Shadowing Practice: 07 Past Tenses 02 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Recording 4 Good morning, and welcome to today's talk on famous composers.
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Today we're going to look at the remarkable career of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
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Mozart was born in Salzburg on January 27, 1756, the last of seven children.
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However, when Mozart was born, five of his siblings had already died in infancy or early childhood.
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His only surviving sibling was his sister, Nannerl, who was five years older.
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Mozart's father, Leopold, was a composer, and his grandfather had also been a musician.
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Times were hard, and the family had been struggling for some time.
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When she was eight, Nannerl began keyboard lessons with her father.
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Mozart's sister was extremely gifted at the keyboard, and she had been making excellent progress when her brother,
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then aged three, demanded to be taught as well.
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In just thirty minutes, Mozart mastered the piece of music, which his father had copied into Nannerl's notebook.
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Wolfgang's achievement was followed in rapid succession by others.
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By the time he was six, the little boy had written a composition of his own into the notebook,
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and by age seven he had taught himself how to play the violin without ever having received a lesson.
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When Leopold Mozart saw how extraordinary his son was,
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he decided not to waste Wolfgang's precocious talents and took him on a tour across Europe with his sister.
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At Linz, Wolfgang gave his first public concert.
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Among the audience were some important statesmen who were astonished
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and hurried on to Vienna to spread sensational reports of what they had seen.
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By the time he was seventeen, Mozart's reputation had already begun to spread through Europe, and his family were richer than they had ever been before.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 20 sentences and 281 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:05. The speaker talks at a steady 135 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| keyboard noun | /ˈki.bɔɹd/ | A set of keys laid out in a gridlike pattern, used for typing on a typewriter, computer, etc. |
| composer noun | /kəmˈpoʊzəɹ/ | One who composes; an author. |
| notebook noun | /ˈnoʊtˌbʊk/ | A book (physical or digital) in which notes or memoranda are written. |
| sibling noun | /ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/ | A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with. |
| reputation noun | /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/ | What somebody or something is known for. |
| rapid adjective | /ˈɹæp.ɪd/ | Very swift or quick. |
| thirty noun | /ˈθɝti/ | A commercial lasting 30 seconds. |
| achievement noun | /əˈt͡ʃiːv.mənt/ | The act of achieving or performing; a successful performance; accomplishment. |
| extraordinary adjective | /ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/ | Out of the ordinary; exceptional; unusual. |
| composition noun | /ˌkɑm.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/ | The act of putting together; assembly. |
| remarkable adjective | /ɹɪˈmɑɹ.kə.bl̩/ | Worthy of remark; notable; interesting. |
| grandfather noun | /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/ | A father of someone's parent. |
| hurry verb | /ˈhʌ.ɹi/ | To do things quickly. |
| musician noun | /mjuˈzɪʃən/ | A composer, conductor, or performer of music; specifically, a person who sings and/or plays a musical instrument as a hobby, occupation, or profession. |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “th” sounds: thirty /ˈθɝti/, grandfather /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, composition /ˌkɑm.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/, musician /mjuˈzɪʃən/, succession /səkˈsɛʃ.ən/, sensational /sɛnˈseɪʃənəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, extraordinary /ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/, composition /ˌkɑm.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/, sensational /sɛnˈseɪʃənəl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like lesson, keyboard, composer.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.