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

Do you want to improve your English speaking skills, but you have no one to practice speaking with?

Well, today's lesson is for you.

You're going to have the chance to practice speaking with me out loud.

So make sure that you get your speaking muscles ready and let's go.

If you're new here, hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

And I've been teaching real life English here on my YouTube

channel for over the past 10 years to now more than 7 million of you.

Thank you so much for learning English with me.

In today's lesson, I have created a free PDF worksheet.

This worksheet is very useful, very long, and I want to give it to you completely for free.

It includes every single phrase you are about to learn today, plus three bonus speaking practices.

It is very important to learn English and use it right away before it has left your brain.

So these speaking practices will help you be able to take action and speak right away.

So all you All you need to do to get today's free epic PDF worksheet is click the link in the description, enter your name and email address,

and voila, I will send you the PDF worksheet plus the three bonus speaking practices right to your email inbox.

It is my gift to you.

All right, let's get started.

The first topic that we're going to practice speaking about together is friendship and relationships.

I'm going to teach you some vocabulary, then you will see a practice conversation, and then you will have the chance to practice speaking with me.

So make sure you pay attention so that you can practice speaking.

Let's go.

So we're going to learn first some phrases to talk about those really close, really special best friends in our lives.

And then you're going to learn some vocabulary to talk about friends who are friends, but they're not the closest friends.

Let's start with those close friends though.

My go-to person.

You are my go-to person whenever I need relationship advice.

This is the person who you trust the most to get advice from.

My go-to person.

You can also be a go-to person for things beside advice.

You are my go-to person whenever I want to eat something delicious because you're always cooking something great.

To bond over something.

My best friend and I bonded over our love of reading.

Here we are talking about connecting and deepening your relationship because you have some kind of common interest.

You might say, we bonded over music.

Well, if you have the same taste in music, you might say, we bonded over music.

We go way back.

My best friend and I were in high school together.

We go way back.

If you've known someone for a long time, this is the perfect phrase to use.

You have experienced a lot of life together.

We go way back.

We've been friends since the diaper days.

Quirks.

I like this phrase.

Quirks.

He is my friend, even though he knows all of my quirks.

Quirks are those strange little things that maybe annoy some people, but other people who truly love you can still be your friend.

So maybe if you really don't like vegetables, one of your quirks might be, I don't like to eat anything green.

It's one of my quirks, but I hope you can still be my friend.

It's not true for me though.

I love most things that are green.

To hit it off.

This is the phrase I used at the very beginning of this lesson.

We hit it off immediately because we bonded over our love of music.

When you have an instant connection with someone, you hit it off.

To look out for someone.

In elementary school, I used to look out for my friends.

When they forgot their lunch at home, I would share mine.

This is what friends do, right?

We try to care for someone or protect them.

We are trying to help them, especially when they need it.

So when I had each of my children, my neighbors looked out for me and they were constantly bringing us dinner and trying to help us.

This is what good friends do.

To be a listening ear.

You need all parts of this phrase in order for it to be grammatically correct.

You might say something like this, my sister is a listening ear for me.

Whenever I'm going through a difficult time or just want to talk something through to understand what I should do,

she is a good listening ear.

She doesn't respond immediately.

She doesn't try to be judgmental.

She is just simply listening to me.

And that's what good friends do, right?

All right.

We have two final phrases to talk about those really good friends.

This is the next one, to go out of your way.

I always go out of my way to make sure that my friends feel cared for when they're having a hard time.

This is something that good friends do.

We go out of our way.

We do something that's a little bit more than is necessary.

So when one of my friends is feeling sick, I don't just text her and say, hey, I hope you're feeling better.

I'll make a meal and go bring it to her house.

This is something that is extra above what is necessary for being just a friend.

I want to do something to make her feel cared and loved.

So I will go out of my way to help my friends.

It's what good friends do.

And our final phrase for good friends is a very fun one, to be attached at the hip.

Your hip bone is right on your side.

If you are attached at the hip, you are always together.

This is a phrase that I like to use for my kids.

