Shadowing Practice: Talking About Your Hometown - Spoken English Lesson - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hi, I'm Gina. Welcome to Oxford Online English!
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Where do you live? Do you live in a small town, a big city, or a remote village?
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What’s it like?
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In this lesson, you can learn how to describe your hometown in English.
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Let’s start with some basic English vocabulary You can use to talk about your hometown.
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Part one: introducing your hometown.
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Let’s start with a simple sentence.
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"I live in a ________." What could you say? You could say something like: "I live in a city"; "I live in a town"; "I live in a village." That’s a good start, but it’s very basic. Let’s add a bit more detail.
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What’s it called? How big is it?
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"I live in Paris. It’s the capital city"; "I live in Shanghai. It’s a huge city"; "I live in a small town. It’s called Banbury"; "I live in Manarola, which is a tiny village by the sea." Better! You should always try to add more details when you speak.
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What about you? Where do you live? Can you make one or two sentences like this?
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Pause the video and practice!
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Okay, let’s move on. We need to make ouranswers more detailed and interesting.
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Part two: adding background and details.
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Think about these questions: What’s your hometown famous for? Can you think of some words you could use to describe your hometown?
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How long have you lived there?
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Add these ideas to your answer to make it longer and more detailed. For example: "I live in Paris, the capital city. It’s famous for its landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral or the Louvre. It’s also well-known for its food, of course!" "I live in Shanghai. It’s a huge, bustling, international city.
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People from all over the world live and work there." "I live in a small town called Banbury. I’ve been living there for about five years, since I finished university.
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It’s a pretty sleepy place, to be honest." Let’s look at some useful vocabulary from these examples: Which you can use when you speak.
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We said: Paris is famous for its landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower.
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Landmarks are famous places or buildings, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Sydney Opera House or Christ the Redeemer in Rio.
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Does your hometown have any famous landmarks? What are they called in English?
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Next, we said: "Shanghai is a bustling city." Do you know what this means?
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It means there’s a lot of activity.
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There are lots of people, lots of traffic, lots of life and energy.
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Is your city bustling or sleepy? If a town is sleepy there’s not much activity and things are quiet.
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What about your hometown. Look at our questions again: What’s your hometown famous for? Can you think of some words you could use to describe your hometown?
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How long have you lived there?
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What could you say about your hometown? Pause the video and try to make 2-3 sentences.
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Okay? Let’s look at our next point.
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Part three: Saying what you like about your hometown.
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What’s good about your hometown? What do you like most about it?
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Different people like different things in a city or town.
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Let’s look at some example sentences which express positive feelings: "I love living in Paris. It’s got such a rich culture and there’s always something interesting going on." "Shanghai’s a great place to live. It’s a real 24-hour city and you can meet people from all over the world." "Living in Banbury suits me. It’s a quiet place and it’s small enough that you can get to know your neighbours and have a sense of community." What’s important for you?
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Do you want to live somewhere with a rich culture and a sense of history, or do you prefer more modern, international cities?
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Would you rather live somewhere larger and more energetic, or somewhere smaller and more peaceful?
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Think about these ideas. You’ll need them in a minute!
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Let’s look at some useful language from our examples: "I love living in _______"; "_______’s a great place to live"; "Living in _______ suits me." Of course, you can change these to say what you want to: "I quite like living in _______"; "I really like living in ________"; "I suppose I don’t mind living in ________." We also saw some useful phrases in our examples: "It’s got such a rich culture"; "There’s always something interesting going on"; "It’s a real 24-hour city"; "You can meet people from all over the world"; "It’s small enough that you can get to know your neighbours" and have a sense of community What does that last phrase mean?
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If you have a sense of community, it means people know their neighbours and feel like they belong to a wider community.
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Smaller towns and villages often have a better sense of community, perhaps because people have more time to talk to each other and do things together.
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What about your hometown? Could you use any of these phrases to describe where you live?
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Next, what if you don’t like something about your hometown?
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Part four: saying what you dislike.
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Let’s look at some examples which express negative feelings: "Paris is great, but the cost of living is really high. That can be quite stressful because you’re always thinking about money and how to make ends meet." "Shanghai’s an exciting place, but it’s really crowded and it can be exhausting to live there.
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Air quality can be an issue, particularly in the summer." "Banbury’s nice, but sometimes I find it a bit boring.
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There’s not much nightlife and sometimes it feels a bit cut off from the wider world." When talking about things you don’t like about your hometown.
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You can use adjectives like, 'stressful', 'crowded', 'boring'.
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You can make your answer more interesting by using phrases.
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We saw some useful ones in our examples: "The cost of living is really high"; " You’re always thinking about how to make ends meet." Meaning: you’re always thinking about how to pay for your basic living costs.
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"It can be exhausting to live there"; "Air quality can be an issue"; " There’s not much nightlife"; " It feels a bit cut off from the wider world." Meaning: you feel like you’re far away from people, culture and activity.
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Could you use any of these phrases to describe your hometown?
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Remember that you can also change the phrases to fit your ideas. For example: "Traffic can be an issue"; "There’s not much for young people to do"; "It can be very stressful to live here." Okay, what about you? Try to make 3-4 sentences. Say what you like and dislike about your hometown.
