Shadowing Practice: Feel Confident at Work: Small Talk Phrases You Need to Know - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.

244 sentences

If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.

Hey, is this your first job at our company?

How long have you been in this field?

If someone asked you this question, would your heart start to beat?

Would your palms get sweaty?

Would you know how to reply?

Well, never fear.

Today we are going to use the number one technique for

learning how to speak English fluently to help you be able to respond to this workplace a small talk situation.

What is small talk?

Small talk is an essential skill in English.

When we have a conversation with someone, we always start with small talk.

Often that's about the weather, our families, and if you're at your company, it's going to be about your job.

So today you're going to practice some common small talk conversation questions and answers, 50 of them, in fact,

so that you can go to your job, speak in English with your coworkers and feel confident that you can do this.

What is the number one technique that we're going to use?

It is shadowing or listening to my voice and repeating out loud.

You're going to shadow with me so

that you get the chance to listen to my voice and imitate or repeat directly after what I say.

You're going to be using natural vocabulary,

natural sentence structure, and I want you to pay attention to my pronunciation so that you can imitate my pronunciation as well.

Today is an active lesson.

You are not just listening to me, you are listening and repeating.

So make sure that you are somewhere where you feel comfortable speaking out loud.

Even if you speak quietly, it's okay.

Speaking out loud is important.

Your ears need to hear your voice using English so that

when you actually go into the workplace and have a conversation and words start to come out of your mouth, it doesn't sound strange.

You're used to hearing your voice using English.

Are you ready to practice?

Let's do it.

And if you're new here, hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa .com

and I have been teaching real life English here on my YouTube channel for over the past 10 years to now more

More than 7 million of you.

I can't believe it.

Thank you so much for learning English with me.

And every week I create a new PDF worksheet that includes everything that we are going to practice today.

Plus, there is a speaking bonus in this worksheet.

You will be able to practice speaking out loud with me, answering all of these sentences and questions out loud,

repeating after me so that you can really use this in the real world.

I want you to be able to practice during today's lesson and also practice maybe while you're washing the dishes, while you're walking your dog,

while you're driving your car.

You can speak in English.

People might look at you and think, is he speaking to himself? Who cares?

You are practicing English.

So how can you get this free PDF worksheet plus the bonus speaking practice? practice,

all you need to do is click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address,

and voila, the PDF worksheet and bonus speaking practice will land in your email inbox.

It is my gift to you.

Today's lesson is broken up into five common conversation questions that you will experience in the workplace.

And for each question, there are 10 possible answers that you will be practicing saying out loud with me.

So, let's take a look at question number one.

What made you decide to pursue this career path?

That's a very formal question, but you could also be asked, how did you get into this?

Let's practice saying both of these out loud.

Let's start with the first one.

What made you decide to pursue this career path?

Now I'm going to pause and I want you to say that exact question again.

Go ahead.

Great.

Let's practice the second question now.

Listen to me and then you can repeat.

How did you get into this?

So how can you answer this question?

Let's practice.

Honestly, I kind of fell into it.

I got an opportunity to try it and decided to stick with it.

Now it's your turn to say that exact same sentence out loud.

Use that same vocabulary, the same intonation and the same sentence structure.

Go ahead.

Great work.

Let's go on to number two.

I wanted a career where I could make a difference.

And after some research, I decided that social work would be a good fit.

Now, you might not be a social worker, so you can substitute your job in there and the same for the other sample sentences.

You can substitute your job or you can choose which sentence would best fit yours.

Number three, I'm still working on my degree in journalism and I'd like to work full time for a magazine. Who knows?

Maybe I'll even write a book.

work.

My dad was an artist and I was exposed to it at a young age, so I took an interest in it early on.

Fitness has always been my number one priority, so I decided to take that interest and turn it into a career to become a personal trainer.

My dad is a vet and I grew up going to his office every day after school.

I've always loved animals, but I grew to appreciate how much care he put in to each of his animal patients.

I've always been interested in how the human body works, so that's what got me into medicine.

I have a background in psychology, but I became interested in being a soccer coach after I worked with so many kids as a counselor.

Honestly, I didn't have a clear career plan at first.

I took a job in customer service and eventually moved into a management position.

I took a photography class in college and I completely fell in love with it.

That's what got me into photography.

All right.

How did you do with our first category of listening and repeating for workplace small talk questions?

What I recommend is choosing one of these and really trying to remember it,

maybe memorize it, say it out loud again and again to yourself so that you can use it in the real world.

