Shadowing Practice: Real English Conversation: English listening practice - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.

531 sentences

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

You're invited to this real English conversation with me, Vanessa, and my husband.

Dan.

We are going to give you something that AI cannot give you, and that is a real conversation between real people.

I know I'm not AI.

What about you?

I mean, I think I'm real, ma'am.

I think you are.

So in this conversation, you are going to be immersed in real-life English, which is the key to help you also become a natural, fluent English speaker.

And like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet here over Dan's face.

It's going to include all of the vocabulary that you're about to learn today.

Plus, I have added a bonus in the free PDF.

This is a listening version, an audio version of today's entire lesson.

It's kind of like a mini podcast episode.

So you can download the listening version and you can listen to it wherever you go while you're walking your dog, while you are doing the dishes, while you're doing anything.

So how can you get this free PDF worksheet plus the bonus audio version?

All you need to do is click the link in the description, enter your name and email address, and voila, just like that, it will land in your email inbox.

It is my gift to you.

So don't wait.

Make sure you get the PDF worksheet and bonus audio version.

All right, Dan, are you ready to get started?

I'm ready to talk about my childhood.

Yes, that is the topic for today.

It is, we're going to be talking about a few questions based on our childhoods,

but especially comparing our childhoods to our children's childhoods.

Yes.

I have heard some other people say that kids nowadays are inside more, they are attached to their screens more.

You've probably heard me say this.

And I think it is a really interesting conversation to compare different generations' childhoods.

So, are you ready for my first question?

I'm ready.

Let's do it.

All right.

Dan does not know what these questions are.

Yes, it's a mystery.

I want you to think back to when you were eight years old.

It's a good time for me.

And I want you, wonderful students, to also think about when you were eight years old.

Tell me, how much freedom did you have?

For example, could you go off and ride your bike in the neighborhood?

Did your parents drop you off at the grandparents' house for the weekend?

How much freedom did you have?

First, for context, I think that both of us had kind of unusual childhoods in some regards.

But as far as freedom at age eight, I think that we were pretty, I was pretty standard as far as like the American standard.

So I was allowed to kind of roam my neighborhood as long as I was with my brother.

and we could walk to the playground.

We could walk to a pond by ourselves, which we did quite a lot.

My parents were a little more strict though when it came to going over to friend's house or like neighbor's house.

Okay.

They were very cautious about...

The influence of neighbors.

Yeah, the influences, especially like movies they'd watch or video games or whatever.

Yeah.

And you know, we had a couple shady characters in our neighborhood.

Not that shady.

Well, maybe one or two.

So it was quite a mix, really, but nothing too crazy.

It wasn't like that dangerous.

But yeah, I feel like I experienced something pretty similar where I could bike in the neighborhood.

We could play with the neighborhood kids.

But I went to a few I went to a few sleepovers at friends houses.

That's a pretty common American thing.

You can spend the night at a friend's house.

But that was pretty much it.

We couldn't walk to any shops because I lived so far away from shops or our school.

We couldn't walk anywhere.

We lived in the suburbs.

There's not a lot of shops that are just walkable.

Yeah, you could just kind of stay in your neighborhood.

But we didn't have, we'll talk about technology later.

We didn't have any way to contact our parents when we were out.

So let's talk about our kids, though.

Our kids now, do they have the same type of freedom that we had as kids?

um kind of not really a little bit less I'd say

yeah yeah I feel like um a lot of parents our

age are a little more uh cautious with their kids like even more

so especially like biking somewhere in the neighborhood

or the fear of cars walking

and I actually in our neighborhood we our kids are out

all the time we have them running around uh you know they can walk up running up

and down our road which is a dead end

so it's not super dangerous and they're often the only kids out

so I feel like a lot of kids are inside more

but I don't know if that's really necessarily the parents are are scared to send them out

or they don't want to give them freedom I think I just think they're probably preoccupied with other things

if I had to guess possibly we might talk about what those other things are later

so yeah I do feel like our kids are we give

our kids I think a little more freedom than maybe the average millennial parent does.

It depends on what you mean by freedom too though

because we don't let them watch a lot of tv or they don't have computers or phones or anything.

Yeah I guess physical freedom to like oh you want to go to the neighbor's house

and we know that neighbor okay that's fine.