For better or for worse, my kids are always attached at the hip.

They're always playing together, sometimes fighting together, but they are attached at the hip.

They can't do anything without each other.

They have to be together.

They want to be together most of the time.

They are attached at the hip.

All right, now let's go on to some phrases that you can use for people who are friends.

It's important to have these acquaintances in your life, but they're not the best of friends.

How could you use to describe these people?

You might use this phrase, see each other around.

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We see each other around work, but we don't really hang out after work.

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Okay.

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So maybe when you're at work, you would say that person is a close person to you at work, but they're not a close friend.

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We see each other around work, but that's about it.

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To lose touch.

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We're not talking about a physical touch.

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We're talking about that connection and communication.

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So you might say after college, we just lost touch because we moved to different cities.

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This happens.

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You can't stay best friends long distance with everyone, so you might easily lose touch with most people.

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To drift apart.

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This is talking about this slow process of becoming less good friends.

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Nothing in particular happened to hurt our friendship.

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We just drifted apart.

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I would say this is especially true for childhood friends.

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For me, the best friends that I had in childhood were so special.

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We were attached at the hip as kids.

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And then as we got older, we just drifted apart.

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Our adult selves were not as close as our childhood selves were.

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We just drifted apart.

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Do you have a work buddy or a gym buddy?

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This phrase buddy is already very casual, but when we add another word to the front,

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we are specifying this person is my casual friend in a specific situation.

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Yeah, he's just my work buddy.

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We hang out during our lunch breaks, but that's it.

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We've never gone out after work or done anything outside of the workplace.

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He's my work buddy.

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We could say the same for gym buddy.

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If you happen to go to the gym every Friday at the same time as someone else, maybe eventually you start to wave.

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You might introduce yourself.

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You're not a close friend, but you could say, oh yeah, she's my gym buddy.

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I see her every Friday.

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And our final phrase to talk about friends that are not the closest friends is one that I actually already used.

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Did you pick it up?

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It is the word acquaintance.

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Practice this pronunciation with me.

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Acquaintance.

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Acquaintance.

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This is someone who you're kind of friends with, but you don't really rely on them.

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You haven't really bonded with them deeply.

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So you might say, yeah, I have a bunch of acquaintances, but they're not really close friends.

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I only have a couple close friends and a lot of acquaintances, pretty common.

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Okay.

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Now that you have a great vocabulary foundation to talk about friendship, it's time to take it up a level.

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You're going to see a sample conversation between my husband, Dan, and I.

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We're going to use a bunch of the vocabulary that you just heard.

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I want you to pay attention because after this, it's going to be your turn to speak with me using all of these phrases.

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Are you ready?

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Let's watch.

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Hey, Dan.

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Hey, Vanessa.

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Guess what?

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I ran into an old friend at the grocery store the other day.

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We go way back, but we just lost touch over time.

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That's so cool.

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Did you two hit it off when you started talking?

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We actually did.

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It was like no time had passed.

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That's so nice.

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Yeah.

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Well, what about you?

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You've been friends with Brad for a long time, right?

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Yeah.

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Actually, we were work buddies for about two years, and then one day we hung out and we really bonded over heavy metal music.

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I love that for you.

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You never know when your quirks are going to make you a good friend.

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That's so true.

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Okay, now that you've seen this sample conversation, it's our turn to speak together.

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I'm going to ask you a question and then I will pause.

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During that pause, I want you to speak out loud.

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Try to use the vocabulary that you've learned today.

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If you need to pause this video and have a little more time to think about it, totally fine.

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And you're welcome to review this section as many times as you need to.

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Are you ready?

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Let's do it.

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Tell me about a time that you hit it off with someone instantly.

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Oh, that's so interesting.

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Did you bond over anything in particular?

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Oh, that's so great.

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I'm glad you have a good friend.

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But sometimes friendships don't always stay close.

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Have you ever had a friend that you drifted apart from?

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Yeah, I think that's happened to everyone.

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Well thank you for telling me about your friendships.

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I'll talk to you later.

