Shadowing Practice: One more try | Real English Listening | Bonus 179 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.

437 sentences

If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.

Hello and welcome to bonus episode number 179 of the Q-Lips English podcast.

Episode 179 and feeling fine?

At least I am and I hope you are as well.

Guys, my name is Andrew.

I'll be your humble host and your English study buddy for today.

What I do here in our bonus episodes at Q-Lips is I just casually talk with you and hang out with you.

It's like spending some time with your English speaking friend

and I share some stories and some updates from my life to help you improve your English fluency.

Of course, I'm a Canadian, but I live abroad in Seoul, South Korea.

And there's also an interactive transcript and vocabulary glossary available for this episode for free.

Amazing study resources.

If I do say so myself, I check the transcript myself, guys.

It's not an AI transcript.

I make sure that everything is perfect for you so you can trust it.

And I hope you will take advantage of that resource because it takes me forever to make it.

So please check out the transcript and also the vocabulary glossary as well.

I think they'll really help you.

And if you're a Q-Lips member, then we're also going to give you a comprehension quiz

so you can test and see how much you were able to understand after listening to my story.

If you're interested about Q-Lips membership, check out our website, Q-Lips.com, and you can learn all about it.

So today in this story, well, I have some good news for you.

I have a happy story this week.

The last story that I posted in bonus episode number 178, I heard the reaction of some listeners who said, Andrew, it was such a sad story.

If you haven't heard that story yet, then probably you're going to want to stop here and go back and listen to bonus episode 178 first.

And that will set the stage nicely for today's story.

But if you did listened to that episode, then okay, you're okay to continue.

And in that last episode, I told the story of wanting to go see one of my favorite bands, My Bloody Valentine, play a music festival here in Seoul.

But unfortunately, I was unsuccessful when buying the ticket, so I wasn't able to go.

However, I've got an update to that story, and that's what I'm going to share with you here today.

So to go back in time a little bit, I recorded

that episode on a Thursday about how I wasn't able to buy the tickets for the music festival

because the tickets had sold out.

So that was on a Thursday.

And the music festival was on that upcoming weekend, the Saturday and the Sunday.

So it was just like a couple of days before the concert.

However, after I recorded that episode, I thought, okay, let me check one more time to see if there are any tickets.

You know, I had just spent like the last 30 minutes telling you guys the story about failing to buy tickets.

So I thought, let me check one more time to see if any tickets had been released.

Korean listeners will know this, but often if there is something that's sold out, like transportation that's sold out, a bus or a train or something,

If somebody cancels their bus ticket or their train ticket, then you can buy that ticket.

So I've done this in the past where I'm wanting to go away for the weekend

or something and the bus is sold out or the train is sold out.

And I try at first and it's sold out.

But then a couple of days later, I try again.

And miraculously, there's a ticket available because somebody else had canceled their ticket.

So that was in the back of my mind that I should keep trying to buy a ticket.

Don't just trust that because it says sold out the first day.

that it's going to be sold out forever.

So I should keep trying.

And up until I recorded that episode, I had tried several times and it was always sold out.

But after recording the episode, you know, it was on my mind.

So I thought, okay, let's try it one more time.

So I opened my app, the ticketing app on the phone, and I tried it.

And miraculously, I was able to buy two tickets.

So I don't know what happened if they released more tickets or if somebody canceled and there were tickets available.

I don't know if it was just good timing, like maybe somebody had canceled and I was there at the right time in the right place.

I'm not sure exactly what happened.

However, I was able to secure two tickets, one for me, one for my wife to go to this music festival to see one of my favorite bands of all time,

My Bloody Valentine.

Amazing.

As I mentioned in the last episode, the ticket price was only 50,000 won, which I should have looked up the currency conversion,

but probably around like 30 to 35 American dollars, like incredibly cheap for a music festival.

So I was so stoked.

And the cool thing was that usually when you get a ticket like this for a big event, you're counting down the days, right?

It's like months away and you're waiting and anticipating the concert.

However, because I got these tickets at the very last moment, I only had to wait a day.

