Shadowing Practice: 240826 BBC London, Evening News - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Thank you and welcome to BBC London.
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Coming up on the programme, a coroner at the inquest into the death of a young
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boy who fell from a 15th floor window concludes he jumped
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in the belief he could fly due to his autism and inability to assess risk.
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His family described the five-year-old as their complete universe.
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Also tonight.
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We can see the surface impact of heat waves on London's landscape we find out what's happening underneath the soil plus
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ukrainian children in the capital mark their country's independence day just one of the events happening around london today
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and hopping on the scales we're with the animals at london zoo for their annual health check
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Hello and good evening to you.
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We start with the tragic story of a young boy described by his parents as their complete universe,
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who fell to his death from the 15th floor window of an East London tower block two years ago.
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Today, the coroner at the inquest into the five-year-old's death concluded
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that he naively leapt from the window in the belief he could fly due to his autism and inability to assess risk.
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With more, we can join our reporter, Thomas McGill, who's in Walthamstow.
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Hi, Thomas.
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Yes, hi, good evening, Ryds.
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Well, a very tough final day into this inquest that, as you say, the coroner found that on the balance of probability,
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five-year-old Alim leapt from his kitchen window naively and deliberately believing he could fly.
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And that comes after he popped in there in the early hours of the morning to get some cookies.
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Now, the evidence shows that, again, on the balance of probability, he got a chair, was able to get onto the windowsill
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and open a window that should not have been able to be opened before leaping to his death.
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Now, one of the factors into all of this was
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that Aleem was autistic and was unable to assess risk or safety and,
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in fact, had been moved to this 15-storey flat in order to be away from main roads and staircases.
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Lots of evidence into this, into the condition and safety of those windows and assessing all that evidence,
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the assistant coroner Ian Wade found that in fact one of the little safety devices
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or restrictors that had been fitted to the kitchen window had been violated and removed by force.
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He also said that he took no pleasure in coming to today's conclusion regarding the death of Elim.
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And an extremely distressing day, as you say, Thomas, for the family.
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Have they responded to the coroner's findings?
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Well, there is not just today, but throughout this entire inquest,
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the family, the mum and dad have been here listening to all the evidence and in fact were physically distraught today.
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At one point, I was able to see the mum put her hands over her ears as the coroner recapped on some of that evidence.
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She herself gave evidence and was highly critical of Newham Council, saying the death could have been avoided
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if they had responded to her numerous complaints about the condition of the windows in this upstairs flat.
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She also said she was horrified at the time
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when they were allocated to a flat with an autistic child on the 15th floor.
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But just to be very clear, the coroner today said that there was no compelling evidence
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that Newham had acted inappropriately by placing this family in a flat on the 15th story
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and that contractors had visited some months earlier and placed restrictors on all the windows, making them safe.
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Unimaginable loss for any family.
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Thomas with the latest there from Walthamstow.
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Thank you.
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You're watching BBC London.
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Good to have you with us this Monday evening.
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Plenty more to come, including this.
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And if you picked up a penguin, how much would it weigh?
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That's what keepers here at London Zoo are finding out, not just with these guys, but all of the animals.
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Join me here later for the annual weigh-in.
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As we've been hearing, the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has been in Kyiv on his first visit abroad and has promised to continue support for Ukraine.
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Meanwhile, the Ukrainian community here in London has been marking the
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35th anniversary of Independence Day against a backdrop of a continuing war.
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Our reporter Aisha Baksh is in Holland Park, where a special service is being held this evening.
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Over to you, Aisha.
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Well, Riz, many Ukrainian Londoners and their supporters have gathered here in front of this statue in Holland Park, which symbolises Ukrainian independence and freedom.
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There are prayers being said and also the Ukrainian National Anthem has been sung.
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And many here are just also coming together to remember those lives lost and to ensure that their voices are heard.
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Earlier, I spent some time at the Ukrainian Catholic Church, which has become, since the invasion of Ukraine,
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a hub for spiritual and practical support for Ukrainians here in London.
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Keeping entertained during the summer holidays at a Ukrainian summer school in central London.
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This centre was set up shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and many of those who volunteer here came as refugees, including 15-year-old Ola.
