Shadowing Practice: Studying at the State Library Vlog in Australia | English Listening Practice - Learn English Speaking with Video
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173 sentences
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Hi there. Today we're learning English while I study at the State Library in Melbourne.
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I'll take you inside the library, show you where people study, and then we'll send something at the post office together.
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If you're new to learning English and want to see more about life in Australia, maybe you're planning to travel here, are studying here, or will move here for work, this video series will help you understand everyday English while exploring real places around Melbourne and Australia.
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In this series, I've used the 3000 most common English words to help you learn quickly through comprehensible input.
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I make new videos every week, so please subscribe to see them every Sunday.
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Okay, let's go for a walk.
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I'm on my way to the library, and I'm walking up the street on the left shady side of the road.
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In front of the library, there are some big trees.
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Let's walk up these stairs towards the entrance.
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There are pigeons and seagulls on the grass.
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At the top of the stairs, there's a statue of a person on a horse.
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Some people are gathered behind it.
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Behind the statue people are playing chess.
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The chess set is large and mapped out on the ground.
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The pieces are enlarged.
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They're much bigger than normal chess pieces.
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On my left, there are people watching while sitting on a bench.
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It's the man in the red hat's turn.
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He's thinking about his next move.
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He moves the black piece across the board.
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Now it's the other player's turn.
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He moves a white piece.
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Let's head inside the library.
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There are large posters at the front to advertise an exhibition.
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An exhibition is a special display that you can walk through and look at.
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Let's walk through these pillars and go inside.
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Now we're in the main entrance area of the library.
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I think I'll visit the exhibition I saw outside.
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The doors open automatically.
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That means they open by themselves.
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Inside, there's a big heart shape made from glowing lights.
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It's illuminated or ‘lit up’.
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This exhibition is about love letters.
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In the middle of the room there are movie clips being projected.
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If something is projected, it means that the video is shown on a wall or a screen using light.
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Let's have a look at some of the pieces on display.
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Here, there are three letters framed on the wall.
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These letters and illustrations look like fan letters.
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Someone has written to their favourite singer or band.
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Next to it, there's a case filled with colourful beaded bracelets.
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These are friendship bracelets that people shared at the Taylor Swift concert.
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It seems like love letters can take many different forms.
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In this display case, there are rows of vintage cassette tapes.
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Cassette tapes are an older way to listen to music before phones and streaming.
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You might be familiar with them.
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People use them to make mixtapes, like a playlist of songs to give to their loved ones.
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The tapes are rectangular and made of plastic.
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This corner in front of me has lots of different items framed on the wall.
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Here is an envelope.
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When you write a letter, you put it inside an envelope and send it.
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The stamps are in the top corner and the address is written clearly on the front.
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Over here is some beautiful stationery.
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The paper the letters are written on has a delicate and intricate design.
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It looks like it's made from lace.
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These letters look antique.
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They look old and maybe valuable.
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There are some black and white photos of the people who might have sent these letters.
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The paper that the letters are written on has become stained and yellowed with age.
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There are some bright coloured paper clips holding the pages together.
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In this corner, there's a square screen with a video playing.
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Beneath the screen are two pairs of headphones.
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You need to put them on if you want to hear the audio that goes with the video.
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Do you ever send a letter to your friends?
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Mostly people use email or their phone to contact their friends.
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But it might be fun to write or receive a letter in the mail.
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Let's walk out of the exhibition and explore the rest of the library.
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We’ll walk through these scanners and climb the stairs.
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There are stained glass windows here.
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The coloured glass is lit from behind.
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A lady with a pink hat is standing in the entryway to the hall.
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Next to her is a lady in a striped dress.
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They're admiring the room.
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We're in the main hall now.
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There are long wooden desks with green lamps.
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It's very quiet.
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People are studying or working.
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They've brought their own laptops so they can work at the old desks.
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People come here to concentrate.
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Concentrating is when you focus all of your attention on the task that you're doing.
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You don't want to be distracted.
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In the centre of the room there is a podium but it says staff only so we won't go up there.
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This room is very grand.
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There are three levels above this one.
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People are standing up on the first balcony, looking out.
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This room is called “The Dome” because the roof is a big round dome shape.
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When we look up, it looks like an octagon, which is a shape with eight sides.