Like the next day was Friday and then it was festival day.

So yeah, I got tickets to go to the festival and I'm going to tell you the festival story here now.

We'll continue with my story in just a moment.

But before we do, I want to tell you about Q-Lips membership.

As a Q-Lips member, you will be able to join us for our weekly speaking classes.

We have three to four speaking classes each week.

It's a great way to be active with your English and to participate in the Keyloops community.

So you'll be able to join us for as many of those classes as you would like.

But that's not all.

You'll also get helpful study guides, quizzes, and interactive transcripts to all of our lessons.

Plus our member-only series, the Fluency Files.

You'll get ad-free audio so you can study with no interruptions.

Plus, there are many other benefits and bonuses as well.

To learn all the details and to sign up for an affordable price, just visit our website Qlips.com.

And of course, a huge thank you to all of our members out there for your support.

Qlips is member supported, and without our members, Qlips wouldn't exist.

So thank you to everyone out there for your support.

We really do appreciate it.

Okay, and now, let's get back to my story.

so the festival was a two-day festival i only bought tickets

to the saturday the first band started at noon 12 noon

and my bloody valentine the band

that i really wanted to see they didn't take the stage until 8 45 p.m now there were some acts

that i was interested in seeing some kind of smaller, lesser known Korean indie acts,

some rappers and some electronic musicians, kind of like pretty underground stuff.

However, you know, I'm 42 years old

and to go to a music festival in the middle of

a Korean summer from noon until almost 11 p.m is just not happening.

It's not happening.

I don't have that kind of energy.

I didn't have the desire that strongly to go and see these smaller, more indie Korean bands play.

So I decided, and my wife agreed as well,

that we'll go later in the day and just watch some of the headlining acts towards the end of the festival.

100

So I think that was a good call.

101

One thing that we were both concerned about was

102

that this festival took place right at the tail end of the Korean rainy season.

103

And up until that Saturday, it had been rainy that whole week, like just hot, humid, and super rainy.

104

And I won't talk too much about some of the summer weather

105

that we've been having lately because my co-host Anna and I, we just recorded an episode about summer 2026 weather.

106

And we'll share that one with you sometime this week, a little bit later this week.

107

So you can hear all of those stories, the summer stories that Anna and I have to share in that upcoming Chatterbox episode.

108

But July here can be pretty hot, pretty humid, and pretty rainy.

109

And a music festival is not a place where you want to be stuck in the rain.

110

So we were quite worried about that.

111

However, the weather was beautiful.

112

No rain at all, just blue, clear skies.

113

So we had perfect weather.

114

Of course, very hot.

115

But since we went later in the day, it was okay.

116

Now, the festival itself took place at like a hotel resort compound thing that was very,

117

very close to the international airports that services Seoul, but is actually outside of the Seoul city boundary.

118

It's called Incheon International Airport.

119

And so to get there, we had to just take the subway, just like we were going to the airport.

120

In fact, We went to the airport.

121

It takes a little while from our place.

122

We have to take a couple of subways to get there.

123

And it's probably between an hour and a half to two hours to get to the airport, depending on how long we have to wait for the transfers for the subway.

124

So that takes quite a while to get there.

125

Thankfully, we had seats the whole way.

126

I was worried that we'd have to stand on the subway and then stand for the concert.

127

But no, we were able to sit on the subway the whole way there.

128

So that was amazing.

129

And I love going to the airport.

130

I don't know.

131

There's just a certain je ne sais quoi about the airport.

132

Like it's a special place, a unique place, a really multicultural place, right?

133

You see people from all corners of the world coming and going.

134

And I love just going to airports.

135

I've seen reports on the news before.

136

I'm sure this happens in every country, but especially in Korea, I think it almost became an issue in the past

137

that there were a ton of older senior citizens going

138

and just hanging out in the airport because it's kind of fun to see the people coming and going.

139

And there's like air conditioning and good like public washrooms available and stuff like this.

140

So there were a lot of people.

141

I don't know if that's still a trend

142

that older senior citizens in Korea do is go to the airport and hang out or not.

143

But I thought I want to do that when I'm older.

