Shadowing Practice: 281026 BBC Points West, Evening News - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Welcome to BBC Points West on this Wednesday evening.
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Thank you for joining us.
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I'm David Garbston.
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And our main story tonight, a wife gives evidence.
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Joanne Young tells the jury she woke up and found a stranger in her bedroom.
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She felt a hand on her wrist, heard her husband say get down, and saw a stranger duck at the end of her bed.
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Her husband's already admitted more than 50 offences.
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Our other headlines tonight.
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What did you think of the budget?
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We have reporters right across the West Country hearing your reaction.
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I think he can do more to help older people who are on their own
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that don't have a fortune in the bank.
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And you saw him first.
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Here we meet the young actor taking the lead role at the Bristol Old Vic.
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Good evening.
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The wife of a Swindon councillor who drugged her
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and filmed strangers as they sexually abused her has been talking about the time she realised another man was in her bedroom.
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Joanne Young, who has agreed for her name to be used, has been giving evidence in court today.
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The case involves four men who have pleaded not guilty.
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Her former husband, Philip advertised his wife online.
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He's pleaded guilty to all the charges against him.
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Fiona Lambden's report does contain disturbing detail.
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Today the focus was on the woman at the heart of this story, Joanne Young, who was happily married to this man for 19 years.
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Today in court, friends said they were good together, having built the dream relationship.
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Philip Young was arrested three years ago after downloading extreme pornographic images.
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But today we heard that his wife had had huge concerns.
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In an interview played to the court, Joanne Young told police about an evening in February 2023.
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She said she'd been out with her husband with friends.
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They'd played ball games.
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They'd come home and had a drink.
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But during the night, Mrs Young woke up and found herself blindfolded and restrained.
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She thought she was having sex with her husband when suddenly she realised someone else was in the bedroom.
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She felt a hand on her wrist.
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She heard her husband say, get down, and she saw a stranger duck down behind the bed.
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Joanne Young locked herself in the bathroom, saying she was shocked and didn't know what to do.
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The next day, we heard Philip Young cried as he apologised to her sitting on the sofa.
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He said that he'd been looking in forums and had invited someone round to the house to watch us have sex.
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I asked him if it had been just once or that he'd done it before and he said, no, it's just this once.
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But 17 months later, on the day Philip Young was arrested, she asked him the same question.
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That thing in February, was that the only time?
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He stood there and he looked at me and he said,
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no, it was different people and he walked back into the office and I never got an explanation.
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I've never spoken to him again.
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Earlier today, the court and public gallery were cleared
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while the jury was shown videos of three men allegedly sexually assaulting Joanne Young.
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In one, Connor Sanderson Doyle could be seen wearing a black balaclava whilst on the bed with Mrs Young.
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In another video, when she was allegedly being abused by Richard Wilkins, Mrs Young could be heard snoring.
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Many of the jury looked distressed as they watched on.
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Philip Young, a former
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Tory councillor and school governor, has already admitted a total of 56 charges, including drugging and raping his wife over a 13 -year period.
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32 -year -old Connor Sanderson -Doyle, 62 -year -old Richard Wilkins,
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48 -year -old Norman Maxoni and 38 -year -old Mohamed Hassan are all accused of abusing Joanne Young.
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All plead not guilty.
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A sixth man, Dean Hamilton, has already admitted four charges, including rape.
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The case is expected to last for four weeks.
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Fiona Lambden, BBC Points West.
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The Chancellor has delivered his first budget and as always there are winners and losers.
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Our reporters have been out across the West and in Westminster to find out what some of you have made of it.
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Let's start in the Forest of Dean where our business correspondent Dave...
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Watch the budget along with some pub landlords.
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Are they smiling, Dave, or not?
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Yeah, good evening, David, from the old
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White Hart Inn in the centre of Colford.
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I've come here today because a campaign was actually launched here a year ago, after last year's budget.
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You may remember Rachel Reeves pretty much doubled the business rates that pubs have to pay.
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And they'd been demanding help.
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They wanted a big cut in their VAT.
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Well, they didn't get it.
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They got a small freeze in a budget which one landlord described to me as rather thin beer.
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I've said that I'll be a Chancellor who champions the small British firms that give character to our communities.
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Watching his words, people who do exactly that, keeping the lights on in Gloucestershire's locals, running hotels, cafes and pubs.
