Shadowing-Übung: Spring Book Recommendations 🌱🌸 - Englisch Sprechen Lernen mit Video
Lektion wird erstellt...
1
Hello it's Ruby and today I'm going to be sharing some spring book recommendations with you.
2
These are some wonderful books to read in the spring and
3
which I think have the greatest impact and like emotional weight in the spring.
4
There is something really joyful about reading seasonally but especially in spring because there's so much anticipation in the season.
5
Like today for example it's incredibly misty, we've had a lot of rain yesterday but because of the blossom
6
and because of the kind of daffodils that are blooming and
7
because of the catkins which lengthen so much
8
and the birds are flying everywhere there's like an excitement around this growth
9
and this newness and there are books I think
10
that we can read to really multiply that anticipation and
11
that kind of appreciation for spring and
12
when we read pieces of writing about spring or kind of books
13
that invoke a feeling of spring it lets us be more
14
attentive to the season as it unfolds in front of us
15
which is why I'm really excited to be sharing these recommendations with you.
16
I'm going to start with this one
17
which is quite maybe quite an obvious one excuse the fact
18
that I hand pound this which is why it does not look wonderful complete with these beautiful endpapers.
19
This is Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy.
20
Thomas Hardy is of course famous for his pastoral settings.
21
His novels are set in the countryside.
22
Thomas Hardy lived in the Dorset countryside and because of
23
that pastoral setting his books are just really wonderful to read in the spring.
24
Jude The Obscure is my favourite of the Thomas Hardy novels but Far From the Madding Crowd is my favourite spring one.
25
This is about a woman called Bathsheba who inherits a farm and then runs it as a woman,
26
as a young single woman at that and as you'd expect she runs into a number of problems running the farm,
27
these like small but very very significant problems
28
which like threaten the whole of her livelihood but also of the people
29
that kind of work at the farm that she manages.
30
The main plot is around love and three different suitors which like are all pursuing her.
31
I just really love Bathsheba as a character though.
32
It is a sorrowful book as again is the case with much Thomas Hardy
33
but if you've been wanting to give Thomas Hardy a go this is the time to do it with this specific book.
34
Next here I've got The Beautiful Years by Henry Williamson which I read while I was in Devon last month.
35
This is the first in a four-part series
36
which follows the main character through the whole of his life
37
so this is the ages of seven to nine
38
and even though it's obviously multi-seasonal
39
because like we go through every season of his life in
40
terms of how it's weighted there is much more writing in like the spring
41
and summer sections more than spring there is summer writing in this
42
which kind of reflects the childhood experience of the very long
43
summers where you're away from school the reason though I still
44
recommend it even though maybe this will be better suited under a summer read is
45
because in terms of anticipation this book inspires that.
46
Like I don't really love summer at all, it's my least favorite season but this made me excited for the growth,
47
the abundance, the beauty naturally of summer and spring
48
because it is a transitional state between winter and summer does embody that anticipation and I think this book heightens that.
49
There are just such vivid natural descriptions and Henry Williamson clearly knows a lot about birds,
50
a lot about nature, like the natural world in which he's writing.
51
He was writing from rural North Devon and it's I just love how precise it is.
52
It's not like he's just talking about birds, he's talking about chaffinches but then he's specifically talking about the way that their song sounds and it's so atmospheric,
53
it feels nostalgic.
54
I think it's a wonderful way to appreciate the coming of spring and appreciate the birds as they start to appear.
55
These two books are also kind of bird related.
56
So the first is 12 birds to save your life which I recently finished and loved.
57
It's a story of grief but told through species of birds and so each chapter is about a specific bird.
58
The book is part memoir as Charlie Corbett grieves the death of his mother
59
and it's a story of grief told through these 12 species of birds
60
so every chapter is a different bird like house sparrow,
61
house martin and I also love how each chapter starts with pieces of literature which describe that bird.
62
It's such a hopeful book you learn a lot about birds
63
but it's also filled with such wisdom and it's that's so kind of intimate and personal as you could probably suspect.
64
He talks about his own intimate relationship with each of these birds
65
and specific memories that he has with these birds
66
and then he uses the way that they interact in the world to help find solace in what he's dealing with.
67
This is just- it's such a beautiful book and I can't believe it took me this long to read it.
68
I also read this as I was grieving the loss of somebody and it was very comforting as a book.
