Shadowing Practice: How to Talk about a Long Weekend in English! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Well, hello and welcome to this ultra casual, super relaxed English lesson.
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And if you're wondering why it's ultra relaxed, super casual, it's because today is a holiday.
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So in this English lesson, I want to teach you some words and phrases we use when we're talking about a holiday or a day off.
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The first phrase I want to teach you is long weekend.
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Right now it is a long weekend in my part of Canada, and it is a long weekend because instead of Saturday and Sunday off, I actually have three days off from work.
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Now a long weekend can apply to school or work, it doesn't matter which.
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But it's definitely a long weekend here in my part of Canada.
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So a long weekend, three days instead of two for the weekend.
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But you might be wondering, does a long weekend include the Friday off or the Monday off?
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When we use the word off after a day, it means you don't have to go to work and, and you don't have to go to school.
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So this particular long weekend I had Monday off, I have today off.
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By the way, I'm recording this on Monday.
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You're probably watching this on a Tuesday where, I'm back at work on Tuesday.
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Anyways, so when someone has a long weekend, you can ask them, do you have Friday off or do you have Monday off?
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And you could even put the in front.
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You could say, do you have the Friday off or the Monday off for your upcoming long weekend?
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So in my case I had the Monday off, which is today, and it was wonderful.
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I spent most of the day relaxing and half of the day mowing lawn, which for me is a little bit more fun than work because I get to drive my riding mower when I do it.
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So it's a long weekend.
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Three days off.
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I had Monday off.
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There are other weekends, long weekends where you have Friday off.
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And again with a normal weekend, you just have Saturday or Sunday.
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But every once in a while during the school year or during the work year, for some people, there's a really special weekend called the four day weekend.
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And a four day weekend, as you might have guessed, you get the Friday off and you get the Monday off.
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They are rare.
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For me, I think I only get one or two a year where I have a four day weekend.
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And they are wonderful.
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Some people might create their own four day weekend if they know there's a long weekend coming up.
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They might ask for a personal day or they might ask for a day off on the Monday or Friday.
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So if they get the Friday off, they might ask the boss if they can have the Monday off as well.
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And they'll make their very own four day weekend.
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So they can ask for a personal day, which is a day where you can take off work and do whatever you want.
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Or they might just ask for a day off and if the boss is nice, they will say yes.
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So four day weekends, either you get one for real or sometimes you can make your own.
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So why am I doing this short lesson today?
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I'm doing this short lesson because I felt like taking the week off and not doing a lesson.
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But when I looked back over the year, I realized that I've taken some time off this year already and it was a nice day.
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I got all my work done early on my day off.
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I had a few extra minutes to spare.
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I thought, why don't I just go sit outside?
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I, I just mowed lawn, had a shower.
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I'm all cleaned up and relaxed.
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It's a beautiful day out here.
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I thought I would sit down and make an English lesson for you.
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So a few words and phrases that you can use to talk about the weekend, the long weekend, days off, personal days, asking for a day off and all of those things.
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Anyways, thanks for watching.
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You guys are awesome.
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Thank you so much for helping make this channel very successful.
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And I will continue to help with the success of by continuing to make English lessons for you.
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Bye. Have a good week.
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I'll see you Friday with a live lesson.
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If you haven't gone to one of those, you should.
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I'll see you Wednesday with a Wednesdays with Bob if you're a member.
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I'll also see you Wednesday on my other channel if you watch Bob's Short English lessons, because there's a video there.
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And what else?
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I think that's everything.
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And then I'll see you next week with another English lesson like this. Again, you guys are all awesome.
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Have a great week.
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Bye. Sa.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “How to Talk about a Long Weekend in English!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: weekend, lesson, Monday, Friday, English. This video has 60 sentences and 825 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:04. The speaker talks fast, about 203 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 86% 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 14 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| relax verb | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | To make something loose. |
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| casual adjective | /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/ | Happening by chance. |
| ultra noun | /ˈʌltɹə/ | A political extremist, in particular |
| anyways adverb | /ˈɛn.iˌweɪz/ | Anyway, anyhow, in any case. |
| lawn noun | /lɔːn/ | Ground (generally in front of or around a house) covered with grass kept closely mown. |
| upcoming adjective | Happening or appearing in the relatively near future. | |
| spare adjective | /spɛɚ/ | Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous. |
| mow verb | /ˈmoʊ/ | To cut down grass or crops. |
| mower noun | /ˈmoʊ.ɚ/ | A lawnmower, a machine used to cut grass on lawns. |
| teach verb | /ˈtiːt͡ʃ/ | To pass on knowledge to. |
| holiday noun | /ˈhɑləˌdeɪ/ | A day on which a religious event or secular celebration is traditionally observed. |
| shower noun | /ˈʃaʊ.ɚ/ | A brief fall of precipitation (spell of rain, or a similar fall of snow, sleet, or cascade); burst of hefty precipitation. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| clean up verb | To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy. |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. |
| take off verb | To remove. |
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 | I've taken · haven't gone |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | off, which is · day, which is |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might be · might have · might create |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | they'll make · will say · will continue |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 19 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'll, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: casual /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/, shower /ˈʃaʊ.ɚ/
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 lesson, relax, phrase.
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.