Shadowing Practice: Let's go to work! Real World English - Learn English Speaking with Video

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All right.

Hello, hello, everyone.

Hi, everyone.

Hello, hi, level listeners.

Welcome back.

This is episode two of our first season of Advanced English Live Classes, where we give you advanced vocabulary,

expressions and phrases to help take your English up to the next level.

Yes, we're very happy to join you today.

My name is Mark, or Mark Teacher.

I'm from the UK specifically.

I'm from the southeast of England, quite close to London, and I've been a teacher for just over 10 years.

All right.

And hey, everyone.

My name is Kat or Kat Teacher, and I've been a teacher also for over a decade

and we at High Level Listening are here to give you real English,

practical English, and something that you can use hopefully every day in your daily lives.

We have an interesting topic today.

We're going to be commuting.

Commuting.

So commuting is the act of getting to work and coming home from work, okay?

So some people take the bus, people take a taxi, some people walk, some people drive.

This is how you get to and from work.

Yes, and it's only work.

You can't commute to the supermarket or commute to the bank.

It is just going to work and coming back.

So only that journey.

You say my commute.

My commute is very long or my commute is quite short.

It's also a verb.

I commute to work by train he commutes, she commutes.

In the past tense, I commuted or I used to commute.

My dad, for example, used to commute two hours to work.

That's one way from home into London was two hours by car, then by train, then by subway, then walking.

So that's one way is two hours.

And then he used to commute all the way back home.

So four hours of commuting every day.

Commute is that sometimes long journey to and from work.

Absolutely.

And a little bit more casually, if you don't want to use the word commute, you can say get to work, get home from work.

So how do you get to work?

I take the train.

I take a bus.

How long does it take you to get to work?

How long does it take you to get home from work okay

so to get to work to get home is also another way that we would use

get to replace this word commute

so i more naturally kind of go with the get to

work how long does it take for you to get to

work how long does it take for you to get home

but if you want to use a short

and simple word we can use the word commute what's your commute like so we're going to actually answer this question.

Both of us are going to answer it in a little bit of our different style.

Now, we kind of noticed each of us doing these dialogues,

these little monologues, that we didn't actually use a lot of different vocabulary.

Of course, Americans and British speakers tend to have a little bit of different vocabulary, but not all the time.

So this is a little bit easier lesson because

if you are studying British English

or particularly American English you can use almost all these phrases with both

so we kind of noticed that when we started making this one

so I'm going to go ahead

and lead in with a question for Mark I'm going to say hey how do you usually get to work?

Being in London I catch the tube to work I try for the 7 45 a .m train

but some days I end up missing it and I have to wait for the next one.

It's about 20 minutes into the city centre

so I usually take the chance to catch up on the news or text some mates.

I'm usually off the train by 8 .15am and then after a couple of minutes of walking I'm at work.

The journey back in the afternoon is virtually the same just with a few more commuters I'd say.

All right, excellent.

And how about you?

How do you usually get to work?

In the city, I rely on the subway.

So I usually aim for the 7 .45 a .m train, but sometimes if I'm a tad late,

I miss it and I have to wait for the next one.

The journey is roughly 15 minutes and I try and use this time to read.

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

By 8am I'm a short walk away from my office.

The evening commute is pretty similar, though sometimes more crowded.

Okay, so similar to last week, if you remember, Kat and I have pretty much the same kind of story.

Our journey to work, or our commute to work, is pretty much the same,

but I used some phrases and vocabulary and she used some different phrases and vocabulary.

So we will go through those short answers

and we will look at some of the different phrases and words that we used,

compare them and see if they are similar or different and give you some more examples so you can use them yourself.

So the first part of that script was how do you get to work?

Like what kind of transportation do you use?

The bus, the train, the subway?

Kat, what did you say in your one?

So I said that I rely on the subway.

I rely on something.

Now, when you rely on something, you are, you know, you're dependent on that.

You need that to go about your daily life.

It's very important in your life.

So for me, I live in the city.

Perhaps I don't have a car.

Maybe it's quite far away if I drive or take a taxi.

So I rely on the subway.

That means if the subway is broken, that's going to be very difficult for me to catch another type of transportation.

So I rely on the subway.

I take it every day.

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I try to take it at a certain time and it makes my life more convenient and easier.

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Yep, also totally describes my sister who lives in London.

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Yes, she is 35 years old, doesn't have a driver's license, because in London, you don't need a car.

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There's the bus, the subway, or the tube, which we'll talk about in a second.

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Yeah, you can, there is such a good public transport network that you don't need a car because you can rely on public transport.