We let our children be bored so that helps them get outside.

Yeah they They have dug a hole in our yard that's at least up to my waist.

It is so deep.

And what are our kids doing?

I don't know.

Maybe digging a hole.

They said they're looking for rocks.

We have enough space to do this, by the way.

100

It's not in anybody's walking path.

101

It's not a safety hazard.

102

Don't worry.

103

There's only a child buried in there.

104

That's all.

105

Yeah.

106

I think that the biggest difference when I think about it is our parents and our children,

107

this kind of two generations difference.

108

Like when I think about my parents, they were gone all day.

109

And their parents had no clue where they were.

110

That is not possible for our kids.

111

Their parents come from the, or our parents come from the generation that said, go out and I don't want to see you until sundown.

112

Right, right.

113

I cannot imagine an eight year, my eight year old, we have an eight year old.

114

I can't imagine telling him, go out off of our property.

115

And I don't want to see you.

116

And I don't want to see you.

117

Until dinner.

118

For the next nine hours.

119

Finally know something's wrong when you don't come home at bedtime.

120

Yes, I think our generation can't fathom that lack of control over our kids' well-being.

121

How about concern?

122

Concern, yeah, we're concerned about them.

123

Yeah I think that's this is a good foundation.

124

The other questions are very are similar variations of this.

125

I want to ask you the second question.

126

When you were eight years old.

127

We're just doing a lot of eight-year-old stuff.

128

It's all eight years old.

129

It's like peak childhood kind of.

130

Yeah you haven't reached puberty yet.

131

You're not like a little kid.

132

I loved life at eight.

133

It was so fun.

134

I can remember you know oh yeah that's really good well let's talk about it what was technology like

135

when you were eight think phones think music think answering machines well

136

when i was eight years old it was 1995 oh yeah

137

and so uh yeah there was some technology uh we had a tv in our basement

138

and i would go down and try to watch that sometimes

139

but my my mom would always kind of snoop down there

140

and be like what are you watching it's time to turn it off

141

and uh i was one of those kids who I really, really, really loved video games and I wanted video games a lot, but my mom would not let me.

142

My mom or my dad.

143

But then my mom actually caved a little bit and she got me a Game Boy.

144

But, you know, you can beat one of those games in a day usually. And so...

145

It wasn't an endless...

146

It's not like...

147

Stay up till 2 a.m because I'm playing this game and then the next day and then all day and then...

148

My mom's also the type.

149

She's like, he can play it on a road trip and he can play it outside.

150

He can take it anywhere.

151

I mean, maybe you could.

152

Which is kind of true, I guess.

153

Yeah.

154

But, uh, yeah.

155

What about, um, that's the technology we had overall.

156

We had our, our, my best friend had a computer, but we didn't have a, I don't think we had a good computer at that point.

157

I remember we got a computer when I was in sixth grade

158

and you could type documents and I think you could play Frogger maybe.

159

Something fun little games like that.

160

Very simple.

161

Um, but I had a CD player.

162

I don't think I was interested in like CDs or music till I was a teenager though.

163

So at eight, we had a house phone with an answering machine.

164

I don't even know if we had caller ID at that point.

165

And I just was not, we watched, I don't even remember watching TV as a kid.

166

I watched some movies.

167

I remember watching some like classic Disney movies as a kid, but I don't have any real memories with TV.

168

We never, we didn't have video games in my house.

169

There's either it was our family or we just had, you're into monster trucks or something.

170

That was in high school.

171

We had two girls, so we weren't necessarily like the right market for video games at that age.

172

But what about our kids for technology?

173

Like what kind of technology is in their life as a norm?

174

Well, there's, I mean, there's kind of a lot, but we usually, we keep it under control with them and they're still young enough.

175

And I think our oldest is he's like cautious enough.

176

He doesn't like push the boundaries, but you know, they, they think that the TV only has a couple of things on it, even though technically you could find anything on there.

177

And they don't have a phone and they see us on our phone.

178

They know that they can ask us to find information on the phone instantly.

179

So that's different.