You don't need to use all of these for every conversation,

but choose one that fits you the best and try to use it in your next conversation.

All right, let's go to question number two.

Question number two is an interesting one.

Is there anyone in your family who's a teacher, who's a lawyer, who's an underwater diver?

This is an interesting question that you might be able to ask someone else

because sometimes asking questions can feel really nice as an English learner.

100

You are controlling the conversation, but you don't have to answer a lot.

101

So you can keep this question in your back pocket the next time that you have small talk conversation in the workplace.

102

And you can ask a curious question like this to someone else who's your colleague or friend.

103

Let's practice asking this question out loud.

104

Are you ready?

105

Listen to my voice.

106

Is there anyone in your family who's a lawyer?

107

I want you to say it out loud.

108

Go ahead.

109

Great work.

110

Let's ask this with another profession.

111

Question.

112

Is there anyone in your family who's a teacher?

113

Great work.

114

All right, let's go to our 10 answers to answer this question.

115

Be thinking about which one you're going to use in the real world.

116

Listen to my voice and then repeat directly after me.

117

My dad is a police officer.

118

He worked for the police department for several years and his job can be pretty unpredictable.

119

Yes, my sister is a real estate agent like myself.

120

She spends a lot of time showing properties and meeting with clients.

121

A cousin of mine runs her own dental office.

122

I'm afraid not.

123

I'm actually the first person in my family to work in education.

124

We have a mechanic in the family, and that's the great thing because my brother -in -law is willing to work on everyone's car for free.

125

No one in my family took an interest in the medical field, so I'm the only doctor in the family.

126

My brother is a head engineer at a construction company and helps design and oversee different building projects.

127

My stepbrother is an immigration attorney and he mainly handles visas and green card applications.

128

No one in my family has a serious career.

129

I have a cousin who's a veterinarian, but that's about it.

130

My family is full of doctors.

131

In my culture, you'll notice that people typically pursue careers in the medical field.

132

Excellent work practicing listening and speaking out loud.

133

Now we're going to go to our third question that is common in the workplace and it's this, where did you work before here?

134

So here we're getting into some tricky territory because if you worked for a competitor,

135

you're going to need to know how to answer some follow -up questions about the competitor.

136

And that's the last thing we're going to talk about in this lesson, how to deal with those somewhat tricky workplace small talk questions.

137

But first let's answer this one.

138

I want you to say this out loud after I speak.

139

Where did you work before here?

140

Great work.

141

Now let's talk about some replies.

142

Listen to my voice and repeat out loud.

143

Actually, this was my first job.

144

I started out as a server at this restaurant and then I was promoted to management.

145

I primarily taught English online, and then I decided to take up a teaching position in China.

146

I was self -employed before I came here.

147

Unfortunately my company didn't do so well, and that pushed me to find a new job.

148

I was hired on the spot and I worked at the bookstore at my university.

149

I was offered a volunteer position at a nonprofit organization.

150

The beautiful thing is it turned into a full -time position.

151

I worked for a large corporation that distributed electronics throughout the country.

152

I was working for a competitor before I came here.

153

I was there for about four years, and I learned a lot about the industry.

154

I was freelancing and trying to build my clientele.

155

I was working at a bank.

156

I started as a teller and eventually became a branch manager.

157

I was working at a small family business.

158

I wore a lot of different hats, so I was responsible for doing a little bit of everything.

159

Great work talking about where you worked previously.

160

I want you to choose one of the those sentences

161

that best fits your situation and try to memorize it so

162

that you can use it the next time you go out into the real world.

163

All right, let's talk about question number four,

164

which might be one of the most common small talk questions in the workplace to talk about your job.

165

It's this.

166

How long have you been in the medical field?

167

How long have you been in tech?

168

How long have you been in education?

169

This is talking about your career and when did you start?

170

How long has it been going on?

171

It's just a small talk question, not necessarily one for judgment if you just started or if you've been in the field for 60 years.

172

It's just a common small talk question.

173

So I want you to practice asking this question out loud and then we'll practice the answers.

174

Are you ready?

175

This is the question.

176

How long have you been in tech?

177

Go ahead.

178

All right, let's practice another variation.

179

How long have you been in the medical field?

180

Great work.

181

All right, let's practice some common answers and be thinking about which one best fits you.

182

I've been in public education for most of my career.

183

I've only been in tech for about a year, so I'm still pretty new to the field.

184

I started back in 2010 as a nurse, so that would make it 16 years now.