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In the first week of this government, we cut 20 % off business rates for pubs, clubs and music venues from April next year.
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Despite that, business rates for these publicans will still be much higher than they were a year ago.
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Today, the Chancellor announced a freeze.
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The increase is delayed for two years.
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And some very small firms will pay nothing at all.
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That means 70 ,000 more businesses.
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I'm not just cutting their rates, I'm taking them out of paying business rates altogether. But that was it.
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On the big campaign to slash VAT, the Chancellor was silent.
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VAT wasn't even mentioned when it came to hospitality.
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I mean, that's all we wanted.
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After watching that, sometimes you just like to put the keys on the table and walk away.
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Because we have to get up in the morning.
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And every night we have to go and balance the books, and he's not helping us.
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Really, really disillusioned, disheartened.
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I don't believe they're interested in supporting small businesses and hospitality.
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They talk a great talk about business support, but we're not getting any at all.
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One of the biggest changes to pub finances was in the small print.
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The minimum wage will go up 3 .9 % next year, hiking wage bills for every pub in the land.
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It's going to make us want to employ less because we won't physically afford it.
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And also as well, it's just going to inflate prices because extra costs means we've got to cover those costs, which will just push prices up.
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John Healy missed a massive opportunity today to really invest in not just hospitality, but high streets like this in Colford.
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He had an opportunity to do something that would really put the optimism, the hope and the growth back into these businesses.
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And he's missed that opportunity totally.
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They don't normally do politics in their pubs, but a campaign is now running here and they want more from their government.
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Well, perhaps if there's no big news for pubs, in a way, it was very much a budget of small measures,
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50 quid for everyone off their gas bill, £100 to help a lot of people through the winter heating.
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And if they're not being helped directly, I guess our pubs and our hotels will hope that if people feel a tiny bit more comfortable,
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perhaps they'll pop out for a drink
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or take the family out for Sunday lunch because at the moment all our hospitality businesses are really feeling rather unloved.
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And one tip, David, don't ask your local landlord if he's pleased that he's getting cheaper gherkins on his handbags.
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That's a good tip as ever, Dave.
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Thank you.
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It looks a very nice pub where you are.
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So how did it go down with local employers, young people and pensioners?
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Our political reporters Hannah Miller and Marie Lennon have been finding out.
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Here at Avonmouth Community Centre, the budget was on the TV during their regular Wednesday soup lunch.
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And most people were cautiously optimistic about the impact of it on their energy bills.
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The banks are going to pay a bit more tax so
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that then people can get £100 off their energy bill this winter.
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What do you think to that?
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I think it's a good idea.
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Why not?
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I think it's quite positive for people like me.
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So obviously we're just starting out with my career and seems to be focusing on more working people and the budget.
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How big a deal are energy bills for you?
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I think they're quite a high proportion of what I'm spending at the moment.
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So I think the money that they're putting aside will really help out.
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I think he can do more to help older people who are on their own
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that don't have a fortune in the bank.
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Does the idea of getting £100 off your energy bill make any difference to you this winter?
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It will help, yes, because I'm all electric.
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I never thought my life the way I lived before, all five -star holidays, was going to be like this.
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When we talk about the cost of living crisis, we're now talking about years of this for people's livelihoods,
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budgets, how they survive and some of what they're actually talking about is very, very minor.
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in terms of once you start talking about £100 a year, in reality, what difference does that actually make?
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You know, if that was £100 a month, then that would be making a significant difference.
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So for me, I'm hearing something quite hopeful, but there's a long way to go.
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And IMAT and Electrical Contractors in Swindon, the team here are responsible for powering up homes and businesses in the town.
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They'd like a rewiring of the economy to make it easier for them to recruit more local people.
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You know, the national insurance percentage increase and lowering of the cap has hit small businesses like mine massively.
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So as some people have left, we haven't necessarily replaced them.
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We've tried to do more with the team that we already have, which in some cases is just not doable.
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You know, we're in an industry where we're delivering an actual service.
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You physically need to go out and do something
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and therefore it does take an amount of time and you need on some jobs,
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you know, somebody at the bottom of a set of ladders holding them while somebody's working on them.
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But that person's the same cost as the experienced person on the ladders.
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So this is the balancing act all the time.
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An apprentice electrician from start to finish, it's going to cost our business around about £100 ,000.
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It is a huge investment
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and we really do need the support to be able to do
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that and we would love to be able to offer that.
