Shadowing Practice: 👪Family, friends & hobbies🎾 English Practice for Beginners - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
57 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
Hello and welcome to another episode of Elephant English Podcast.
2
Today I'm going to be doing a speaking practice about family,
3
friends and hobbies to help you to practice for your speaking test and to improve your listening skills in English.
4
I'm going to ask some questions and then I'm going to answer them like they do in speaking exams.
5
The first topic is about family.
6
And the first question is, do you have any brothers or sisters?
7
I have two brothers and one sister.
8
I am the youngest because my brothers and sisters are older.
9
They are 33, 35 and 37.
10
Question number two.
11
Do you think it's important to spend time with family?
12
Yes, I think it's important to spend time with my family because they are very special to me.
13
We have a very good time when we are together
14
and we share happy moments but they also help me when I am sad or I have a problem.
15
Question number three.
16
What do you do with your family?
17
When I spend time with my family we normally play cards
18
or board games like Monopoly or Cluedo while we listen to music from the 80s.
19
We also like to cook together and follow new recipes because it is one of our favourite hobbies.
20
When the weather is nice we like to spend time in the garden watering the flowers
21
or just sitting in the sun having a
22
conversation the next topic is about friends question number four how
23
often do you see your friends i meet my friends once
24
a week i oh no i meet my friends once a week i always meet them at the weekend
25
because i never have time during the week i work from monday to friday
26
so the best days to meet up are saturdays
27
and sundays question number five what do you like doing with your friends we normally hang out in a park
28
or go to the countryside to go hiking
29
and afterwards we sometimes go to a cafe
30
or a restaurant to have some lunch
31
or dinner i don't normally go to the cinema
32
or to the shopping centre with my friends because I prefer to spend time outside enjoying the nice weather.
33
If the weather is bad we spend time at home and order takeaway food from a restaurant that is in my neighbourhood.
34
The last topic is hobbies.
35
Question number six What are your hobbies?
36
I love cooking, painting and doing exercise but I think that cooking is my favorite hobby.
37
My favorite recipes to make are Asian recipes because they have a lot of flavor and they are delicious.
38
I have a lot of recipe books that I use to make them
39
and I sometimes follow YouTube videos when I want to make something that is extra special.
40
Question number seven.
41
What is your favourite sport?
42
My favourite sport is badminton.
43
I played badminton when I was younger and I think that it It is very fun and competitive.
44
The problem is that there aren't any badminton lessons near my house so I can't play anymore.
45
It is a shame because I really love it.
46
Question number 8.
47
What do you normally do at the weekend?
48
At the weekend I always like to relax because I work from Monday to Friday.
49
Sometimes I go to the countryside to go for a long walk along the river or in the mountains.
50
Other times when the weather is bad for example I stay in my city and visit different museums and exhibitions.
51
In the evenings at the weekend we usually order takeaway food like pizzas
52
or burgers and we eat them while we are watching a series or a film.
53
In this video we have talked about family, friends and hobbies.
54
I hope that it has been useful for you and
55
if it has please press the like button and subscribe to my channel
56
because I'm going to be making a lot of videos like this.