69
I just really love and appreciate how it uses these studies of birds
70
and descriptions of birds to focus like outward
71
and like focus on these very tiny things
72
and like the the cycles of nature
73
which return every year the other one is the lost bells um who also wrote the lost words
74
and um this oh my gosh i i love this book it's part art book
75
and then it gives you a poem about each of these birds
76
and it's just so comforting to read um i read this a couple years ago
77
but i've dipped into it since the poems are quite simple
78
but they they read like lullabies or nursery rhymes
79
so for example don't call her a crow or rook
80
or raven for she's a jackdaw gray-headed outlaw fighting the class
81
war dipping down on quick wings to hijack a wedding ring
82
or ransack a knick-knack of course snatch up a gimrak while giving it the guffal.
83
The next one I've got on here and this is actually really difficult to explain why this is a spring book.
84
I wasn't initially going to put it on the list
85
but it kept on coming back to me as like this is a great one for spring um
86
so you're gonna have to just trust me on the links to spring
87
because they are so so so tentative
88
because there aren't any even any links to spring apart from the fact
89
that this book is very hopeful and um it's budding
90
and I think because of that in my head it feels like a book about spring.
91
It's collected letters between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sacreville West
92
and these are love letters and they are so beautiful like just I cannot even tell you how stunning these are.
93
They're so tender and
94
it's amazing to have both sides of the epistolarium because that's like a large problem when it comes to apostolary writing,
95
like letters that remain, is that usually you will have like a lot from one person
96
or all from one person but not from the other person
97
and so the very fact that letters remain from both of them
98
and that both kept the letters is just such a beautiful testament to the way
99
that these letters were important to each of them, like you keep them because they're important to you.
100
And just if you like Virginia Woolf this is fabulous, I think this is my favourite piece of wolf's writing.
101
Next I've got another classic we've got Emma by Jane Austen.
102
In general I feel like spring is the Jane Austen season
103
and it's always the season that I crave reading a bit of Jane Austen.
104
I also caveat I used to say very adamantly that I hated Jane Austen.
105
I'm well aware of this I know that I would say this
106
and I have had to admit and like very sheepishly now
107
that I actually do like Jane Austen it's just
108
that I didn't like Pride and Prejudice which then clouded my perception of whether I liked her.
109
The problem is that I read Pride
110
and Prejudice three times trying to like it and just didn't
111
and I think it's more that I just didn't like Pride and Prejudice.
112
I also then didn't like Persuasion which kind of clouded my head further but I did like Mansfield Park, I loved Sense and Sensibility,
113
Northang Abbey was like okay and I loved Emma
114
and I also I also loved her juvenile writing
115
so I've read most of her corpus now
116
and I do actually really like Jane Austen and
117
so I have to like backtrack on what I said before about not liking her work
118
and actually this spring I'm going to give Pride
119
and Prejudice another go for the fourth time
120
because I haven't read it since I was 16
121
and I think your literary tastes change a lot between being a teenager
122
and an adult so yeah I'm actually going to see
123
if I like it
124
and I will give you a review I might even do a whole dedicated review on Pride
125
and Prejudice and whether I like it.
126
Maybe I'll do a reading vlog of it.
127
Anyway I'm getting distracted.
128
I'd say the two best Jane Austen's to read in the spring are Emma and Sense and Sensibility.
129
Of course I'm biased because they're my two favourite ones.
130
Now Emma was, by Jane Austen's own admission, meant to be a character that you don't like.
131
She was created to be unlikable.
132
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich with a comfortable home
133
and happy disposition seem to unite some of the best blessings of existence
134
and had lived nearly 21 years in this world with very little to distress or vex her.
135
Emma is obsessed with pairing people up
136
and she has a very high opinion of herself
137
and her ability to do this pairing so she's a matchmaker within within this community where she lives.
138
Where does she live actually?
139
Oh it's Highbury of course in Surrey.
140
It's in I think maybe it's clouded by the fact that the film adaptation from 2020 of Emma is,
141
even with the scenes that are set at Christmas and autumn, it feels like a spring film
142
and I think that's maybe also partially why I think of this as a spring-like book
143
but again because things grow quite slowly
144
and things are like blossoming in the same way as the spring blossoms it feels like a spring narrative.
