Shadowing Practice: INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH STORY 🥰 My Favourite Place 🥰 B1 - B2 | Level 3 - 4 | BRITISH ENGLISH SUBTITLES - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Hello and welcome to Lovely English Stories.
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109 sentences
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Hello and welcome to Lovely English Stories.
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Thank you for stopping by.
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This story is written for intermediate English learners.
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You can get the PDF transcript of this story as an all-access Patreon on our new Patreon community page.
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B1, B2, English Story.
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My favourite place.
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It's a lovely day.
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The sky is blue.
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There's a little mist hovering over the trees.
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The birds are singing and there's a light breeze in the air.
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I love days like this.
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Today, I will go to a sculpture park with my family.
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I haven't been in a long time.
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It's a beautiful place.
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There are lots of open fields filled with artwork.
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There are also galleries with lots of paintings and sculptures.
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It's peaceful and very quaint.
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People travel from miles around to visit the park.
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Sometimes they display work by famous artists and sometimes they promote local and up-and-coming artists.
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In the middle of the park is a building with a shop and a cafe.
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The shop only sells things that are made locally.
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There are some beautiful things for the home and garden.
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I love to look and sometimes I treat myself and buy something.
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I like to browse through the books and look at the jewellery.
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The staff in the shop are very friendly and always answer any questions I have.
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Today I am excited to see what new stock they have as I would like to buy some bits
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and bobs for my new house.
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I have a budget of £100 so I will try to stick to that.
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I want my house to have original art on the walls.
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I don't want my home to look like everyone else's.
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I am not rich, so it will take me some time to get it how I want it,
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but that's OK.
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I recently bought my first home.
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It was scary but exciting.
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It's a small stone cottage on the outskirts of my city.
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From my bedroom window, I can see for miles and miles.
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It needs a lot of work doing to it,
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but I hope to live there for a long time,
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so I don't mind investing a little bit.
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Luckily, it doesn't need a new roof or windows,
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so I am working my way through each room and redecorating.
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I like to keep things minimalist,
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but with splashes of art and colour to keep things interesting.
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I hope to have the house fully decorated within a year, slowly but surely.
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The sculpture park is only a 20-minute drive from my house.
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I will pick my family up on the way.
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Even though we will have a snack at the cafe,
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I have packed a little picnic.
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I have tea in a flask,
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some cold drinks, some small sandwiches, fruit, cheese and crackers.
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Hopefully I've packed enough.
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Once the mist has fully lifted,
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it should be warm enough for us to sit on one of the lovely rolling hills and admire the views.
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Each hill is littered with pieces of art.
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It's really inspiring.
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There are also lots of animals there roaming freely among the sculptures.
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There are sheep and cows and sometimes goats too.
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They are very tame.
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Sometimes in the shop they sell the milk from the cows.
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I love the sculpture park because I feel like it helps my creative side come out.
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After a day walking around and reading about all the different artists,
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I always like to come home,
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get out my paints and pencils and create some of my own artwork.
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I do not profess to be an artist,
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but I do enjoy it.
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It's relaxing.
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I wish I had more time to draw,
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but sometimes working life does get in the way.
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I'll pack my sketchbook and take it with me today.
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While we have our lunch,
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I could do some sketching.
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I can guarantee that today we will see some school trips.
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It's a wonderful place for young people to go and explore art and everything around it.
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It makes me happy to see them walking the acres of land and enjoying what it has to offer.
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At the bottom of the park is a lovely big lake.
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Around it you'll see lots of beautiful weeping willow trees and plants sprouting out of the water.
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I love to walk around it and feed the ducks.
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I'm not sure if we are allowed,
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but I always take some food for them.
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There are always new pieces of art to admire as I walk around the lake.
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They blend in beautifully with the nature surrounding them.
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It's quite a sociable place,
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as people will stop and chat about the art,
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the park and their dogs if they've brought them out for a stroll.
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It really is my favourite place.
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I especially like it in the autumn and spring.
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The sunsets over the valley are stunningly beautiful.
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I also love the smell of the leaves in the autumn and the fresh flowers in the spring.
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There's something very renewing and special about it.
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I'm going to wear layers today,
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so if it does get hot,
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I can just take off my coat and cardigan and I'll be just right.
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England being England, I also better take my waterproof coat and some sun cream, just in case.
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We have to be prepared for all weathers.
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I'm also going to take my camera.
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I don't want to miss snapping any special shots today.
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I've always loved photography and the Sculpture Park is the perfect place to practice my skills.
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Right, enough chatting.
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I must get ready.
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I've got tea to brew and sandwiches to make.
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Have a lovely day.
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Where is your favourite place?
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Tell us in the comments below.
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We hope you enjoyed this lovely English story.
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Thank you for stopping by.
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And don't forget to like, subscribe and share.
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And remember, you can download the PDF transcript of this story as an all-access Patreon on our new Patreon page.
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Simply visit www.patreon.com forward slash lovely English stories.
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See you soon!

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About This Lesson

In this engaging lesson, you will immerse yourself in a delightful story about a family outing to a sculpture park. Designed specifically for intermediate English learners at the B1-B2 level, this story will enhance your vocabulary and boost your listening skills. As you follow along, you'll not only learn more about the narrator's favorite place but also embrace common expressions used in everyday conversation. This exercise is perfect for IELTS speaking practice as it simulates real-life scenarios and cultural nuances, helping you to speak more naturally in English.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Sculpture park - a space dedicated to outdoor art installations
  • Quaint - charmingly unusual or old-fashioned
  • Budget - a financial plan; in this context, the amount of money allocated for shopping
  • Local art - artwork created by artists from the surrounding community
  • Minimalist - a simple and uncluttered design style
  • Redecorating - the act of changing the design or appearance of a space
  • Bits and bobs - various small items or pieces
  • Flask - a small container used to hold liquids, often used for transporting hot drinks

Practice Tips

To make the most of this learning opportunity, try using the shadowing technique. While you watch the video, listen closely to the speaker's tone and pace. Repeat phrases immediately after you hear them, mimicking their intonation and rhythm. This could dramatically enhance your fluency and pronunciation. Since the story has a friendly and conversational tone, you can practice speaking freely without the pressure of formal situations.

Additionally, consider using a shadowing app that allows you to record and compare your pronunciation with the speaker’s. This will give you immediate feedback and help you fine-tune your spoken English. Practicing regularly with content like this can significantly improve your English speaking practice, making you more confident in everyday conversations and exams like the IELTS.

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.

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