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Shadowing practice: THE HEAT IS ON - can you feel the heat? Learn English words to express feeling HOT #mrduncanenglish

Listen to the line, then say it out loud
Line 1

Full transcript

  1. Can you see what sort of day it is here?0:01
  2. Today is a hot day.0:05
  3. It is a mid -summer's day.0:07
  4. This seasonal period is when the days are at their longest, and quite often, their hottest.0:09
  5. A hot day can be described in many ways.0:16
  6. It's a scorching day.0:20
  7. It's scorching hot today.0:22
  8. It's a sweltering day.0:25
  9. To swelter is to feel uncomfortably hot.0:27
  10. It's baking hot today.0:31
  11. It's burning hot.0:34
  12. This sort of weather makes me feel all sweaty and sticky.0:36
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  1. If you stay out in the sun too long, you will burn.0:41
  2. Your skin will turn red from the sun's ultraviolet radiation.0:45
  3. Too much exposure to harsh sunlight will literally burn your skin, which can lead to serious health issues later.0:51
  4. Ironically, exposure to UV light is necessary for the projection of vitamin D2 in the human body.1:00
  5. So, a hot day like this can be described as hot, scorching, sweltering, dry, baking.1:08
  6. The extreme heat is overwhelming, oppressive, harsh and unbearable.1:19
  7. Oh my goodness, I'm so thirsty.1:34
  8. I feel parched.1:37
  9. I'm gasping for water.1:40
  10. To refresh yourself by drinking something cold is to quench your thirst.1:43
  11. Your thirst is the need and the drink is what will satisfy that thirst.1:49
  12. We can also use the word thirst to show the desire to do something or to obtain something beneficial.1:55
  13. You can have a thirst for knowledge, a thirst for social interaction.2:03
  14. We can also use the need for food, hunger as an idiom for want and desire.2:09
  15. I hunger for your soft embrace.2:16
  16. I'm hungry for success.2:19
  17. Both hunger and thirst are often feelings that need to be satisfied.2:22
  18. That's better.2:39
  19. There can be no doubting just how hot it is today.2:42
  20. It is so hard to escape the heat.2:46
  21. By the way, the word heat can relate to other things besides temperature.2:49
  22. We can use heat as an idiom for danger or trouble.2:54
  23. Let's wait here until the heat has died down.2:59
  24. To feel the heat means to be aware of possible dangers or an approaching situation that might cause you trouble.3:03
  25. We can say that the heat is on, which means that a tough situation is happening.3:11
  26. Then there is things are really heating up now.3:18
  27. This means that there is tension and maybe a sense of excitement in the air.3:23
  28. To be in hot water means to be in serious trouble.3:30
  29. Then there is a heat, which is around in a contest or competition.3:36
  30. A part of a contest can be called a heat.3:42
  31. Congratulations Mr Duncan, you are through to the next heat.3:46
  32. Ah, this is a much better place to be standing.3:54
  33. If you want to escape the harsh sunshine, then you will need to find a nice shady place in which to hide from those nasty UV rays.3:58
  34. You need to shade yourself from the sun whenever possible.4:08
  35. A shady spot gives you relief from the sunshine and the heat.4:13
  36. The word shady can also mean suspicious or untrustworthy.4:18
  37. We can describe a person we don't trust as being shady.4:23
  38. A shady character is a person who should not be trusted.4:27
  39. A shady deal is an exchange or business deal that is being dishonestly carried out.4:33
  40. There are many ways to keep yourself cool on a hot day.4:46
  41. A quick way of doing this is to use one of these.4:51
  42. This is an electric fan.4:55
  43. A set of blades rotate to produce a flow of refreshing air.4:58
  44. Very nice when you need to feel cooler without making much effort.5:03
  45. A fan can also be something you use to cool yourself off with by waving it whilst holding it in your hand.5:09
  46. Any large flat object can be used as a fan, such as a piece of cardboard or a magazine or even one of Mr Duncan's old flip flops.5:17
  47. On second thoughts, I think I'll stick with the electric fan.5:34
  48. It's much less effort.5:39

Why this Mr Duncan heat lesson is good english listening practice at A2

In this clip the host of English Addict, Mr Duncan, talks straight to camera about how to describe a hot day, moving through one word or phrase at a time rather than telling a story. The recording sits at A2 and runs at 148 words per minute, calmer than most of the catalogue, so each new term gets its own short sentence before he moves on: "It's a scorching day." then "It's a sweltering day." then "It's baking hot today."

That structure is what makes the clip worth practising speaking on. You are not chasing a fast dialogue between two people, you are repeating one clear British voice building a list, which is a forgiving way to start english speaking practice if full conversation clips still feel too quick.

The language in this clip: english shadowing practice for beginners

The value here is vocabulary, not grammar. Mr Duncan stacks near synonyms for heat and then pivots into two idioms built on physical need, so the same short sentence shape keeps returning with a new word dropped in.

  • "It's baking hot today." is line 10, four words, plain stress on baking, a good line to shadow first before the rarer words arrive.
  • "I feel parched." is line 20, only three words, and parched is one of the clip's rarer terms, worth saying on its own a few times before it appears in a longer sentence.
  • Line 37 gives an idiom mid sentence: "the heat is on", which he then glosses himself as a tough situation happening, so you get the colloquial phrase and its plain meaning back to back.

How to work through the clip for british english pronunciation practice

The lesson is already ordered by topic, so work it in the same order rather than jumping around.

  • Start at lines 1 to 4, the setup, and shadow this line by line just to lock in the pace before any new vocabulary shows up.
  • Move to lines 6 to 11, the run of heat synonyms ('scorching', 'sweltering', 'baking', 'burning' as he uses them), and repeat each one right after he says it rather than waiting for the sentence to end.
  • At lines 19 to 22 he switches to thirst: "Oh my goodness, I'm so thirsty." and "I'm gasping for water." are short enough to say back immediately, which is a fair test of your british english pronunciation practice on real connected words rather than isolated vocabulary.
  • Finish on lines 33 to 40, where heat turns idiomatic. Say line 37 in full, "We can say that the heat is on, which means that a tough situation is happening.", slowly once, then at normal speed, since it is the longest sentence in this stretch.
  • Once all four sections sound close to Mr Duncan's rhythm, run the clip through once more without pausing to check the timing holds across the full 60 lines.
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