145
This is the most obvious book on the list which is The Secret Garden which is literally about spring, the whole point of this book is about spring,
146
in which Mary Lennox comes from India after her parents die
147
and she is living in this old ancient manor house in Yorkshire and she's very bored,
148
she like doesn't know anybody, she's in the middle of nowhere and
149
she is sent out every day into the gardens
150
and she's just told to amuse herself and
151
while she is exploring the gardens in the depths of winter she finds a garden, the secret garden, locked behind this locked door with these high brick walls
152
and she goes inside she starts to plant things and she
153
slowly as a result of this becomes like a better person and she becomes more agreeable and
154
that's as she like sees the beauty in the natural world and just as spring grows and flourishes
155
Mary also does and it's just it's such a beautiful such a beautiful book
156
and it really makes you value spring
157
because like the book is set over the course of one spring
158
and you see it arriving
159
and it's a really beautiful book to read in early spring as kind of spring is on the precipice about to arrive.
160
I've got two poetry anthologies next I won't talk about these in much depth
161
because I've talked about these to no end on this channel
162
but the two best poets for spring are also my two favorite poets Mary Oliver and Emily Dickinson.
163
Mary Oliver because she often writes about nature in her poetry
164
and it's so hopeful like her poetry is beautifully hopeful
165
and much of it especially her early works focuses on the natural world.
166
Some of her poetry anthologies
167
are more political so American Primitive for example is a more political collection and I personally don't like that one as much.
168
I really like her nature poetry.
169
This is a lovely one for the spring
170
and just again appreciating the natural world which is at the crux of enjoying spring I think.
171
And then the other one is Emily Dickinson.
172
Emily Dickinson is so attentive to the seasons, to flowers, to birds and those images often feature in her poetry,
173
especially her early works, which are are very nature focused
174
and even though like her later works are my favourites of her poems,
175
her early works are still wonderful and her early works are lovely to read in the spring.
176
There is this particular one about, I think it's February, it's called February.
177
Oh also, sorry, this leaf is from her house in Amherst.
178
I took it when I was there and pressed it between the pages of my copy.
179
So her most famous spring poem is maybe Dear March, Come In, which is beautiful.
180
I'm going to read you the first two stanzas of this.
181
Dear March, come in, how glad I am, I looked for you before.
182
Put down your hat, you must have walked, how out of breath you are.
183
Dear March, how are you, and the rest?
184
Did you leave nature well?
185
Oh March, come right upstairs with me, I have so much to tell.
186
I got your letter in the birds, the maples never knew that you were coming.
187
I declare how red their faces grew, but March, forgive me
188
and all those hills you left for me to hew there
189
was no purple suitable you took it all with you." Another of my favorites for spring is Beatrix Potter.
190
I reread the Beatrix Potter stories every single year, not necessarily all of them but they're so comforting and
191
because they're so rooted in the natural world and
192
because she's literally using the animals that she sees
193
and she's using for inspiration uh her house in the lake district
194
and like the views out that she sees
195
and the little details of like the ponds
196
and like all of this is based on her real life um
197
which i realized when i visited her house over the spring
198
and so reading reading her stories just it feels like the embodiment of spring
199
and i feel like i never feel more ready for spring
200
and exciting for spring than when I'd just read one of these and they're
201
so nostalgic oh my gosh like I reread a bit to
202
explore the story for the first time in maybe like 2021 I started reading them every spring
203
and it was so like I got this this wave of nostalgia
204
when I read it because I hadn't read them since I was six
205
and like I just can't recommend going back to these enough even their stories from children like they're still
206
so wise and they're funny and they're clever and they're dark
207
and you forget just how dark they are and the other thing
208
which again I've spoken about a lot on here but I loved this little biography of Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Beatrix Potter by Margaret Lane.
209
There are more famous biographies out there and
210
I'm gonna try- I want to read another of her biographies
211
but this is a very quick one
212
and you can kind of get a sense of her life
213
and a sense of the natural world that she loved
214
so much in the Lake District and the way that even though she lived in London she was enamored with
215
with the lakes and with the natural world of England
216
and it's again just a beautiful one to read in the spring
217
because it makes you appreciative of nature and I think we enjoy spring most when we are appreciative of nature.
218
The penultimate book was I think this was the best book I read in 2024,
219
Ophelia Swam by Kelly Swain which is also almost impossible to find
220
because they only stock it at Blackwell's in Oxford but I think you can order it on Blackwell's online.
221
It's so wonderful like just this book needs so much more attention and like I just it's so good.
222
So it's based on Hamlet as you can probably guess from the title Ophelia.
223
In the story Ophelia doesn't drown and instead she swims downstream and she's taken in by this group of nuns in Godstow.
224
She is enlisted into this nunnery where she learns the botanical craft
225
and in particular she's shown a tremendous amount of kindness by Lady Grace,
226
Sister Grace, who is based on Lady Grace Mildmay who was a real 16th century female botanist
227
and apothecary and I love the fact that it's kind of harkening back to an actual incredible woman from the 16th century.