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So yes, when I lived near my mum's home or with my mum when I was younger,

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I used to rely on the bus because I didn't have a car

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and that was the only way I could get into the city centre.

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So I used to rely on the bus.

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My sister still relies on public transport in London.

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My script was a tiny bit different.

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I used a different verb.

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I said I catch.

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I take the bus, I catch the bus.

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I take the train, I catch the train kind of the image is

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that the train is coming past like it's not stopping

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and you have to like catch

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and it'll pull you into the city catch is another word for take

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because I'm from the UK

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and I mentioned London I also used a specific word for the subway transport system in London and it's the tube.

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Yeah, that was one word that would be different, but it is very specific just to London.

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Yes, you'll also hear it in a British accent.

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It starts with the T -U, so it makes a ch sound.

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The tube.

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Yeah, I catch the tube.

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This is specifically the London system the system in Paris the

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subway in Paris is not metro yeah right the metro um

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in the one in Moscow is not the tube the one

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in New York is not the tube only the London one is the tube I think literally

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because the tunnels are shaped like a kind of circle what

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about what about other cities in the UK do you also

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catch the tube the tube do you catch the tube the I can't say it with tube

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It just sounds more natural to say the tube.

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Do you know?

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And because it's so quintessentially British that I have to say the tube

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because there's no other way it feels like to say it.

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Right.

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There are other I think there's only one or two other subway systems in the UK.

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But the tube is only London.

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That's like London's one.

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So yeah, the Tube transports hundreds of thousands of people every single day.

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And yeah, if someone says the Tube, they're talking about the London system only.

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So yeah, my dad used to commute on the Tube in London, and like many other people do, including my sister, again.

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So yeah, I catch the bus, I catch the train, I catch the Tube.

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And we can catch other things as well.

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It's kind of like, you know, we catch a taxi, catch a bus, catch the train.

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So it's funny because if it's your specific bus line, I catch the bus.

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If we just, we don't know what bus line it is, we just need to take a bus, any bus, we can catch a bus.

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So because Mark and I have specific trains that we take in the morning, we catch the train.

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We catch this specific train.

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We catch the train in the morning, meaning my specific train line, my specific bus line.

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We would never say catch the taxi because we never have a specific taxi.

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It could be any taxi in the city.

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So we often say catch a taxi.

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I try to catch a taxi early in the morning to get to the airport or something like that, or to get to work.

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So just kind of those little words sometimes are a little difficult for some of my students.

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Catch a taxi, catch a bus, catch a train, if you are taking any train, any line.

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But if you have your specific routine in mind, I catch the train.

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I catch the bus.

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It's the same bus we always take.

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Yes, that's a good point.

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That comes up in the next section we're going to talk about.

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We use the, the article, the to mean a specific one or the same one that we usually take.

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And in the next lines, what time do you try to get the train?

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What did you say?

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Actually, Mark, we have a quick question from Maria.

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Is there the overground also in London?

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Oh yes, that's right.

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There's the underground, which I'll write here.

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The underground is the tube.

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That's the same thing.

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But recently, yeah, they upgraded and added some new lines that go overground.

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These are ones that don't go through the tunnels.

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I think if you want to get to some famous landmarks like the O2 Arena, which is a big concert hall and event center,

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then you can take the Overground or the DLR.

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They have a few different names.

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But yeah, it's basically two different types of trains.

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It's all part of the rail network in London, though.

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So yeah, the Overground or the Underground.

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They'll both take you wherever you need to go.

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Well, that's interesting.

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I didn't even know they had that.

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Okay.

183

So you were mentioning, what time do you get the train?

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Okay.

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Or what time do you try to get the train?

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And I said that I aim for, okay.

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Just like when you are shooting an arrow and you want it to go somewhere specific, I aim for something.

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Meaning I try to leave my house on time.

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I really want to try to catch that train in particular.

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So I really aim for the 7 .45 a .m.

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I know that I can arrive just on time and catch it.

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Or if I'm running a little late, I'm really trying to hurry up to catch that one because I'm really aiming for that one.

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If I don't catch it, I might be a little bit late.

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So I'm aiming for the 7 .45 or I'm shooting for.

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Okay, so that's the same thing.

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If you shoot an arrow, you aim, okay?

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You are aiming for something and then you shoot it, okay?

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So I shoot for, yeah, I usually shoot for the 745 because then 15 minutes,

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I arrive at my building at 8 a .m., I'm not late, right?

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So I aim for this or I shoot for this.

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That means I'm really trying hard to get there and to succeed at catching that train in particular.

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It's also a good phrase if you're making plans with someone and you want to go out and meet at the cinema.

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And you know the movie starts at 7,

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so you arrange to meet a little bit earlier so you can buy the tickets and buy your snacks.