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The glass panels let in soft natural light.
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There are bookshelves around the edges of the room.
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The shelves are filled with books.
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These books look very old.
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The spines are worn, which means that they look used and aged.
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You're not allowed to eat or drink in here to protect the books and to keep the space clean.
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The seats here are also wooden.
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They have a round shape where you can rest your arms While I'm here, I'm going to sit down at a desk and do some work of my own.
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I've set up my iPad with my keyboard so I can do some work.
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I've actually been working on something special for this channel that I'd like to announce.
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From today, memberships are available on my channel.
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Many of you have asked for PDFs so you can read while you listen.
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Now there's a PDF for every single video on my channel for members.
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When I upload a new video, members can download the PDF, read along and study the new words later.
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I'll also be making two extra videos each month just for members.
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More listening practice videos just like this one that are filled with extra questions and moments for you to pause and answer out loud to practice speaking English.
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I know that many of your find speaking to be your biggest hurdle in learning English.
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So I hope that this can make practicing English easy and fun for you.
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And there will still be a video every Sunday for you to watch for free on my channel.
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If you'd like a little more support with your English, you can join the membership anytime.
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Thanks so much for learning with me.
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Let's explore more of the library.
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I'm going to take the lift upstairs.
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I'll push the button and wait for the lift to arrive.
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In we go. I'm going to the fourth floor.
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So I'll push that button.
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And now we've arrived.
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From here we can look down over the study area.
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The room is a round shape and the rows of desks are lined up pointing into the centre.
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It makes a pattern that's nice to look at.
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Bookshelves are lining the walls on each level.
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The vintage desks and architecture create a calm atmosphere to study in Atmosphere means the feeling of a place.
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You could also say it has a calm vibe which means it has a calm feeling.
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Even though people are using laptops, this library still feels analogue.
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Analogue means not digital, more like pens and paper.
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Maybe this helps people to focus more.
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Do you prefer to study in a library or at home?
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Do you enjoy the quiet, analog vibe of this library?
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On this level, there's another small exhibition about different kinds of books.
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There are some more antique leather bound books here with gold printed designs on the covers.
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Over here are some large books with illustrations of a bird, some spiders, and a flying fox inside.
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Perhaps these books were used to study animals.
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Let's head back downstairs and see more of the library.
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We'll pass through this open room with paintings hung on the walls.
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In the next room, there's another area where you can find books, sit down and study.
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This shelf is displaying a variety of magazines.
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They're in a protective plastic sleeve so they don't get damaged if you want to flick through them while you're here.
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Flicking through something means quickly looking through the pages.
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The desks here are for one person to sit at.
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There are dividers, so each person has privacy.
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Some people prefer to be in their own space to work.
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Let's go back downstairs again.
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This next room looks a little more modern.
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It's wide and open, with small armchairs for people to read in.
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The lady working at the brown desk is a librarian.
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A librarian works in a library.
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They help people find books and keep the library organised.
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All right, I’ve finished my work and exploring the library.
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I'll exit through the front doors.
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Now I need to go to the post office to send something.
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Sometimes the post office is quiet, but sometimes the post office can get very busy and noisy, especially in the middle of the day.
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Right now, there's a queue forming.
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The queue is the line of people who are waiting.
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I'll quickly grab a post bag for one of my items and get in line.
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Today I only need the smallest bag for normal post.
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It costs $0.80.
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The brown packages are made from paper.
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They're generally cheaper, and they're sent with the normal post.
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The packages on the right hand side in the yellow boxes are express post.
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They get delivered faster.
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Now I'm waiting in the queue.
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The staff at the post office are trying to get through everyone as quickly as they can.
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Postal worker: “Hello” Lauren: “Hi, how are you?” Lauren: “I've just got these three to send off.” Postal worker: “Just standard?” Lauren: “Yeah, standard for all of them, thanks.” Postal worker: “No extra cover?” Lauren: “No, no extra cover for those, thank you.” Postal worker: “$37.55 thank you” Lauren: “Thank you.” Lauren: “Um, I need the tracking number for each one, Lauren: are they in order on the receipt?” Postal worker: “Yeah. With their postcodes.” Lauren: “Oh, perfect. Thank you.” Postal worker: “There you go.” Lauren: “Thanks so much. Have a good day.” Thanks for joining me today at the library and at the post office.