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It's all about helping for us, the next generation of people, and not just the young ones,
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you know, we have more mature people that have come to us, doing an apprenticeship with us,
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and we want to be able to offer it to them as well.
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It is a day -to -day struggle having to stretch them out,
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say, with all the costs of everything going up and the wages can't go up, say, because everyone's having to cover everything else.
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So having to do extra jobs as well.
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I also am self -employed doing bouncy castles as well.
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So I do that at weekends, usually to get the extra income to come in.
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Some of your thoughts, but let's head straight to Westminster and talk to our political editor.
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Good evening, Paul.
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There were a few mentions for our part of the world during the Chancellor's speech, weren't there?
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Certainly were.
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The Chancellor mentioned Bristol twice, talking about Rolls -Royce and a new engine being developed up at its Filton plant,
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and also about regeneration in Temple Quarter, both of which are projects the government is giving a bit of support to.
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But it's got to be said that overall his announcements were mostly modest.
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We had that £100 that will go to most households to help with their energy bills.
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Then we had some things which are continuing.
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The VAT cut on electricity bills will go on a bit longer, plus also the fuel duty freeze that will remain in place.
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It's got to be said, it comes against a backdrop of difficult financial circumstances for the Treasury.
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Labour MPs I talked to were, by and large, pretty much all OK with it.
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Amongst opposition MPs, well, one word kept recurring.
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Well, it was very underwhelming.
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I mean, it was difficult to stay awake.
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There was nothing in there of any substance.
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To be honest, I'm really a bit underwhelmed.
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There was always a sort of boost about Labour, there's going to be a great budget.
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But we didn't really see a huge amount in it, especially for Royal Somerset.
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Distinctly underwhelming, as Kemi said, is that it?
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More taxes, more spending, more borrowing, it's just more of the same from Labour.
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Now, we know the new
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Prime Minister is a big fan of mayors and the Chancellor, well, he wants to see more devolution and more mayors,
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including, it's got to be said, for Swindon.
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So we know as of today that it's going to be linking up with Oxfordshire
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and Berkshire to create what's called the Thames Valley Mayorality.
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Now, there was also an extra thumbs up for something which we already thought was going to happen, the Wessex Mayorality.
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That's Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset getting together.
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They've actually been cooperating for two years.
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But for Swindon, it had been a lot less certain.
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So some relief for the local MPs.
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I think there's a lot in there.
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So, for example, like Slough, Reading, you know, there is a lot which we have the similar social economic environment.
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So I think absolutely, you know, And I think it's about not necessarily highlighting our differences, but highlighting the strengths.
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Now, as regards those new mayoral areas, I don't expect them to come into existence, maybe till 2028.
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As to the budget as a whole, well, the devil is often in the detail.
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We've had the broad picture today.
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We've had some immediate reaction.
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But I think look out for what may emerge over the next 24,
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48 hours to really get a sense of how budget 2026 will be remembered.
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Yes, Paul, I agree.
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It takes a day or two, doesn't it, for all to sink in and to settle down.
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But we will be talking about it all on politics this Sunday.
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Join us if you can.
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Thank you, Paul. While you're watching
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Points West here on BBC One, it's always nice to have you along.
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Thanks for joining us.
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There's lots more still to come, including...
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I'm in Warminster, where the judging's underway to find the best pumpkin this side of Salisbury Plain.
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And we now undergo a transition where the weather type will
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be dominated by high pressure for quite a number of days ahead of us.
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That means overall a good deal of dry and settled weather.
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Details later.
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Yes, that's all before 7 o 'clock.
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But first, leaseholders at a block of flats in Bristol where water is pouring through ceilings, causing them to cave in,
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say they're at their wit's end.
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Portland View is a mix of owned and rented flats.
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But after years of problems with huge leaks in the roof, they believe it wasn't built to the original spec.
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Cheryl Dennis reports.
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Water was just pouring down from this corner.
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Almost everywhere you look, water is pouring into these flats.
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We can do 50 litres or 60 litres in a day easily.
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It's really stressful.
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And, I mean, it's hard to sleep at night because we're kind of listening for rain and the sound of this drip.
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Do you want to see the worst of our...?
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It gets worse?
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It gets worse, yeah.
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Oh!
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Whoa!
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OK.
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So we haven't been able to use the ensuite for several years.
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The problems lie in the roof.