144

When I retire, maybe I'll be one of those people

145

that hangs out in the airport because I just love the vibe around an airport.

146

So I was happy to go to the airport.

147

And yeah, from the airport, we were able to take a shuttle bus to the festival itself.

148

by the time all was said and done

149

and we arrived at the festival grounds it was probably around 6 p.m

150

and yeah because we were

151

so late like the festival had already been going on since lunchtime

152

because we were so late to arrive there were no lines

153

or anything we just went like right up to the ticket booth

154

and got our wristbands they give you a wristband and then you have to get your bag searched, but again, no lines.

155

So that took just like 30 seconds.

156

And then we were into the festival.

157

And by the time we arrived there, we were actually pretty hungry because, well, it was dinner time, first of all.

158

And second of all, we had just been on the subway

159

and in the airport and on the shuttle bus for a couple of hours.

160

So we decided to go to the food truck section and get some food.

161

I guess one minus about showing up late like that is that a lot of the food was sold out already.

162

So there were some things that my wife wanted to eat.

163

She's like, oh, that looks good.

164

That looks good.

165

But they were all sold out.

166

The one thing that I actually wanted to eat was a hot dog because for me growing up in Canada,

167

I equate hot dogs with the summer.

168

A hot dog is a summer food.

169

Maybe you eat it while you're watching a sports game outside, like a baseball game or a summer barbecue or an event like that,

170

like a music festival or some kind of camping or something like that that you do outside.

171

So I was like, oh, I hope they have hot dogs left.

172

Turns out the only thing that they had left that wasn't sold out was hot dogs.

173

So there was a hot dog food truck.

174

We went there and we had a hot dog.

175

My wife was like, this is like the food that I don't want to eat.

176

But for me, I was perfectly happy.

177

So we had a couple of hot dogs and there was a band

178

that was playing that we just weren't that interested in.

179

So it was kind of perfect like this, in my opinion, kind of bad band was playing while we just enjoyed our food and got settled in.

180

Now, this music festival had a pretty unique setup.

181

I think a lot of festivals these days are pretty big in scale, like the festivals that I see in Europe and in North America,

182

they'll have huge lineups, like over a hundred different musical acts and they'll have many different stages.

183

And sometimes they have like indoor tents that you can go to as well.

184

And each stage maybe will have a different genre of music.

185

So like if you're into electronic music, maybe you could go to a smaller stage that's in a tent.

186

And if you're into rock music, maybe there's a bigger outside stage, something like that.

187

But this was a much smaller scale festival and they only had, well, I guess technically two stages, but the setup was very unique.

188

So they had one big grass field where the audience would stand and then they had two stages side by side.

189

And while one act was performing, the crew for the next act would be setting up the stage,

190

like setting up the instruments or whatever the DJ equipment, like whatever the acts needed to use.

191

The crew would be setting that up while one act was performing.

192

So all the audience would be focused maybe on the left side of the stage where somebody was performing

193

and then on the right side of the stage, which was kind of divided in the middle by like this big TV setup.

194

So, you know, people in the back could watch the action on the TV.

195

On the other side of the stage, the opposite side of the stage, the crew would be setting up

196

and it seemed like actually a pretty good idea

197

because they were able to go back and forth between acts with only like five minutes of break time.

198

So one act would finish and then there'd be five minutes of break time.

199

And then the audience would just kind of shift their attention to the other side of the stage.

200

And then the next act would begin.

201

So my strategy, because I wanted to see my bloody Valentine as clearly as I could, I told my wife, okay,

202

we're going to get into the crowd.

203

We're going to finish up our hot dogs here.

204

We're going to get into the crowd, into the audience while the act before my bloody Valentine is playing,

205

which was a DJ, a DJ from Japan, Yosuke Yukimatsu.

206

And while he was performing YY, maybe I could call him YY, easier for me to pronounce.

207

While YY was playing, I said to my wife, okay, everybody's going to be focused on this DJ.

208

He's like a popular hip DJ, right?

209

Everybody's going to be focused on him.

210

While they're focused on him.