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How could you describe quickly looking through the pages of a magazine?
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You flick through it.
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What's the word to describe something that's not digital?
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Analogue. What is the word to describe when you focus all your attention on the task you're doing?
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Concentrating.
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What word means that a place has a certain feeling or mood?
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Atmosphere or vibe.
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Which word means faster delivery for mail?
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express. What do you call something that's very old and maybe valuable?
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Antique. Thanks for joining me today If you'd like more videos like this, the first extra video for members will be available this week.
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Where would you like to go next?
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And which everyday English topics would you like to practice more?
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Please let me know in the comments If this video has helped you, please subscribe for more simple Australian English practice.
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See you next time.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Studying at the State Library Vlog in Australia”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: library, letter, English, Lauren, books. This video has 173 sentences and 1975 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:47. The speaker talks at a steady 125 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.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| analog adjective | /ˈænəlɔɡ/ | In which the value of a data item (such as time) is represented by a continuous(ly) variable physical quantity that can be measured (such as the shadow of a… |
| explore verb | /ɪkˈsploɹ/ | To examine or investigate something systematically. |
| flick noun | /flɪk/ | A short, quick movement, especially a brush, sweep, or flip. |
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| queue noun | /kju/ | A line of people, vehicles or other objects, usually one to be dealt with in sequence (i.e., the one at the front end is dealt with first, the one behind is… |
| antique adjective | /ˌanˈtiːk/ | Having existed in ancient times, descended from antiquity; used especially in reference to Greece and Rome. |
| vibe noun | /vaɪb/ | An atmosphere or aura felt to belong to a person, place or thing. |
| chess noun | /t͡ʃɛs/ | A board game for two players, each beginning with sixteen chess pieces moving according to fixed rules across a chessboard with the objective to checkmate the… |
| concentrate verb | /ˈkɑn.sən.tɹeɪt/ | To bring to, or direct toward, a common center; to unite more closely; to gather into one body, mass, or force. |
| stairs noun | /ˈstɛɹz/ | A contiguous set of steps connecting two floors. |
| bookshelf noun | /ˈbʊkˌʃɛlf/ | A shelf or shelves for storing books for easy visual reference. |
| cassette noun | /kəˈsɛt/ | A small flat case containing magnetic tape on two reels, used to record and play back audio and video material. |
| librarian noun | /laɪˈbɹɛə̯ɹi.ən/ | The keeper, manager of a library. |
| stain noun | /steɪn/ | A discolored spot or area caused by spillage or other contact with certain fluids or substances. |
| bracelet noun | /ˈbɹeɪslət/ | A band or chain worn around the wrist as jewelry/jewellery or an ornament. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| flick through verb | To browse rapidly. | |
| walk through verb | To explain (something) to (someone), step by step. | |
| look through verb | To take a view of the contents of; search in, either with the eyes or by hand. | |
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. | |
| go up verb | To move upwards. | |
| line up verb | /laɪnˈʌp/ | To align; to put in alignment; to put in correct adjustment for smooth running. |
| look out verb | To be vigilant and aware often as an imperative to alert a person to danger. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Let's walk up these stairs towards the entrance.
- Let's head inside the library.
- Do you ever send a letter to your friends?
- What do you call something that's very old and maybe valuable?
- Where would you like to go next?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are gathered · are enlarged · being projected |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has written · has become · They've brought |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who might · octagon, which is · worn, which means |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might be · might have |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 44 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'll, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, beneath /bɪˈniːθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: bookshelf /ˈbʊkˌʃɛlf/, illustration /ˌɪləsˈtɹeɪ̯ʃən/, shelf /ʃɛlf/, stationary /ˈsteɪʃəˌnɛɹi/, shady /ˈʃeɪdi/
- Long words — get the stress right: librarian /laɪˈbɹɛə̯ɹi.ən/, illustration /ˌɪləsˈtɹeɪ̯ʃən/, comprehensible /kɒmpɹəˈhɛnsɪbəl/, illuminate /ɪˈl(j)umɪneɪt/, rectangular /ɹɛkˈtæŋɡjəlɚ/
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 analog, explore, flick.
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.