Pratique du Shadowing: 'We are tired': Gambians struggle after months of power outages - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo

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Gambia's president, Adama Barrow, called for calm on Tuesday after protests over the country's persistent power outages.
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Residents of the capital, Banjul, and surrounding areas blocked streets and burned tires overnight on Monday and called for Barrow to resign.
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Police used tear gas to disperse the crowds.
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The electricity went off at 7pm when I left my shop.
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I came back to work at 7am and there was still no electricity.
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I'm not sure if it came back during the night.
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It's now 3pm and I'm still waiting.
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The blackouts started in June and have become longer and more frequent as high temperatures drive up demand.
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Authorities have blamed climate change and supply chain disruptions due to the war in Iran.
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Our business is stalling because of the lack of electricity.
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All our fish is getting spoiled and this is our only source of livelihood.
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Our business has perished.
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We're tired of this problem.
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We sometimes go a full day without electricity.
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The power can be out for six or seven hours at a time.
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We don't have ice to keep our chicken meat cool, which can cost as much as 300 delasses.
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We, the women of the Gambia, are tired.
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Barrow, who's running for re-election in December, called the power outages a national security issue.
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He's promised to increase supply by next month and called for people to be patient.

What You'll Learn from This Video

This clip is a great tool to practice real-world conversational skills for discussing challenges and expressing frustration. You’ll learn how to describe ongoing problems (e.g., "The blackouts started in June and have become longer") and share personal impacts ("All our fish is getting spoiled"). It also helps build narrative flow when talking about time-based events, like explaining power outage timelines ("The electricity went off at 7pm... I came back at 7am and there was still no electricity"). These skills are perfect for using the shadowing technique—repeating phrases aloud to mimic rhythm and pronunciation.

Listen For These Sounds

Pay attention to connected speech in the video. Phrases like "We're tired" often link the "r" in "We're" to "tired," making it sound like "We'r-tired." You’ll also hear reductions, such as "I'm not sure if it came back" where "it" is sometimes softened to "ih" or even dropped in fast speech. Notice how "six or seven hours" flows with a slight pause between "six" and "or," but the "or" connects smoothly to "seven." These details are key when using learn English with videos to master natural pronunciation.

Say It Like a Native

To mirror the speakers’ rhythm, focus on stress in emotional statements. In "We are tired," the stress falls on "tired" to emphasize frustration. When talking about costs, like "300 delasses," the number is stressed to highlight the financial impact. Use the shadowing technique by pausing the video and repeating lines immediately—this trains your mouth to move like a native. For extra practice, try a shadowing app or shadowspeak tool to record yourself and compare. Remember, the goal is to match not just words, but the tone and urgency in phrases like "Our business has perished"—this is how shadow speech turns practice into fluency.

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.