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How has it been for you these last four years to leave Ukraine and start a new life in London?
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I mean mainly it's just the language barrier and the fact that I needed to learn English to live here.
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But I think just the support and Ukrainian people that I met here, I think it's been quite well.
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People don't hear it quite about Ukraine these days, but they need to know that we're still fighting and it's still going on.
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Over in Westminster, the Houses of Parliament
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and the Ministry of Defence were illuminated in the Ukrainian flag as a sign of solidarity
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and continuing support of the Ukrainian people.
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The Ukrainian community is extremely grateful for the support that they've received, both from the community in London but also from the state as a whole.
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And I think that during these days especially, people are thinking of hope.
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are we looking forward to, namely the end of the war and also to return to some kind of normality.
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Father Vitaly, who himself is a refugee, is leading the Independence Day prayers.
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His parents are still in Ukraine and his brother is still fighting on the front line.
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In all Ukrainian families there are someone who is defending in the front line
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or just preparing for defense or maybe died in this war.
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We need to be together, we need to pray together for our freedom,
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for our hope the war will finish.
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What are your hopes for yourself, for your family and for Ukraine?
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I mean, of course, hopefully everything was going to end and everything's going to be alright.
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But hopefully every Ukrainian is going to find a meaning in their life and they won't give up.
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As Ukrainian Londoners come together to mark Independence Day with resilience across the generation.
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Solidarity, this event will go on for much of the evening and over at the Catholic Church.
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That special prayer service will also continue and some of those priests and volunteers are also here in Lomar.
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Aisha, many thanks.
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Turning now to some of the day's other stories making the headlines.
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A man's been arrested on suspicion of murder after a fatal fire in Hounslow.
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Nine people were taken to hospital following the blaze on Barclay Avenue on Wednesday.
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A 48-year-old woman later died and another remains in a life-threatening condition.
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The 34-year-old suspect was arrested while travelling to France by train.
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Network Rail is warning that journeys between London
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and Southend may take a few minutes longer than usual due to this summer's weather.
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It's imposing speed restrictions on the C2C route from tomorrow and on the Greater Anglia route to Southend from next week.
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It says the clay that sits under the railway in Essex has dried out and shrunk, causing issues with the quality of the track.
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Bus drivers in North London and Essex are to go ahead with strikes over working conditions in hot weather.
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Some drivers say their cabs can exceed 40 degrees.
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Members of Unite will walk out for four days from tomorrow, followed by more strikes in the coming weeks.
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And you can see more stories
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and the latest updates where you live on your local BBC News website and of course on the BBC News app.
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Next, London is still experiencing drought conditions and despite some rain,
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much of the landscape is still trying to recover after weeks of extreme heat.
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And with hosepipe bands still in place, the ground still isn't getting the water it needs.
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Bryony Williams has been finding out more about what's been happening beneath the capital soil.
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London's parched parks have become unmissable as high temperatures and drought have turned green to yellow.
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This is what we can see from above, but what's happening below?
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Rob, describe to me what is London's geological make-up like?
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Well, predominantly it's London clay, down to a fairly good depth,
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100-and-something metres in places, underlain by other material with chalk at depth.
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Where we're standing at the moment is on a granular soil called a terrace gravel, which overlies the London clay in places.
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Not everywhere, but in places.
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So now we know a lot of London ground is made up of clay, let's take a look at what happens to it.
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Firstly, when it rains.
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Clay absorbs the moisture and its volume expands.
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But during high heat and lack of rain, of rain the moisture evaporates from the soil and it shrinks significantly.
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This loss of water causes the clay to contract and crack and sometimes you might see the effects of it.
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The movement of the ground if you're on clay soil affects the structures, it affects what's sitting on it.
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So if the clay gets warm, as the weather we've had recently, so So if it loses volume, it's going to go down and contract.
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So you get the cracking, but you get downward movement.
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If a house is sitting on top of the clay, it will go down with it.
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To repair the ground, it needs rain.
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We have had some, but is it making a difference?
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If it lands straight on the clay, assume you've got topsoil, the topsoil will absorb a certain amount of it
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and then it will go down and sit on the clay layer effectively.
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And then you'll get surface runoff, so the excess water will just run off, go nowhere.