180

yeah we could call someone on the phone we could video

181

chat yeah like our kids especially our two year old

182

if I'm on the phone with someone

183

and it's not a video call she asks to see them

184

like oh I want to see Sharice like my sister

185

and I'm like oh I'm just talking to her on the phone she can't just like why would you do

186

that talking to someone without seeing them I mean why would

187

you it's great to see someone on a video chat I think that's

188

so that's like the best thing we don't like we don't give our kids a tablet

189

or anything i feel like tablets are the devil for children

190

basically here's my old man talking don't give your don't give

191

your child a tablet yeah our kids don't don't really know

192

they maybe they know what a tablet is at this point

193

i don't know we have one kind of it's not it's

194

never out yeah it doesn't we don't work we don't use it oh now it's broken as well

195

so yeah yeah they they're around they know

196

that i work on the computer i don't know if we're like

197

when i do my work on the computer

198

and our kids will sit down at the computer and pretend to do mommy's work.

199

I think they think the computer is for work as well.

200

Yeah.

201

So that's good.

202

Yeah.

203

We have some boundaries about TV.

204

I think it's going to be a lot harder as they get older.

205

And I feel pretty clueless and innocent about what it's like to have a kid feel peer pressure about technology.

206

Like right now, our kids don't feel any pressure about playing certain video games.

207

Like they've never, they played a video game at their cousin's house like mario at their cousin's house for a couple days

208

but that's yeah

209

and theo was like this i gotta get him to move over here he couldn't just stand still like this

210

and play he had to move his body it was

211

so innocent and cute

212

because he just yeah i don't think our kids are standard

213

in this way no at this point i think it is possible though

214

that there's i think there's a growing group of i'm saying millennial parents

215

because that's our generation who are wanting their kids to have less.

216

People are aware now like oh maybe all this technology isn't great for children's brains.

217

Yeah.

218

Huh.

219

Yeah.

220

Who could have thought of that?

221

Okay are you ready for a big one?

222

Yeah a big one.

223

Oh boy.

224

A big question.

225

Okay tell me when you were well I'll ask you eight years old.

226

Do you want a fun one or a heavy one?

227

Make it serious.

228

Okay.

229

Let's get serious.

230

Think about when you're eight years old.

231

Eight years old, Daniel.

232

How were you disciplined?

233

Oh.

234

Think about time out.

235

Think about being grounded, spankings, what being yelled at.

236

What was...

237

I was a bit of a strong-willed child.

238

Discipline.

239

I don't think anyone would be surprised to hear that.

240

My parents definitely spanked me up until around that time.

241

Okay.

242

Yeah.

243

Do you think, what were some circumstances that led to that?

244

Well, they had a little bit of like a traditional wait till your father gets home kind of thing.

245

So I would get in trouble with my mom

246

and she would tell my dad and then my dad would dole out the spankings.

247

Do you remember what you did that deserved?

248

She's probably not listening.

249

I don't know, climbing stuff.

250

I mean, I went to the library one time.

251

I started climbing the bookcases and I remember my mom being like, what on earth would compel you to do this?

252

Wait until you get home.

253

Oh yeah.

254

Kind of thing. And yeah.

255

But I do remember distinctly one time my dad was gonna spank spank me and he just like started cracking up.

256

Really?

257

It was me and my brother together.

258

Oh, no. And apparently he pulled down our pants.

259

We were like bare butt, you know?

260

And he was like, he just started laughing and walked away.

261

He couldn't do it.

262

Well, you know that you've lost it at that point.

263

We were probably like looking at him like, daddy, what are you going to do to us?

264

Oh, I mean, that is kind of funny.

265

What did you ever get grounded as a child?

266

Yeah.

267

Or like in time out as a child sent to your room?

268

Sent to my room for sure.

269

Yeah.

270

That was a common discipline tactic.

271

Taking certain things away.

272

Yeah.

273

I think as a kid it was...

274

Gameboys, TVs, you know.

275

Yeah.

276

The good stuff.

277

It's always the technology.

278

Yeah.

279

Yeah.

280

That's interesting.

281

For little boys especially I feel like.

282

As a teenager.

283

Grounded as well.

284

I would get that away too.

285

Yeah.

286

Yeah, and I think, I feel like I remember getting really defiant.

287

I guess probably older, though, like puberty.

288

And, you know, getting in some kind of big fights with my mom, especially.

289

Yeah, we don't have to reveal all right now for the entire internet.

