Shadowing Practice: Barack Obama's speech to graduates - Learn English Speaking with Video

This video has 5 sentences and 59 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:24. The speaker talks at a steady 148 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

13 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

• overcome /ˌəʊ.vəˈkʌm/ (verb) — To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of.
• earn /ɝn/ (verb) — To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.
• suffer /ˈsʌfɚ/ (verb) — To undergo hardship.
• discrimination /dɪskɹɪmɪˈneɪʃən/ (noun) — Discernment, the act of discriminating, discerning, distinguishing, noting or perceiving differences between things, with the intent to understand rightly and…
• pale /peɪl/ (adjective) — Light in color.
• endure /ɪnˈd͡ʒʊə(ɹ)/ (verb) — To continue or carry on, despite obstacles or hardships; to persist.
• hardship /ˈhɑɹdˌʃɪp/ (noun) — Difficulty or trouble; hard times.
• upbringing /ˈʌpˌbrɪŋɪŋ/ (noun) — The traits acquired during one's childhood training
• comparison /kəmˈpæɹ.ɪ.sən/ (noun) — The act of comparing or the state or process of being compared.
• nobody /ˈnoʊ.bə.di/ (noun) — A person dismissed as unimportant.
• previous /ˈpɹi.vi.əs/ (adjective) — Prior; occurring before something else, either in time or order.
• generation /ˌd͡ʒɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/ (noun) — The act of creating something or bringing something into being; production, creation.
• tough /tʌf/ (adjective) — Of a material, strong and resilient; sturdy.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

• go through (verb) — To travel from one end of something to the other.

Pronunciation to watch

• The “sh” and “zh” sounds: discrimination /dɪskɹɪmɪˈneɪʃən/, hardship /ˈhɑɹdˌʃɪp/, generation /ˌd͡ʒɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/
• Long words — get the stress right: discrimination /dɪskɹɪmɪˈneɪʃən/, comparison /kəmˈpæɹ.ɪ.sən/, generation /ˌd͡ʒɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/

How to practise with this video

1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like overcome, earn, suffer.

דקדוק בסרטון הזה

המבנים שהדובר משתמש בהם הכי הרבה, עם המילים המדויקות מהסרטון: