Shadowing Practice: A Great Reason to Not Be Religious Anymore - Anthony Jeselnik - Learn English Speaking with Video

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We just, uh, we just found out my little brother has a peanut allergy.

A peanut allergy, which is very serious, I know.

But still, I feel like my parents are totally overreacting.

They caught me eating a tiny little bag of airline peanuts, and they kicked me out of his funeral.

I feel like some of you guys might be too nice to laugh at some of these jokes. And that's okay.

Not everybody has a great sense of humor.

You guys would probably love my little nephew.

He's like six years old. So cute.

I talk to him every day on the phone.

He's unbelievable.

He's got like the greatest imagination ever.

He's either going to be an incredible artist someday, today, or he really did get molested.

I wasn't even laughing about that one and I was thinking about what's coming.

I feel like I need to say, like, I really believe this, that being a mother seems like one of the toughest jobs in the world, right?

Like, literally, right below comedian.

So to me, if a mother does her best, then in my book, she's a good mom, right?

Now, my mom did her very best.

Unfortunately, she was also a terrible person.

Like my mom for most of her life, and this is true, my mom for most of her life was a Holocaust denier.

Does everybody know what that means?

I mean, she couldn't believe the Holocaust happened.

It's like the worst thing you can be

and it was terrible for the entire family to have to

deal with until finally a couple years ago we had an intervention

and we had a rabbi come into the home had him walk her through the history of the jewish people

and then he made her watch schindler's list and after

that my mom did a complete 180 now she can't believe it only happened once

I'm not a religious person I would call myself an atheist

I don't have a good story behind it I'm just reasonable My girlfriend,

my girlfriend has got like the greatest story behind why she's not religious anymore.

She said when she was a kid, like 12 years old, her parents nailed a 25 -pound crucifix to the wall right above her bed.

About two weeks later, in the middle of the night,

the crucifix falls off the wall and and leaves a two -inch gash in the back of her dad's head.

Like, whether you laughed or not, you've got to admit, that's a fucking great story.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 34 sentences and 426 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:12. The speaker talks slowly, about 101 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 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

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
peanut noun	/ˈpiˌnʌt/	A legume resembling a nut, the fruit of the plant Arachis hypogaea, native to South America.
allergy noun	/ˈæl.əɹ.d͡ʒi/	A disorder of the immune system causing adverse reactions to substances (allergens) not harmful to most and marked by the body's production of histamines and…
funeral noun	/ˈfju.nəɹ.əl/	A ceremony to honor and remember a deceased person, often distinguished from a memorial service by the presence of the body of the deceased.
pound noun	/ˈpaʊ̯nd/	A unit of weight in various measurement systems.
intervention noun	/ɪntɚˈvɛnʃən/	The action of intervening; interfering in some course of events.
imagination noun	/ɪˌmæd͡ʒəˈneɪʃən/	The image-making power of the mind; the act of mentally creating or reproducing an object not previously perceived; the ability to create such images.
leaf noun	/lif/	The usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants.
nail noun	/neɪl/	The horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and human).
unbelievable adjective	/ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩/	Not to be believed.
someday adverb		Sometime; at some unspecified time in the future.
airline noun	/ˈɛɹˌlaɪn/	A company that flies airplanes to transport people and goods.
nephew noun	/ˈnɛf.ju/	A son of one's sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either a son of one's brother (fraternal nephew) or a son of one's sister (sororal nephew).
comedian noun	/kəˈmiː.di.ən/	An entertainer who performs in a humorous manner, especially by telling jokes.
humour noun	/ˈhjuːmɚ/	The quality of being amusing, comical, funny.
rabbi noun	/ˈɹæ.baɪ/	A Jewish scholar or teacher of halacha (Jewish law), capable of making halachic decisions.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
fall off verb	To become detached or to drop from.
find out verb	To discover, as by asking or investigating.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, can't, couldn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: intervention /ɪntɚˈvɛnʃən/, imagination /ɪˌmæd͡ʒəˈneɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: intervention /ɪntɚˈvɛnʃən/, imagination /ɪˌmæd͡ʒəˈneɪʃən/, unbelievable /ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩/, comedian /kəˈmiː.di.ən/, overreact /ˌoʊ.vəɹ.ɹiˈækt/

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 peanut, allergy, funeral.

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 →

Shadowing Practice: A Great Reason to Not Be Religious Anymore - Anthony Jeselnik - Learn English Speaking with Video

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