185

Well, I was fresh out of college when I started working on cars.

186

You could say it's been quite a while.

187

It's only been about three years because I made a career change from education to software engineering.

188

I've been in sales for a decade now, and I'm still at the same company that I started with.

189

I've been in the medical field since I was in my 20s.

190

I've been here for a few months, so you could say I'm still a rookie.

191

I just got hired last week.

192

I was recruited as an intern, and now I'm officially employed.

193

I've been my own boss for five years, going on six years next month.

194

I can't believe how much time has passed.

195

All right, now it's time for our final fifth question and the most controversial one.

196

You need to have this skill in the workplace.

197

You need to be able to indirectly and politely answer it.

198

What if you worked for a competitor before this company? company.

199

Someone might ask you this, what was it like working at Google?

200

What was it like working at Apple?

201

Tell us all the secrets.

202

Well, maybe they're not actually asking about the secrets, but they're just genuinely curious.

203

How can you answer this question politely, even if you had a terrible experience, even if you do know the secrets of the other company,

204

how can you answer this question in a formal and polite way?

205

Well, let's practice.

206

It was a fast paced environment, so there was always something going on.

207

I worked for an insurance company and it was pretty chaotic during certain times of the year, especially when people were renewing their insurance policies.

208

Working in retail requires you to be flexible and be able to float around and work in new areas.

209

I'd rather not get into too many details, but I learned a lot while I was there.

210

My team felt like family and my boss was always looking out for us.

211

It was truly a pleasure to go to work every day.

212

We were all about customer service, so our priority was our customer's experience.

213

It's hard to compare it with my current workplace and company, but both companies have different work cultures.

214

It was a rapidly changing environment, so we had to stay up to date on new products and changes.

215

It had its moments.

216

The job was demanding, but it taught me how to handle pressure.

217

I almost always worked remotely, so I spent most of my time behind a screen.

218

Great work responding to that somewhat tricky question.

219

Did you notice how a lot of those were indirect?

220

It had its moments.

221

Well, it was a fast paced environment.

222

You're not directly saying, it was awful.

223

I felt really stressed.

224

I had to get out of there.

225

No, you're choosing these carefully placed words so that you can answer truthfully, but indirectly at the same time,

226

not giving too many details.

227

Well great work practicing speaking out loud today.

228

The next step is to download the free PDF worksheet

229

that includes all of these questions and answers so that you can really review them and practice.

230

Plus, there is the bonus speaking practice where you will have the chance to speak out loud with me

231

and repeat all of these phrases while you're walking the dog, while you're folding the laundry,

232

whatever you might be doing so that you can remember them

233

and go into your workplace and have awesome small talk conversation questions and answers.

234

Now, how can you get this worksheet and bonus speaking practice?

235

All you have to do is click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address and voila,

236

it will land in your email inbox.

237

My gift to you.

238

Well, thank you so much for learning English with me

239

and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

240

Bye.

241

But wait, do you want more?

242

I recommend watching this video next where you will practice listening and repeating after me about your vacation.

243

Whether your vacation was awesome or awful, you will have the phrases you need to speak in English.

244

I'll see you there.

Download App

Everything you need to speak fluently

AI PronunciationScore every sentence

IPA PracticeMaster every sound

VocabularyBuild your word bank

Vocab GameLearn while playing

Scan QR

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Same Channel

FOR YOU

Recommend Video

6 sentences

Shadowing Practice: How to Speak English Without Fear 🌟 #Shorts #shadowingenglish

Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students

146 sentences

Successful English Small Talk at Work | English Conversation Practice

Business EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults

385 sentences

Real Life English Conversations to Sound More Natural | Podcast to Learn English!

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

377 sentences

Speak Like an American: Accent & Pronunciation Training 🇺🇸

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

508 sentences

How to speak English fluently and confidently | Easy English Podcast Conversation in Daily Life

Interview EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

734 sentences

Improve Your English: 300 Real-Life Phrases Americans Use Every Day | Shadowing Practice

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

208 sentences

Learn English Through Daily Conversation | Listening, Vocabulary & English Speaking Practice