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Use the key words and phrases from parts 3 and 4.
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Go on, pause the video and practice!
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Okay? We have one more thing to do: Part five: describing how it’s changed over time.
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What was your hometown like ten, twenty or fifty years ago?
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How has it changed?
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How has it changed over time?
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Some places change very fast; other places never seem to change at all!
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Talking about changes can add interesting and useful information to your description.
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Let’s look: "Paris has changed a lot in the last twenty years.
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It’s much more international and much more expensive than it used to be.
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However, the soul of the city is still there.
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Paris will always be Paris!" "Shanghai is almost unrecognisable compared to twenty or thirty years ago.
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The city has expanded so much, both physically and economically.
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It’s amazing when you see old photos of the city; things are so different now!" "Banbury hasn’t changed much as a place in the last twenty years, but the mix of people is a bit different nowadays.
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The population used to be older and mostly English, whereas now there are more young people living here, including many people from other parts of Europe." Again, these examples contain a lot of useful language you can use to talk about your hometown.
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For example: "________ has changed a lot in the last twenty years"; "________ is almost unrecognisable compared to twenty years ago" ; ________ hasn’t changed much as a place in the last twenty years." Which of these sentences is true for your hometown? Can you add details to explain why?
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For example: "It’s much more ________ than it used to be"; "The city has ________ so much"; " The________ is a bit different nowadays." Now, you’ve seen a lot of useful language you can use to talk about your hometown.
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Let’s put everything together and practice making a longer answer.
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Part six: review.
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Do you remember all the points we talked about? We covered: Introducing your hometown, adding background and details, talking about what you like or dislike about it, talking about how it’s changed over time.
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Follow these points and you can make a long, detailed answer to describe your hometown.
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For example: "I live in St Petersburg.
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It’s the second largest city in Russia, and it’s a beautiful place to live.
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I’ve lived here all my life and I can’t imagine living anywhere else!
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It has such a rich culture, I think partly because the city’s history is a mix of European and Russian influences.
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I think that’s why I like it here—it’s a unique place.
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Traffic can be an issue in the city centre, but public transport is very good.
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The city hasn’t changed much in the last twenty years, although there are certainly more and more tourists these days!" Could you make an answer like this?
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Let’s do one more example first.
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I’ll tell you about my hometown: "I’m from Denver, the capital of Colorado.
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It’s near the Rocky Mountains, so the surrounding area is quite beautiful.
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I’ve been living here for about three years.
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I really like Denver because it’s a young city with lots of energy, but if you need a break it’s easy to drive to the mountains and find a quiet place to relax.
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The only real disadvantage is that winter can be seriously cold!
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Denver’s changed quite a lot in the last twenty years Many people are moving here to work.
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Unfortunately, the cost of living has also gone up quite a lot." Okay, now it’s definitely your turn! Talk about your hometown. Make a longer answer like these ones.
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If you want, you can post your answer in the video comments. We’ll give you feedback on your English.
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That’s the end of the lesson. I hope you learned something useful!
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If you want to see more of our free English lessons, check out our website: Oxford Online English dot com.
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Thanks for watching, and see you next time!
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Context & Background
In this spoken English lesson, Gina helps learners describe their hometowns effectively. The video focuses on expanding basic responses into more detailed descriptions by incorporating specific vocabulary and engaging questions. This lesson provides essential phrases and examples to enhance learners' conversational skills, focusing on essential aspects of their hometowns, including size, characteristics, and what they like or dislike about them. This lesson is valuable not only for casual conversations but also particularly useful for IELTS speaking practice where detailed descriptions and personal opinions are often required.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
Here are five phrases extracted from the transcript to help you communicate about your hometown:
- I live in a ________. (e.g., city, town, village)
- It’s famous for its landmarks such as...
- It’s a bustling/sleepy place.
- I love living in _______; it’s got such a rich culture.
- Sometimes I find it a bit boring because...
Practicing these phrases will enable you to express yourself better when discussing your hometown, while also enhancing your vocabulary for a variety of contexts. Learning to use expressions effectively can significantly improve your English pronunciation.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To tackle the content of this video and improve your English speaking skills, follow this step-by-step shadowing guide:
- Watch the video first: Familiarize yourself with the content and context. Understand how Gina introduces the topic and engages the audience.
- Listen and repeat: Use a shadowing technique—play a segment of the video, pause, and then repeat what you heard. This method can help you improve your fluency and speech patterns.
- Practice making personalized sentences: Utilize the structures provided in the video. For example, try to create sentences about your hometown by filling in the blanks with details relevant to your life.
- Develop your ideas: Think about what defines your hometown, and how it makes you feel. Use the example phrases to express both likes and dislikes about your local area.
- Record yourself: After shadowing, record your answers. Listen to the playback to assess your pronunciation and fluency. This will help you identify areas that need improvement.
Utilizing a shadowing site can also record your practice sessions and provide feedback. Repeated practice will not only enhance your vocabulary but help you become a more confident speaker in any conversational setting. By focusing on these techniques, you’ll be well-equipped to engage in any discussion about your hometown and improve your overall speaking abilities.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to be |
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | I've been living |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has changed · has expanded · hasn't changed |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | love living · practice making |
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.