Shadowing Practice: 4.21 How Old is She? - 1 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “4.21 How Old is She? - 1”. This video has 14 sentences and 99 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:00. The speaker talks slowly, about 99 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound.
Key vocabulary in this video
11 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| grandma noun | /ˈɡɹænmɑː/ | Grandmother. |
| shine verb | /ʃaɪn/ | To emit or reflect light so as to glow. |
| vegetable noun | /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ | A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice… |
| grandchild noun | /ˈɡɹændˌtʃaɪld/ | A child of someone's child. |
| sparkle noun | /ˈspɑɹ.kəl/ | A little spark; a scintillation. |
| cook verb | /kʊk/ | To prepare food for eating, typically by heating it, combining it with other ingredients, seasoning it, preparing it for serving, etc. |
| nobody noun | /ˈnoʊ.bə.di/ | A person dismissed as unimportant. |
| grow verb | /ˈɡɹəʊ/ | To become larger, to increase in magnitude. |
| birth noun | /bɜɹθ/ | The process of childbearing; the beginning of life; the emergence of a human baby or other viviparous animal offspring from the mother's body into the… |
| birthday noun | /ˈbɜːθ.deɪ/ | The anniversary of the day on which someone is born. |
| forest noun | /ˈfɔɹəst/ | A dense uncultivated tract of trees and undergrowth, larger than woods. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | enjoys living |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | have to sparkle |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 4 contractions and reduced forms, such as doesn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: birth /bɜɹθ/, birthday /ˈbɜːθ.deɪ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like grandma, shine, vegetable.
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.