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Residents say it wasn't built to the original plans.
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Work to fix it was supposed to take place this summer.
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It feels like we're kind of trapped here.
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We can't leave.
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The re -roofing project is stalled and no resolution in sight again.
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So we're just at our wit's end, I think, at this point, aren't we?
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Multiple flats are affected, as well as the communal areas.
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I'm showing people my new apartment and they're stepping on the floor and just pools of water are coming out.
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It's awful.
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But I think I just feel really helpless.
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There's no more funding for alternative accommodation for me.
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And I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do because this was deemed uninhabitable.
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I think it's definitely affected my emotional and mental state not to mention, obviously, the finance side of things.
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And the number of apartments affected just keeps growing.
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In this one, which is just below Sophie's, the ceiling collapsed above the shower.
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The leaseholders say they're stuck in the middle of lots of groups with various interests in the building, with no -one taking full responsibility.
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It doesn't really matter to us who's at fault.
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We just need that action done.
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There are the people who own the land below.
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We can't get hold of them there are the insurers who referred us to Hillcrest.
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And Hillcrest, which is the company responsible for the day -to -day management.
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Representatives from their organisation arrived on site while we were there, but they didn't wish to discuss the issues with us.
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Instead, in a statement, they said they recognise the seriousness of the problems with the roof,
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they regret the inconvenience and will communicate with residents as soon as possible.
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People living here are hoping that will be before another ceiling starts to fall in.
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Cheryl Dennis, BBC Points West, Bristol.
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What a rotten experience for them.
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Well, here are some of the other stories you can see on the BBC News website and our social media pages.
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Are you ready?
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Here we go.
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The Tar Steps Bridge on Exmoor is going to be repaired.
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The middle section was washed away during the storms of the weekend.
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Again, the structure is held together by gravity and friction.
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Fancy this on your wall?
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It's a stuffed head of a Tasmanian tiger.
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It's up for auction in Bristol after it was found under someone's bed.
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He's been named as Trevor.
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Some GP surgeries in Gloucestershire have been offline today because of a glitch with their computer systems.
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The company that provides the services has gone into administration.
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And today's online video?
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Time's gone flying in Wiltshire the town clock in Cricklade has been knocked over by a van.
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It was last hit back in 1945.
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And there's plenty more on the BBC News app or find us on Facebook and Instagram and TikTok.
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Right, an actor from Bristol has landed the lead role in a production at the Old Vic.
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Nine -year -old
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Atlas went to an open audition for the role of Lanny in a world premiere of a play by the same name.
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Let's take a quick look.
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Do you, beneath the deck, have a two -foot?
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Will's brother, Hugo, said he'd seen him climbing over their garden fence, a man made entirely out of ivy.
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I take that with a pinch of salt.
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Don't think he's real?
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No. And I'm delighted to say that he's here to tell us all about it.
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Hey, it's almost seven o 'clock.
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Shouldn't you be on stage?
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No, I'm not on stage today.
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OK, because you're going to be on the mat, aren't you, soon?
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Yeah.
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OK, because you share the role, obviously, because you're nine years old.
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So how did you get this part?
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So there was an open audition.
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My mum found it because her friend showed her the link to this Bristol Vic part.
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So then she said to me, did you want to do this?
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And I said, definitely.
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So the first we did like a workshop, then it was the interviews, then we got in.
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Gosh, and you went to the Pauline Quirk Academy, didn't you?
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Yes, Pauline Quirk Academy.
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Yes, where you learnt your trade.
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Yeah.
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Do you enjoy acting?
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Definitely.
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A lot of lines to learn, though.
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Yeah.
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What's it like with the rest of the cast?
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Because as a nine -year -old, you're looked after all the time.
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It feels good.
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I made some friends like my stage brother called Lucian Thomas
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and I've also made friends with the adults and they look after us, they're really kind.
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Okay, and what's the play all about?
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So it's this boy that moves into a Somerset village from London
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and there's this mysterious creature called Dead Papa Toothbot
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and he's like nature itself and Lani is different from all the other kids
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so he's like he's connected to nature in a different way
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that other people can't see it and he's also just different in a good way
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so when he moves to this village he like meets up with dead
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Papa Toothwap but he doesn't know
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that right okay well it sounds very involving I've got to come
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and see it now because you've you've sold it so well
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But what about the future for you?
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Because you're good at acting, are you good at school?