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Maybe when you're texting your friend, you can say, yeah, the movie starts at 8, so let's shoot for 7 .30

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so around 7 30 try to arrive around 7 30 let's shoot for them that's exactly right

207

so yeah if we're hey let's aim for eight o 'clock meaning 755 is okay 805 is okay

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but please don't be much later let's really really try let's aim for eight o 'clock okay

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so yeah let's shoot for eight o 'clock

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if it's not exactly eight o 'clock that's okay that's okay but let's aim for that let's shoot for that.

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In my version of the script I said I try for the 750 train.

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Aim for, shoot for, try for, they all have the same meaning, the same preposition, to go.

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Back to what we were saying about articles with the tube, the subway or the train.

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I try for the 7 .50 a .m train.

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Again, the is the specific one, the one at 7 .50.

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I need an article before the time, the 7 .50 train.

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There's only one train on the platform at that time.

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If someone says, what time is it?

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Oh, it's 7 .50.

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But I need the 7 .50 train.

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The means it's the specific one.

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This is also true for other public transport types.

223

When I go back to my mum's village in the UK, I take the 66 bus.

224

there's only one of those and there's only one of those going around so it's the specific one

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the 66 bus it's true before any time the 1 p

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.m train think the five of the time think of the

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time as like an adjective like i want the red bus

228

i want the 650 bus i want the big bus like i want

229

that specific one so the time there is almost acting like an adjective so we're saying this specific one, the red bus, the 750 bus,

230

the bus that goes to London.

231

Okay, so we're looking for that one in particular.

232

Okay, sorry, I just saw the comment from Maria.

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The overground goes from Enfield to Clapham in London,

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and Maria knows the tube because she lived in East Finchley for a

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while awesome okay you probably know more about it than i

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do you probably know more about it than me too as an american i've never lived in london

237

so that's very cool

238

we've learned a lot uh let's have a look at back

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at our lesson uh what do you do during the ride what do you do during the ride

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now the ride meaning i'm riding the train i'm riding the bus what do you do during

241

that time that you are sitting on the train, sitting on the bus, sitting in the taxi ride even.

242

So what do you do during the ride?

243

I usually take the chance to catch up on the news or text some mates.

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Yes, like me and probably a lot of other commuters.

245

When I'm commuting, I'm probably just looking at my phone.

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So maybe I don't have time during breakfast.

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I eat my breakfast, I'm out the door,

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and then sitting on the train is the first time I have to open my phone and actually catch up.

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So I take the chance to catch up on new stories, new headlines, announcements or posts from my friends.

250

And maybe I message some of my friends.

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I text my friends.

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uh this is the most british word in my script my mates yeah

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that's true my friends yeah

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we would we would definitely not use my mates in america uh the first time

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i ever heard it i thought it was a little weird to be honest

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so um yes in america mates are romantic love interests so

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when you say my mates i think people you are romantically involved with and so but in In British English,

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my mates, my friends, and in America, my friends are just my friends.

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So what do I do during the ride?

260

I try and use this time to read, but I usually just end up scrolling on my phone.

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So I have good intentions.

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I want to do something productive, but I end up doing something.

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Maybe I don't want to get my book out.

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Maybe I think, oh, it's just a short ride.

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Maybe I'm finishing a conversation with a friend.

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So I end up doing something.

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So I wanted to do this, but I ended up doing this instead.

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In other words, what did you finally, at the end, end up doing?

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What did you finally do?

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Instead of reading a book, I ended up scrolling on my phone instead.

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So good intentions, but maybe next time I'll try and read when I'm on the bus or on the train.

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We wanted to add some other phrases,

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especially in this moment where you're going to work and maybe you haven't woken up yet.

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Mentally, you are still a bit of a zombie.

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Maybe you haven't had any coffee yet.

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So you're on autopilot, you are going to work and when you arrive at work maybe you won't remember this journey.

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And if you sit on the train in the morning and you look at other commuters...

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Maybe some people are zoned out.

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They just zone out.

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Maybe they're not looking at their phone.

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They're just staring at the window or they're staring at the floor because they're still tired.

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It's early in the morning.

283

Maybe they're not super excited about going to work.

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Sometimes I do that too.

285

I just zone out.

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some people are like asleep some people try to catch up on some sleep me too

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I try to catch up on some sleep maybe I have time for five minutes

288

or ten minutes of sleep

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so I have a bit more energy at work other people maybe they have a big presentation a big meeting

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or a really important thing today.

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So they are thinking about the meeting.

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They're going over the script again and again.

293

I'm mentally preparing myself for the day.