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Great work practicing speaking about friendships and relationships.

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The next topic is a commonly talked about conversation topic that you need to practice, and that is technology.

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We talk about phones, the internet, all of the updates to technology all the time in conversation.

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It is a hot topic in the news.

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I want you to be able to talk about technology as well,

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including talking about your opinions about various new technologies that are coming out.

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Is it better or worse than the past?

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Well, with this lesson, you'll be able to express yourself.

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Let's go.

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Before you can actually have a conversation about technology in English, you need to know some vocabulary, right?

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So we're going to start with some common positive phrases that we use to talk about technology.

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Can you guess what the next part's going to be?

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Yeah, some negative expressions to talk about some of the negative impact of technology.

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But let's start with the positive.

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To pick up the phone or to pick up your phone.

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I love that I can just pick up the phone and call my sister, even though she lives far away.

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This is positive, right? In moderation.

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Using social media is fine in moderation, but too much can be distracting.

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I love this phrase in moderation because it works for so many things in life.

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You can treat yourself and eat some chocolate every day.

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But if you ate piles of chocolate every day, it's no good, right?

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So if you eat chocolate in moderation, it's no problem.

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Same with social media.

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Just use it in moderation, not too much.

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I can't imagine life without.

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I can't imagine life without a map app on my phone.

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Before this existed, I got lost all the time.

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I can't imagine life without using Google Maps or Apple Maps all the time.

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You might also hear this referred to as GPS.

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This is a global positioning system.

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This is more the official term, but a lot of people use this.

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I use GPS all the time.

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I can't imagine my life without a GPS on my phone.

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A game changer.

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Video calling has been a game changer for my family, especially when I lived abroad.

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You know what this feels like.

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You feel isolated and alone.

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Oftentimes, it is really hard to move to another country or another city, even far away from your family.

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So video calling can be a game changer.

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This can change everything.

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It's not that your life is a game, but we use this to talk about something that makes a big impact.

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Wow.

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Video calling is a game changer for helping my time abroad be a more positive experience.

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At my fingertips.

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With a smartphone, a lot of information is at my fingertips.

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This means that it is readily accessible.

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For a smartphone, it is literally at your fingertips, but we can use this not exactly as literally as this.

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You could use it about food and say, in a modern world, we have all the food that we need at our fingertips.

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And the fact that there are people in the world who do not have enough food is tragic.

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There is plenty of food to go around, so why don't some people have it at their fingertips and some people do?

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This is really sad, but for a lot of people, we have a lot available at our fingertips.

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To stay on top of things.

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We're not talking about a physical spot on top of things.

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Instead, take a look at this.

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I use my phone's calendars to help me stay on top of things at work.

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I have a lot going on and looking at everything on a digital calendar really helps me to stay organized,

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not be late for things, to know what's going on.

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Or instead of using all those phrases, we can compile them into this one.

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The calendars helped me to stay on top of things at work.

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Great.

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It opened up a whole new world.

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I love this phrase, especially when we think about learning English.

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Take a look at this.

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Virtual learning opened up a whole new world for me.

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Instead of going to physical classes in your city or an hour away,

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instead you just open up YouTube and here's Vanessa teaching you English right from the comfort of your own home.

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So we could say virtual learning opened up a whole new world for me.

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To Google something.

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This is interesting because we're using a brand name as a verb.

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I say this all the time.

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When I don't know something, I Google it.

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If you don't know something, try Googling it.

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We could say, try looking it up, but for some reason we have just swapped that to say, Google, you should Google it.

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All right, now let's talk about some negative expressions that we can use to talk about technology.

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Back in the day, back in the day, there was no social media, so people connected more in real life.

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This is a positive thing, right?

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We should connect more in real life, not in social media.

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Back in the day refers to a general time that feels far in the past Before there was social media, before there was the internet,

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we just had to open the door and go talk to our friends and neighbors.

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When I was your age, when I was your age, the only computers in the school were in the computer lab room.

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This is true for me.

