Shadowing Practice: English Speaking Practice - Speak with me! (Shadowing Method) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Do you want to start thinking in English faster instead of just translating everything in your head?
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In this video, you are going to shout out a real story written the way native English speakers actually talk.
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This helps you connect directly to meaning, so your brain starts processing English faster and more naturally.
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At the same time, you improve your pronunciation, rhythm, listening, and speaking by copying real English.
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So read with me, shadow out loud, and train your brain to think in English.
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This video is part of my 3000 most common English word
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series designed to help you understand up to 95% of spoken English.
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If you want to get the 3000 most common English words PDF, it's in the description.
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Let's get started.
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My brother and sister-in-law planned their baby shower on the same day as my wedding.
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So to start off guys, do you know what a baby shower is?
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Do you know what a baby shower is?
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If you know what it is, let me know in the comments right now.
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So a baby shower is a celebratory party held for parents that are expecting a baby.
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So it's kind of to celebrate the upcoming birth of your child.
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A baby shower.
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So the child isn't born yet, but the woman is pregnant.
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So they celebrate the upcoming birth of that child.
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A baby shower.
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And remember guys to read on the right hand side and shadow me.
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I, 25 male, met my beautiful fiance, 25 female, in September 2024.
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I moved from my state to her state three months after we met so I could be closer to her.
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We got engaged in July 2025, exactly 10 months after we met, and we set the wedding date for March 14th.
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No offense, but you think the women would be the ones bringing all the drama to our wedding, right?
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Not in this case.
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My two older brothers, let's call them Dumb, aka Jay, 36 male, and Dumber,
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aka Pat, 33 male, have brought nothing but drama to my wedding.
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So his brothers are a lot older than him.
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He's 25 and his other siblings are 33 and 36.
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So that's an 8 and 11 year difference.
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I asked both of my brothers to be groomsmen since I was the best man in Pat's wedding
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and also in Jay's wedding.
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They both said yes, and that's where the drama begins.
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A month later, Pat calls me
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and says he won't be able to make it to my wedding
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because his wife is pregnant and her due date is in late April.
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Mind you, my wedding is five to six weeks before her due date, and it's only about a four-hour drive.
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If you want to learn faster and go deeper than the video, then get the workbook on my website, vocaenglish.com.
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The workbook explains everything in greater detail and comes with exercises to help you learn new vocabulary,
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grammar, tenses, sentence patterns, comprehension and real English you can actually use.
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I also have workbooks for past videos so you can keep practicing and improving every lesson.
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Click the link in my description to get the workbooks.
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I brushed it off, congratulated him on the pregnancy and moved on.
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I then asked another friend of mine who's also out of state.
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Let's call him Steve if he would take Pat's place.
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And he said yes.
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Come Black Friday, I decided to rent our suits since that's normally cheaper.
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It was $175 on sale because of Black Friday for the suit, shoes, shirt, belt, and pants.
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Steve and Jay complained that it was too much money, that it was Black Friday, and that since they have kids,
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they wouldn't be able to spend that much on renting a suit.
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They then reached out to me separately and asked if we could buy instead since that would be cheaper.
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So I gave in and the suits, shoes, belts, shirts and pants came out to a total of $250.
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So much for buying being cheaper.
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Fast forward to January, my fiance
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and I decided to have a joint bachelor-bachelorette trip in the
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mountains since we figured it would be more fun with more people.
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The girls would do their own thing during the day, the guys would do their own thing, and we'd all do a group activity together in the evening.
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We decided to do it in January since Jay is an accountant and wouldn't have been able to do it sooner.
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After my fiancé sent out all the details, Jay and Steve declined the invitation to the Batch trip.
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Batch is just short for bachelor.
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The bachelor trip.
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Without my knowledge, my fiance had also included a question in the questionnaire she sent out,
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asking whether the guys would want to save money and share a bed or pay extra to have their own bed.
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Jay and Steve saw this and started complaining behind my back,
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and my brothers and my dad then proceeded to call me gay for asking if the guys wanted to share a bed.
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The batch trip was absolutely incredible and so much fun.
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A couple of weeks after the batch trip, my fiance gets a text from my sister-in-law, Pat's wife.
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She sent us a save the date for her baby shower.
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And wouldn't you know it, the baby shower is on March 14th.
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Yep, the same day as my wedding.
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A week later, they had the absolute audacity to send my fiance an invitation to the baby shower with a message that said, We know y'all are far away,
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but we'd love it if you could come.
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and what, miss our wedding?
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The reason they're having the baby shower on my wedding day, in my opinion, is because my sister-in-law can't stand my family.
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So she chose our wedding day knowing none of my family would be able to attend, meaning only her family would be there.
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If you've seen The Help, my sister-in-law is Hilly Walters.
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Let me know if you guys have seen that movie.
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I personally have not.
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Update.
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A lot of people keep asking about my family and whether Pat is making them choose sides.
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No, my family can't stand Pat and Hilly.
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So even if they try to pull that card, my family would still choose to come to my wedding without a second thought.
