Shadowing Practice: Students Discuss their Hobbies and Interests - Learn English Speaking with Video

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29 sentences

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I like painting, I like going to sea art galleries.

The gym, body building, football.

I do kayaking in the society at uni.

I love football and hobbies and interests, just hanging out in Kingston, going out and having a laugh with my mates.

Architecture and travelling around the world, seeing different places with old and new architecture.

I enjoy shopping, eating, dancing and singing and acting as well.

Probably socialising and trying to get away from worries and stress and stuff like that.

Celebrating after a hard day's work with a pint in the pub with your mates is the best thing really.

I love boxing, go to the gym, gird out, being social.

I mainly outdoor sports like snowboarding, mountain biking, skateboarding, that sort of stuff.

Being outdoors, being with my mates, the thrill, the adventure.

Play basketball regularly, go to the gym and I'm in a band playing guitar.

Just sort of writing music and you get like a real kick out of it

and it's a real feel-good factor you get from it.

I do like reading and poetry and like those poetry clubs, they're really interesting.

I love writing so anything I can put on paper or listen to creative stuff is really interesting.

Hobbies, I like football, I like seeing friends, just relaxing, chilling out.

Gaining my energy back.

I think everyone likes relaxing, don't they?

It's about getting the time to do it.

I do fine art at uni, so a lot of it involves looking into ceramic techniques and stuff like that, which I try and do in my spare time.

So I'm trying to source like a pottery wheel.

So, yeah, ceramics, I guess.

I'm a semi-professional footballer.

I play for Hoddiston Town Football Club, playing defence there.

I'm a massive follower of hip-hop, music.

I don't listen to any other music apart from hip-hop.

And hobbies, just going on the internet, Facebook, Twitter, I like chatting to friends, following celebrities around Twitter.

I'm a very theatrical person, so anything to do with creative arts basically and shopping.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 29 sentences and 351 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:04. The speaker talks at a natural 170 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 75% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
hobby noun	/ˈhɑ.bi/	An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time.
architecture noun	/ˈɑː.kɪˌtɛk.t͡ʃə/	The art and science of designing and managing the construction of buildings and other structures, particularly if they are well proportioned and decorated.
poetry noun	/ˈpoʊ.ə.tɹi/	Literature composed in verse or language exhibiting conscious attention to patterns and rhythm.
relax verb	/ɹɪˈlæks/	To make something loose.
outdoor adjective	/aʊtˈdɔː/	Situated in, designed to be used in, or carried on in the open air.
ceramic noun	/səˈɹæmɪk/	A hard, brittle, inorganic, nonmetallic material, made by firing a material such as clay at a high temperature.
guitar noun	/ɡɪˈtɑɹ/	A stringed musical instrument, of European origin, usually with a fretted fingerboard and six strings, played with the fingers or a plectrum (guitar pick).
technique noun	/tɛkˈniːk/	The practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc.; formal requirements.
adventure noun	/ədˈvɛn.t͡ʃə/	A feeling of desire for new and exciting things.
celebrity noun	/səˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ɾi/	Fame, renown; the state of being famous or talked-about.
involve verb	/ɪnˈvɑlv/	To have (something) as a component or a related part; to comprise, to include.
spare adjective	/spɛɚ/	Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.
chill verb	/tʃɪl/	To lower the temperature of something; to cool.
distress noun	/dɪˈstɹɛs/	Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
bind verb	/ˈbaɪ̯nd/	To tie; to confine by any ligature.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
go out verb	To leave, especially a building.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thrill /θɹɪl/, theatrical /θiˈætɹɪkəl/
Long words — get the stress right: architecture /ˈɑː.kɪˌtɛk.t͡ʃə/, celebrity /səˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ɾi/, theatrical /θiˈætɹɪkəl/

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 hobby, architecture, poetry.

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: Students Discuss their Hobbies and Interests - Learn English Speaking with Video

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