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When I was in high school from 2002, 2001, two, three, four, five,

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around then, there were no computers in each of the classrooms.

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Instead, the only computers were in a computer lab.

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And I'm sure many of you went to school when there were no computers.

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So this is something that we often use to talk about the difference in our childhoods.

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When I was your age, when you're talking to someone younger who knows nothing about what it was like before technology, when I was your age,

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there were no computers in my school.

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Kids these days, when I was your age, kids played outside all the time,

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but kids these days just stay inside playing video games.

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We always use this expression when we are talking about something negative that kids do nowadays.

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Kids these days, there's a lot of judgment in that voice.

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Kids these days just stay inside playing video games.

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They have no idea what it's like to just go outside and play, be bored, have fun in that way, create your own fun.

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Kids these days.

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Addicted or addicted to something.

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I feel like I'm addicted to my phone.

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Or he realized he was addicted and needed a break from social media.

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This is the same as a drug addiction, an alcohol addiction.

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It is very strong, very serious.

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And it's something that hasn't been studied very much because it's relatively new.

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It has been studied a bit.

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We are starting to to become wiser about our phones and realize it's easy to become addicted to our phones.

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Sooner or later, everyone will have to use AI sooner or later.

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This phrase sooner or later has kind of a reluctance feeling about it.

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Like I don't want to have to use AI, but I have no choice.

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And I think that's the way the world's going.

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Sooner or later, we're going to have to use AI, so maybe I should start learning about it.

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Sooner or later, everyone will have to.

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What do you think?

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There's a time and place.

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There's a time and place to use your phone and the dinner table with your family is not that time.

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This might be a phrase that a parent says to a child.

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If the child or the teenager, whoever it is, is looking at their phone at the dinner table, You can say, well, there's a time and place to use your phone, but it's not here.

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You're acknowledging this is a useful device, but not here.

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There's a time and place.

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Maybe it's while you're studying, while you're contacting your friends, doing other things, but not here at the dinner table.

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I wouldn't be surprised if...

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I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation is a lot different than previous generations due to their tech use.

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A lot of people who are in their 20s

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and below grew up with a level of technology that the rest of us never had when we were kids.

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So I wouldn't be surprised if they are remarkably different than the rest of us due to technology.

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Information overload.

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Social media can cause you to have information overload because there is something new going on all the time.

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This is a problem, right?

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If you need to give yourself a break from information overload, close your phone, close your computer, go step outside.

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And our final negative expression about tech is I catch myself.

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I catch myself looking at my phone more than I should.

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Sometimes I tell myself, it's just to see what time it is.

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It's just to see if my sister messaged me back, but I catch myself, oh, I shouldn't pick up my phone so much, but it's hard, right?

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I catch myself looking at my phone more than I should.

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All right.

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Now that you have heard all of those positive and negative expressions about technology,

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we're going to take a look at a sample conversation between my husband and I.

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We're going to use a lot of these phrases.

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Listen carefully because after this, you are going to have a chance to speak with me about technology.

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You can use these phrases yourself.

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So listen carefully to our sample conversation.

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Let's watch.

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Hey, Dan.

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Hey, Vanessa.

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Thanks for texting me back right away about meeting up.

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Don't you just love how easy communication is with technology?

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Definitely.

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Back in the day, we'd have to wait hours to hear back from someone.

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I know.

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Kids these days will never have that experience.

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Yeah.

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Everything's online now.

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We have news, messages, and work right at our fingertips.

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I know.

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But don't you find it hard sometimes to use your phone in moderation?

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Definitely.

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I'm learning the importance of turning off my phone at certain times of the day.

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There's a time and place for everything.

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I agree.

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I'm trying to learn that too.

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All right, drum roll.

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Now it is your turn to speak out loud with me.

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What I'm going to do is we're going to pretend

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that we are having a chit chat at a cafe and we are talking about technology.

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I'm going to casually ask you a question.

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I will pause.

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I will listen to you.

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My magical teacher ears will hear you no matter where you are around the world.

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So you better participate, speak out loud, use your best English.