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What you really need is protracted rain.
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It doesn't have to be intense rain.
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Reasonable amount of rain over a long period of time, so it's got time to percolate down into the very fine voids in the London clay.
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People will be worried about their gardens at the moment,
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but is there anything people can do to help the kind of deep layers of soil recover?
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Or is it just, like you said, a waiting game?
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It's a waiting game, I think.
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So it is a very slow process.
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If you want to talk about figures, the permeability of London clay vertically is about 1 times 10 to the minus 10 metres per second. So that's...
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Oh.
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Imperceivably slow.
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It was really, really slow.
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So even when the grass turns green again, the clay may not have fully recovered.
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As we've heard from the expert, it's a really, really slow process.
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Bryony Williams, BBC London.
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Some other local stories on BBC News.
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Why some residents near Heathrow are unhappy with compensation offered over a new runway compared to those near Gatwick Airport.
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In Surrey, the unsolved mystery of the body of a woman discovered in a railway tunnel 120 years ago
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you can listen to it on sounds.
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And the Essex racing driver who went from playing computer games in Covid to winning the real-life circuits of South America.
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More on those and other stories on the BBC News app.
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Right now though we're off to the zoo.
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We heard earlier how the summer's extreme heat has had an impact on the land.
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It's also been challenging on many creatures big and small.
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Keepers at London Zoo are checking on the health of the animals as part of their annual weigh-in today
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and Matt Graveling is there too.
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Hi there Matt.
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Welcome to Penguin Beats Riz, myself and 76 Humboldt penguins originally from Chile and Peru.
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Lannister just down there having a little preen.
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Hey we're live on the television Lannister.
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She wants her best side.
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Now I can tell you that they all weigh about four kilos each
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and how do we know that because the zoo has weighed them all
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but not just the penguins all of the animals here at
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the zoo every day they are looking after the health care
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but once a year we're lucky enough to get a call to come in
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and find out a little bit more about their annual weigh-in all creatures great
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and small from those
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that weigh up to 700 kilos stand stand to those of less than a gram each counted
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and weighed the results significant to the survival of its species
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so weight is really important for us to be able to do our job properly just
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because it again it helps us
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understand an overall picture of health we can look for trends whether the animal weight has gone up
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or down also it helps us dose any medication we need
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to give an animal i think we've been pretty lucky we have managed to cope with the heat okay
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but it will be nice to see if that is reflected in the weights we get.
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London Zoo is celebrating its bicentenary and is now home to more than 10,000 animals made up from around 400 species.
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As you can imagine, the mechanics behind the measuring are far from straightforward.
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Ultimately, you need to get the animal on the scales.
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Some are bribed with food, others like Genghis from Mongolia here are simply walked on.
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What does he weigh, Mick?
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It's 670 kilos.
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They'll occasionally lose a little bit of weight in the winter, which is perfectly normal for Bactrian camels.
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They come from Mongolia and China and it gets down to minus 40.
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They're not that bothered by the heat.
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I wouldn't say they like it.
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They don't even sweat till it gets to 41 degrees.
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So they're tougher than me with the heat, that's for sure.
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All of the information gathered is shared with other zoos.
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London Zoo, just one part of a global effort helping to reintroduce these Petula snails.
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Although everybody looks at the big tigers and lions and gorillas and stuff, it's just as important for us to look at the health
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and well-being of these animals as it is anything else in the zoo.
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How many individual snails have you got in here?
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Well, I know that we've got just under 2,000 snails in this room, but that's of nine species.
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You're not weighing them all?
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We're not, no. Unless you want to help us.
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No, I think weighing a few of them is going to be enough.
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This one doesn't want to be weighed.
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No, he's off, isn't he?
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See, that's the thing.
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Snails, people think they don't move very fast, but take your eye off them and they're away.
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So, whether weighing snails or Sumatran tigers, this growing database collected here in the capital is contributing to conservation around the world.
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Matt Graveling, BBC London.
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I think the most interesting thing for me, being here all day, is just seeing the technical side of it, how the keepers weigh animals with two legs, four legs, no legs, wings.
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And the penguins, well, they're not the most cooperative of birds, but they do have their tricks, the keepers.