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So some people are quite focused, mentally preparing themselves for the day.

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Or one more phrase, I have to psych myself up.

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Psych myself up, like get myself ready, build up my energy,

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build up some confidence to take on the day again maybe

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because I have a difficult day or an important day I psych myself up

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so some people are drinking lots of coffee

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or they're you know looking at some confidence boosting videos on YouTube to make themselves feel big

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there's lots of things that people are doing during this ride.

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Okay, so one thing that students often get wrong or a mistake that we often correct as teachers is the word work.

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Work as a place.

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So this is tricky because the prepositions are a bit different.

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Sometimes the articles are not where you think they'd be

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so how did you say it in your script okay

307

so um I think a lot of our students like to use the word job office

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and work but we do use a little bit of you know the different articles in each one

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so you know my office the office um my job my work um

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but however so I'm a short walk away from my office.

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I'm a short walk away from my office.

312

I'm a short walk away from my building.

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Okay, so my office, building, my office.

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I'm a short walk away from this place, my office.

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But if you want to use the word work, we don't usually say my work, my, my, the work.

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We would just simply use the word work.

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So I'm a short walk away from work.

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I'm a short walk away from the office.

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I'm a short walk away from my job.

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Okay, so if we are a short walk away, my work, my job, my office, we just need the word work.

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Okay, so I'm at work.

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I'm a short walk away from work.

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All right, so that's one of those words like from school, from home, from work.

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These are really easy ones that we use all the time and they don't usually need an article.

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Yes.

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So those are the only three correct ones.

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My office.

328

I'm at my office.

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The office is okay.

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I'm at the office or I'm at work at work.

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Work is the place.

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Obviously, if you work in an office, then I'm at my office, I'm at the office.

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If you work in a supermarket, if you work in a bank, if you work in the post office, I'm at work.

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Work covers any place where you do your job or do your work.

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So yeah, my work is wrong.

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I'm at my job, wrong.

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It's I'm at work or I'm at the office.

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If someone calls you and says, hey, where are you?

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I'm at work.

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What do you want?

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So in my sentences, in my script, I said, after a couple of minutes of walking, I'm at work.

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I arrive at work at 8 .30 or I take the subway to work.

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I take the bus to work.

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I catch the tube to work.

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So work is the place.

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But the last point that we'll discuss is coming home, coming back.

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How about coming home again?

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What did you say in your scripts?

349

Okay, so how about coming home again?

350

So now, of course, part of your commute is not just getting to work, but it's coming back from work as well.

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Now, oftentimes, it's just the opposite, right?

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So you go to work, you take the train.

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You come home, you take the train.

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But sometimes people hit rush hour,

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especially early in the morning or late in the evening when people are all coming home from work at the same time.

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Some people can leave their house early and they get there early, so they don't hit rush hour.

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But some people don't have as much flexibility with coming home.

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You want to try to get home as soon as possible, but you might run into some rush hour.

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So my evening commute, meaning when I'm coming home,

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my evening commute is similar, though sometimes more crowded.

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So I can talk about my commute in two pieces, my morning commute, when I'm going to work in the morning,

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and my evening commute when I'm coming home in the evening?

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Absolutely.

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In my phrase or my script,

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I said, the journey back in the afternoon is virtually the same,

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just with a few more commuters.

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So in my script, a few more commuters, those are passengers coming home from work.

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Again, you're only a commuter if you're coming home from work, or you're only a commuter if you're going to work.

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Everyone else is just passengers.

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The journey back, the journey back, the journey home is virtually the same.

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If you take the same train at the same time every day, you might start to recognize other commuters around you.

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They might become your sort of secret commuter buddies.

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You might also hear commuter trains.

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If it's a train during the morning rush hour, people will call it a commuter train because most of the passengers on that train are commuters.

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So if you're a tourist, you want to avoid commuter trains because they're packed, they're full of people and sometimes they're more expensive as well.

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So if you can avoid the commuter trains in the morning, you could have a more relaxing journey.

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You may get a seat and you might save some money at the same time. So, yes.

378

I think we also use this, too, because we actually live in a neighborhood with lots of young families.

379

So a lot of the people, a lot of our neighbors are commuters.

380

So right outside our neighborhood, most people are back to waiting in line to drive their

381

car out to connect to the highway to get into the city.

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So even though we chose to live in a suburb, we have a lot of commuters here.

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They leave around 8 o 'clock in the morning.

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The traffic is from 8 o 'clock to 9 o 'clock, that rush hour traffic.

385

And then we could probably say the same thing in the evening, although a little bit more flexible in the evening.

386

It's not a designated time since a lot of commuters might go out to eat after work

387

or they might stay late to work a little bit late.

