Shadowing Practice: 10 Questions for Reese Witherspoon - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Reese Witherspoon is an Academy Award winning actress, a mother of two and a woman who has been romanced on screen by both Wilson brothers.
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Reese, welcome.
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Thank you.
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So you're the honorary chair of the Avon Foundation and one of its big issues is breast cancer.
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Is there something that we're not doing in the fight against breast cancer?
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There's so much that's being done.
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There's so much research and progress that has been made but as with anything that is you know a a global epidemic,
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I think it needs to be dealt with continually.
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And when you talk about every three minutes a woman is diagnosed worldwide,
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I think it's still a situation where we have to create research and funding is always necessary and education.
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Being an advocate and being in movies and also probably donating to causes, which do What do you find to be,
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for the celebrity, the most effective way of effecting change?
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Fundraising is of utmost importance, especially when you're talking about new technologies and new sciences and education.
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But, you know, it's wonderful to see my colleagues making movies about breast cancer, you know, and really showing the psychological parts of it
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that are so important for women to understand and families to sort of talk about.
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She said once that the, this is a quote, the battles we face in this business aren't financial, but they are moral.
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And I wonder how much those two things are intertwined, that the reason people suspend their morals is because there's so much money on the line.
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Well, I think certainly when you talk about any amount of money, I mean, there's morality involved.
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And I think every day you make choices that you have to live with for the rest of your life.
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And I think, you know, it's just like any other life situation.
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You just have to make choices that, you know, hopefully reflect your true character.
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And I hope to be doing that in the movie industry.
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Although it's always dangerous territory when you're talking about morals and character.
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It's really the sign of a fall to come, usually.
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You've made some incredibly successful movies and you've made some that were disappointing in the box office.
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Do you feel differently about that afterwards?
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Yeah, of course.
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When movies are disappointing, it's more than just the financial sort of disappointment.
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It's a real emotional experience because you've carried that with you
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and you put a lot of effort and energy into the movie and all of the people that you've worked with.
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But it makes It makes all the successes that much better.
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But yeah, I've had disastrous Saturday mornings where you're like, oh really?
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That movie is not going to do well, is it?
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So, you survive.
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Can you ever tell?
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Nope.
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I'm really bad at that.
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I can't ever prognosticate what people are going to like or not like.
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So I just try to go with what I would want to see and try to bear in mind, you know, people have very difficult lives.
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They want to go and enjoy themselves at the movies.
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it's easier to just go to a movie and not think for a while.
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Did you ever think Legally Blonde would take off as hugely as it did?
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No, I had no idea it was going to be so successful.
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I really loved that character.
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I loved Elle Wood so much.
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She was just really interesting, one of those sort of great innocents in the world, you know.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “10 Questions for Reese Witherspoon”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: movie, breast, moral, cancer, character. This video has 46 sentences and 595 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:18. The speaker talks fast, about 180 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 7 of its 46 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| reese noun | Synonym of peanut butter cup | |
| disappoint verb | /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪnt/ | To sadden or displease (someone) by underperforming, or by not delivering something promised or hoped for. |
| diagnose verb | /ˈdaɪ.əɡˌnoʊs/ | To determine which disease is causing a sick person's signs and symptoms; to find the diagnosis. |
| intertwine verb | /ˌɪntəɹˈtwaɪn/ | To twine (things) together. |
| prognosticate verb | /pɹɒɡˈnɒstɪkeɪt/ | To predict or forecast, especially through the application of skill. |
| hugely adverb | /ˈhjuːd͡ʒli/ | Greatly; to a huge extent. |
| honorary adjective | /ˈɑn.əˌɹɛɹ.i/ | Given as an honor, with no duties attached, and without payment. |
| suspend verb | /səsˈpɛnd/ | To halt something temporarily. |
| disastrous adjective | /dɪˈzæs.tɹəs/ | Of the nature of a disaster; calamitous. |
| epidemic noun | /ˌɛpɪˈdɛmɪk/ | A widespread disease that affects many humans in a population. |
| fundraising noun | /ˈfʌndˌɹeɪzɪŋ/ | The process of collecting money by requesting donations from individuals and businesses. |
| utter verb | /ˈʌtəɹ/ | Sometimes preceded by forth, out, etc.: to produce (a cry, speech, or other sounds) with the voice. |
| morality noun | /məˈɹælɪti/ | Recognition of the distinction between good and evil or between right and wrong; respect for and obedience to the rules of right conduct; the mental… |
| continually adverb | /kənˈtɪnjuəli/ | In regular or repeated succession; very often. |
| colleague noun | /ˈkɒliːɡ/ | A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate, a workmate. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| take off verb | To remove. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Do you feel differently about that afterwards?
- Can you ever tell?
- I'm really bad at that.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | has been romanced · being done · has been made |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been romanced · has been made · You've made |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 13 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, you've, aren't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: prognosticate /pɹɒɡˈnɒstɪkeɪt/, honorary /ˈɑn.əˌɹɛɹ.i/, epidemic /ˌɛpɪˈdɛmɪk/, morality /məˈɹælɪti/, continually /kənˈtɪnjuəli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like reese, disappoint, diagnose.
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.