Shadowing Practice: Speaking Challenge: My Hometown - Learn English Speaking with Video
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16 sentences
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1
Hi everyone! Today I'm going to talk about my hometown.
2
I grew up in a small town by the sea.
3
It's in the south of England, about two hours from London.
4
When I was a child, I spent every summer on the beach.
5
My friends and I swam, played football and ate lots of ice cream!
6
Honestly, those were the best days of my life.
7
Well... my town has changed a lot.
8
The old cinema closed, and a big supermarket opened.
9
Ugh, and now there are far too many cars in summer!
10
Still, there are lots of things I love about it.
11
The people are friendly, and life is quiet and slow.
12
I prefer my hometown to London because it's so relaxing.
13
Now I live in the city for work.
14
But I still go back home almost every month!
15
Would I live there again one day? Maybe!
16
What about you? What's your hometown like?
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This A2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Speaking Challenge: My Hometown”. This video has 16 sentences and 154 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:08. The speaker talks at a steady 135 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 3 of its 16 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
12 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hometown noun | /ˈhoʊmˌtaʊn/ | An individual’s place of birth, childhood home, or place of main residence. |
| relax verb | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | To make something loose. |
| swim verb | /swɪm/ | To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means. |
| cinema noun | /ˈsɪn.ə.mə/ | A movie theatre, a movie house. |
| supermarket noun | /ˌsupɚˈmɑɹkət/ | A large self-service store that sells groceries and, usually, medications, household goods, and/or clothing. |
| quiet adjective | /ˈkwaɪ̯.ət/ | With little or no sound; free of disturbing noise. |
| friendly adjective | /ˈfɹɛnd.li/ | Generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with in character. |
| cream noun | /kɹiːm/ | The butterfat or milkfat part of milk which rises to the top; this part when separated from the remainder. |
| prefer verb | [pɹɪˈfɝ] | To be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better. |
| beach noun | /ˈbiːt͡ʃ/ | The shore of a body of water, especially when sandy or pebbly. |
| grow verb | /ˈɡɹəʊ/ | To become larger, to increase in magnitude. |
| honestly adverb | /ˈɑ.nɪst.li/ | In an honest manner. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 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:
- Today I'm going to talk about my hometown.
- Would I live there again one day?
- What's your hometown like?
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 | has changed |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the best |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | I'm going to talk |
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like hometown, relax, swim.
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.