Pratique du Shadowing: Autumn at Blackthorn Cottage 🍂ADVANCED ENGLISH STORY | C1 - C2 | Level 7 - 8 | Reading Practice - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo
Création de la leçon...
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Hello and welcome to Lovely English Stories.
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Thank you for stopping by.
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This story is perfect for upper intermediate to advanced English learners.
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Are you ready?
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Well, let's get started.
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Autumn at Blackthorn Cottage.
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A B2 or C1 and above English story.
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The story is a little different to usual.
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It will include lots of phrasal verbs which I will explain as we go along.
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And then at the end I will read through the story fully without any explanations
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and hopefully the phrasal verbs will make more sense.
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So, let's go!
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By the time October rolled around, which means to have arrived, the little village of Blackthorn had begun to change.
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The green hills that had looked almost impossibly bright during the summer had given way to,
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or been replaced by, shades of copper, gold and deep red.
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Every morning Clara would wake up to, or become aware of, the sound of rain tapping against her bedroom window.
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She had recently taken on, accepted, the responsibility of looking after her grandmother's old cottage,
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which stood at the edge of the village.
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It was a beautiful but demanding place.
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The garden had grown over, meaning to have become covered with uncontrolled plants.
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During the summer, and the gutters needed clearing out,
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which means removing the dirt or unwanted material before the heavier autumn rain arrived.
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One Saturday morning, Clara set about, which means started doing, the work.
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She pulled on, which means to put on, an old jumper and picked up,
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lifted, a pair of gardening gloves and headed outside.
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The cold wind was blowing through, which means moving through, the trees,
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sending leaves whirling around, which means moving quickly in circles, her feet.
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She stopped for a moment to admire them.
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There was something comforting about autumn, despite the way the seasons seemed to close in,
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which means to make the days feel darker and more confined.
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As she cleared away or removed the weeds,
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she came across an old wooden box buried beneath a hedge.
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Curious, she dug it up, which means to remove it from the ground, and she carried it inside.
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The box was locked, but after several minutes, Clara managed to pry it open,
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which means to force it open.
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And inside were dozens of letters, carefully tied together with a faded blue ribbon.
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She leafed through, which means she quickly looked through the first few
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and realised they had been written by her grandfather more than 50 years earlier.
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He had apparently set off,
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or started a journey, for Scotland in the autumn of 1971 and had never told anyone why.
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Clara carried on, she continued, reading late into the evening.
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Outside, the rain came down, which means it fell heavily, and the wind picked up, which means it became stronger.
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She barely noticed.
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The letters revealed a family secret that had been kept back,
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which means withheld or not revealed, for decades.
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Her grandfather had fallen in love with someone in Scotland,
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but circumstances had forced them to break up, end their relationship.
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He had returned to Blackthorne, married Clara's grandmother and settled down,
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which means to have begun living a stable, permanent life.
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The final letter ended abruptly.
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Kara put it off, which means delayed doing it, until the next morning before telling her grandmother.
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She knew it might bring up, which means to cause someone to discuss, painful memories.
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But when she finally showed her the letters, her grandmother simply smiled.
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I wondered when you'd find out, which means to discover the truth, she said.
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Outside, another shower set in, which means to have begun and continue.
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And it was rattling against the windows.
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Clara looked out at the falling leaves and realised that autumn was not simply a season of endings.
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Sometimes it was a season for looking back, which means thinking about the past,
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finding out, discovering something, what had been forgotten,
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and finally moving on to continue with your life.
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Now, I'll read through the story again, but this time I will not stop to explain what the various,
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even, phrasal verbs mean.
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If you have any questions about the story or what any of the vocabulary means, please do comment and we'll get back to you with an answer.
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Are you ready?
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Let's read through it without a break.
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By the time October rolled around, the little village of Blackthorn had begun to change.
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The green hills that had looked almost impossibly bright during the summer had given way to shades of copper,
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gold and deep red.
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Every morning, Clara would wake up to the sound of rain tapping against her bedroom window.
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She had recently taken on the responsibility of looking after her grandmother's old cottage, which stood at the edge of the village.
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It was a beautiful but demanding place.
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The garden had grown over during the summer and the gutters needed clearing out before the heavier autumn rain arrived.
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One Saturday morning, Clara set about the work.
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She pulled on an old jumper, picked up a pair of gardening gloves and headed outside.
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A cold wind was blowing through the trees, sending leaves whirling around her feet.
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She stopped for a moment to admire them.
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There was something comforting about autumn, despite the way the season seemed to close in.
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As she cleared away the weeds, she came across an old wooden box buried beneath a hedge.
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Curious, she dug it up and carried it inside.
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The box was locked, but after several minutes, Clara managed to pry it open.
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Inside were dozens of letters, carefully tied together with a faded blue ribbon.
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She leafed through the first few and realised they had been written by her grandfather more than 50 years earlier.
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He had apparently set off for Scotland in the autumn of 1971 and had never told anyone why.
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Clara carried on reading late into the evening.
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Outside, the rain came down and the wind picked up.
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She barely noticed.
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The letters revealed a family secret that had been kept back for decades.
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Her grandfather had fallen in love with someone in Scotland, but circumstances had forced them to break up.
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He had returned to Blackthorne, married Clara's grandmother and settled down.
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The final letter ended abruptly.
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Kara put it off until the next morning before telling her grandmother.
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She knew it might bring up painful memories.
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But when she finally showed her the letters, her grandmother simply smiled.
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I wondered when you find out, she said.
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Outside, another shower set in, rattling against the windows.
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Clara looked out at the falling leaves and realised that autumn was not simply a season of endings.
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Sometimes it was a season for looking back, finding out what had been forgotten, and finally moving on.
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Now please do tell us if you would like a part two of this story,
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as we feel there's a lot more to discover about Clara's grandfather's past.
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Comment below and tell us.
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We hope you enjoyed this slightly different phrasal verb lovely English story.
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Thank you for stopping by.
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Don't forget to like, subscribe and share.
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And if you'd like to get productive, check out our Language Learning Productivity Packs on Etsy.
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But don't forget to use code YouTube10 for 10% off.
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We are going to put together another pack which is based on this story, which will have the phrasal verbs and various activities included.
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So keep checking back for that and see you soon.
À propos de cette leçon
Vous vous entraînez en anglais avec "Autumn at Blackthorn Cottage 🍂ADVANCED ENGLISH STORY | C1 - C2 | Level 7 - 8 | Reading Practice" en utilisant la technique du Shadowing.
Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?
Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.