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And I want you to speak out loud in the pause as if we're having a conversation.

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If you need some more time, feel free to pause the video.

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You're welcome to go back and repeat this section as many times as you want.

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And of course, you're welcome to take a look at the worksheet as well, where you can write down your answers and then you can go back and practice having the conversation again.

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Okay.

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Are you ready?

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Let's do it.

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Oh, oh, hey there.

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Just looking at my phone again.

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Back in the day, was technology different for you than it is now?

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Oh yeah, I'm sure.

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Well, I know technology has changed a lot, but I want to know, how has technology been a game changer in your life?

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Oh, that's so interesting.

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Well, sooner or later, technology is going to change again.

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What do you think the future of technology will be like?

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Oh, that's really interesting.

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I wouldn't be surprised if that comes true.

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Well, thanks so much for sharing with me your thoughts.

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I'll talk to you another time.

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Bye.

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Great work talking about technology with me and telling me exactly how you feel about technology.

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The next and final topic that we're going to practice speaking about today is a fun one.

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It is travel.

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If you have ever been somewhere that you thought was amazing, you need to be able to talk about it.

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In fact, if you have ever been somewhere and had a terrible time, you need to be able to describe it as well.

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So in this lesson, we're going to practice some vocabulary to talk about positive travel experiences and negative travel experiences,

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and then you'll have the chance to practice speaking with me.

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Let's go.

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The first important travel phrases are for talking about when things go well.

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After my trip to Portugal, everyone asked me, Vanessa, how was your trip?

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How was Portugal?

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How did it go?

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And many things went well.

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So how can you describe when things go well on your trip?

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Let's see.

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It was amazing.

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It was breathtaking.

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It was exciting.

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So when my friends asked me about my trip to Portugal,

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I said, it was amazing to be walking on such historic streets and enjoying such a breathtaking view of the sea.

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It was really amazing.

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If you have ever been to Lisbon, then you know exactly what I'm talking about.

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And when my friends asked me, Vanessa, what did you do in Lisbon?

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I could say, well, for the first few days, Dan and I just walked around the city and soaked in the atmosphere.

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This means we didn't have a packed day of activities.

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We just enjoyed breathing in the fresh air, seeing what kind of atmosphere there was in the city, taking a look at good views,

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sitting at cafes and people watching.

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This type of relaxing trip is exactly what I love.

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Or you could say, we decided to get off the beaten path and visit a small medieval village.

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This is what we did.

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And this phrase, to get off the beaten path, means that you're going somewhere that not everybody visits.

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It's kind of an unusual destination.

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Maybe it's a small unknown village that really is breathtaking.

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And why don't more people go there?

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I don't know.

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But you found a special place off the beaten path.

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Before my trip, I heard that some people in the Lisbon airport were on strike.

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And a lot of people recommended to travel light and only pack a carry on.

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So this is what I did.

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It's not easy for me to pack light or travel light, but I didn't want to have to wait in the airport for long lines

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while I waited for my baggage to be sent in from the airplane.

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What about you?

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Is it natural for you to travel light or do you usually pack everything in your house.

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Oftentimes going on a trip means that you're going to need to prepare in advance.

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And for me, I have three kids

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and I have some wonderful in-laws who were able to watch them for an entire week

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while Dan and I went to Portugal.

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But I prepared a lot of information for my in-laws before I left.

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I prepared a four page document with all of the phone numbers,

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the routines, the information, all of the things that they might need while we were gone.

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It was a lot of work, but it was worth it because Dan and I had a wonderful trip together.

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So we use this phrase, it was worth it when we do something difficult, but the end result is important.

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It is something that is absolutely worth the pain that you went through.

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Now, it wasn't much pain to write out those documents, but it did take some organization.

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So I would say it was absolutely worth it to put in all

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that effort so that we could have a special trip together.

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Now we can use this phrase in the negative sense.

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When we were in Lisbon, we wanted to visit a famous cathedral, but when we got there,

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the line was so long that we decided not to go in because when we saw that long line,

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we realized it was not worth it to wait.