290

But I think when I was dating, it was similar.

291

But I do know that they stopped spanking at some point.

292

I don't know if it was explicit or not.

293

Yeah, I mean, when you're not a kid anymore, I think that's pretty typical.

294

But I mean, like, for everybody, like all of us, even my sister yeah yeah do you think it was like a moral decision

295

or just uh they never told me oh interesting yeah yeah

296

i mean i got i got spanked as a kid first

297

the same stuff like not listening fighting with my sister you

298

we fought all the time this one all the time you know siblings

299

and i remember being plus i mean your sister i mean come on being sent to my room that was pretty typical.

300

I remember hitting my sister a couple times

301

and my mom sent me to my room and I was

302

so sad that I hit her

303

that I snuck out of my room into her room

304

and we were playing with like our Barbie dolls

305

and my mom found us and we were so scared

306

because we were supposed to be in separate rooms because we were in trouble.

307

And we're like, oh no, she caught us.

308

I came out of my room and we were playing peacefully together.

309

Why would my mom be upset?

310

She came in and was like, oh you guys are playing together okay yeah that

311

and i just could not fathom that

312

that was a good end result like supposed to be punished i was supposed to be punished

313

so i didn't do the punishment i should be in trouble right

314

but because we were playing so happily together yeah i i distinctly remember

315

that moment the fear of being in trouble for not doing the punishment

316

but yeah how about um let's think about our kids now

317

um what how are they we dropped the ball well we

318

have a very strict no spanking policy yeah we don't spank our kids

319

but then it's like now what do we do yeah i

320

think i feel like our generation is stuck in the middle

321

yeah where like a lot of a lot of science has come out and said hitting and spanking your kids is

322

is psychologically bad for them.

323

It is not actually going to help them.

324

So our generation hears that and says, okay, we're not going to spank, but there's not enough experience to tell us what else is effective.

325

As they say to the pendulum swung too far, like a lot of parents our age as well, they would do, I would just call them permissive parents.

326

I don't know exactly what they would call it, but you know, their kids just walk all over them

327

and they're rude all the time and they get what they want and like who's the boss in the house?

328

Is it the kids or the parents?

329

It swung from one far side with like maybe our grandparents were very very strict authoritarian parents

330

and then we our generation has swung to be much more permissive.

331

We're gonna hear you out child.

332

Yes tell me all your feelings but then when you're rude what do I do?

333

So for us

334

our kids have timeouts if they do something wrong

335

if they say something rude

336

if they hit someone they have to go sit in a

337

chair for one minute three minutes five minutes whatever it is quiet

338

calm um that has worked really well even for our two-year-old sometimes she's easier

339

when you start them young yeah sometimes she skips over to

340

the chair like okay i'm ready she's also like yeah i I hit Freddie.

341

Yeah, I did.

342

Yeah, but even for Freddie, for our five-year-old, he has adapted to that really well.

343

He's the reason that we started the rules in the first place.

344

That was you as a child, maybe.

345

Middle children.

346

Middle children.

347

But for our oldest, it's a little bit trickier.

348

I think as you get older, and I'm sure we'll figure this out too, or we'll find this out as our kids get older, discipline has to change.

349

like what is serious for him for our eight-year-old might be

350

more oh you're like more towards the you're grounded side like

351

a long-term consequence this weekend you cannot play with your friends you did something bad enough

352

that this weekend you're not allowed to play with your friends we have to stay home

353

because those are more like grown-up consequences kind of

354

so we're learning we're trying to figure it out i would

355

say we were a bit late to the scene on some of this

356

because we started out a little more like uh just explain what the problem is

357

and then they'll naturally not really we were very resistant to discipline

358

because it feels like an infringement upon your children

359

but now i'm like kids are looking for a leader

360

and you have to be the parent like who's who's supposed to be in charge in this situation yeah

361

and if you're

362

if you're not in charge the kid is going to try to be in charge yeah i have a feeling that

363

when our kids are adults they're going to be more in

364

the middle like they're going to have a better picture maybe

365

it generally i feel like generations tend to go like

366

that though where it's like pendulum swinging back yeah the pendulum has gone from here to here

367

and then they will see the problems

368

and kind of adjust a little bit more hopefully right we'll see

369

so let us know for you what is kind of normal

370

punishment in your household if your kids or maybe when you were a child what what happened in your your house.