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My siblings and my dad will be there.
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My mom will not be attending as she passed away three years ago.
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Now for the part they'd probably prefer I leave out.
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This is not Pat and Hilly's first child.
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This is their third child.
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They already have two daughters and another girl on the way.
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Hilly has had zero complications with any of her pregnancies or deliveries.
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This is not an emergency, not a crisis, and not some tragic circumstance.
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It is a conscious decision to hijack attention.
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And yes, it's exactly as selfish as it sounds.
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And just when you think it can't get any worse, the person who contacted my fiancé was Hilly's best friend.
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For clarity, none of Hilly's friends have any relationship with my fiancé or me.
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My fiancé was intentionally included to make sure we knew that instead of celebrating our wedding, they'd be celebrating themselves.
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This was calculated, unnecessary, and dripping with main character syndrome.
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So no, this isn't a misunderstanding.
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This isn't bad timing.
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This is two people repeatedly showing everyone exactly who they are.
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Update 2.
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I was talking to my dad last night and shockingly the baby shower fiasco came up again.
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It turns out Pat and Hilly went over to my dad's house on Saturday.
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My condolences and he confronted them about why the baby shower was scheduled on my literal wedding day.
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Pat immediately played dumb and claimed he had no idea it was on my wedding day.
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He then proceeded to claim that it was the only day they could host the shower, which is hilarious considering he knew the date when I asked him to be a groomsman.
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And when we got the save the date, Hilly openly admitted she knew it was the same day as our wedding.
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So yeah, that was a lie.
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For some background, because this behavior didn't come out of nowhere.
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Back in August 2025, when I asked Pat and Jay to be my groomsmen, we were on a family vacation.
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Normally, my dad buys the groceries for these trips and doesn't expect anyone to pay him back.
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This time, before we even arrived, Pat and Hilly decided to go rogue, bought groceries for everyone without telling us,
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and then informed us we owed them $70 per person slash couple.
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No discussion, no heads up, just a Venmo request.
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At the time, my fiance and I had just gotten engaged.
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I genuinely couldn't afford it, especially since I had already paid my dad $450 for our share of the Airbnb,
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which is normal in my family, and something we had planned for months in advance.
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What I did not plan for was a surprise $70 grocery bill for food I didn't ask for and didn't know existed.
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However, I refused to pay it considering I couldn't afford it and their lack of communication was not about to cost me $70.
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My refusal apparently caused too much drama, so my dad paid Pat the $70 on our behalf just to make it stop.
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Fast forward to this weekend.
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While visiting my dad, Pat mentioned that his wedding gift to me would be the $70 I never paid him.
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My dad snapped and told him he had already paid it.
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Pat then denied ever receiving the money confidently until Haley finally corrected him and confirmed that yes, my dad did pay him.
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And because why not pile it on, Pat also complained about how expensive our wedding registry is before purchasing the cheapest item on it.
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This is from the same man who proudly put a $70 Yeti cooler on his registry a few years ago.
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So to recap, lies about the date, selective amnesia about money that was already paid,
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and complains about how expensive my wedding registry is.
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I hope you guys are enjoying this shadowing lesson.
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one tip I would like to give you guys is
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if you're watching this on your laptop or the TV or another phone, I would recommend recording yourself reading one of these paragraphs.
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Read it out loud so that you can hear your pronunciation and accent as you watch the video back.
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Then in a few months, once you've practiced your accent and your pronunciation more, you can go back and watch these videos to see how much you have improved.
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So make sure to keep track of your progress by recording yourself talking out loud in English.
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Next story.
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Am I the a-hole for asking my grieving boyfriend to set boundaries with his mom after she wears my bathing suit?
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I, 39 female, was dating Mark, 38 male, for almost five months when his dad sadly passed away from cancer.
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It was awful, obviously.
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His dad was awesome and Mark and he were very close.
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I try to be supportive, respectful, and give him space.
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All of it.
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But here's the thing.
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His mom.
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Before his dad passed, she was already a lot.
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She FaceTimed my boyfriend two to three times a day every single day.
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She showed up unannounced three to four times a week.
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She lives 45 minutes away.
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She did his laundry.
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She cleaned his house.
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She cooked for him.
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She rearranged his furniture.
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She decorated his entire house.
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This man is 38.
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If you're serious about becoming fluent in English,
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I've built a full speaking and pronunciation course that shows you exactly what to do step by step.
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You get instant access to 80 plus video lessons right away
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and I add three to five brand new lessons every week
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so you can keep improving consistently
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and this is not just a course full of random videos you'll get an exclusive chat gpt prompt
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that allows you to master the pronunciation of any word plus a clear practice structure
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so you always know exactly how to study what to focus on
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and how to make real progress inside we work on pronunciation accent rhythm and natural speaking.
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So you can stop hesitating, sound more natural and speak English with real confidence.
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Join today in the description.
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Every weekend she would just appear at his house where I also was
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and sit there bad mouthing his ex for hours in front of me
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which felt less like bonding and more like an audition.
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Look how much I hated the last one.