211

Our job is to sneak over and get a great spot to watch my bloody Valentine.

212

So we finished up our hot dogs and that's what we did.

213

We snuck into the crowd and we went in the opposite direction.

214

You think most people would be going to watch the DJ, but we're like, no, not watch the DJ.

215

We're going to go get a good stage position.

216

And so that's what we did.

217

And in the end, that strategy was pretty good because we got pretty close to the stage,

218

maybe like much closer than I was compared to when I was in Tokyo, for example, when I saw my bloody Valentine back in February.

219

So I was happy with where we were.

220

And then we had to watch the DJ, this YY DJ play Yosuke Yukimatsu.

221

But he ended up being awesome.

222

He really pumped me up for the show.

223

I thought he was really great and like great energy, great performance, great tune selection.

224

The songs that he was playing, I was really into.

225

He's playing like some old stuff that I remember, like remixes of songs by groups like The Prodigy,

226

which was a group that from the UK that was really big when I was maybe in middle school, high school.

227

And so it was kind of sentimental to me.

228

And I thought, you know, I was one of the older people there.

229

So I thought, do these kids know this song?

230

This song's banging.

231

This is awesome.

232

So I really enjoyed his performance.

233

And of course, we couldn't see him very well from where we were standing because he was on the opposite stage.

234

But the festival was super well organized.

235

It's kind of funny because in the last episode, I said how I was reluctant to buy a ticket because I thought the festival was maybe not that well organized.

236

But boy, was I wrong because it was immaculately organized and run and like everything was smooth and functioning really, really well.

237

So I tip my hat to the organizers of the concert and the festival.

238

They did a great job.

239

And there were huge screens and TVs everywhere.

240

So although we couldn't see the DJ like super, super well.

241

You could see him on the screen and it was just really cool.

242

I hadn't heard like super, super loud dance music like that with awesome lights and big TVs and high energy for a long time.

243

So I really enjoyed the performance.

244

My wife was like, eh, it was so, so, but I thought it was great.

245

And yeah, I was really pumped up to see My Bloody Valentine.

246

As soon as the DJ finished, then there were only a couple of minutes of intermission before My Bloody Valentine took the stage and they started their concert.

247

The set list that they played, and the set list is the tracks, the songs that they played.

248

We call that the set list.

249

That was almost exactly the same as the Tokyo show that I had seen earlier, minus a couple of songs that they had removed.

250

I guess maybe when they're playing their own headlining concert, then I think they played for around two hours in Tokyo,

251

but they only had an hour and 15 minute set time in Seoul at this festival.

252

So the set list was shorter.

253

They removed some songs.

254

Unfortunately, they removed one of my favorite songs of theirs.

255

So I was a little bit disappointed about that.

256

But overall, I enjoyed the show.

257

I think a lot of the audience didn't enjoy the show.

258

I felt like I was one of the only people that was like really into it.

259

And I can understand why maybe the other audience members

260

or the other viewers weren't so into it because the mixing wasn't that great.

261

Unfortunately, the vocals were really, really low and hard to hear.

262

The guitars were super loud and the drums were really loud,

263

but the bass and the vocals were sort of lost in the mix and they didn't come through super, super clearly.

264

Of course, because I'm a really big fan of their music, I know what the melody is like.

265

I know what the words are.

266

I know what the bass is doing.

267

So I think me, in my mind, I can kind of mentally put those elements in, but almost immediately as soon as they started,

268

there were other people in the audience yelling at the band, like, turn up the volume, turn up the mics, we can't hear you, this kind of thing.

269

So that was a little bit unfortunate.

270

And after seeing My Bloody Valentine play two times now this year,

271

I think I have to admit that they're a much better studio band than they are a live band.

272

And the live experience is interesting.

273

It's cool to see some of your favorite songs performed live.

274

And in a way, it's cool to see some of my musical heroes on the stage to perform live.

275

Like, that's great.

276

And as a mega fan, I get a lot of enjoyment out of that.

277

But if I'm being completely honest, the songs could maybe be performed a little bit better or mixed a little bit better.

