Shadowing Practice: Speak With Me: English Speaking Practice - Learn English Speaking with Video

Do you need a hand?

If I asked this to you, would your heart start beating?

Would your palms start sweating?

Would you know what to say?

Well, never fear.

Today, I'm going to help you reply to this question and many others.

Today, you are going to practice speaking with me about your house.

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

And like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet with all of today's important questions,

answers, vocabulary, sample conversations, and ideas to help you level up your English speaking skills.

You can click on the link in the description to download this free PDF worksheet today.

It is my gift to you.

All right.

Are you ready to get started talking about your house?

The first category is questions and answers about chores.

Look at this pronunciation.

Chores.

Make sure you pronounce this correctly.

And it means things that you need to do to take care of your house and your home.

So let's start with some of these questions and answers and level up your speaking skills.

Do you need a hand?

Remember this question I asked you not too long ago?

Well, what can you reply to this question with?

You can say, oh, no, thanks.

I'll be finished soon.

Do you need a hand?

That means, can I help you?

If you're doing some difficult chore, someone kind might ask you, do you need a hand?

Or you can ask, can you give me a hand with this?

Let's say you're picking up something that's really heavy because you're trying to move it across the room.

You need to ask for some help or ask for a hand.

Could you give me a hand with this?

And hopefully the other person will say, sure, I'll help you.

A common chore question is, do you mind taking out the trash?

Do you mind doing the dishes?

Do you mind folding this laundry?

It's asking, please, I need some help.

There are so many chores to do.

Do you mind doing one of these chores for me?

And hopefully the other person will say, yes, it's no problem.

A similar question is, Can you help me tidy up?

Can you help me fold this laundry?

Can you help me take out the trash?

And hopefully the other person will say, sure, I would love to.

If not though, they might say, oh no, I'm really busy.

I'm sorry.

Hopefully they don't say that, but it's possible.

If you live with other people, especially if you live with kids, it's important that everyone participates in the chores and taking care of the house.

So someone might ask you this question, are your kids old enough to help with chores?

And if you're like me, you might say they are, and they love helping.

In fact, my kids' favorite weekend day is deep cleaning day.

They take a wet rag and just wipe everything, every corner, every chair, and they love it.

Of course, we don't always love doing chores.

So you might need to reply to this question.

What's your least favorite chore?

Well, you might say, I hate doing the dishes.

I get so wet.

There's dirty food.

I hate doing the dishes.

All right.

Our next category are questions and answers related to your neighborhood.

Because your house is not just the things you do to take care of it, the chores, It's also the location.

And we often ask questions about the location or condition of your house.

So let's talk about some of these common small talk and conversation questions about where you live.

If you see someone in your neighborhood who you've never met before, you might ask this question, have you lived here long?

Have you lived here long?

And they might say, oh, I'm new to the the neighborhood.

I just moved here from New York City.

This could be an answer that you give.

If you move to the US and someone doesn't recognize you and they say, oh, have you lived here long?

You can use this answer.

I just moved here.

I moved here from Italy.

I moved here from Japan.

Great answer.

Now, the next question is an essential question that you know the answer to if you move to an English speaking country, because if someone asks, have you been here long?

They will follow it up most likely with this second question.

What made you choose to move here?

Or what made you decide to move here?

They're basically asking you, why are you here?

Why here and not anywhere else in the world?

So you need to have an answer for, why did you decide to move to this neighborhood?

And you might say, I got a remote job that let me live anywhere in the world.

And I've always dreamed of living in the US and this seems like a nice place.

Now, if you've just moved to a new neighborhood, you might want to ask that other person some questions about the place that you just moved.

So you can ask them, what's the best thing about this neighborhood?

This is a great question.

You might learn about a hidden coffee shop or a great little park to go to.

They might say this, I love that every Saturday there's free concerts in the park.

You should come.

Wouldn't Wouldn't that be great?

You'd have an instant friend.

And another question you could ask when you move to a neighborhood is, are there any other neighborhoods that I should check out?

Maybe other cute walking areas or places to kind of get to know the local culture.

And they might say, oh yeah, there's a neighborhood north of town that's great to walk through.

And you're getting some recommendations about things that you should do in your new town.

Now when you move to a new place, especially if you own it, you're probably going to have to do some renovations,

even if it's just decorating the house in your own style.

100

And when someone comes over to your house, hopefully they will comment on what a wonderful job you've done.

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So you might hear something like this.

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I love what you've done with the place.

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Did you do it by yourself?

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When they say what you've done with the place, that's talking about either renovations or decorations.

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Wow, this old apartment used to look so dark and dreary, but your decorations, what you've done with the place just looks so nice.

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Did you do this by yourself?

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And you might say, yeah, I love fixing up places.

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Cool.

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And to follow up that, your friend might say, wow, that's impressive.

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Was it a lot of work?

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And if you have really fixed your home, especially if you've had to do some major renovations, you can use this great expression.

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Yes, this house was a fixer upper, but I loved redecorating it and renovating it.

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A fixer upper means it's a house that has a good foundation.

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It's a nice house, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done to make it livable.

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Maybe the doorways are so small and the walls are all

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old and just need a new coat of paint and you need to maybe open up some spaces.

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This house is a fixer upper, but you know what?

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It's probably less expensive and it means that you get to design it in the way that you like.

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All right.