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Instead, we enjoyed walking along the river and just soaking in the atmosphere.

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Oh, what a great expression.

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So here, it was not worth it for us to wait in that line for hours and hours.

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Instead, we did other things that we enjoyed instead.

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So you can use this phrase in the positive sense, it was worth it or it was not worth it.

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The next two phrases are when you've had busy travel days, maybe you've booked some tours,

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some museum visits, and your body is just ready to take it easy.

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You want to just sit in a cafe and people watch.

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You want to just sit on the beach and enjoy the waves crashing in.

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You want to take it easy.

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This is something that I enjoy every few days.

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If I'm on a busy trip, I want to have a day where I just take it easy.

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Or we could say, I want to have a day where I just go with the flow.

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I don't have any tours booked.

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There's nothing specific that I need to do.

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I have no restaurant reservations.

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I just want to go with the flow.

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And sometimes on those days, you see the most amazing things.

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For example, on my trip to Portugal, Dan and I decided to go a different way back to our hotel.

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And as we were wandering in the streets, just going with the flow, taking it easy, we heard some music.

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And right there, there was the ruins of an old Roman theater

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and two musicians were playing in the theater and lots of people started to gather and watch them.

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It was amazing.

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So sometimes when you go with the flow, you see the best things.

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If you visit a popular destination for the first time, you might want to do some more touristy things, right?

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So Dan and I decided to book a sailboat tour in the river.

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This is absolutely a touristy thing to do, but it lived up to the hype.

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It was beautiful.

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It was fun.

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We drank wine while we were on the river and we got to see Lisbon from the water, which is a very historical way to be able to see

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the city as they had a very big maritime history and past.

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So this was something that absolutely lived up to the hype.

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This is a similar phrase to, it was worth it.

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This was something that I'm very glad we did, even though it was touristy, it lived up to hype.

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We have two more positive phrases to talk about before we get to some negative expressions to talk about

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when things didn't go well on your trip.

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The next positive phrase is to be blown away.

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In Lisbon, there are beautiful tiles that cover the outside of so many buildings.

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I was blown away that there were tiles on just normal buildings too.

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It wasn't just the most important buildings in the city, there were beautiful historical tiles on so many buildings all over the city.

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I loved the vibrancy and the color.

472

It was such a unique thing to see.

473

Now, this trip to Lisbon wasn't just a pleasure trip.

474

It was also a work trip.

475

I met some wonderful people who also teach languages here on YouTube.

476

Some of those you might have seen last week in my

477

video where I asked all of these teachers to give you a speaking tip.

478

How can you improve your speaking skills?

479

If you would like to hear all of their wonderful tips, you can check out that video here.

480

So because I was getting together with these other wonderful language teachers, we made some unforgettable memories together.

481

I learned a lot about business.

482

I learned a lot about being a teacher, but also I got to connect with these wonderful people and spending long days together late into the night,

483

just talking about our lives and our work and our passion.

484

This really made it so that we had some unforgettable memories together.

485

All right.

486

What can you say when something bad happens on your trip?

487

How can you talk about what happened?

488

I want to give you some phrases for that.

489

If you want to be very polite about it, you might say it didn't go as planned.

490

You're not saying, it was terrible.

491

Instead, you're saying it didn't go as planned.

492

So for example, Dan and I had reservations to see a special type of traditional Portuguese music called Fado.

493

And we had reservations to go to a Fado restaurant on our first night in Portugal.

494

But when we arrived in Portugal, we were so tired and the reservations were for 7.30 that night.

495

We knew there was no way we would be awake at 7.30 at night and be able to enjoy this special experience.

496

So we decided to reschedule those reservations and book it for another night.

497

It just didn't go as planned.

498

It wasn't a big deal.

499

We decided to do it another night.

500

But what if something is truly terrible?

501

You might say, It was a nightmare.

502

One time when my family was about to travel to Costa Rica, I realized that I had bought us tickets to San Jose,

503

California instead of San Jose, Costa Rica, and our flight was about to leave in 12 hours.

