
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Sometimes the mother and father fight over custody of the children.
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That refers to who has the primary responsibility of caring for the kids.
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A judge can grant joint custody.
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That means the ex-husband and ex-wife share the responsibility, or sole custody to only one parent.
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For example, a judge might award sole custody to the mother,
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and the father has to pay child support—regular payments to help with expenses for the kids.
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If it was a mutual divorce or separation—that means the ex-husband
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and ex-wife agreed to separate without fighting—then they will probably stay on good terms with each other,
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meaning to have a polite relationship without conflicts.
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If a woman gets pregnant without being married or in a relationship, then she will become a single mother.
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Some women in this situation choose to have an abortion, and others prefer to give the baby up for adoption.
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The time when the baby is planned to arrive is called the due date.
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you can also say the baby is due in mid-October, for example.
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After the woman has the baby or gives birth to the baby, the baby is given to the adoptive parents who will raise the child
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or bring up the child as if it was their own.
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Sometimes when the adopted child is older, he or she tries to find their birth mother, biological mother.
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Now take the quiz for Lesson 1, Collocations About Family.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 35 sentences and 497 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:43. The speaker talks at a steady 134 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% 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 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| divorce noun | /dɪˈvɔːs/ | The legal dissolution of a marriage. |
| separation noun | /ˌsɛp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ | The act of disuniting two or more things, or the condition of being separated. |
| custody noun | /ˈkʌstədiː/ | The legal right to take care of something or somebody, especially children. |
| relative noun | /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/ | Someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family. |
| refer verb | /ɹɪˈfɜː/ | To direct the attention of (someone toward something). |
| sole noun | /səʊl/ | The bottom or plantar surface of the foot. |
| asset noun | /ˈæsɛt/ | A thing or quality that has value, especially one that generates cash flows. |
| poverty noun | /ˈpɑːvɚti/ | The quality or state of being poor; lack of money |
| uncle noun | /ˈʌŋ.kl̩/ | The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent. |
| cousin noun | /ˈkʌz(ə)n/ | Chiefly with a qualifying word: Any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's extended family; a… |
| arrive verb | /əˈɹaɪv/ | To reach; to get to a certain place. |
| possession noun | /pəˈzɛʃn̩/ | A control or occupancy of something for which one does not necessarily have private property rights. |
| extend verb | /ɛkˈstɛnd/ | To increase in extent. |
| biological adjective | /ˌbaɪ.əˈlɑ.d͡ʒɪ.kəl/ | Of or relating to biology. |
| involve verb | /ɪnˈvɑlv/ | To have (something) as a component or a related part; to comprise, to include. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| bring up verb | To mention. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
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 | is related · were raised · can be called |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | will probably stay · will become · will raise |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: separation /ˌsɛp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, possession /pəˈzɛʃn̩/, abortion /əˈbɔɹ.ʃn̩/, adoption /əˈdɑp.ʃən/, collocation /ˌkɑ.ləˈkeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: separation /ˌsɛp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, biological /ˌbaɪ.əˈlɑ.d͡ʒɪ.kəl/, collocation /ˌkɑ.ləˈkeɪ.ʃən/
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 divorce, separation, custody.
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.