371

Yeah.

372

Has there been any general loosening in your society as well?

373

Like I think in America, maybe you're up to, I don't know.

374

Less strict.

375

Just like, yeah, just way less strict.

376

Yeah.

377

Okay.

378

We have two lightning round questions.

379

Very quick.

380

Boom.

381

Are you ready?

382

Tell me, what were your favorite games as a kid?

383

Games activities.

384

Things to do.

385

Tag.

386

Tag.

387

You're it.

388

Tag you're it.

389

Cool.

390

Other games I don't know.

391

Did you play on a trampoline?

392

Oh trampoline sure.

393

Oh yeah like dodgeball on the trampoline that was fun.

394

Okay.

395

Yeah.

396

Active physical stuff.

397

Man we did all kinds of insane games like alligator where We took two mattresses

398

and we jumped on the mattresses and smashed the people inside the mouth.

399

I cannot imagine doing that.

400

Yeah.

401

Why?

402

Because it was so fun.

403

The friends that I hung out with, if I knew you as a kid, I would never have played with you.

404

We wouldn't have been friends.

405

I was scared to get on a...

406

No. No. I was scared.

407

I would have flirted with you, though.

408

As an eight-year-old?

409

Yes.

410

I was scared to get on a trampoline because I didn't like that kind of physical, like, pushing or bumping.

411

Like that was not what I liked.

412

So my favorite activities as a kid were crafts.

413

We did a lot of crafts, sewing things, cutting little things.

414

This is not a game.

415

That's an activity.

416

Like what did you occupy your time with?

417

And the next thing we love to do was just dig outside.

418

Kind of like what our kids do, but like make little things with sticks and dirt and all of that.

419

Yeah.

420

Did I ever tell you about the Indiana Jones game?

421

No. That's where my brother pulled us in the wagon

422

and somebody pushed a barrel behind us like the ball

423

that was rolling after you and other people threw like balls and hard things at you.

424

While you're in the wagon.

425

While you're in the wagon.

426

Yeah.

427

Are you just free going down the hill or is your brother?

428

No my brother's pulling us through like a course.

429

Oh my gosh.

430

Yeah.

431

That is totally not what we did.

432

It was a four boys two girls situation and only one girl played with us.

433

Yeah that would not have been me.

434

My sister was out.

435

yeah that would not have been me okay we have another quick lightning round question

436

when you were a kid what responsibilities did you have

437

or chores did you have as a kid list like two or three

438

my parents were they my dad would always shake his head about this now

439

and be like we didn't give you enough chores we had a chore chart that lasted like a month

440

but there was no lasting like it was my job to

441

feed the cats no yeah not really it nothing really stuck

442

i think my mom struggled with getting it to stick

443

and keeping it up it is hard yeah we know it's hard i mean

444

when i was a kid we had a we had a chore chart

445

which is pretty typical i mean we would do it was the kind of thing where saturday was doing chores

446

and then you'd just get assigned something.

447

Yeah.

448

It wasn't consistent.

449

We, the things that stuck were just little things.

450

And I don't think they really helped the family that much.

451

Like after dinner, it was my job to wipe down the table.

452

Okay.

453

That's so small.

454

It's not really a responsibility.

455

And at least from my experience as a parent, it takes more work to have your child do it than for you to do it.

456

So for you to have your child take that responsibility, it's not because it makes it a life easier for you.

457

It's kind of like torture for you.

458

It's because you're like literally trying to instill in them a skill, but it's going to take six months versus you doing it really quick.

459

So I think that's something that we're starting to play around with.

460

Like the kids feed the cats.

461

They're starting to collect the chicken eggs.

462

They, of course, have to clean up their own stuff.

463

Like they always clean up their own, their room, their books, their toys.

464

Like that's important.

465

You know, they have to put their shoes back.

466

Those little things that are helpful, especially when there's three kids.

467

Yeah.

468

It's not super regimented though.

469

It's kind of similar to how we were, at least I was.

470

Yeah.

471

Yeah.

472

I think in the summer though, Theo mows our grass.

473

Oh yeah.

474

He likes doing that.

475

Freddy cleans up.