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So I'm gonna bring in Jess, who is the lead keeper for birds here at London Zoo, who's holding a glitter ball here.
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I need to know why, what's this about?
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It's really just the penguins like it.
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They're simple folk and they quite like shiny things.
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It reminds them of the scales on the fish so it does tend to kind of get them a bit excited, get them engaged with something going on so it's a nice kind of starter.
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Get the penguins over then we can work on the weighing.
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And that's how you kind of lure them onto the scales?
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They can be a way yeah so they're already trained to come to a whistle
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which is great so we can use that but maybe
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if they're not in the mood for the whistle they can come over with the disco ball
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and then from there just lots of fish, lots of encouragement.
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We heard from Dave Clark about the snails
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and how the information is being shared around the world to other projects also in the conservation of that species.
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Where does the data from the penguins go?
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Same process really, so it goes on to ZIMS, the Zoological Information Management Systems.
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We upload all of our data there, whether it be weights, lengths, just general notes and medical stuff as well is all super helpful
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and in the future we can always utilise that with wild populations, looking at maybe chickweights and what is a chick with unlimited resources weigh when it's 18 days old.
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And we can look at the wild penguins, see what's going on with them and maybe where they compare as well.
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So it's all really helpful information.
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Now we can't do a piece here this year without saying it's your bicentenary.
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At 200 years of the zoo, which is fantastic.
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But as part of that, you're also going to be getting a 20 million pound donation to build something really exciting, which I know is also looking at the healthcare, which is so important here.
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Yeah, it's really exciting to have the donation our new wildlife
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health center it's going to make massive improvements especially on the veterinary side
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but also for all aspects of caring for animals so whether
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that be doing new x-rays
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or getting a ct machine how exciting uh nutrition uh post-mortems everything like
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that as well as research is going to be super super
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beneficial to have a brand new space especially made exactly for
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it you have over 1 million visitors a year here to
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this zoo it's a lot of people there's a lot of of animals, over 10,400 species, as we said in my report.
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But behind the scenes, there's also a huge army of people.
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So who is involved in the actual way?
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Eelpie Island is well known for its artistic community, some of whom open their homes and studios twice a year for visitors.
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This is a studio.
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And this is a studio.
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Apart from the love shack, they do most of their cartooning in their nearby studio.
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Which one's bitter and which one's twisted?
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She's bitter, of course she is.
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She's the wife.
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Wives are always bitter.
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These are our Twickenham tea towels.
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I've got to take them up to the shop because we sell them at the local shop as well.
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Lovely tea towels, Sheba, but where are the eel pies?
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It was time to head over to the mainland to see if I could get this ancient snack back on the menu.
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Hello, are you Pete?
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Hiya.
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Nice to meet you, I'm Anna.
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Skin, braw and cleanse two good-sized Thames eels.
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Trim off the fins and cut them into pieces about three inches long.
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Put these in a stew pan with two ounces of butter.
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I think this could be a winner.
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I do.
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I think somebody ought to make an eel pie.
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Oh, what a shame.
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We should have done that for today.
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I'm in the social committee here, so I could organise that.
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Over the summer, we've been sharing some of the stories of people, Londoners living in alternative ways on BBC London.
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If you want to see those films in full, just head over to the BBC London YouTube channel.
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Now, it has felt a bit cooler today.
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How is the rest of the week looking?
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Here's Jen.
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Thank you very much.
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Good evening.
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Plenty of dry and fine weather in the forecast as we head through tonight and into Tuesday, but signs are that things will turn much more unsettled through the middle part of the week.
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Today though we've seen plenty of sunny spells, a bit of fair weather cloud coming and going through the afternoon
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and this is the view that we'll have as we head into Tuesday as well.
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So for tomorrow dry and sunny at first but over the next few days things will gradually turn much more unsettled.
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High pressure in charge at the moment that is gradually moving its way northwards and eastwards.
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These weather fronts just trying to make inroads and when they do reach us they are going to bring some showers.
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Now for the rest of this evening and overnight.
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It's fairly quiet out there.
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We have clear spells, just a gentle to moderate east
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or northeasterly breeze and those overnight temperatures 13 to 15 degrees Celsius for most.
