Shadowing Practice: English Listening Level 1 - Lesson 19 - Housework - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Housework.
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There is always housework to do when you live in a house.
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You have to wash the windows so that you can see outside.
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The floors and the carpets need to be vacuumed.
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The floors also need to be washed and some of them need to be waxed.
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The furniture has to be polished.
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The bathroom has to be kept clean.
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After you have a bath, you need to clean out the bathtub.
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Laundry needs to be done regularly or you will run out of clothes to wear.
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The clothes go into the washing machine and then they have to be dried in the dryer.
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Sometimes we hang the clothes out on the line to be dried.
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Some of the clothes need to be ironed.
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You have to buy groceries and put them away.
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Meals need to be made.
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You can't let the dishes pile up in the kitchen.
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The dishes have to be washed and the counters need to be wiped.
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The stove needs to be cleaned and sometimes the refrigerator and the cupboards need to be cleaned out.
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You can dust the furniture and sweep up the dirt.
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You can make the beds.
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The beds have to be changed too.
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They need to have clean sheets put on them.
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There are just so many things to do.
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Household chores take up a lot of time.

What You’ll Master in This Housework-Focused Listening Lesson

This video is perfect for building fluency in daily conversation—specifically, talking about the chores we all do at home. Whether you’re describing your weekend routine or asking for help with cleaning, you’ll learn to speak more naturally about real-life tasks. It’s a great step for beginners ready to move beyond basic phrases and into practical, connected speech.

Your Go-To Phrases for Talking About Housework

Keep these expressions handy for everyday use:

  • “Household chores take up a lot of time” – A common way to explain why you’re busy.
  • “You can’t let the dishes pile up” – Useful for reminding someone to clean up.
  • “Hang the clothes out on the line” – A natural phrase for air-drying laundry.
  • “Clean out the bathtub” – Specific and easy to remember for bathroom tasks.
  • “Put the groceries away” – Essential for talking about shopping and organizing.

Fix Your Pronunciation & Rhythm with Shadowing

One of the best ways to practice with this video is using the shadowing technique—repeat the dialogue out loud *right after* the speaker, mimicking their tone and speed. This helps with rhythm, especially in phrases with connected speech, like “run out of clothes” or “put on clean sheets.” Many learners struggle with blending words smoothly, but shadow speech (or “shadowspeak”) trains your mouth to move like a native. For extra practice, use a shadowing site to slow down the audio, then speed it up as you get better. Learning English with YouTube videos like this one makes practice fun and relevant—you’re not just repeating words, you’re mastering phrases you’ll use *today*.

Next time you do the dishes or vacuum, try describing what you’re doing using the phrases from the video. The more you link language to real actions, the faster you’ll improve!

Grammar in this video

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

StructureIn the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does itbe vacuumed · be washed · be polished
Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessaryhave to wash · need to be · has to be

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 →