Shadowing Practice: Learn the language of secrets - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
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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 Beth.
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And I'm Georgie.
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You can find a video version of this podcast and a worksheet to help you learn all on our website, bbclearningenglish .com.
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Hi Georgie.
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Hello Beth.
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How is your week going?
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It's going well.
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It's quite a busy one, isn't it?
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It is.
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It's only Wednesday.
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Yeah.
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It feels like Friday.
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But today we're talking about secrets.
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Secrets.
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A secret is a piece of information that you don't tell other people.
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Beth, does that mean you're going to tell me all of your secrets?
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No. Not now.
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Maybe later.
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Ooh, okay.
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So Georgie, are you good at keeping secrets?
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No, I'm definitely not good at keeping secrets.
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I'm a bit of an open book, which means...
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the opposite of someone who is good at keeping secrets.
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You're very honest and share things, maybe too much.
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What about you?
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Okay.
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I I'm probably the same as you.
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I think I'm
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not good at keeping secrets but
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If it's a really important secret and I've been told "please don't tell anyone" then I won't tell anyone.
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Yes, so Beth, what is the biggest secret you've had to keep?
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Hmm.
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Ooh, um...
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I flew abroad. to surprise
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my boyfriend at the time his dad and we had to keep it a secret
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and we even called him in the morning on a video call and pretended we were at home and we were in a different country.
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Oh my gosh.
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So that was a Big secret.
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So it went well?
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Was he surprised?
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It did.
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He was very surprised.
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We were very pleased that we kept it a secret.
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We did well.
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Well done.
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Well done.
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I've had to keep a big secret
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Last year my friend told me that she was going to propose to her girlfriend
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but she told me I had to keep it a secret and it's really, it was really difficult because we have a group of friends
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and I really wanted to tell them but I couldn't and I managed to keep it a secret so
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I was very proud of myself.
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That's good, well done.
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That reminds me, I had a big secret too.
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My friend told me, don't tell anyone and don't tell your mum.
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And I told my mum by accident.
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Oh no, can you reveal the secret to us?
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Oh yeah, she was pregnant, but she's now had the baby.
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Okay.
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But she said, yeah, I'm pregnant, but it's really early.
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So please don't tell anyone.
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Don't even tell your mum.
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Okay.
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And then I spoke to my mum a few weeks later and said, "You don't know, she's pregnant !" And then I realised,
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oh no, I wasn't supposed to tell you.
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Oh, but that was kind of an accident.
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Oh, it was definitely an accident.
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Yeah.
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I felt really bad.
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Oh, well, now she's had the baby.
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It's all good.
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It's not a surprise anymore.
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Sorry.
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"Beth, do you think secrets are a good or a bad thing?" I think it really depends on the secret.
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There are good secrets.
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um like proposing or having a baby and then i guess a bad secret really is
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a lie
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if you have to lie then that's not good yeah i
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agree it's uh it's not yeah it's not good to lie um and i think that's
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a reason why I'm not very good at keeping secrets because I'm a really bad Liar.
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You can see it in my face if I'm holding in a secret.
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Yeah, I think sometimes you can look at someone's face and know what they're thinking.
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I'm definitely like that if I'm annoyed or angry or...
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something you can tell from my face.
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Well that's good because I'll always know that you're being honest and not keeping any secrets from me.
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Let's recap the vocabulary we heard during the conversation.
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We had a secret, which is a piece of information that you can't tell other people.
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And we also have the phrase keep a secret, which means to not share that piece of information.
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If someone is an open book, they don't have secrets and they're honest about their life.
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And if you lie, you say something that's not true.
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It's usually seen as negative, but sometimes you have to lie if you want to keep a secret.
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And we call someone who lies a lot a liar.
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And that's it for this episode of Real Easy English.
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Test what you've learned with the free worksheets on our website, bbclearningenglish .com.
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We'll be back next week with another conversation in Easy English.
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Goodbye.
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Bye.
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you
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About This Lesson

Welcome to another engaging practice session designed to enhance your English-speaking skills. In this lesson, we delved into the intriguing topic of secrets through a natural conversation between two speakers. You will practice listening and speaking by recognizing and repeating phrases used in everyday discussions. By embracing the concept of shadow speech, you will improve your pronunciation, comprehension, and overall fluency. This method allows you to mimic the speakers, making it easier to pick up nuances in tone and rhythm, crucial for mastering conversational English.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Secrets - Information that is kept hidden from others.
  • Open book - A person who is very honest and shares information freely.
  • Keep a secret - To not tell anyone about certain information.
  • Surprise - To unexpectedly astonish someone.
  • Propose - To make a suggestion, often related to marriage.
  • Video call - A call made using video technology, allowing visual interaction.
  • Very pleased - A phrase indicating satisfaction or happiness about an outcome.

Practice Tips

As you engage with the content from the video, consider using a shadowing app to enhance your learning experience. Focus on the natural pace of the conversation; even if it feels challenging at first, remember that it's a vital part of mastering new vocabulary and sentence structures. The speakers in this lesson have a friendly and conversational tone, making it easier to follow along. When practicing, pause after key phrases, and repeat them while mimicking their intonation and rhythm.

Start by listening to a segment, then try to shadow speak right after hearing each line. This technique is especially effective for capturing the flow of English in authentic settings. You can also break down the conversation into smaller parts to prevent feeling overwhelmed—this is where resources like YouTube can come in handy. By replaying specific sections, you can further refine your skills as you learn English with YouTube.

Incorporating this method into your daily practice will help you become more fluent and confident in your English speaking abilities, making conversations about various topics, including secrets, feel natural and effortless.

Grammar in this video

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

StructureIn the video
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thingbook, which means · someone who is · secret, which is
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters nowI've been told · you've learned
Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessaryhad to keep · have to lie
Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around nowwe're talking · I'm holding · they're thinking

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 →