228
It's so clever there are so many allusions to like Shakespeare
229
and 16th century life
230
and I think the writing is beautiful again there's lots of lots of nature writing in here
231
and because she's learning botany she's so like sensitive to the touch of the flowers
232
and it kind of fits as well with Ophelia
233
because the image of the flowers is very much associated with Ophelia in Hamlet.
234
It goes through several years and so you do get descriptions from several springs
235
and even though the whole book isn't about spring it's the spring parts
236
that for me in my memory at least really shine through.
237
I cannot recommend this book enough and I really hope you're able to get your hands on a copy of this.
238
Then the very final book is more of a pamphlet but it's fantastic and I don't have a copy of it.
239
I keep on meaning to buy a copy
240
and I need to buy a copy but called The Nettle Eater by Tom Heron.
241
I borrowed this from the library at Arvon
242
when I was on a writing course
243
and it's- I read it in a morning
244
and it just- it was unlike and it is unlike anything I've ever read before.
245
It's so strange, like it feels psychedelic.
246
It's basically the story of this man who abandoned civilization
247
and goes to live in the wild for a year and he survives exclusively on nettles.
248
It's not realistic at all, it's not like a realistic narrative and it moves very fast,
249
it's so lyrical, you're never quite sure what's happening but it's just beautiful and again just in terms of connection to nature,
250
connection to the natural world, this showcases that but in the most unique, poetic, beautiful way.
251
I cannot recommend enough if you love like lyrical writing and
252
if you maybe like the grotesque or Tim Burton perhaps you might like this.
253
It's also very witchy, it kind of has a witchy feel to it.
254
I am actually also going to do a shameless self promo with this
255
because people have been asking me to bring this back and I'm going to because it is spring.
256
This is a spring nature journal that I kept
257
in 2023 and I wrote these kind of like daily poems
258
and letters and observations of how the spring was coming
259
and changing and I sold a very limited print run of these in 2023
260
and because lots of people have been asking me about it I'm going to re-release 50 of these.
261
Honestly it makes me so like I'm so honoured and
262
so like grateful that people are actually interested to read this as well.
263
I wasn't going to print it at all at first
264
but I was showing it often in my videos
265
because I'd always be keeping it and I had
266
so many people asking like would you consider printing it as a facsimile
267
and like I've had so many lovely messages from people who did read it
268
so I will leave a link below
269
but the delivery time will be two weeks
270
because I will get them printed in the meantime but I'm sorry self promo done I will not talk about that again.
271
But anyway those are my top spring book recommendations.
272
I hope you were able to walk away with a new book from this list
273
and I hope that you have more than just a productive week.
📺 Gleicher Kanal
✨ Empfohlenes Video
B21
453 Sätze
ULTIMATE BOOK VIDEO: big book haul, September tbr, 5 star reads, & reading journal
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
340 Sätze
Talking About Spring in English | Easy English Podcast
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B21
571 Sätze
SEEKING PERSEPHONE – Part 3 | Can Love Break Down His Walls?
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
263 Sätze
The Woman Who Never Married — and Wrote the Greatest Love Stories Ever Told | Storytime English ✅
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B11
110 Sätze
How to Grow Campanula (Canterbury Bells) for Stunning Spring Blooms
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
270 Sätze
My Top Books of 2025 (so far)
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2462 Sätze
10 Books That Will Get You OBSESSED With Reading
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2145 Sätze
Learn Everyday British English Exploring the British Seaside in Summer 🇬🇧
British AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B295 Sätze
The Secret to Peace: Realizing "This Is Enough."
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
284 Sätze
Why Hamnet is a Masterpiece
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B25
213 Sätze
Autumn in London: A Story About Love and Loss | English Listening
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
Wortschatz und Sprechhinweise zu dieser Lektion
Dieses Video enthält 273 Sätze und 3545 Wörter zum Nachsprechen. Der gesprochene Teil dauert 20:49. Der Sprecher spricht in natürlichem Tempo, etwa 170 Wörter pro Minute, ähnlich wie im Alltagsgespräch. 83 % der Wörter gehören zu den 3.000 häufigsten im Englischen; den Rest solltest du dir vor dem Üben ansehen.
