Shadowing Practice: 72k - Learn English Speaking with Video

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203 sentences

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Hi guys, I'm Emily and I'm going to tell you about the shocking secret that my family hid from me for years.

You won't ever guess what it was.

Let me take you back to five years ago.

I'm an only child and I live with my mom and dad.

Dad is a manager for a chain of home improvement stores and he is always changing what store he manages, so we move around the country a lot.

It's kind of difficult to make and keep friends when you are only in one town for a year or sometimes less.

It's getting even more difficult now that I'm 15.

I never complained when we moved when I was younger.

It always seemed like a big adventure.

That was until I met Brad.

I met him on my first day at the school I'm in at the moment, and I was obsessed with him straight away.

He is so gorgeous and popular.

I never thought that he would be interested in me, but he was.

We started going out and he even bought me a ring as a present.

He is so romantic.

But then it all went wrong.

That night over dinner was when dad told me that we were going to be moving again.

We would only be in this town for one more week before we would have to move over a hundred miles away.

It was so far away I wouldn't be able to see Brad anymore.

I couldn't take it.

It was heartbreaking.

I had finally found somewhere where I really liked to live.

And I was going to have to move?

Nope.

I was dead set against it.

I told dad and mom that I was staying and that they were going to have to move without me.

I wasn't expecting dad to react the way he did.

He didn't get angry.

He just told me that I had no choice and I had to do what he said.

It was so mean, but I had had enough.

I picked up my plate and threw it at him.

I'm usually calm, but I was just so angry I couldn't help it.

I had been holding on to my anger for so long, not just because of the constant moving, but because of a lot of things.

My family just never make an effort to understand and listen to me.

Dad ducked and it missed him, but it hit the wall of our apartment with such force that it smashed.

Then I picked up other plates and threw them too.

I just couldn't stop.

I was screaming at him too.

Mom started crying and told me that I had to calm down as I would scare the neighbors.

Well, I was too angry to listen.

She got a brush and dustpan and started to clear up the glass, but she was in such a state that she cut her hand on a piece of broken glass.

There was blood everywhere.

I was so upset.

I never meant for my mom to hurt herself.

Then I saw something outside.

Flashing blue lights.

It was the police.

I couldn't believe that someone had called them.

I was so scared.

Dad answered the door to them and let two policemen in.

Then I got really upset.

Even though my parents feel like strangers to me, I would never want to hurt them.

I talked to the police and apologized and told them that it was all my fault and I was so sorry, and I would never act like that again.

The police accepted my reasoning and decided to leave us.

But on the way out, he paused and said he just needed to fill in some paperwork before he went.

My dad said it was completely understandable.

All he wanted to know was our names.

Then what happened next really shocked me.

My dad told the police some fake names and not just for him, but for my mom and me too.

I was so shocked I didn't say anything back.

When the police were gone, I stood there in a shocked silence.

There was food all over the walls from where I had thrown things around, and mom was quietly crying.

I expected my dad to turn around and shout at me, and to tell me why he had lied to the police, but he didn't.

He just turned around calmly and told me to go and pack my bags.

We were moving that night.

I opened my mouth to ask him what was happening, but he raised his hand up to his mouth and shushed me.

I had no choice.

I ran up to my room in tears.

What was going on?

I Skyped Brad and was crying so much that I don't think he really understood what was happening, even when I tried to explain it to him.

Then dad came in and took my phone off of me and told me to hurry up.

I couldn't believe how unreasonable he was being.

Two hours later, we were driving in the dark to the new town where dad was going to be working.

We sat in silence for the journey.

I couldn't believe what was happening.

Why had dad given fake names to the police?

And why were we having to move in such a rush?

When we got to the town, I found out we were staying in a really run-down motel, as our new apartment wasn't ready yet.

When we got there, I stormed off and told my parents I was going for a walk.

I didn't want to talk to them.

I wandered aimlessly around the streets.

I called Brad up and calmly told him what had happened.

He listened and believed my crazy story.

He kept trying to guess why my parents had lied about who they were.

He thought that they were criminals and that is why they lied.

It did seem likely.

All of this moving around the country and lying to the police?

I wanted to run away and go and be with Brad, but I had no money.

Then he had an idea.

