Shadowing Practice: How to talk about your brain πŸ§ πŸ€“πŸ’† Real Easy English - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Hello and welcome to Real Easy English.
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76 sentences
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Hello and welcome to Real Easy English.
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In this podcast we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn.
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I'm Georgie.
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And I'm Neil.
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And don't forget, you can now watch a version of this podcast on our website at bbclearningenglish.com.
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How are you today?
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I'm pretty good.
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How about you?
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Yes, I'm good.
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It's the morning, so my brain is fresh and ready for the day.
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Excellent, because we're talking today about our brains.
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We are.
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We're going to talk about how we keep our minds active, so kind of like exercise for our brains.
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Shall we get started?
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Let's do it.
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So, Neil, do you think you have a good memory?
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Well, it depends.
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I can remember things that happened years ago that don't seem very significant at all, and then I can struggle to remember what I did at the weekend.
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I have the same problem.
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I guess that's the difference between our long-term memory, so that's things that happened a long time ago,
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and the short-term memory, so things that we did this morning, I also struggled to remember what I had for breakfast and things like that.
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So Neil, is there a time recently where you couldn't remember something and it was annoying?
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Well, I did a quiz with my daughter and she's 15 and quite sharp, and I knew all of the answers.
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I mean, I have better general knowledge than her, I think.
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But she said all the answers quicker than me.
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I think just the distance between her brain and her mouth is shorter than mine.
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Were the answers on the tip of your tongue?
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The answers were on the tip of my tongue, but they just didn't get a chance to get out there.
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So I have a story as well, a time when I couldn't remember something.
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My friend was talking about something, about an event where I was, and I didn't remember it at all.
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And she had to ask another friend to get evidence to prove to me
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that it had happened because I didn't believe her.
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And it was so strange because it was true that it happened, but I didn't remember it.
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Do you think you have a quick brain?
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Um, I don't actually.
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I'm the kind of person that needs some time to process things.
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What people have said, or, yeah, I don't like it when people ask me my opinions of things on the spot.
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I prefer to think about things and form my opinions in my own time.
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So no, I have a slow brain.
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Okay.
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What do you do to keep your mind active?
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Well, I like to study languages and that's very good for the brain
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because you've got to remember all kinds of things
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and what order they're said in and what happens to the words and that kind of thing. And I like reading.
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You have to use your brain to read to follow a story.
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But I don't do puzzles and crosswords and Sudoku and all of those things that other people do.
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Maybe I should.
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Yeah, I do jigsaw puzzles, although I haven't done that much recently.
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I also, I think exercise is quite good for your brain.
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Is that true?
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It gets you out of the house, you get some fresh air.
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I feel like that's quite good for your brain.
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What kind of things, Georgie, make your brain less effective?
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Well, my brain, as I said at the beginning, works better in the morning.
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In the afternoon, my brain starts not working very well, so I tend to do less important tasks in the afternoon.
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I also think that before I go to sleep, if I use my phone too much,
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too much screen time, I sleep worse and then I wake up feeling a lot less functional in my brain.
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What about you?
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Yeah, I agree.
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I think sleep is massively important.
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If I haven't slept well, then it's very hard to use my brain effectively the next day.
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Yeah, and that's quite common for you, unfortunately, isn't it?
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Hey, that's life.
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OK, let's recap the language we heard during the conversation.
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We talked about our memories.
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Your memory is your ability to remember things.
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Yes, and Georgie mentioned short and long-term memory.
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Short-term memory is for things that happened recently, and long-term memory is for things that happened a long time ago, even when you were a child.
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We also heard sharp, which is an adjective used to describe someone who thinks quickly.
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We heard on the tip of your tongue, which is an expression which means that something is there that you want to say but you can't say it quickly enough.
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We also heard screen time, so this is the amount of time someone spends looking at their screen.
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So your phone, a tablet, a computer...
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That's it for this episode of Real Easy English.
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Why not try the worksheet on our website to test what you've learned? bbclearningenglish.com.
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See you then.
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Goodbye.

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About This Lesson

In this lesson, you will practice discussing topics related to the brain and memory, enhancing your English speaking skills through real conversations. By listening to a natural dialogue about how to keep your mind active, you will not only learn essential vocabulary but also gain insights into effective communication. This practice is particularly beneficial for improving your IELTS speaking skills, as it focuses on everyday topics that can appear in speaking tests.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Memory - The mental process of retaining and recalling information.
  • Long-term memory - The ability to remember information over an extended period.
  • Short-term memory - The ability to remember information over a short duration.
  • On the tip of my tongue - A phrase indicating that someone is close to remembering something but cannot fully recall it.
  • Process - The ability to think about and analyze information or experiences.
  • Active mind - The state of staying mentally engaged or stimulated.
  • General knowledge - Facts and information that a person holds about various topics.

Practice Tips

To make the most out of this lesson, try shadowing the speakers by repeating their phrases as they say them. This method not only helps improve your pronunciation but also enhances your listening comprehension. Since the podcast is conversational and at a moderate speed, it's an excellent opportunity for you to use a shadowing app that allows you to pause and rewind as needed. Focus particularly on the intonation and rhythm of the speakers, as this can greatly influence your speaking style.

To practice further, consider using the vocabulary list above and create your own sentences about your memory experiences or cognitive exercises. You might share these sentences in a community forum or with your study group, facilitating an engaging discussion. Additionally, using a shadowing site can provide more examples of natural English dialogues, making it easier to learn English with YouTube videos.

By integrating these techniques and insights into your study routine, you can effectively prepare for your IELTS speaking test while also enhancing your conversational English skills. Remember, the key to improvement is consistent practice and engagement with the language.

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 β€” 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 β€” making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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