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Meanwhile she was syrupy sweet to my face in a way that made my skin itch.
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Fast forward, his dad passes away.
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I'm walking on eggshells because grief is brutal and I'm not a monster.
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Then one day, while I'm not there, she goes to his house and wears my bathing suit in the spa.
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Not a random spare, my bathing suit.
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I only found out because she took it home with her to wash it.
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Let me repeat that.
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She drove 45 minutes home with my used bathing suit to wash it, even though she usually does her son's laundry at her place.
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After the bathing suit incident, I stayed quiet because she had just lost her husband.
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I didn't want to be the villain over swimwear.
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The next day, my boyfriend casually told me he was turning his basement into an apartment for his mom
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so she could move in.
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Not a discussion, a decision.
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I took a few days to process everything, then asked to talk, calmly.
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I said I understood she was grieving, but before she moved in, he needed to set boundaries.
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I mentioned how intense things already were and that her wearing my bathing suit without asking made me uncomfortable.
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He got defensive immediately, took her side, and told me to leave.
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Then he gave me the silent treatment for two days.
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After that, he dumped me by text.
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Hold on, hold on, hold on.
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He dumped you by text because you didn't want his crazy mom to move in with you guys.
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I feel like he did you a favor.
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I'm not going to lie.
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Let's continue.
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It hurts, but honestly, if asking for basic boundaries ends a relationship, it probably wasn't much of one to begin with.
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Facts.
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So that's the end of that story.
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And overall, that is kind of insane.
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So I definitely don't think you're in the wrong.
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You are your own person and you're allowed to set boundaries with other people.
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And if they don't respect those boundaries or they cross them, then you can step away or they can break up with you if they don't like that boundary.
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Clearly, your boyfriend did not like that boundary you were setting with him and his mom and he broke up with you.
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I mean, I don't think he did anything wrong either.
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It's his mom.
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So obviously he's going to prioritize her naturally
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but you felt like she was really controlling and she crossed the boundary by wearing your bathing suit, but you didn't want to bring it up because she just lost her husband.
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And honestly, if the relationship is that fragile, that after setting this boundary, he wants to break up with you, then I think that's for the better in all honesty.
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What do you guys think?
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Let me know in the comments.
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And remember, if you want to get the 3000 most common English words PDF to understand up to 95% of spoken English, it's in the description.
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I'll see you guys next video.
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Bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “English Speaking Practice - Speak with me!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: wedding, English, Pat, shower, dad. This video has 209 sentences and 2619 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:18. The speaker talks at a natural 161 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| boundary noun | /ˈbaʊndɹi/ | The dividing line or location between two areas. |
| fiancé noun | /fiˈɑnseɪ/ | A man who is engaged to be married; the man to whom one is engaged; an intended. |
| pronunciation noun | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken. |
| workbook noun | /ˈwɝk.bʊk/ | A book, used by a student, in which answers and workings may be entered besides questions and exercises. |
| batch noun | /bæt͡ʃ/ | The quantity of bread or other baked goods baked at one time. |
| complain verb | /kəmˈpleɪn/ | To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment. |
| groomsman noun | A man who serves as one of a number of attendants to a bridegroom at a wedding, one of whom is the best man. | |
| registry noun | /ˈɹɛd͡ʒɪstɹi/ | A building in which things are registered or where registers are kept. |
| bachelor noun | /ˈbæt͡ʃ.ə.lə(ɹ)/ | A person, especially a man, who is socially regarded as able to marry, but has not yet. |
| accent noun | /ækˈsɛnt/ | A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to… |
| grieve verb | /ɡɹiːv/ | To cause sorrow or distress to. |
| sibling noun | /ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/ | A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with. |
| groceries noun | /ˈɡɹoʊ.s(ə.)ɹiz/ | Retail foodstuffs and other household supplies; the commodities sold by a grocer or in a grocery store. |
| rhythm noun | /ˈɹɪð.əm/ | The variation of strong and weak elements (such as duration, accent) of sounds, notably in speech or music, over time; a beat or meter. |
| laundry noun | /ˈlɔːn.dɹi/ | A laundering; a washing. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| pass away verb | To die. |
| send out verb | To issue, dispatch or transmit. |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
| leave out verb | To omit, to not include, to neglect to mention. |
| show up verb | To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically. |
| start off verb | To begin. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Do you know what a baby shower is?
- I didn't want to be the villain over swimwear.
- I'm not going to lie.
- What do you guys think?
- I'll see you guys next video.
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 | have brought · you've seen · have seen |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | isn't born · was calculated · was scheduled |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | person who contacted · shower, which is · man who proudly |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | start thinking · starts processing · keep practicing |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 42 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, invitation /ɪnvɪˈteɪʃən/, shoe /ˈʃu/, amnesia /ˌæmˈniʒə/, complication /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, invitation /ɪnvɪˈteɪʃən/, audacity /ɔˈdæ.sɪ.ti/, celebratory /ˈsɛləbɹəˌtɔːɹi/, complication /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/
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 boundary, fiancé, pronunciation.
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.