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Now tomorrow morning it will get off to a dry and bright start.
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Plenty of sunshine actually.
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Once again like today we'll see a bit of
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that fair weather cloud bubbling up through the afternoon
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and it's going to be feeling a little bit warmer tomorrow than today 24
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or 25 degrees some places up to 26 degrees celsius now on tuesday night we'll start off dry and clear
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but as the night goes on we'll start to see some of those showers moving up from the south
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and some of those showers could be heavy
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and thundery especially where you see those green colors behind me
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that indicates some real hefty downpours 14 to 16 degrees the overnight lower
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and it is going to be feeling quite muggy as we move into wednesday as well much more humid feeling day
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There are showers breaking out as we head into the afternoon as well.
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Not everywhere we'll see them, but if you do, some of them could be heavy and thundery.
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Those temperatures, again, up to 26 degrees Celsius.
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Here's the outlook then for the rest of the week.
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And as you can see, it's a fairly unsettled picture.
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We do have more showers or longer spells of rain in the forecast.
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The temperature coming down gradually as we head through the week.
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So by the weekend, we're looking at highs of around 23 degrees. And that's it.
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More stories on our website, including the paws on patrol at one of our busiest stations.
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Yes, dog patrols have joined security teams at Waterloo.
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From me and everyone on the team, thanks for watching and enjoy your evening.
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Bye-bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 296 sentences and 3848 words to shadow. The speech runs for 23:05. The speaker talks at a natural 167 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| weigh verb | /weɪ/ | To determine the weight of an object. |
| clay noun | /kleɪ/ | A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics. |
| penguin noun | /ˈpɛŋ.ɡwɪn/ | Any of several flightless sea birds, of the family Spheniscidae within the order Sphenisciformes, found in the Southern Hemisphere, marked by their usual… |
| soil noun | /sɔɪl/ | A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth. |
| prayer noun | /pɹɛɚ/ | A practice of communicating with one's God, or with some spiritual entity. |
| spell noun | /spɛl/ | Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers. |
| recover verb | /ɹɪˈkʌvɚ/ | To get back, to regain (a physical thing; in astronomy and navigation, sight of a thing or a signal). |
| bitter adjective | /ˈbɪ.tɚ/ | Having an acrid taste (usually from a basic substance). |
| gradually adverb | /ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuəli/ | In a gradual manner; making slow progress; slowly. |
| overnight adverb | /əʊvə(ɹ)ˈnaɪt/ | During or throughout the night, especially during the evening or night just past. |
| assess verb | /əˈsɛs/ | To determine, estimate or judge the value of; to evaluate; to estimate. |
| belief noun | /bɪˈliːf/ | Mental acceptance of a claim as true. |
| cloud noun | /ˈklaʊ̯d/ | A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air. |
| railway noun | /ˈɹeɪlˌweɪ/ | A transport system using rails used to move passengers or goods. |
| helpful adjective | /ˈhɛlp.fl̩/ | Furnishing help; giving aid; useful. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. |
| break out verb | To escape, especially forcefully or defiantly. |
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. |
| dry out verb | To cause moisture to be completely removed from; to make dry. |
| get down to verb | To start focusing on doing something serious |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). |
| go ahead with verb | To resume something previously cancelled or delayed; to continue something despite known concerns. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | we've been hearing · has been marking · has been finding |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | Have they responded · have been · has been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be opened · had been moved · had been fitted |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | Church, which has · those who volunteer · someone who is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 50 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, they're, we've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, bother /ˈbɑðɚ/, beneath /bɪˈniːθ/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: conservation /ˌkɑnsə(ɹ)ˈveɪʃən/, invasion /ɪnˈveɪʒən/, donation /doʊˈneɪʃən/, shortly /ˈʃɔɹtli/, conclusion /kənˈkluːʒən/
- Long words — get the stress right: conservation /ˌkɑnsə(ɹ)ˈveɪʃən/, probability /ˌpɹɑ.bəˈbɪl.ə.ti/, inability /ˌɪnəˈbɪlɪti/, solidarity /ˌsɑ.ləˈdæɹ.ə.ti/, occasionally /əˈkeɪʒənəli/
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 weigh, clay, penguin.
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.