He suggested I speak to the police myself.

I didn't want to do it over the phone, so I went to a police station.

I was really nervous.

The man at the desk thought I was lying at first.

I could tell he didn't believe what I was saying.

He still wrote it all down but was reluctant to do so.

I just begged him to believe me

and to pass it on to the police officers who had been to my old apartment earlier that night.

When I left, I still wasn't sure if he believed me or not.

When I got back to the motel, dad was sitting outside and he was livid.

100

He was so angry that I was out by myself at night.

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He sent me to my room and I didn't even argue.

102

Then I realized I had a text from Brad.

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I opened it.

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It was a photo from a news article from five years ago.

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It showed a grainy CCTV photo of a man robbing a grocery store.

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He looked kind of like my dad.

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Maybe my dad was a thief on the run.

108

That would explain so much.

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The next week was really weird.

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We moved into our new apartment and mom and dad made a massive effort to get me to like it.

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They let me paint my room and buy new furniture.

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Mom even gave me money to go clothes shopping.

113

I really missed Brad though and had decided that as soon as I was 18, I was going to move and be with him.

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My new school was okay.

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I was so used to starting at a new school that it didn't really matter to me anymore.

116

Then a couple of weeks later, something really strange happened.

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I was called into the principal's office.

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Now I keep my head down at school.

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I have enough going on in my life.

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Getting into trouble at school is the last thing I need.

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So I was worried.

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Was there something wrong with mom or dad?

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But when I got there, it was not what I was expecting.

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Inside were the two police officers who had been to our old apartment the previous week.

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It must be something pretty serious for them to have traveled this far.

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They sat me down and told me

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that they had got the message from me that my dad had given them false names.

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They had proceeded to investigate what had happened and needed to talk to me about it.

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They asked me what my parents' names were, and I told them their real ones.

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Then they showed me a black and white photograph of my parents that was years old, probably around the time I was a baby.

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He asked me if the people in the picture were my parents, and I said yes.

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Then they told me that they had some news.

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My parents had given false names, as they were wanted by the police.

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I told them that I already knew, and explained how Brad had found the picture of my dad robbing a grocery store.

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The policeman frowned.

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He said that wasn't why he was here, and that case had already been solved and that my dad was wanted for something far more serious.

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Kidnapping.

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He told me that almost 16 years ago, two girls were born at the same hospital on the same day and had the same surname.

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Somehow the hospital had managed to get the babies confused and the parents ended up taking the wrong babies home.

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Neither family knew anything was wrong until the girls were five.

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One of the girls ended up in hospital ill and had their blood taken.

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That was when it was worked out that the girl wasn't related to her parents.

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The police got involved and traced down the other family

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and told them that the girl they were raising wasn't biologically theirs

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and they needed to meet the girl's real parents and decide how to proceed.

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But those parents panicked, ran away, and had been on the run ever since.

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He said the girl with the parents who ran away was me.

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He said my parents weren't my real parents.

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I stood up.

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This was some kind of sick joke.

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He was lying.

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My mom and dad were my mom and dad.

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I shouted at the policeman and called him a liar.

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He tried to get me to sit back down, but I didn't listen.

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I ran out of school and headed back to my apartment.

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By the time I got home, I was exhausted.

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Dad was there, and he was so worried about me.

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He asked me what was wrong, and after I managed to get my breath back, I told him.

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I expected him to get angry or laugh, but he didn't say anything.

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He didn't look surprised, just sad.

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He walked off, and when he came back he had an envelope that he took a piece of paper out of.

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It was a newspaper article from 10 years ago where a couple were pleading for my parents to come forward

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so they could meet their biological daughter.

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I looked at the picture.

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The couple looked just like me, way more than my real parents.

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Then my dad said it.

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He wasn't my biological dad.

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I was in shock.

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My dad begged for forgiveness and told me that he

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and mom just loved me so much

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that they couldn't bear to let me meet my real parents in case they wanted me back

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and I never saw them again.

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But I was angry.

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How had they lied to me for all these years?

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And why had they made my childhood so miserable by moving me around all the time?

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I told the police I didn't want to be with these people anymore, so they moved me into a foster home which was nearer to where Brad lived.

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At first, I was pleased to be away from the people who claimed to be my parents.