388

So there's not as much rush hour in the evening time during the evening commute, but definitely the morning commute.

389

So many commuters leaving the neighborhood that it gets pretty packed in the morning.

390

Okay, so those are the five main points we wanted to discuss about our little scripts today.

391

There's one more thing we wanted to do in the last few minutes to give you some takeaway sentences.

392

These are sentences that me and Kat will repeat and then give you a moment to repeat the sentence too.

393

It includes all the vocabulary that you've seen and heard so far in the scripts.

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We've got some high -level sentences that you can use to talk about public transport in your own life.

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Kat will read a sentence that's in the present tense because it's a routine and it's your usual commute.

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I'll read one in the past tense if you're telling a story.

397

So listen to Kat and try to repeat after her okay I I catch the train to work

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I catch the train to work

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In the past, this morning I caught the train to work.

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I take the subway to the office.

401

This morning I took the subway to the office.

402

I usually aim for the 7 .45am bus.

403

This morning I aimed for the 7 .45 bus, but I missed it.

404

I usually just zone out.

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This morning I just zoned out.

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I try to catch up on some sleep.

407

This morning I try to catch up on some sleep.

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I mentally prepare myself for the day.

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This morning, I mentally prepared myself for the day.

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I psych myself up for the day.

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This morning, I psyched myself up for the day.

412

All right.

413

Thank you so much, everyone, for joining us for our class today.

414

You can watch the replay as soon as we close out this section.

415

And I hope to see you again next week for our very next

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High Level Listening, Episode 3.

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So we'll see you next week on Monday.

418

Yes, like usual, also the link is in the description or in the chat.

419

So you can see the script that we were reading from this lesson.

420

You can also listen to...

421

Thank you.

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Your English Is EXCELLENT If You Can Understand These!

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

141 sentences

Let's Learn English at the Airport! ✈️👨‍✈️🛩️

Travel EnglishTeensDaily Conversation

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Let's go to work! Real World English”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: train, catch, bus, commute, tube. This video has 421 sentences and 4632 words to shadow. The speech runs for 31:40. The speaker talks at a steady 146 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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

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

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
commute verb	/kəˈmjuːt/	To exchange substantially; to abate but not abolish completely, a penalty, obligation, or payment in return for a great, single thing or an aggregate; to cash…
tube noun	/tuːb/	Anything that is hollow and cylindrical in shape.
subway noun	/ˈsʌbˌweɪ/	An underground railway, especially for mass transit of people in urban areas.
script noun	/skɹɪpt/	A writing; a written document.
rely verb	/ɹɪˈlaɪ/	To trust; to have confidence in; to depend.
taxi noun	/ˈtæksi/	A vehicle that may be hired for single journeys by members of the public, particularly one with an automated meter to calculate the fare.
phrase noun	/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/	A short written or spoken expression.
clock noun	/klɑk/	A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day.
rush verb	/ɹʌʃ/	To hurry; to perform a task with great haste, often not properly or without thinking carefully.
vocabulary noun	/vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/	A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning.
arrive verb	/əˈɹaɪv/	To reach; to get to a certain place.
mentally adverb	/ˈmɛntəli/	In a mental manner; an idea thought out in one's mind, as opposed to an idea spoken orally.
psychology noun	/saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/	The study of the human mind.
lesson noun	/ˈlɛs.ən/	A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
passenger noun	/ˈpæs.ɪn.d͡ʒɚ/	One who rides or travels in a vehicle, but who does not operate it and is not a member of the crew.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
walk away from verb	To abandon or leave; to shun; to refuse.
end up verb	To bring to a conclusion.
build up verb	To erect; to construct.
come back verb	To return to a place.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
catch up verb	To pick up suddenly.
close out verb	To terminate; to call the end of.
come back from verb	To become successful, confident or effective again after an injury, setback, failure, embarrassment, etc.

Sentences worth repeating

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

Yes, we're very happy to join you today.
How do you usually get to work?
Kat, what did you say in your one?
What did you finally do?
What did you say in your scripts?

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to commute · used to rely
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've been · i've never lived · we've learned
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is broken · are shaped · are romantically involved

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 117 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: rush /ɹʌʃ/, intentions /ɪnˈtɛnʃənz/, presentation /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/, casually /ˈkæʒuəli/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, psychology /saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, virtually /ˈvɚ.t͡ʃə.wə.li/, supermarket /ˌsupɚˈmɑɹkət/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.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 commute, tube, subway.

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: Let's go to work! Real World English - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Your English Is EXCELLENT If You Can Understand These!

Let's Learn English at the Airport! ✈️👨‍✈️🛩️

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?