Shadowing Practice: Listen to Natural English Conversation on a walk in the Countryside | Comprehensible Input | - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Hello, how are you?
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58 sentences
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Hello, how are you?
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Welcome to my English channel.
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If you would like to learn English then watch this video.
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Today it is March so it is officially spring in Ireland so it's a lovely spring day so we are going to go for a spring walk.
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so it's very nice the sky look at that the sky is blue the trees are green but
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it is still very cold it was minus one degrees this morning so i still need to
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wear my hat my scarf and my coat but it is definitely the weather is getting
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better there is more sun in the sky still raining but there's less there's less rain so let's go for a spring walk behind me we have a pond
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so that is a pond a pond is a small little bit a small bit of water that fish can live
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in it's just the start of spring so the trees the trees are still bare there are no
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leaves on most of the the trees the the trees behind so these trees let me
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see these these trees here are called evergreen evergreen trees so they don't lose their leaves they
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stay green all year round but these are normal trees and they're still bare so the plants have not started to bud yet there are a few flowers It is starting to bud, so I'll show you those.
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Because the weather has been quite wet, the ground is very muddy.
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So there's a lot, this is mud.
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There's a lot of mud so this is whenever it rains on grassy areas it becomes very muddy so
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your shoes get quite dirty look at that the mud is very thick there so your shoes do get quite dirty
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in springtime here when it's raining but you want to go for a walk so I'll step over
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the mud step on some stones over here behind us we have this is called a
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derelict house a derelict house is a house that nobody lives in it's old and and
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in Ireland we have a lot of derelict houses so many derelict houses
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and this is because in 1800s during the famine a million Irish people
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emigrated outside of Ireland so to America Australia etc and a million people
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died from the famine so Ireland's population never recovered from the famine so before the famine we had about
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eight million population and now we have about five million population so our population went down
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and it has not recovered so that means there are hundreds of derelict houses around Ireland
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from the famine from the 1800s houses that nobody lives in look there's another derelict
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house and the The government at the moment is actually giving a grant to people to buy these derelict houses and to make them into homes.
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So the government, the Irish government is trying to resurrect all the derelict houses.
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I'm so excited that spring is finally here because the days in Ireland are getting longer.
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So in winter, our days are very short, gets bright at about nine o'clock in the morning, 9 a.m.
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and gets dark again at about half three or four.
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So we only get about six or seven hours of sunlight in winter.
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then it's just pitch pitch black it's dark after half four four o'clock so now that
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it's march and it's spring the days are getting longer and it gets bright about half seven in the morning
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and gets dark again at about six or half six so we now have about 11 hours of sunlight nearly 12 hours of sunlight.
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I love when the days get longer because you can go for walks outside.
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It does get very depressing when you're inside all evening from four o'clock and it's dark and you can't go outside and it's wet.
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So I love springtime as the days are longer.
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Let me know what daylight hours do you have?
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How many hours of sunshine do you have?
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Now the best thing about having short days in winter is that we get long days in
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summer so in summertime it is gets bright at about five in the morning and doesn't get dark
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until 11 p.m at night so it's only dark for about six hours of the day so we get about
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18 hours of daylight so i love summertime and in ireland we We call that a long stretch in the evenings.
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A long stretch because it doesn't get dark until 11.
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So we call that a long stretch in the evenings i love sunny days i love the sun but the only bad thing about summer and
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the sun in ireland is we get a lot of midges so these little flies i don't know if you can see them they're small little bugs that come out when it's sunny and dry and they're like itchy they bite you so they're called midges
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they're not dangerous or anything they're just annoying so that's my least favorite thing we also get flies and i hate flies they're so
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annoying but they only come out in summer so they're my least favorite thing about summertime are all the flies and the bugs
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but that's one good thing about ireland is in the winter time we have no insects or no creatures annoying us because
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it's too cold for all the insects to come out it really is so beautiful when the sun comes out and there
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are no clouds in the sky this is very rare here and it just boosts the mood it boosts
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the endorphins get a little bit of vitamin d don't get vitamin d here too often so it
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really is a mood booster it's so beautiful even though it is cold it's about zero degrees now but i
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love it i love the sun i love the contrast contrast between the blue and the green is such bright
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colors and so yeah let me know in the comments what the weather is like with you in your country and how long the days are how much sunlight you are getting
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and I'm going to continue on my walk now thank you so much for coming on a nature walk with me I hope you learned a few English words and I'll see you later bye
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Context & Background

In this video, the speaker invites viewers to join them on a spring walk in the picturesque countryside of Ireland. The natural setting provides a perfect backdrop for an engaging English conversation that focuses on seasonal changes, the environment, and local history. Throughout the dialogue, the speaker shares personal observations about the weather, landscape, and even some historical context regarding derelict houses in Ireland. This conversational style makes it ideal for English speaking practice, as it incorporates diverse vocabulary and everyday phrases.

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

  • "It's a lovely spring day" - A phrase expressing enjoyment of pleasant weather.
  • "The trees are still bare." - Describing the appearance of trees in spring.
  • "It was minus one degrees this morning." - Providing specific weather information, valuable for discussions about climate.
  • "This is called a derelict house." - Introducing a term that relates to historical context.
  • "I love when the days get longer." - Sharing personal feelings about seasonal changes.

Step-by-step Shadowing Guide

To effectively improve your speaking skills using this video, follow this step-by-step shadowing guide:

  1. Watch the video once without stopping: Familiarize yourself with the overall flow and tone of the conversation.
  2. Activate an English-speaking practice mindset: Before you start shadowing, prepare to mimic the speaker’s intonation and rhythm.
  3. Pause and repeat: Use the pause button frequently. After the speaker says a phrase, pause the video and repeat it out loud. This technique will help you develop proximity to natural speech patterns.
  4. Focus on tricky sections: For any phrases you find challenging, isolate them. Play them multiple times, then practice until you feel comfortable.
  5. Use a shadowing app: If you prefer, utilize a shadowing app to record your voice as you mimic the speaker. This will allow you to listen back and assess your progress in real-time.
  6. Practice regularly: Incorporate this practice into your weekly routine, aiming for at least 20 minutes per session. Over time, you will notice significant progress in your shadow speech skills.

By immersing yourself in this engaging conversation, you will enhance your vocabulary, improve your pronunciation, and build confidence, all crucial elements for IELTS speaking practice.

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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