57
Thank you very much and I'll see you in the next video.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
A177
Beginner English listening practice/speaking practice Level 1/A1 - My daily morning routine
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
A127
Describing someone in English - Beginner English listening practice A1 with subtitles
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
A21
English Practice for Beginners - Living in the Countryside
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
A12
Farm Animals in English 🇬🇧 Beginner English Listening Practice A1
KidsDaily Conversation
A222
Talking about Work in English 💼 Beginner English listening practice Level A2
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
A223
🍽️COOKING & FOOD🥘 Beginner English Listening Practice A1 / A2
British AccentKidsTeensDaily Conversation
A15
Beginner English Listening Practice Level 1/A1 - Sophie's Life
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
A231
A1/A2 Beginner English Listening Practice - Travel
British AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
A28
🏘️ Parts of the House 🏠 Beginner English Listening Practice A1 / A2
British AccentKidsTeensDaily Conversation
B17
🏃♀️My Evening Routine🚴Beginner/Intermediate listening practice - A2/B1 speaking exam questions
British AccentInterview EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
A218
Past Simple Regular and Irregular Verbs - Daily Routine story in Past Tense
British AccentKidsTeensDaily Conversation
A216
📝Jobs, school & education🗣️ Daily English Listening Practice - Easy English Podcast
British AccentCambridge Exam PrepWorking Adults
A23
👪Talking about Family in English 👪 Family Vocabulary - Beginner English Listening Practice A1 / A2
British AccentKidsTeensDaily Conversation
B23
🇬🇧 Real English Conversation - Money 🇬🇧 Intermediate English Listening Practice B1/B2
British AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B124
🏘️My hometown🏘️Beginner/Intermediate English listening practice A2/B1/IELTS- Speaking exam questions
British AccentIELTS PrepDaily ConversationHigh School Students
A233
🐕PETS🐢 Beginner English Listening Practice A1 / A2 - Pets English Vocabulary
British AccentKidsTeensDaily Conversation
B18
🧑🤝🧑Childhood🧸 Beginner/Intermediate English listening practice - A2/B1/IELTS speaking questions
British AccentIELTS PrepCambridge Exam PrepTeens
C13
ADVANCED ENGLISH STORY 💌A Heartbreaking Letter💌 B2 / C1
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A21
A1/A2 Beginner English Listening Practice - Social Media
British AccentKidsTeensDaily Conversation
A21
City Life - A2 English Listening Practice
British AccentTeensDaily ConversationHigh School Students
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
A28
134 sentences
A2 English speaking practice with speaking exam questions🗣️Listening practice - Elephant English🐘
British AccentKidsTeensDaily Conversation
A24
38 sentences
Hobbies and Interests - Useful vocabularies- To like - To enjoy
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
A260
19 sentences
Friends & Family
KidsTravel EnglishTeens
A29
11 sentences
Shadowing English Practice: Family Time is the Best Time ❤️ #englishshadowing #shorts
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
A212
8 sentences
Easy English Conversation for Beginners | Talking About Free Time | Daily English Practice
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
A227
26 sentences
Family and friends 3 Fluency time! 1
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
A2130
92 sentences
Movers test, listening part 3
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
A225
184 sentences
🔴 30 English Sentences for Hobbies | Beginners | Day 2 Shadowing English Speaking Practice
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
A24
43 sentences
Tiếng Anh 8 Global Success | Unit 1. Leisure Time | Skills 2 | Listening
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
A2635
15 sentences
family and friends book 2 multi-rom unit 6
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
A2100
54 sentences
Things I Do on Weekends | Easy English Podcast (A1–A2) #podcast #englishpodcast #podcastenglish
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This A2 speaking lesson is built on the video “👪Family, friends & hobbies🎾 English Practice for Beginners”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: spend, hobbies, recipe, normally, weather. This video has 57 sentences and 677 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:13. The speaker talks at a steady 130 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| hobby noun | /ˈhɑ.bi/ | An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time. |
| recipe noun | /ˈɹɛs.ɪ.pi/ | Any set of instructions for preparing a mixture of ingredients. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| countryside noun | /ˈkʌn.tɹiˌsaɪd/ | An area located outside of towns and cities; an area that is not urban or suburban; a rural area. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| pizza noun | /ˈpi.tsə/ | A baked Italian dish of a thinly rolled bread crust typically topped before baking with tomato sauce, cheese, and other ingredients such as meat or vegetables. |
| afterwards adverb | /ˈæf.tɚ.wɚdz/ | At a later or succeeding time; after that; |
| flower noun | /ˈfloʊɚ/ | A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens… |
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| exhibition noun | /ɛksɪˈbɪʃən/ | An instance of exhibiting, or something exhibited. |
| delicious adjective | /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/ | Pleasing to the sense of taste; tasty. |
| relax verb | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | To make something loose. |
| exam verb | /ɪɡˈzæm/ | Shortened form of examine |
| cinema noun | /ˈsɪn.ə.mə/ | A movie theatre, a movie house. |
| burger noun | /ˈbɝ.ɡɚ/ | A hamburger. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Do you think it's important to spend time with family?
- What do you do with your family?
- What is your favourite sport?
- What do you normally do at the weekend?
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 talked · has been |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the youngest · the best |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | I'm going to be · I'm going to ask |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, aren't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: exhibition /ɛksɪˈbɪʃən/, delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/
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 hobby, recipe, topic.
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.