Wichtiger Wortschatz in diesem Video
15 lernenswerte Wörter aus dem Video, mit Aussprache und Bedeutung:
| Wort | Aussprache | Bedeutung |
|---|---|---|
| poetry Substantiv | /ˈpoʊ.ə.tɹi/ | Dichtkunst, Poesie |
| poem Substantiv | /ˈpoʊ.əm/ | Gedicht, Poem |
| anticipation Substantiv | /ænˌtɪs.əˈpeɪ.ʃən/ | Erwartung, Vorausahnung |
| cloud Substantiv | /ˈklaʊ̯d/ | Wolke, Gewölk |
| comfort Substantiv | /ˈkʌm.fət/ | Behaglichkeit, Bequemlichkeit |
| clever Adjektiv | /ˈklɛv.ɚ/ | geschickt |
| recommendation Substantiv | /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/ | Empfehlung, Rekommandation |
| grief Substantiv | /ɡɹiːf/ | Kummer, Gram |
| biography Substantiv | /baɪˈɑɡɹəfi/ | Biografie, Biographie |
| blossom Verb | /ˈblɑ.səm/ | blühen, erblühen |
| narrative Substantiv | /ˈnæɹ.ə.tɪv/ | Erzählung, Geschichte |
| arrive Verb | /əˈɹaɪv/ | ankommen, einlangen |
| explore Verb | /ɪkˈsploɹ/ | erforschen |
| poet Substantiv | /ˈpoʊ.ət/ | Dichter, Dichterin |
| realistic Adjektiv | /ˌɹɪəˈlɪs.tɪk/ | realistisch |
Phrasal Verbs, die du hören wirst
| Wort | Bedeutung |
|---|---|
| put down Verb | runtermachen, runterputzen |
Aussprache, auf die du achten solltest
Der Sprecher verwendet 68 Kurzformen und abgeschwächte Formen, zum Beispiel I'm, I've, they're. Sprich sie in der kurzen Form, so wie du sie hörst.
- Die „th“-Laute: threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/, anthology /ænˈθɑləd͡ʒi/, apothecary /əˈpɑθəˌkɛəɹi/, lengthen /ˈlɛŋθən/
- Die Laute „sh“ und „zh“: anticipation /ænˌtɪs.əˈpeɪ.ʃən/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, inspiration /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, partially /ˈpɑɹʃəli/
- Lange Wörter – auf die Betonung achten: anticipation /ænˌtɪs.əˈpeɪ.ʃən/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, biography /baɪˈɑɡɹəfi/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/
So übst du mit diesem Video
- Höre dir das ganze Video einmal an, ohne zu sprechen, und notiere die Wörter, die du nicht kennst.
- Beginne mit 0,75-facher Geschwindigkeit, sprich Satz für Satz nach und wechsle zur normalen Geschwindigkeit, sobald es leichtfällt.
- Nimm dich auf und vergleiche mit dem Original; achte dabei auf Wörter wie poetry, poem, anticipation.
Grammatik in diesem Video
Die Strukturen, die der Sprecher am häufigsten verwendet, mit den genauen Worten aus dem Video:
| Struktur | Im Video |
|---|---|
| Present Perfect Continuous have/has been + -ing – eine Handlung, die früher begann und noch andauert | you've been wanting · have been asking |
| Passiv be + Partizip Perfekt – wichtig ist, was geschieht, nicht wer es tut | are set · was created · is obsessed |
| Relativsätze who / which + Satz – eine Zusatzinformation über eine Person oder Sache | this which is · list which is · world which is |
| Present Perfect have/has + Partizip Perfekt – eine vergangene Handlung, die jetzt noch wichtig ist | i've dipped · I've read · haven't read |
Was ist die Shadowing-Technik?
Shadowing ist eine wissenschaftlich fundierte Sprachlerntechnik, die ursprünglich für die professionelle Dolmetscherausbildung entwickelt und durch den Polyglotten Dr. Alexander Arguelles populär gemacht wurde. Die Methode ist einfach aber wirkungsvoll: Du hörst englisches Audio von Muttersprachlern und wiederholst es sofort laut — wie ein Schatten, der dem Sprecher mit nur 1–2 Sekunden Verzögerung folgt. Anders als passives Hören oder Grammatikübungen zwingt Shadowing dein Gehirn und deine Mundmuskulatur, gleichzeitig echte Sprachmuster zu verarbeiten und zu reproduzieren. Studien zeigen, dass es Aussprachegenauigkeit, Intonation, Rhythmus, verbundene Sprache, Hörverständnis und Sprechflüssigkeit signifikant verbessert — was es zu einer der effektivsten Methoden für die IELTS Speaking-Vorbereitung und reale englische Kommunikation macht.