Shadowing Practice: Three - Learn English Speaking with Video

This video has 8 sentences and 20 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:50. The speaker talks slowly, about 24 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 35% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

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

• tiger /ˈtaɪɡə/ (noun) — Panthera tigris, a large predatory mammal of the cat family, indigenous to Asia.
• lion /ˈlaɪən/ (noun) — A big cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa, India and formerly much of Europe.
• elephant /ˈɛlɪfənt/ (noun) — A large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to Africa and Asia.
• monkey /ˈmʌŋki/ (noun) — A member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails…
• illustrate /ˈɪl.əˌstɹeɪt/ (verb) — To clarify something by giving, or serving as, an example or a comparison.
• panda /ˈpɑndə/ (noun) — A brahmin who acts as the hereditary superintendent of a particular ghat or temple, and is regarded as knowledgeable in matters of genealogy and ritual.
• camel /ˈkæm(ə)l/ (noun) — A mammalian beast of burden, much used in desert areas, of the genus Camelus.
• bear /bɛə/ (verb) — To carry or convey, literally or figuratively.

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 tiger, lion, elephant.