504

This was a nightmare.

505

Absolutely, it was a nightmare.

506

Thankfully, the lovely person on the phone helped us to find other tickets.

507

She was very kind to me, but there were a few hours there that were truly a nightmare.

508

Another polite phrase for negative situations is to run into problems.

509

There were several people on my trip who ran into problems at the airport.

510

Thankfully for us, our airport experience was very smooth.

511

Maybe we arrived at just the right time, but it's very possible to run into problems at the airport.

512

This might mean a long line.

513

This might mean that your baggage had to be checked several times.

514

It's just a simple problem.

515

What should you say if you feel disappointed?

516

You might say something like I said, there was one seafood restaurant we went to that was a bit of a letdown.

517

Here I'm using two important phrases.

518

The first is a letdown, which means a disappointment, but the other is this qualifier, a bit.

519

It was a bit of a letdown.

520

I don't want to be extremely negative and say, oh, it was such a letdown.

521

It was terrible.

522

It was a nightmare.

523

No, the food was still okay, but it didn't live up to the hype as we just learned.

524

So I might say, yeah, the restaurant was okay, but it was a bit of a letdown.

525

I thought it would be amazing and it was just okay.

526

Have you ever traveled and paid too much for something because you were a naive tourist?

527

You got ripped off.

528

All over Portugal and especially in Lisbon on the coast, there are these flashy sardine stores

529

because fresh seafood is a big thing near the coast and a lot of tourists want to buy sardines to take home.

530

But should you go to those flashy sardine stores?

531

Absolutely not.

532

You are going to get ripped off.

533

Or we could say those stores are a rip off.

534

Instead, Dan and I decided just to go to a regular grocery store and buy some regular brands of sardines that said,

535

made in Portugal, and we brought those home to try.

536

I hope that we didn't get ripped off.

537

All right.

538

We have just learned 15 phrases to talk about your trip, but the next thing is the most important part.

539

You are going to watch a sample conversation between Dan and I using these phrases and then it will be your turn.

540

You are going to speak with me out loud and use these phrases yourself.

541

So pay attention during this sample conversation because it's going to be your turn soon.

542

Let's watch.

543

Hey, Dan, you're back from Portugal.

544

How was your trip?

545

Oh, it was amazing.

546

The colors and views of Lisbon completely blew me away.

547

Oh, that sounds incredible.

548

Did everything go smoothly?

549

Not exactly.

550

My flight got delayed, so the first day didn't go as planned, and I got ripped off by a taxi driver.

551

Oh no, that's rough.

552

But you still found time to soak in the atmosphere?

553

Definitely.

554

I got off the beaten path and explored a medieval town.

555

It was totally worth it.

556

That sounds great.

557

Well, thanks for telling me about your trip.

558

No prob.

559

Okay, are you ready?

560

This is the most important part of today's lesson.

561

So if you need to pause this video, if you need to review this part again and again, go for it.

562

It's one of the benefits of learning English online.

563

So I'm going to ask you some questions.

564

We're going to have a little chit chat together, and I will pause.

565

I want you to speak out loud during the pause.

566

I have magical teacher ears, and I can hear you.

567

Wherever you are around the world, I will hear you.

568

So make sure you speak out loud.

569

Listen to your own voice because I'll be listening to it too.

570

Are you ready?

571

Let's do it.

572

Hi, I heard you took a trip recently.

573

Where did you go?

574

Nice.

575

Did everything go as planned or did you run into problems?

576

Oh, I see.

577

Well tell me, what was the best part of your trip?

578

Was there anything that just blew you away?

579

Oh, that sounds wonderful.

580

Did you have any chance to get off the beaten path and just soak in the atmosphere?

581

That's awesome.

582

It sounds like you really made some unforgettable memories on your trip.

583

Thanks so much for sharing it with me.

584

Well, congratulations.

585

You just practiced speaking about three common conversation topics.

586

I hope you were able to use your speaking muscles and practice speaking.

587

The next step is to continue using what you have learned so that you do not forget it.