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Yes, definitely.
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You're good at sport?
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Definitely.
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Okay, so you've got it all, haven't you?
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What would you like to do with the rest of your life?
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I'd like to do acting and a bit of drawing.
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Acting and drawing, the two.
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And what has been the reaction from the audiences in the theatre?
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So in my first show, they all standed up and clapped.
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They didn't.
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They actually did. Did they?
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Some of them standed up and clapped.
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And then the other one, in one of the bits where I do, put your hands up if you want some shoulders,
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he can't, that bit when I'm, like, with Pete, an artist.
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Yeah.
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in the play.
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I do that and they chuckle a lot.
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A chuckle is always good.
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I always work for a chuckle if I can sometime in the programme.
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Thank you.
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Take a bow.
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Good, man.
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Do you like spooky things, incidentally?
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Not really.
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Okay.
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Well, you might want to turn away then because we're only a few nights away from Halloween.
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And if you've got a pumpkin but aren't sure what to do with it, then be prepared to be inspired.
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Have you got one?
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Tonight in Warminster, the pumpkin carvers have been going head to head and Lee Madden has been checking them out.
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Good evening.
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Yes, for the next couple of minutes, try to put out of your mind all that chat about cash ices, petrol prices and energy bills,
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because this is officially a budget -free zone here on BBC One
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and that's because we're turning our attention to the annual pumpkin carving competition.
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Now, it's been occupying a lot of the children and some of the adults over the past few hours here in Warminster,
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so Fox and Robin, talk us through your design.
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Oh, hello.
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Yeah, we've done a two design, so we've got this one here that
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Fox has designed, so he's drawn it out on paper
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and then I had the fun job of trying to translate this into carving.
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Because he's too young for a knife.
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Yes, he's only three, so he's not allowed to touch the knives.
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Fox, I love your hair.
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That was brilliant.
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So good luck, you guys.
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Now over here, we've got Lisa and Lorelai.
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You brought a pram.
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Talk us through how you went all out.
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So we thought we were bringing the pram into transportation, and then we thought we could just make a baby.
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And how much do you want to win this competition?
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Ten out of ten.
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Ten out of ten.
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Well, good luck.
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And over here, we've got
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Pete and Poppy.
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So Poppy, talk me through them.
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What's your design here?
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The Gruffalo.
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The Gruffalo.
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So you obviously love the Gruffalo.
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How long did it take?
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All afternoon.
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All afternoon.
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Well, it was time well spent.
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These pumpkins are all great as far as I'm concerned, but it's the judges they need to impress.
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So we've got one of them here.
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So the mayor, Jack Jones.
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Hello.
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What are you looking for then in your prize pumpkin?
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Well, it's an impossible task, really, but we're looking for creativity, originality, and, of course, a clean -cut pumpkin.
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A clean -cut pumpkin.
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Well, good luck, everybody.
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Now, if you want to find out who wins,
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you can head over to the Warminster Town Council Facebook page where the winner will be revealed later on.
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Exciting stuff.
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Thank you, Lee.
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Time for the weather with Ian tonight.
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Hi.
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Hello David.
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Pleasant enough start today.
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This was Chew Stoke, Bath and North East Somerset.
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All of a similar sort of story really.
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Some sunshine, bit of cloud around and then we entered into a day where, for some of you at least,
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some damp weather started to become a little bit more dominant with time.
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The weather radar has been shown the evolution of that from early this morning, courtesy of a weak front, a warm front in this case,
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which has just been straddling parts of the west country and, You know, given these dribs and drabs of rain tending to weaken of late,
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and it'll sink its way out southwards as we head on now through the course of tonight.
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And we're actually going to see a major transition of weather type now, with high pressure starting to become dominant,
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initially down towards the southeast of us, through France, towards Belgium, centring up towards Germany over the next couple of days,
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holding fronts at bay out towards the west of us.
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So no appreciable rain for the coming days.
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And in fact, by the weekend, another area of high pressure building out west of us will then come
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and migrate right over the top of us into Saturday and Sunday in particular, increasing risk of some fog around into that period.
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But the dry weather will continue apace, as it will effectively do as we get through this evening into tonight,
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with the last of that front just getting whittled away.
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Legacy of that will be a fair amount of cloud around, but in some areas at least there could be some mistiness,
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maybe the odd patch of fog about by first light tomorrow.
