Shadowing Practice: A2 English Listening Practice - Sports - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Hey everybody, welcome to this A2 English Listening Practice video.
97 sentences
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Hey everybody, welcome to this A2 English Listening Practice video.
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You can use this video to train your listening and comprehension as I speak.
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So today, I'm going to talk about sports.
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This is a topic that some of you might really like,
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and some of you might not like it at all.
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I've always been an athletic person, so I like sports.
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When I was young, I played a ton of sports.
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I tried playing almost all of the major sports during my childhood.
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One of the first sports I played was t-ball.
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You might not have heard of this sport before because it's only for small children.
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I played t-ball when I was like four or five years old.
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It's like baseball, but easier and simpler.
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After t-ball, I started playing soccer.
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In the US, many children play soccer,
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but not many adults play soccer.
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Soccer isn't as popular in the US as it is in other countries.
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I also played baseball, tennis,
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and basketball when I was young.
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Out of all these sports,
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my favorite sport was definitely basketball.
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I continued playing basketball until I was 17, and then I stopped.
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I was pretty tall when I was young,
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so I had an advantage when I played basketball.
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The other kids were shorter than me.
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I was the tallest person on my middle school team.
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This means that I could score pretty easily.
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But when I was in high school,
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the other kids grew, and then I wasn't much taller than them.
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So, I couldn't score easily anymore.
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Maybe that's why I quit basketball.
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I played tennis a lot when I was young too.
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My whole family really likes tennis,
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so my parents made me play when I was young.
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I don't think I liked it that much when I started,
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but later I began to like it more.
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I was actually pretty good.
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I took many lessons and played in some different tennis tournaments.
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But I quit tennis because I was more focused on basketball.
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Also, when When I was 16,
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I wanted to play football, American football.
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You might not know much about American football,
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but it's probably the most popular sport for men in the US.
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Well, I also really liked football,
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and I wanted to play on my high school team.
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I trained with them for some months,
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but I wasn't that serious about it.
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The team practiced a lot,
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like every day, and I couldn't do that.
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So in the end, I didn't play.
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After high school, I started playing golf.
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Golf is one of the funnest sports in my opinion.
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It's super hard, maybe the hardest sport of all,
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but that's what makes it so addicting.
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You feel really proud when you hit a good shot because you know how difficult it is to do that.
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It's also really frustrating when you mess up,
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so sometimes golf is not fun.
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But when you have a good day on the course,
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there's nothing like it.
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It's so addicting.
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Nowadays, I don't really play any sports anymore.
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I honestly don't have a lot of time to play sports,
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and I don't have the same motivation that I had when I was young.
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Now I'm more motivated to do other things,
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but I still enjoy playing sports from time to time.
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Now let's talk about watching sports.
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Some people prefer watching sports rather than playing them.
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I used to love watching sports.
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I was probably a little too obsessed.
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My favorite football team when I was younger was the Seattle Seahawks,
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and I watched every one of their games.
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I would get really excited when they made it to the playoffs,
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and I celebrated like crazy when they won the Super Bowl.
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But I think I spent too much time and energy being a football fan.
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Nowadays I don't really watch football anymore.
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I was also a big LA Lakers fan when I was younger.
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I was lucky because I got to see them win the championship five times when I was a kid.
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I used to dream of playing for the Lakers when I got older.
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These days, the only sport I watch is soccer.
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I think I started getting into soccer when I was an adult.
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Like I said before, I played when I was a kid,
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but I always preferred other sports.
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But as an adult, soccer is definitely my favorite sport.
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Besides the normal sports, I've also done some extreme sports like skateboarding and snowboarding.
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I used to skateboard a lot when I was in high school,
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and I also filmed some skate videos with my friends.
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I would say that I was never really good, though.
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I always liked watching other people do tricks that I couldn't do.
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As for snowboarding, I've only gone three times,
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but I found it really fun.
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The first time was not good because I fell down dozens of times,
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but the second and third time were much better.
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Once I started to understand how to move correctly, it became fun.
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I can't wait to go snowboarding again.
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Okay, that's all for today.
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Leave a comment and tell me what your favorite sport is.
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I'll see you next video.
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Thank you.

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Why practice speaking with this video?

In this A2 English listening practice video about sports, learners can immerse themselves in a relatable context that enhances both listening and speaking skills. By engaging with the speaker’s personal experiences, learners not only build vocabulary related to sports but also understand how to share their own experiences effectively. This method, often referred to as shadow speech, allows students to mimic the intonation, rhythm, and pronunciation of the speaker, which is crucial for mastering conversational English. Using a shadowing site or a shadowing app can further amplify this practice, enabling learners to repeat phrases and sentences in real-time, thus fostering greater fluency and confidence in speaking.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

The speaker utilizes several key structures that can be beneficial for learners. Here are some grammatical points to notice:

  • Past Tense Usage: The speaker shares experiences from their childhood using past tense forms, such as "I played" and "I was." This helps learners understand how to narrate past events effectively.
  • Comparative Forms: Phrases like “taller than” teach learners how to describe relative heights or abilities, which is a valuable skill in casual conversations.
  • Conditional Statements: The speaker mentions, “if I messed up,” offering a clear example of how to express hypothetical situations in English.
  • Opinions and Preferences: Expressions like “I think” and “I like” provide learners with structures to share their opinions, essential for engaging discussions.

Common Pronunciation Traps

While focusing on listening and speaking skills, it's essential to pay attention to certain pronunciation challenges that might arise from this video:

  • Sport Names: Names of sports like "soccer," “baseball,” or “tennis” can have varying pronunciations based on accent and region. Practice saying these names clearly to improve recognition.
  • Compound Words: Phrases such as "American football" might sound tricky for non-native speakers. Notice how the speaker blends the words together and practice mimicking this natural flow.
  • Word Stress: Words like “basketball” have a specific rhythm; learners should focus on stressing the correct syllable to enhance clarity.

Practicing with this video not only helps with vocabulary related to sports but also offers a comprehensive technique for improving English speaking skills through shadowing. Whether with a dedicated shadowing app or simply by replaying the video, the more you practice, the more confident you will become in your English-speaking abilities.

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.