588

All you need to do is download the free PDF worksheet and three bonus speaking practices.

589

You can click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address, and I will send you this bonus practice,

590

the worksheet and the speaking practices so that you can grow your skills, build up yourself, get the confidence you need so that

591

when you go out into the real world and you're talking about your friendships, you're talking about technology and how you feel and maybe good,

592

maybe bad, or talking about your awesome travels, you will feel so confident that you'll be able to have those conversations with no problem.

593

You need to take it to the next step and continue practicing.

594

So I hope that this lesson was useful for you.

595

Keep up the excellent work with English

596

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

597

Bye.

598

But wait, if you want more, I recommend watching this epic video next.

599

It is a two hour speaking lesson.

600

Turn it on while you're doing the dishes.

601

Turn it on while you are walking your dog and immerse yourself in real life vocabulary and practice speaking with me.

602

Use what you've learned so that you never forget it.

603

I'll see you in that lesson.

604

Bye.

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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”. This video has 604 sentences and 6517 words to shadow. The speech runs for 41:35. The speaker talks at a natural 157 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
phrase noun	/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/	A short written or spoken expression.
pause noun	/pɔːz/	A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
vocabulary noun	/vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/	A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning.
fingertip noun	/ˈfɪŋɡɚˌtɪp/	The tip of the human finger.
quirk noun	/kwɝk/	An idiosyncrasy; a slight glitch, a mannerism; something unusual about the manner or style of something or someone.
worksheet noun		A sheet of paper or computerized document on which problems are worked out or solved and the answers are recorded.
moderation noun	/ˌmɑdəˈɹeɪʃən/	The state or quality of being moderate; avoidance of extremes.
acquaintance noun	/ʌˈkweɪn.təns/	A state of being acquainted with a person; originally indicating friendship, intimacy, but now suggesting a slight knowledge less deep than that of friendship…
attach verb	/əˈtæt͡ʃ/	To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively).
changer noun	/ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒɚ/	Someone or something who changes things.
addict noun	/ˈæd.ɪkt/	A person who is addicted, especially to a harmful drug.
drift noun	/dɹɪft/	Anything driven at random.
reservation noun	/ˌɹɛz.ɚˈveɪ.ʃən/	The act of reserving, withholding or keeping back.
nightmare noun	/ˈnaɪt.mɛɚ/	A very unpleasant or frightening dream.
sardine noun	/sɑɹˈdin/	Any one of several species of small herring which are commonly preserved in olive oil or in tins for food, especially the pilchard, or European sardine…

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
speak out verb	To assert or promote one's opinion; to make one's thoughts known.
rip off verb	To pull off by ripping.
drift apart verb	To lose contact, to lose one's friendship or closeness.
get off verb	To move from being on top of (something) to not being on top of it.
open up verb	To open.
pick up verb	To lift; to grasp and raise.
blow away verb	To cause to go away by blowing, or by wind.
go back verb	To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.

Sentences worth repeating

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

How could you use to describe these people?
Did you pick it up?
Did you bond over anything in particular?
Can you guess what the next part's going to be?
Don't you just love how easy communication is with technology?

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 · has left · you've known
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be attached · are attached · are always attached
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	friends who are · person who you · people who truly
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	might say · might be · might use

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 127 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: breathtaking /ˈbɹɛθˌteɪ.kɪŋ/, smoothly /ˈsmuːðli/, cathedral /kəˈθiːdɹəl/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, breathe /bɹiːð/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: moderation /ˌmɑdəˈɹeɪʃən/, reservation /ˌɹɛz.ɚˈveɪ.ʃən/, flashy /ˈflæʃi/, addiction /əˈdɪkˌʃən/, casual /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/
Long words — get the stress right: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, moderation /ˌmɑdəˈɹeɪʃən/, reservation /ˌɹɛz.ɚˈveɪ.ʃən/, unforgettable /ˌʌnfə(ɹ)ˈɡɛtəbəl/, destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/

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 phrase, pause, vocabulary.

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?