278

And I get the concept.

279

Like my bloody Valentine is kind of an artsy fartsy band.

280

Like they're serious musicians.

281

They're kind of seriously making art, right?

282

They're almost like artists.

283

So they're playing that role on the stage.

284

And when the concert starts, the band comes out, they don't say hello.

285

They don't wave to the audience at all.

286

They don't even allow themselves to be on the TV.

287

I think they have some kind of contract.

288

I was reading about this online.

289

They have some agreement in their contract that when they perform a concert,

290

the concert venue is not allowed to display them on the TVs.

291

So they do have a bunch of TVs and screens

292

and there's like artwork and visualizations going on and cool lights and stuff.

293

But you can't actually see the band very clearly unless you're close to the stage too.

294

So that's also, in my opinion, kind of a bummer.

295

Like if you're towards the back of the stage or the back of the concert area, then you can't really see what the band is doing too clearly if they don't display that on the TV.

296

So, yeah, this concept of being like serious musicians, serious artists, making a statement, performing something cool, doing art.

297

Like I get it.

298

But at the same time, the entertainment value of that is rather low.

299

and I don't know, for me personally, maybe if they were young kids in their 20s doing that, I'd be like, that's cool.

300

I respect that.

301

But they're in their 60s.

302

And to me, it just sort of rubbed me the wrong way a little bit.

303

Like all of the audience members, we pay a lot of money and we give our time to go see them.

304

And then they come on the stage.

305

They don't say hello.

306

They don't say thanks for coming.

307

They don't even say anything.

308

I think one of the band members said, at some point, which is like high in Korean.

309

So they sort of mumbled into the mic, Mike and young and then in between some of the songs.

310

And that was it.

311

Like, I don't know.

312

For me, it just rubbed me the wrong way.

313

If it were me and I came all the way to Korea to play a show to Korean fans, I'd be like, oh, I'm so happy to be here.

314

I'm so excited to play.

315

Thank you for coming to listen to us.

316

Like, I'm sure they feel that way themselves.

317

Like, but the concept that they have going on with their performance, just a little bit rubbed me the wrong way.

318

So anyways, that was a little bit disappointing, but I would say overall, I want to give the concert an eight out of 10, an eight out of 10.

319

I really, I did enjoy it.

320

Despite some of the mixing problems still to see some of those songs performed live was amazing.

321

And I really enjoyed every second of it.

322

So cool show.

323

I'm happy I got the opportunity in the end to go.

324

I had a great time with my wife and now getting back, getting back after the festival was a bit of an adventure as well,

325

because for whatever reason, I don't know if anybody knows the answer to this, any of our Korean listeners who know the answer to this, let me know in the comments for this episode, because I'm curious.

326

But the airport train that leaves Incheon Airport towards Seoul finishes at 1030 at night.

327

And I don't know why that is.

328

That seems unnecessarily early to me.

329

Like, I think a lot of planes are still arriving at that time at night.

330

But yeah, if you are past 1030 at night, then you can't get into Seoul by the subway.

331

And the concert, My Bloody Valentine was from 845 until 10 p.m.,

332

which only left us 30 minutes to get from the concert to the subway.

333

And that's not just getting to the airport, right?

334

You got to get through the airport down into the subway and all of that rigmarole, all of those steps.

335

So we're like, there's no way unless we leave the concert in the middle of the concert, there's no way we're going to be able to catch that last train.

336

Like it's just not happening in that 30 minute time zone.

337

And we didn't want to get stuck in Incheon.

338

So we decided to take the airport bus.

339

There are of course, buses that go from the airport to all different corners of the country, really.

340

And they're a little bit more expensive.

341

I think it was 18,000 won, probably around 10 to 12 American dollars for a bus ticket.

342

But I thought, well, it's also going to be nice, like after the concert's finished

343

and we've been standing for a long time just to sit on the bus

344

and the bus will take us almost all the way to our home.

345

So we decided to buy a bus ticket, which we bought in advance almost immediately after I got the concert tickets.

346

I bought the bus ticket so that we could we could do that thinking ahead.