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Now that we've been through some great questions

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and answers related to chores inside the house and the neighborhood that your house is in, it's time to start speaking.

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But first, you're going to listen to a sample conversation between my husband, Dan, and I.

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We're going to be using the same questions and answers that you just learned in a little sample conversation.

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I want you to listen for all of those key questions and answers and be preparing yourself because after the sample conversation, it will be your turn to speak with me.

125

All right, let's watch the sample conversation.

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Hey, Dan, what are you working on?

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Hey, I'm just finishing up some renovations on the house.

128

I love what you've done with the place.

129

Have you done everything by yourself?

130

Yes, I did.

131

I replaced the flooring and I renovated the kitchen.

132

It's been a lot of work, but it's been worth it.

133

Yeah, looks great.

134

What made you decide to move to this neighborhood?

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Well, I really like the old homes in this neighborhood and the neighbors seem really nice.

136

Oh, that's true.

137

Do you need a hand?

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Yeah, I do.

139

Can you help me tidy up?

140

No problem.

141

Welcome to the neighborhood.

142

Thanks, neighbor.

143

All right.

144

How did you enjoy that sample conversation?

145

Now it is your turn to speak.

146

I'm going to be asking you some questions and then pausing.

147

During that pause, I want you to speak out loud and answer the question.

148

And because I have magical teacher ears, I will be able to hear you around the world, no matter where you are.

149

So make sure that you're speaking out loud

150

and you're welcome to go back and repeat this segment of the video as many times as you want.

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You can even pause it if you need more time to be able to speak or think about your answer.

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So are you ready to speak with me?

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Let's do it.

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Hey, I haven't seen you before.

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Have you lived here long?

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What made you decide to move here?

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So what do you think is the best part about living in this neighborhood so far?

158

Well, it was really great to meet you.

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I wanted to let you know that there are free concerts in the park every Saturday.

160

I'm going this weekend.

161

Would you like to join me?

162

All right, let's do it.

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I'll see you then.

164

Well, congratulations on practicing speaking with me about your house.

165

You did it.

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The next step is to download the free PDF worksheet, which includes all of today's sample answers,

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questions, sample conversations, and at the bottom of the worksheet, you can answer Vanessa's challenge question so that you never forget what you've learned

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and you can level up your English speaking skills.

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Click on the link in the description to download that free PDF worksheet today.

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Well, thank you so much for learning English with me

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and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

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Bye.

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But wait, do you want more?

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I recommend watching this video next where you will learn to

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speak with me about the most common small talk conversation topic ever.

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It is the weather.

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You need to be able to talk about this in daily conversation, especially when you meet new people around your neighborhood check out

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that video to find out more and i'll see you there

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Speak With Me: English Speaking Practice”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: answer, neighborhood, chore, conversation, sample. This video has 178 sentences and 1844 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:55. The speaker talks at a natural 169 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 90% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 50 of its 178 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

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

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
chore noun	/t͡ʃoɹ/	A task, especially a regularly needed task for the upkeep of a home or similar, such as cleaning or preparing meals.
worksheet noun		A sheet of paper or computerized document on which problems are worked out or solved and the answers are recorded.
renovation noun	/ɹɛnəˈveɪʃən/	An act, or the process, of renovating.
fixer noun		A chemical (sodium thiosulfate) used in photographic development that fixes the image in place, preventing further chemical reactions.
pause noun	/pɔːz/	A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
dish noun	/dɪʃ/	A vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle.
renovate verb	/ˈɹɛn.ə.veɪt/	To renew; to revamp something to make it look new again.
tidy adjective	/ˈtaɪ.di/	Arranged neatly and in order.
decoration noun	/ˌdɛkəˈɹeɪʃən/	The act of adorning, embellishing, or honoring; ornamentation.
laundry noun	/ˈlɔːn.dɹi/	A laundering; a washing.
fold verb	/ˈfəʊld/	To bend (any thin material, such as paper) over so that it comes in contact with itself.
decorate verb	/ˈdɛkəɹeɪt/	To furnish with decorations.
dreary adjective	/ˈdɹɪɚi/	Drab; dark, colorless, or cheerless.
livable adjective		Endurable, survivable, suitable for living in, inhabitable.
redecorate verb		To change the appearance of a place by altering the decor.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
check out verb	To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
speak out verb	To assert or promote one's opinion; to make one's thoughts known.
take out verb	To remove.
tidy up verb	To make clean, to make satisfactorily neat.
find out verb	To discover, as by asking or investigating.
finish up verb	To complete the last details of a task.
fix up verb	To provide (someone) with something; to furnish.
follow up verb	To take further actions remaining after an event; to continue, revisit, or persist; especially, to maintain communication or verify.

Sentences worth repeating

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

Do you need a hand?
Would your palms start sweating?
Would you know what to say?
What's your least favorite chore?
They're basically asking you, why are you here?

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 · you've never met · I've always dreamed
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be finished · be done
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	might ask · might say · might need
Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form	start beating · start sweating · practice speaking

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 42 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, you've, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: renovation /ɹɛnəˈveɪʃən/, dish /dɪʃ/, decoration /ˌdɛkəˈɹeɪʃən/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: renovation /ɹɛnəˈveɪʃən/, decoration /ˌdɛkəˈɹeɪʃən/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/

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 chore, worksheet, renovation.

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 →

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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?