476

It's a really light lawnmower, by the way.

477

Yeah, it's not too hard.

478

Freddy kind of cleans up the lawn before we do it.

479

So they have some chores, but it's definitely different than what our grandparents did.

480

I think that's the biggest gap.

481

Our grandparents had very strict chores they were required to do.

482

They required our parents to do.

483

They were needed a lot more.

484

Yeah, that was a much different life.

485

My parents, I mean, my dad always said he would always help his mom wash dishes and

486

It's at the table and they never were asked to they just did it is how he would explain it Yeah, very different different expectations.

487

I think yeah Oh, they also weren't allowed to talk at the dinner table before mom their mom

488

and dad spoke which Yeah, I could see that now might be kind of nice Yeah, yeah So when your parent

489

when your dad sat down at the table as a child

490

they had to be silent until the parents talked together like I I think like, oh, it'd be nice if I sat down at the table

491

and me and Dan could talk and the kids were quiet and they listened.

492

But how do you enforce that?

493

Yeah.

494

What was their trick?

495

Like, how do you get that to happen?

496

That is the mystery.

497

If you have any ideas, let me know.

498

It's not my life goal to have this happen, but it is, I think it's just a generational difference.

499

Like a very different parenting style.

500

Like my grandpa, my grandpa could give you a stare that could make you want to shut up.

501

Maybe that's it.

502

A lot more than I have.

503

Yeah.

504

So yeah, we're too nice.

505

Okay.

506

Well, this was our conversation about childhood.

507

Thank you so much for joining us.

508

Thank you, Dan.

509

Oh, you're welcome.

510

For bearing all for our students.

511

I hope that this real life, not AI conversation has enriched your life.

512

Thanks for not being a robot.

513

You're welcome.

514

And don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet for today's lesson.

515

It includes all of the vocabulary you saw come up here, plus the bonus audio version, which is something you can listen to to help you understand fast English,

516

all the stuff we talked about.

517

And the way to get this is click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address, and voila, just like that it will land in your email inbox.

518

It is my gift to you.

519

So, make sure you download it.

520

And thank you so much for being here.

521

You're welcome.

522

Thank you so much for joining us.

523

We'll see you the next time.

524

Bye.

525

Bye.

526

But wait, do you want more?

527

I recommend watching this video next where Dan and I have a conversation about education.

528

In particular, you will see why Dan did not go to school until he was a teenager.

529

What?

530

And you'll learn a lot about the American education system and how it might be different from your country.

531

I'll see you there.

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

Recommend Video

173 sentences

Real English Conversation with MY MOM 💛 (talking about family, parenthood, and growing up)

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

680 sentences

38 Minutes of Real Life English Conversation - Intermediate level English Interview

Business EnglishInterview EnglishDaily Conversation

756 sentences

Real English Conversation: Advanced Listening Lesson

Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students

72 sentences

B1 English Listening Practice - Favorite Memories

TeensDaily ConversationHigh School Students

412 sentences

2677 - Conversation Coaching Part 2: Keep the Conversation Going

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

B1 English Listening Practice - Adulthood

118

54 sentences

B1 English Listening Practice - Adulthood

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

420 sentences

Speak With Me: Realistic English Speaking Practice

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

692 sentences

English Podcast For Learning English Conversation | 8 Ways to Build English Sentences Quickly

Interview EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

287 sentences

English Podcast For Easy English in Daily Life | Learn English Fast | Talk About Dreams and Goals

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

387 sentences

Speak English Confidently at Home | Real Conversations | Shadowing English Speaking Practice

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

561 sentences

Easy English Podcast for Daily Life English Conversation | Do You Feel Left Behind?