178

I didn't want to see them again, but living in a foster home was horrible.

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I only had a couple of drawers for all my belongings, and it was so loud with shouting and arguments at all hours.

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At least I could see more of Brad, and I had a social worker who looked after me.

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My social worker told me that my real parents had been contacted and would like to meet me.

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I jumped at the chance.

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The next week I caught a train to a different town and went and met my birth parents in a coffee shop.

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It was so uncomfortable at first.

185

None of us knew what to say, but after a while it got easier.

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I looked so much like the dad, and I sounded so similar to the mom.

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It was so weird.

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We spoke about our lives, and they told me how they had spent years trying to find me.

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Then I got to meet Ashley, the baby who I was accidentally swapped with, who was almost 16, like me.

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It was so weird.

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She looked a lot like my parents.

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I suppose she is biologically theirs.

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Going back to my foster home, I had so much to think about.

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I couldn't get my head around it all.

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Me and Ashley messaged each other a lot.

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She was the only person who really understood how I felt.

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That was five years ago, and now I live with Brad in our own apartment.

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I'm in touch with my birth parents and the parents who raised me, who I still call mom and dad.

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I have finally forgiven them for lying to me for all of these years.

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I understand that they were just frightened of losing me.

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I bet you didn't guess that was going to be my family's secret, did you?

202

Does your family have any big secrets?

203

Let me know in the comments and don't forget to click subscribe and share.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

The speaker keeps coming back to these words: dad, parents, mom, Brad. This video has 203 sentences and 2376 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:14. The speaker talks fast, about 211 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% 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

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
policeman noun	/pəˈliːsmən/	A police officer, usually a male.
shout verb	/ʃaʊt/	To utter a sudden and loud cry, as in joy, triumph, exultation or anger, or to attract attention, to animate others, etc.
biologically adverb		In a biological manner.
calmly adverb	/ˈkɑː(ɹ)m.li/	In a calm manner; coolly.
motel noun	/moʊˈtɛl/	A type of hotel or lodging establishment, often located near a major highway, which typically features a series of rooms whose entrances are immediately…
theirs	/ðɛɚz/	That or those belonging to them; the possessive case of they, used without a following noun.
grocery noun	/ˈɡɹəʊ.s(ə.)ɹi/	Retail foodstuffs and other household supplies.
scare verb	/skɛɚ/	To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way.
proceed verb	/pɹəˈsid/	To move, pass, or go forward or onward; to advance; to carry on.
aimlessly adverb	/ˈeɪmləsli/	Without an aim, purpose or direction; in an aimless manner.
dustpan noun	/ˈdʌstpæn/	A flat scoop with a handle, into which dust, dirt and other material is conveyed with a brush or broom.
frighten verb	/ˈfɹaɪ.tən/	To cause to feel fear; to scare; to cause to feel alarm or fright.
grainy adjective	/ˈɡɹeɪni/	Resembling grains; granular.
kidnap verb	/ˈkɪdnæp/	To seize or detain a person unlawfully and move or conceal them; sometimes for ransom.
nearer adjective	/ˈnɪɹɚ/	Less distant; comparative form of near: more near.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
run away verb		To flee by running.
move around verb		To relocate to new homes repeatedly; to not live in any one place for long.
pick up verb		To lift; to grasp and raise.
turn around verb		To physically rotate (usually around a vertical axis) for a half turn (180 degrees), a whole turn (360 degrees), or an indefinite amount.
calm down verb		To become less excited, intense, or angry.
clear up verb	/klɪəˈɹʌp/	To clarify, to correct a misconception.
come back verb		To return to a place.
come forward verb		To offer help or information, especially about a crime.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

You won't ever guess what it was.
I couldn't believe that someone had called them.
I was so shocked I didn't say anything back.
I couldn't believe how unreasonable he was being.
Does your family have any big secrets?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was obsessed · was called · were wanted
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	home which was · people who claimed · person who really

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 41 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, couldn't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: theirs /ðɛɚz/, thief /ˈθiːf/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shout /ʃaʊt/, smash /smæʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: unreasonable /ʌnˈɹiːz.(ə)nə.bl̩/, miserable /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/, apologize /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/

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 policeman, shout, biologically.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?