347

So yeah, we, uh, we left the concert and here's another famous thing about my bloody Valentine.

348

They're, they're really famous for their loud guitars and the, the guitar player from the band,

349

Kevin Shields is, is known for his unique style of guitar playing.

350

It's, it's called like a wall of noise.

351

He can make this wall of noise with his guitar

352

and they finish all of their sets by making this wall of noise.

353

All of the musicians just play their instruments really loudly and it creates this huge wall of noise,

354

which sounds terrible, but when you experience it live, it's actually incredible.

355

It's really, really cool.

356

And I experienced it in Tokyo.

357

They did this wall of noise for like 20 minutes.

358

It was crazy, but I knew they were going to do that in Seoul as well.

359

So I told my wife, we don't have to stick around for the wall of noise, like just to hear them feedback with their guitars for 20 minutes.

360

Why don't we experience it for one minute

361

and then we'll take off early so we can get to the shuttle boss before the rest of the crowds.

362

So because their set list was exactly the same, minus a couple of songs as they played in Tokyo, I knew what to expect.

363

And so when they got into their wall of noise.

364

We listened to it for a minute or two.

365

And then I said to my wife, okay, let's go.

366

Let's get on that shuttle bus.

367

So we had to pretty much like rip back

368

because we knew there were going to be

369

so many people on the shuttle bus trying to get to the airport after the concert.

370

So we hurried up.

371

We were like speed walking all the way through the festival grounds, through the exit, through the big hotel complex that they have there.

372

And we were one of the first in line to get on the shuttle bus.

373

We got on the shuttle bus and we were able to catch our airport bus, which took us almost all the way back to our home.

374

Of course, that's still a pretty long journey.

375

It's over an hour, maybe an hour and 15 minutes on the bus.

376

My wife passed out.

377

She just slept the whole way, but I was buzzing from the concert.

378

I was like really stoked.

379

I was like, there's no way I could sleep.

380

I was still so excited from seeing the concert.

381

And when we arrived pretty close to where we live.

382

It dropped us around a kilometer away from where we live.

383

We decided to get some food.

384

We were both pretty hungry.

385

So we ate some delicious Korean food called gamja tang, which is this kind of pork bone soup.

386

Really delicious, a little bit spicy.

387

If you ever get the opportunity to try it, I recommend it.

388

It's really good.

389

So we had some gamzha tang, and then we walked home, and we walked home along the riverside path where I always go running.

390

And these days, because of the heat, I've been doing a lot of early morning running.

391

I usually never run early in the mornings, but it's unavoidable in this heat that I have to go out and run in the morning.

392

So it's interesting to see the different vibe, the different atmosphere of the riverside path at different times of the day.

393

Like when I go out in the morning to go running, it's mostly just other senior citizens that are out there to be completely honest,

394

just like grandmas and grandpas hanging out along the river.

395

And then when I go at night to go running, because I go running at night sometimes too after sunset.

396

It's a lot of like people around my age and younger people mostly exercising,

397

a lot of like runners and cyclists and people walking their dogs.

398

But if you go, we were around 1 a.m by the time we were walking home after riding the bus

399

and eating food and all of this.

400

And if you go at Saturday night at 1 a.m., then it's a totally different vibe.

401

We're near one of the big universities here in Seoul as well.

402

So there's always lots of university students around, a lot of foreign exchange students around.

403

and I was shocked to see how many of them were just hanging out

404

and enjoying the Riverside path and a lot of young couples on romantic walks on a Saturday night.

405

So it was cool to see the different vibe.

406

And yeah, we walked home.

407

I got home.

408

I walked my dog.

409

Our poor dog was waiting for us that whole time.

410

She was a trooper and I took her for a walk as soon as we got home.

411

And then when all was said and done, probably by the time I was ready for bed, it was around 2 a.m.

412

So I hadn't been out that late in a long time.

413

That's like way past my bedtime for these days.

414

So yeah, that was quite a day.

415

But I had just a great time.

416

It was nice to relax.

417

I hadn't done anything like that in a while, like a music festival outside.

418

It's been years and years, in fact.