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Real English Conversation: English listening practice”. This video has 531 sentences and 5022 words to shadow. The speech runs for 26:22. The speaker talks fast, about 191 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 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

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

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
spank verb	/ˈspæŋk/	To soundly defeat, to trounce.
chore noun	/t͡ʃoɹ/	A task, especially a regularly needed task for the upkeep of a home or similar, such as cleaning or preparing meals.
strict adjective	/stɹɪkt/	Strained; drawn close; tight.
discipline noun	/ˈdɪsəplɪn/	A controlled behaviour; self-control.
grandparent noun	/ˈɡɹæn(d)pɛəɹənt/	The parent of someone's parent.
trampoline noun	/ˌtɹæmpəˈliːn/	A gymnastic and recreational device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric or rubber stretched over a (usually steel) frame using many coiled springs as…
worksheet noun		A sheet of paper or computerized document on which problems are worked out or solved and the answers are recorded.
tablet noun	/ˈtæblət/	A slab of clay, stone or wood used for inscription.
pendulum noun	/ˈpɛnd͡ʒələm/	A body suspended from a fixed support so that it swings freely back and forth under the influence of gravity, commonly used to regulate various devices such as…
cautious adjective	/ˈkɔːʃəs/	Using or exercising caution; careful; tentative
wagon noun	/ˈwæɡən/	A heavier four-wheeled (normally horse-drawn) vehicle designed to carry goods (or sometimes people).
teenager noun	/ˈtiːnˌeɪ̯d͡ʒə/	A person between thirteen and nineteen years old (inclusive).
rude adjective	/ɹuːd/	Lacking in refinement or civility; bad-mannered; discourteous.
fathom verb	/ˈfæðəm/	To measure the depth of (water); to take a sounding of; to sound.
millennial adjective	/mɪˈlɛn.ɪ.əl/	Thousand-year-old; also (by extension, loosely) thousands of years old.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
clean up verb		To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy.
go down verb		To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one.
go out verb		To leave, especially a building.
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
come up verb		To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
crack up verb	/ˈkɹæk ˈʌp/	To laugh heartily.
go off verb		To explode.
grow up verb		To mature and become an adult.

Sentences worth repeating

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

Tell me, how much freedom did you have?
How much freedom did you have?
Do you remember what you did that deserved?
What did you ever get grounded as a child?
Why would my mom be upset?

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have created · have added · have heard
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be immersed · are attached · was allowed
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	English, which is · road which is · kids who I
Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past	was dating · were playing · was rolling

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 137 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: fathom /ˈfæðəm/, authoritarian /əˌθɑ.ɹəˈtɛɹ.i.ən/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: cautious /ˈkɔːʃəs/, shady /ˈʃeɪdi/, punish /ˈpʌnɪʃ/, dish /dɪʃ/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: millennial /mɪˈlɛn.ɪ.əl/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, alligator /ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tɚ/, authoritarian /əˌθɑ.ɹəˈtɛɹ.i.ən/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/

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 spank, chore, strict.

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: Real English Conversation: English listening practice - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Download App

"What time is it?": A Simple Answer #Shorts

SPEAK With Me in English [Conversation Lesson]

How to Talk About Movies and TV Shows in English

50 Important English TRAVEL Phrases

Listen and Repeat: SPEAK with me in English

Make the Bed With Me in English

2 Tips For Improving Your *Listening* Skills

English Conversation Lesson: Learn 3 advanced expressions

5 Secrets to Having an American English Accent: Advanced Pronunciation Lesson

You know the words but you can't SPEAK

England VS America: Ten Items That Have Different Names

English SPEAKING Practice: 10 Conversations for Daily Life

Speak With Me: Real Life English Conversation

How to Give Directions in English: Advanced English Lesson

Top 15 Tongue Twisters in English: Advanced Pronunciation Lesson

I use these words every day: Daily English Vocabulary

Talk about HOBBIES Fluently in English

Understand FAST English: Advanced Listening Practice

Speak With Me: English Speaking Practice

Top 10 Small Talk Questions and Answers

Real English Conversation with MY MOM 💛 (talking about family, parenthood, and growing up)

38 Minutes of Real Life English Conversation - Intermediate level English Interview

Real English Conversation: Advanced Listening Lesson

B1 English Listening Practice - Favorite Memories

2677 - Conversation Coaching Part 2: Keep the Conversation Going

B1 English Listening Practice - Adulthood

Speak With Me: Realistic English Speaking Practice

English Podcast For Learning English Conversation | 8 Ways to Build English Sentences Quickly

English Podcast For Easy English in Daily Life | Learn English Fast | Talk About Dreams and Goals

Speak English Confidently at Home | Real Conversations | Shadowing English Speaking Practice

Easy English Podcast for Daily Life English Conversation | Do You Feel Left Behind?

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?

2 Tips For Improving Your Listening Skills