Shadowing Practice: THINK and SPEAK in English: your vacation - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
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Can you think and speak in English about your daily life? Let's talk about it.
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If you watch English movies and TV shows, you've probably heard people ask the question, "Hey, how was your vacation?" but have you ever asked this question to yourself? Well, if not, that changes today. In this lesson, you will learn 19 common, daily life expressions that you can use to talk about your vacation. I'll be telling you about my summer vacation and I'll use these expressions so I hope you'll be able to use them too. Well, like always I have created the free PDF worksheet for today's lesson with all of these new words, sample sentences, definitions, and you can answer Vanessa's Challenge Question at the bottom of the worksheet. You can download this free PDF with the link in the description. All right, let's get started by talking about my summer vacation, and I hope it will apply to you as well. My family went on a four hour road trip to West Virginia to meet up with Dan's side of the family. Unfortunately, Dan's brother got bronchitis, so he couldn't come. A road trip is when you drive a long distance, and usually, the journey is also important. These are common trips in the U.S., maybe because the U.S. is so big. Let's take a look at another sample sentence.
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Some of my favorite memories from childhood vacations are taking road trips across the country. You also heard me use the phrase "to meet up with", this is used when you are getting together with someone who you already know. Let's take a look at this sentence.
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We made plans to meet up with our friends while we were traveling in Spain. All right, let's continue with my summer vacation story. We rented a cabin in the woods that also had a hot tub or Jacuzzi that my kids loved. The word rent is commonly used for vacations. You might rent an Airbnb, you might rent a car, or maybe you could say, "We rented an RV so that we could take a road trip around the U.S." All right, let's continue. We went hiking and rock climbing, we made a bonfire, and we ate amazing food, including a five course wine tasting that Dan's parents put on. That was amazing. On our vacation, we did three common activities that we do outdoors on vacation. We went hiking, we went rock climbing, and we had a bonfire. I'm curious if having a bonfire is common in your country. I know sometimes this is really common, but sometimes it's almost unbelievable, especially if you live in a big city.
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But personally, I love having a bonfire, especially because I like to eat marshmallows.
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All right, let's continue with my story. Because it was the summertime and we were in the woods, we made sure that everyone wore bug spray and sunblock because nothing can ruin a vacation faster than lots of bug bites and getting a sunburn.
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I don't know if this is true in your country, but where I live, there are a lot of mosquitoes so we have to wear bug spray often. And what happens if you don't wear bug spray? You get a bug bite.
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We also have to wear sunblock. Sometimes people call this sunscreen. What happens if you don't wear sunscreen? Well, you get a sunburn. Not good. Let's go on with my story.
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Well, we were having so much fun in West Virginia that we decided to extend our vacation and drive four hours further north to Dan's sister's house for five more days. And thankfully, our generous neighbor said that she could watch our cats, our chickens, and our house for a little bit longer.
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Let's take a look at this word, to watch. Yes, we can use to watch for, "I watch TV," but it's also often used for taking care of something. "I watched two kids over the summer." Okay, that means you were a babysitter or a nanny over the summer, you took care of those two kids.
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So we could also say, "Could you watch my house while I'm gone next week?" That means, "Could you take care of my house while I'm gone next week?" All right, let's continue.
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In Pittsburgh, we hung out a lot together, we went to the zoo. And you know what? I got stuck in the elevator at the zoo for 20 minutes. It was a little bit scary.
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This is a lovely phrasal verb that you can use at any time in your life. To hang out with someone is simply to spend casual time together. "Hey, you want to hang out?" "Oh, it was great hanging out last week." Great phrasal verb to use. What about this one? To get stuck. This could be used physically. "I got stuck in the elevator." "He got stuck in traffic." But we can also use this mentally if you are speaking in English and you just can't remember the words that you're trying to say, you might say, "Ugh, I just got stuck and I can't remember the next word." You're not physically stuck, but your brain will not go to the correct word. So I hope this lesson will help you to find more words in your vocabulary so you can speak exactly the way that you would like.
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All right, let's continue my story. During our trip, my sister-in-law found out the gender of her third baby. It was quite a surprise, and it was so fun to celebrate with her.
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This is another phrasal verb, to find out something means that you are learning a new piece of information. Let's take a look at the sample sentence. I found out about the surprise party because I heard them talking on the phone. Oops. All right, let's continue with my story.
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During the week, we rented a private karaoke room for Dan's sister's birthday, and there were about 20 people there. Dan and his friend sang an improvised Happy Birthday song, and it was hilarious and quite a crowd pleaser. This word, a crowd pleaser, means that everyone loves it. You might say this. "I went to the circus and I saw a woman shoot flaming arrows from her bow with her feet. It was a crowd pleaser. It was incredible." All right, let's keep going.