419

But I really enjoyed it.

420

and I had kind of written off music festivals.

421

I was kind of like, you know, I think I'm done with this stage of my life going to festivals.

422

However, I really enjoyed myself.

423

I didn't feel out of place.

424

I didn't feel too old.

425

I didn't feel like it was too difficult.

426

So I'm going to keep an open mind about the festivals next year.

427

And if there are some artists that I like, then maybe I'll consider going back.

428

Definitely, it was a good time.

429

So I think that's the story that I wanted to tell you guys today.

430

I hope you enjoyed listening along.

431

Most importantly, I hope you found this useful and helpful for building your English fluency.

432

Don't forget to check out the transcript and the glossary that's available for this episode.

433

And if you're a member as well, then there's also a comprehension quiz that you can get.

434

So guys, thank you so much for listening and please take care up ahead.

435

I'll be back soon with another brand new bonus episode to share with you in the near future.

436

But until then, take care and I'll catch you later.

437

Bye-bye.

Download App

Everything you need to speak fluently

AI PronunciationScore every sentence

IPA PracticeMaster every sound

VocabularyBuild your word bank

Vocab GameLearn while playing

Scan QR

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Same Channel

Modern identity labels | Intermediate-advanced English listening | Chatterbox 331

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

Daisy's Big Day | English listening lesson | Bonus 76

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

Andrew and Kassy Catch up | Simplified Speech 169

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

Simplified Speech #186 – Christmas 2023

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

Special delivery | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 127

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Intermediate English Practice | Nickel and dimed | Bonus 165

Travel EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults

Chatterbox #244 - Meeting celebrities [English listening practice]

Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students

Home alone for the weekend | English listening practice | Bonus 161

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Simplified Speech #93 - Big purchases

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Stories from Canada | Learn Real Canadian English and Slang! | Bonus 169

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

Search for the lost ring | Bonus episode 8

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

48 hours in Vancity | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 134

Travel EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Chatterbox #309 – Quiet quitting

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Sunday funday | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 128

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

Simplified Speech #32 - Dancing

Daily Conversation

Lifestyle change | Learn English with real stories | Bonus 98

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

FOR YOU

Recommend Video

424 sentences

Learn English with Podcast | Why You Shouldn't Quit English (Our Honest Story)

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

218 sentences

30-Minute English Practice | Listen, Shadow, Learn & Speak Naturally

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

387 sentences

7 LESSONS FROM MY 20S | THE TOMMY ENGLISH PODCAST | EPISODE 17

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

276 sentences

I’m Sorry, I Love You Part 2 | Emotional English Podcast | English Podcast Zone 2

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

33 sentences

Bonus Practice: #103 Talking about online dating (Med) | SBS Learn English

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

446 sentences

Learn English With Story 🔥 The Easy Life | Level 3 English Listening & Speaking Practice

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

385 sentences

Real Life English Conversations to Sound More Natural | Podcast to Learn English!

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

765 sentences

Choose yourself first | Easy English Podcast Conversation in Daily Life | Learn English Fast

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

477 sentences

English Podcast For Learning English | Podcast in English for Beginners |

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

383 sentences

AEE - Can You Use “Yet” With Past Simple Tense?