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These are the sort of temperatures you can expect through the course of the night.
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So tomorrow then it will be a day of mixed fortunes
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in terms of the breaks in the cloud versus the cloud cover
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But I think a trend generally into the afternoon for more in the way of some brighter
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or sunnier spells across the patch
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By that stage a moderate breeze in the south and say line
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Bay those sort of areas
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Lighter winds that further north you happen to go
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and the temperatures tomorrow actually inherently a bit above average for the time of view
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It'd normally be about 13 Celsius You can see we're a bit above
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that around about 15 perhaps 16 Celsius It's pleasant enough.
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So for the remainder of this week, albeit the area of high pressure positions itself differently, the overall theme is the same.
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Plentiful dry weather, like I said, increasing scope for some fog to be developing,
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not just for us but for other parts of the country as we head through the weekend.
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Signal looks particularly strong for Sunday.
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And on it continues in terms of dry conditions, but a tendency for temperatures to be a bit below average for the time of year.
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Be interested to see just how far into November we can stretch
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this out before the weather may well change back to a wetter, windy phase. May.
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We shall see.
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We shall see indeed.
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Ian, thank you so much.
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And that's where we have to leave you for now.
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I'm back though at 10 with an update.
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Bye -bye.
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And do take care.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “281026 BBC Points West, Evening News”. This video has 433 sentences and 4742 words to shadow. The speech runs for 27:36. The speaker talks at a natural 172 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| pumpkin noun | /ˈpʌm(p).kɪn/ | A domesticated plant, in species Cucurbita pepo, similar in growth pattern, foliage, flower, and fruit to the squash or melon. |
| pub noun | /pʌb/ | A public house where beverages, primarily alcoholic, may be bought and consumed, also providing food and sometimes entertainment such as live music or… |
| cloud noun | /ˈklaʊ̯d/ | A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air. |
| hospitality noun | /ˌhɑ.spɪˈtæl.ə.ti/ | The act or service of welcoming, receiving, hosting, or entertaining guests; an appropriate attitude of openness, respect, and generosity toward guests. |
| bedroom noun | /ˈbɛdˌɹum/ | A room in a house, apartment, hotel, or other dwelling where a bed is kept for sleeping. |
| wage noun | /weɪd͡ʒ/ | An amount of money paid to a worker for a specified quantity of work, usually calculated on an hourly basis and expressed in an amount of money per hour. |
| clock noun | /klɑk/ | A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day. |
| reporter noun | /ɹɪˈpoɹ.tɚ/ | Someone or something that reports. |
| freeze verb | /ˈfɹiːz/ | Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature. |
| pour verb | /poɹ/ | To cause (liquid, or liquid-like substance) to flow in a stream, either out of a container or into it. |
| chuckle verb | /ˈt͡ʃʌkəl/ | To laugh quietly or inwardly. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| transition noun | /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/ | The process of change from one form, state, style or place to another. |
| knife noun | /ˈnaɪ̯f/ | A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge… |
| settle verb | /ˈsɛtəl/ | To determine (something which was exposed to doubt or question); to resolve conclusively; to set or fix (a time, an order of succession, etc). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| go up verb | To move upwards. | |
| get down verb | /ɡɛt ˈdaʊn/ | To bring or come down; to descend; to cause to bring or come down. |
| get off verb | To move from being on top of (something) to not being on top of it. | |
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| build out verb | To develop or expand (a system, structure, project, etc.). | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| cut off verb | /ˌkʌt ˈɔf/ [ˌkɐɾ ˈɔf] | To remove by cutting. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What did you think of the budget?
- What do you think to that?
- How big a deal are energy bills for you?
- Do you want to see the worst of our...?
- Shouldn't you be on stage?
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 | has been talking · has been giving · have been finding |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has agreed · have pleaded · I've never spoken |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was arrested · were cleared · was shown |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who are · men who have · people who do |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 109 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, we're, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thin /ˈθɪn/, sixth /sɪksθ/, beneath /bɪˈniːθ/, southeast /sawˈθɪjst/, altogether /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/, audition /ɑˈdɪʃən/, shock /ʃɔk/, wash /wɑʃ/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: hospitality /ˌhɑ.spɪˈtæl.ə.ti/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, allegedly /əˈlɛdʒ.ɪd.li/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, electricity /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪsɪti/
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 pumpkin, pub, cloud.
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.