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Then we went to our friend's wedding, which was actually at her mom's house, and it was perfect. This was my kid's first wedding, and I think it was the best wedding they could have gone to. The ceremony was blessedly short. They had homemade pizza made for each person and they had a blast dancing. This is a lovely expression, to have a blast, and it just means that you're having so much fun. You might say, "We went to the beach last week and you wouldn't believe it. We had a blast just staying in our beach house, laughing and playing games. We only went to the beach two days." I hope that you have a blast on your vacation. All right, let's keep going. Something amazing happened at that wedding.
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Our friend, the bride, hired a silhouette artist to cut a silhouette for each of the guests.
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It was an amazing souvenir. I'll show it to you here. This is really something that I'll treasure forever. Can you believe she hand-cut that by just looking at us in about 10 seconds? Incredible.
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This word, a silhouette, is a fun one. It usually means the outline of something. So you might say, "Before I got glasses, I could only see the silhouette of the trees. And then when I got glasses, I could see the leaves. Amazing." Have you ever been traveling and gotten a souvenir for my son? You know what he loves to get as a souvenir? A rock. Wherever we go, it might be a rock from a parking lot, it might be a rock from a creek. His favorite souvenirs are rocks.
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All right, let's keep going. In both West Virginia and Pittsburgh, we had so much fun bonding and just spending quality time together.
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Both of these words, to bond with someone and to spend quality time with someone, mean that you are deepening your relationship with someone else. Let's take a look at this sentence. The COVID-19 pandemic was a really hard time, but my family got to spend a lot of quality time together, and in the end, we really bonded during that tough time. All right, let's continue and go to the end of my vacation story. Finally, after our eight hour trip home, which ended up being something like 11 hours total, we made it home and it was time to get back to the real world. This phrase, to get back to the real world, is one we often use at the end of vacation, you've almost been living in a fantasy world.
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Maybe you've been at the beach, maybe you went to another country, and then when you get home, boom, the real world hits. So you might say, "Oh, I'm not ready to get back to the real world." Or on the other hand, you might say, "You know what? I'm kind of ready to get back to the real world.
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This vacation was great, but it was long enough." So I want to know for you, what was your summer vacation? Have you had your summer vacation yet? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet for today's lesson with all of these wonderful daily life expressions, definitions, sample sentences, my story about my vacation, how you can use them, and of course, you can answer Vanessa's Challenge Question at the bottom of the PDF worksheet. There's a link in the description and you can download that now.
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Well, thanks so much for learning English with me and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. The next step is to download the free PDF worksheet for this lesson. With this free PDF, you will master today's lesson and never forget what you have learned. You can be a confident English speaker.
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Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “THINK and SPEAK in English: your vacation”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: vacation, word, lesson, trip, continue. This video has 27 sentences and 1750 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:02. The speaker talks at a natural 174 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 12 of its 27 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| worksheet noun | A sheet of paper or computerized document on which problems are worked out or solved and the answers are recorded. | |
| bonfire noun | /ˈbɑnˌfaɪɚ/ | A large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal. |
| silhouette noun | /ˌsɪluˈɛt/ | An artistic depiction, often of a person's profile, in the form of an outline without any other visual details, similar to a shadow, made by cutting a piece of… |
| souvenir noun | /ˈsu.vəˌnɪɹ/ | An item of sentimental value, that is given or kept to remember an event or location. |
| blast noun | /blæst/ | A violent gust of wind (in windy weather) or apparent wind (around a moving vehicle). |
| phrasal adjective | /ˈfɹeɪzəl/ | Relating to, or used in the manner of, a phrase. |
| pleaser noun | Someone or something which pleases. | |
| verb noun | /vɝb/ | A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being. |
| spray noun | /spɹeɪ/ | A fine, gentle, dispersed mist of liquid. |
| sunblock noun | A sunscreen with a high sun protection factor (SPF). | |
| sunburn noun | /ˈsʌnˌbɝn/ | A burn on the skin caused by excess exposure to the sun's rays. |
| sunscreen noun | A topical substance formulated to protect the skin from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation by absorbing, reflecting or scattering ultraviolet rays. | |
| hike noun | /haɪk/ | A long walk, usually for pleasure or exercise. |
| elevator noun | /ˈɛləˌveɪtɚ/ | Anything that raises or uplifts. |
| climb verb | /ˈklaɪ̯m/ | To traverse a slope or contour, either upwards (ascending) or downwards (descending). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Let's take a look at another sample sentence.
- Let's take a look at this sentence.
- All right, let's continue with my summer vacation story.
- What happens if you don't wear sunscreen?
- Have you had your summer vacation yet?
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 | you've probably heard · you've been · have learned |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | someone who you · wedding, which was |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might rent · might say |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | were traveling · were having |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 27 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: marshmallow /ˈmɑɹʃˌmɛl.oʊ/, treasure /ˈtɹɛʒəɹ/, casual /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/
- Long words — get the stress right: elevator /ˈɛləˌveɪtɚ/, karaoke /ˈkæ.ɹiˌəʊ.ki/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, unbelievable /ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩/, hilarious /hɪˈlɛə.ɹi.əs/
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 worksheet, bonfire, silhouette.
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.