Hello everyone and welcome to your shadowing practice.
My name is Claire and I am a native speaker from the United States and I'm an English teacher.
Now, if you're watching this video right as I've published it whether you've been waiting for a new shadowing practice or you've just stumbled across my channel you may have noticed that I haven't posted for a while, and that's because I recently became a mom.
So I've been on maternity leave for the past few months, but I've still been posting some short form videos and I want to get back to posting more regular shadowing practices for you guys.
So I'm going to try my best to keep going with this series, because you guys have been asking for it so much.
So I'm very happy to do that.
And I'm so glad that it's helpful to so many of you.
As always, let me know in the comments what you found useful about this video or what you'd like to see in an upcoming shadowing video.
I do try and read all of your comments and I make notes for myself of what I should include in future shadowing practices.
So for today's shadowing practice, I've taken a couple of suggestions and combined them.
So some people have asked for specific words in English to be included in a shadowing practice, maybe words that they find tricky to pronounce.
They just want to practice it or hear a native speaker pronounce these words correctly and, as i said, i'm from the united states.
So this shadowing practice, as all my shadowing practices, are done with the american english pronunciation because that's my accent.
So if you want to learn the american english pronunciation of things, you're in the right place.
Now, like I said, many of you are regulars here.
You're coming back because you've enjoyed this series so far and you know the deal.
But if you are new here and this is your first shadowing practice, I'll just quickly cover what to expect.
So, first of all, if you don't know, shadowing is speaking with a native speaker, matching their rhythm intonation pronunciation, everything while they speak.
So that you can practice to improve all of these things in your English speaking.
The way I do my videos is I go through the text first slowly.
I have you repeat after me.
So I'll give you time in the video to repeat and then we will shadow the phrases together.
So that means I will say them, and you will say them at the same time as me, or just a few seconds behind me.
And before we do get started, I want to say another huge thank you to those of you who have continued to support my channel and write me well wishes while I've been away on maternity leave.
It does mean so much to me that you guys find what I do helpful because that's my goal here.
Ultimately, I want to help you improve your English speaking skills.
If you want to learn more closely with me and gain exclusive content, head to the link in the description below to check out my online community, where you can join and become a member, or if you want to support my youtube channel.
Of course, one of the easiest ways to do that is to like this video and subscribe to my channel, if you haven't already, but you can also join my youtube channel as a member, and That helps me with things like buying equipment for the videos and, of course, to make it possible for me to help as many of you as I can, mostly for free, here on YouTube.
So if you can afford it, check out the memberships on my channel by clicking the join button below.
So let's begin our shadowing practice, but first some tea.
English made easy with Claire.
Okay so first repeat after me.
I went to the library.
I went to the library.
Because I needed a quiet place to focus.
Because I needed a quiet place to focus.
That was the goal.
That was the goal.
Here we have two requested words, library, library, and place, place.
Let's shadow these sentences together, so you say them with me.
I went to the library because I needed a quiet place to focus.
That was the goal.
Repeat after me.
I sat down, opened my laptop, and felt pretty productive.
I sat down, opened my laptop, and felt pretty productive.
For about two minutes.
For about two minutes.
Then someone started playing a video without headphones.
Then someone started playing a video without headphones.
I politely reminded them about the library's noise policy.
I politely reminded them about the library's noise policy.
In this section, one word that was requested was policy.
Policy.
And you may have noticed that I pronounced the word for in two ways.
So the first time I pronounced it for, and the second time I pronounced it fur.
And in American English, you will hear both, especially in rapid speech.
We'll pronounce this word for.
For about two minutes.
But of course, you can say for about two minutes.
Both are correct.
Okay, let's shadow these sentences together.
I sat down, opened my laptop, and felt pretty productive.
For about two minutes.
Then someone started playing a video without headphones.
I politely reminded them about the library's noise policy.
Repeat.
They put in their headphones and I started studying again.
They put in their headphones and I started studying again.
But then the police showed up.
But then the police showed up.
Apparently someone reported their bag stolen.
Apparently someone reported their bag stolen.
So yet again, I was distracted.
So yet again, I was distracted.
The word that one of you requested here was police.
Police.
So that first vowel sound is a schwa.
We wouldn't really say po-lease, but po-lease.
Police.
Okay, let's say it together.
They put in their headphones and I started studying again.
But then the police showed up.
Apparently, someone reported their bag stolen, so yet again, I was distracted.
I decided maybe the library wasn't the best place to focus today.
I decided maybe the library wasn't the best place to focus today.
So I packed up my things and called it a day.
So I packed up my things and called it a day.
So here in this final section, we have an idiom that is commonly used in English.
And if you don't already know this one, you can have this one in your toolbox for speaking, to call it a day.
And that just means that you stopped doing something for the day.
So if it's the end of your work day and you say to a coworker, I'm going to call it a day, that means I'm done working for the day.
So in this case, I'm done studying.
I packed up my things and called it a day.
All right, guys, so now it's the time in our practice to shadow this entire story with me.
So I'm going to just read through the whole thing without stopping, and you're going to say it with me.
Ready?
I went to the library because I needed a quiet place to focus.
That was the goal.
I sat down, opened my laptop, and felt pretty productive.
For about two minutes.
Then someone started playing a video without headphones.
I politely reminded them about the library's noise policy.
They put in their headphones, and I started studying again, but then the police showed up.
Apparently, someone reported their bag stolen, so yet again, I was distracted.
I decided maybe the library wasn't the best place to focus today.
So I packed up my things and called it a day.
All right, guys, thank you so much for joining me for today's shadowing practice.
Again, let me know in the comments what you'd like to see next, and I will try my best to keep these videos going as regularly as possible.
So again, your support means so much to me and I'll see you in the next one.
Bye for now.