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

386 sentences

Communicate Better at Work in English | English podcast

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

436 sentences

How to Speak Up in Meetings in English | Beginner–Intermediate English Podcast

Business EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults

47 sentences

Speak CONFIDENT English in 20 minutes: English speaking lesson

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

1066 sentences

9 English Habits That Instantly Make You Sound More Natural | English Podcast(B1-B2)

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

88 sentences

Lesson 2 - Speak English Clearly! The Imitation Technique

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Feel Confident at Work: Small Talk Phrases You Need to Know”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: practice, loud, answer, English, workplace. This video has 244 sentences and 2753 words to shadow. The speech runs for 21:51. The speaker talks at a steady 126 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 39 of its 244 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
workplace noun	/ˈwɝkˌpleɪs/	The place where someone works.
lesson noun	/ˈlɛs.ən/	A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
bonus noun	/ˈbəʊ.nəs/	Something extra that is good; an added benefit.
competitor noun	/kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/	A person or organization against whom one is competing.
pursue verb	/pɚˈsu/	To follow urgently, originally with intent to capture or harm; to chase.
tricky adjective	/ˈtɹɪk.i/	Hard to deal with, complicated.
technique noun	/tɛkˈniːk/	The practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc.; formal requirements.
awful adjective	/ˈɔːfʊl/	Very bad.
curious adjective	/ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/	Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying.
formal adjective	/ˈfɔɹməl/	In accordance with established forms.
photography noun	/fəˈtɑ.ɡɹə.fi/	The art and technology of producing images on photosensitive surfaces, and its digital counterpart.
shadow noun	/ˈʃædəʊ̯/	A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.
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.
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…
priority noun	/pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/	An item's relative importance.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
speak out verb		To assert or promote one's opinion; to make one's thoughts known.
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
follow up verb		To take further actions remaining after an event; to continue, revisit, or persist; especially, to maintain communication or verify.
get out of verb		To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
grow up verb		To mature and become an adult.
start back in verb		To resume insulting, confronting and/or shouting at someone.
start out verb		To emerge suddenly; to jump out.
take up verb		To pick up.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Hey, is this your first job at our company?
How long have you been in this field?
Would your palms get sweaty?
Is there anyone in your family who's a lawyer?
Is there anyone in your family who's a teacher?

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	have been teaching · has it been going
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have you been · has always been · I've always loved
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is broken · be asked · was exposed
Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past	was working · was freelancing · were renewing

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 54 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, vacation /veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, immigration /ˌɪmɪˈɡɹeɪʃən/, wash /wɑʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: competitor /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/, photography /fəˈtɑ.ɡɹə.fi/, priority /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, indirectly /ˌɪn.dɪˈɹɛk(t).li/

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 workplace, lesson, bonus.

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 →

Shadowing Practice: Feel Confident at Work: Small Talk Phrases You Need to Know - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Download App

120 Kitchen Vocabulary Expressions: Advanced English Vocabulary Lesson

2 Tips For Improving Your *Listening* Skills

"What time is it?": A Simple Answer #Shorts

50 Important English TRAVEL Phrases

SPEAK With Me in English [Conversation Lesson]

LIVE: English Conversation Lesson: Relationships!

You know the words but you can't SPEAK

5 Secrets to Having an American English Accent: Advanced Pronunciation Lesson

England VS America: Ten Items That Have Different Names

English SPEAKING Practice: 10 Conversations for Daily Life

15 Essential Daily English Sentences You NEED to Know!

How to Talk About Movies and TV Shows in English

Top 15 Tongue Twisters in English: Advanced Pronunciation Lesson

Understand FAST English: Advanced Listening Practice

How to Give Directions in English: Advanced English Lesson

English Conversation Lesson: Learn 3 advanced expressions

Top 10 Small Talk Questions and Answers

Make the Bed With Me in English

English SPEAKING Practice: 8 Conversations for Daily Life

Speak With Me: English Speaking Practice

Shadowing Practice: How to Speak English Without Fear 🌟 #Shorts #shadowingenglish

Successful English Small Talk at Work | English Conversation Practice

Real Life English Conversations to Sound More Natural | Podcast to Learn English!

Speak Like an American: Accent & Pronunciation Training 🇺🇸

How to speak English fluently and confidently | Easy English Podcast Conversation in Daily Life

Improve Your English: 300 Real-Life Phrases Americans Use Every Day | Shadowing Practice

Learn English Through Daily Conversation | Listening, Vocabulary & English Speaking Practice

Communicate Better at Work in English | English podcast

How to Speak Up in Meetings in English | Beginner–Intermediate English Podcast

Speak CONFIDENT English in 20 minutes: English speaking lesson

9 English Habits That Instantly Make You Sound More Natural | English Podcast(B1-B2)

Lesson 2 - Speak English Clearly! The Imitation Technique

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?

2 Tips For Improving Your Listening Skills