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “One more try”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: festival, ticket, stage, airport. This video has 437 sentences and 5597 words to shadow. The speech runs for 31:19. The speaker talks at a natural 179 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
valentine noun	/ˈvaləntaɪn/	An expression of affection, especially romantic affection, usually in the form of greeting card, gift, or message given the object of one's affection…
subway noun	/ˈsʌbˌweɪ/	An underground railway, especially for mass transit of people in urban areas.
shuttle noun	/ˈʃʌtəl/	A tool used to carry the woof back and forth between the warp threads on a loom.
transcript noun	/ˈtɹæn.skɹɪpt/	Something which has been transcribed; a writing or composition consisting of the same words as the original; a written copy.
rainy adjective	/ˈɹeɪni/	Pouring with rain; wet; showery
vibe noun	/vaɪb/	An atmosphere or aura felt to belong to a person, place or thing.
musician noun	/mjuˈzɪʃən/	A composer, conductor, or performer of music; specifically, a person who sings and/or plays a musical instrument as a hobby, occupation, or profession.
cancel verb	/ˈkæn.sl̩/	To cross out something with lines etc.
fluency noun	/ˈfluːənsi/	The quality of smoothness of flow.
glossary noun	/ˈɡlɑ.sə.ɹi/	A list of difficult words or specialized terms used in a particular book or document, or in a particular domain of knowledge, with their definitions; a list of…
listener noun	/ˈlɪs(ə)nɚ/	Someone who listens, especially to a speech or a broadcast.
riverside noun	/ˈɹɪvɚˌsaɪd/	A bank or side of a river.
quiz noun	/kwɪz/	A competition in the answering of questions.
rub verb	/ɹʌb/	To move (one object) while maintaining contact with another object over some area, with pressure and friction.
minus	/ˈmaɪ.nəs/	Made less or reduced by (followed by an expression of number or quantity).

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
sold out adjective		Completely sold; of which no more is in stock.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
go back verb		To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
set up verb	/ˌsɛt ˈʌp/	To make ready for use.
finish up verb		To complete the last details of a task.
get back verb		Return to where one came from.
turn up verb		To show up; to appear suddenly or unexpectedly.
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.

Sentences worth repeating

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

I think they'll really help you.
I'm not sure exactly what happened.
We'll continue with my story in just a moment.
I don't have that kind of energy.
I've seen reports on the news before.

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	we've been having · we've been standing · I've been doing
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	had been released · is sold · be sold
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	haven't heard · I've done · I've seen
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	stage, which was · point, which is · tang, which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 121 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: theirs /ðɛɚz/, booth /buθ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shuttle /ˈʃʌtəl/, musician /mjuˈzɪʃən/, comprehension /ˌkɑmpɹɪˈhɛnʃn̩/, intermission /ɪntɚˈmɪʃən/, interruption /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: miraculously /məˈɹækjələsli/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, interactive /ˌɪn.tɚˈæk.tɪv/, intermission /ɪntɚˈmɪʃən/, interruption /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like valentine, subway, shuttle.

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: One more try | Real English Listening | Bonus 179 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Download App

Simplified Speech #43 - Sleep tips

Chatterbox #311 – The Taylor Swift effect

Bonus Episode #036 – A chance encounter

Not so fast | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 133

Modern identity labels | Intermediate-advanced English listening | Chatterbox 331

Daisy's Big Day | English listening lesson | Bonus 76

Andrew and Kassy Catch up | Simplified Speech 169

Simplified Speech #186 – Christmas 2023

Special delivery | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 127

Intermediate English Practice | Nickel and dimed | Bonus 165

Chatterbox #244 - Meeting celebrities [English listening practice]

Home alone for the weekend | English listening practice | Bonus 161

Simplified Speech #93 - Big purchases

Stories from Canada | Learn Real Canadian English and Slang! | Bonus 169

Search for the lost ring | Bonus episode 8

48 hours in Vancity | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 134

Chatterbox #309 – Quiet quitting

Sunday funday | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 128

Simplified Speech #32 - Dancing

Lifestyle change | Learn English with real stories | Bonus 98

Learn English with Podcast | Why You Shouldn't Quit English (Our Honest Story)

30-Minute English Practice | Listen, Shadow, Learn & Speak Naturally

7 LESSONS FROM MY 20S | THE TOMMY ENGLISH PODCAST | EPISODE 17

I’m Sorry, I Love You Part 2 | Emotional English Podcast | English Podcast Zone 2

Bonus Practice: #103 Talking about online dating (Med) | SBS Learn English

Learn English With Story 🔥 The Easy Life | Level 3 English Listening & Speaking Practice

Real Life English Conversations to Sound More Natural | Podcast to Learn English!

Choose yourself first | Easy English Podcast Conversation in Daily Life | Learn English Fast

English Podcast For Learning English | Podcast in English for Beginners |

AEE - Can You Use “Yet” With Past Simple Tense?

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?