Shadowing Practice: Bài 1 - Đối Phó Với Cơn Buồn Chán - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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This is 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com Hello, I'm Rob.
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Welcome to 6 Minute English.
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I'm joined today by Finn.
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Hello Finn.
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Hi Rob.
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You know, I'm happy you called me to present this programme with you, because I was there by my desk feeling a bit bored.
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Great yawn, Finn.
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Yeah.
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Now yawn, of course, is a typical reaction of someone who is bored.
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Yeah, it's when you open your mouth wide and take some air in and slowly out.
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OK, well, let's make this programme all about boredom, shall we?
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And I'll start by stimulating your imagination.
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Thank you, but how are you going to make me excited and interested in something, Rob?
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OK, well, how about I challenge you to a question that you might not know the answer to?
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OK, well, you can try.
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OK.
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Go on then.
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Well, I know you like the theatre.
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I do.
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But it has to be an exciting play or I get restless.
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Restless.
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You mean unable to sit still because you get bored or worried even.
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OK.
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Well, I wonder how you'd feel watching the longest continuous play recorded?
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Well, that's quite an offer.
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But what do you mean?
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Well, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest continuous dramatic performance was held in New Jersey in the US in 2010.
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But do you know how long the cast for The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco was on stage four?
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Was it for about a.
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8 hours, b.
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17 hours, or c.
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23 hours?
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Wow, they're all pretty long.
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I'll say b.
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17 hours, Rob.
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Goodness, right.
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OK, well, I'll let you know the answer at the end of the programme.
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Now let's talk more about boredom.
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I think this is a feeling we have to learn how to cope with.
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Yes, we have to learn to deal with this situation successfully, to cope with it.
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But people often feel they want to change their life, to change their job.
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They might feel stuck in a rut.
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That's a good phrase, stuck in a rut.
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So you mean you have become too fixed in one kind of job.
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Yes, you know, Rob, even I sometimes dream of something a bit more exciting,
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like being a professional diver or maybe even a pilot of a really fast plane.
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Well, guess what?
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Even pilots get bored, you know.
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Not when they're flying, anyway.
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Wrong.
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When they're up in the air.
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No way, really.
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I don't believe you.
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Well, Missy Cummings, an American, was a fighter pilot.
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Listen to the phrasal verb she uses, meaning to stop being bored, at least for a while.
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Is there ever time for a fighter pilot to get bored?
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Oh, my gosh, sure.
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For the same reasons that commercial pilots get bored.
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These fighter jets are very automated when it comes to just holding altitude and heading.
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So you'd turn everything on autopilot.
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And I probably listened to more Oprah Winfrey TV shows on the high-frequency radios
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and so you get good about using the technology to figure out how to stave off that boredom.
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Ah, so she listened to a show hosted by the American presenter Oprah Winfrey on the radio to stave off her boredom.
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Now, to stave off means to stop or to keep an unpleasant feeling away.
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In this case she means boredom.
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Yes, indeed.
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But some experts think there's something good about feeling bored.
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Really?
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Let's hear what Tiffany Watt-Smith has to say.
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She works for the Centre for the History of Emotions at the Queen Mary University of London.
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Pay attention to the word she uses to describe what boredom does to people.
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On the one hand, people are worried about being under-occupied and bored.
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On the other, there is a set of anxieties about us not having any more downtime.
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You know, we can constantly check our phones at the bus stop.
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Everything is to be filled and what does that do to our minds?
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I think boredom is a very useful emotion.
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It's an emotion which spurs people on to change something about their environment.
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If you're bored, it gives rise to creativity.
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So, boredom spurs people on to change something.
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Now, to spur on means to stimulate or to encourage someone to do something.
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So, what are you going to do, Finn?
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How will you change your life?
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Change my life?
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OK, two things.
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The first one is...
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I want to know if I got that question right.
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Well, I said at the beginning of the programme
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that the longest continuous dramatic performance was held in New Jersey US in 2010.
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And I asked you, how long was the cast on stage for to play the Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco?
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Yes, the options were 8 hours, 17 hours and 23 hours, I think.
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And I said 17.
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Was I right?
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You were not.
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Oh no. It was even longer.
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Oh wow!
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23 records, yes, the play lasted 23 hours, 33 minutes and 54 seconds.
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It was achieved by the 27 o'clock players who performed the Bald Soprano at Belmar, New Jersey, USA on 27th July 2010.
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Anyway, Finn, what's the second thing you were going to do to stave off your boredom?
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You know what, Rob?
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I'm going to book myself a fantastic holiday.
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Maybe I could start with a visit to Patagonia in Argentina to see the penguins.
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Yeah, sounds very exciting.
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But before you head off to Patagonia, could you remind us of some of the English words we've heard today?
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We heard...
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yawn, stimulating, restless, to cope with,
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stuck in a rut, to stave off, to spur on.
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Thanks, Finn.
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That's it for this programme.
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I hope you didn't find it boring.
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Not at all.
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I loved it.
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join us again soon for another 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
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Bye bye!
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Bye!
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That was 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Bài 1 - Đối Phó Với Cơn Buồn Chán”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: bored, boredom, Finn, Rob, English. This video has 115 sentences and 974 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:08. The speaker talks at a natural 159 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding. 19 of its 115 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bore verb | /boɹ/ | To inspire boredom in somebody. |
| boredom noun | /ˈbɔɹ.dəm/ | The state of being bored. |
| stave noun | /steɪv/ | One of a number of narrow strips of wood, or narrow iron plates, placed edge to edge to form the sides, covering, or lining of a vessel or structure… |
| spur noun | /spɝ/ | A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the… |
| excite verb | /ɪkˈsaɪt/ | To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement. |
| yawn verb | /jɔn/ | To open the mouth widely and take a long, rather deep breath, often because one is tired or bored, and sometimes accompanied by pandiculation. |
| restless adjective | /ˈɹɛstlɪs/ | Not allowing or affording rest. |
| stimulate verb | /ˈstɪm.jəˌleɪt/ | To encourage into action. |
| continuous adjective | /kənˈtɪn.juː.əs/ | Without stopping; without a break, cessation, or interruption. |
| fighter noun | /ˈfaɪtɚ/ | A person who fights; a combatant. |
| emotion noun | /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/ | A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data. |
| automate verb | /ˈɔ.təˌmeɪt/ | To replace or enhance human labor with machines. |
| autopilot noun | /ˈɔtoʊˌpaɪlət/ | A mechanical, electrical, or hydraulic system used to guide a vehicle without assistance from a human being. |
| downtime noun | /ˈdaʊnˌtaɪm/ | Time lost due to the failure of some system or machinery, such as a computer crash or power outage. |
| phrasal adjective | /ˈfɹeɪzəl/ | Relating to, or used in the manner of, a phrase. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- If you're bored, it gives rise to creativity.
- How will you change your life?
- I'm going to book myself a fantastic holiday.
- I hope you didn't find it boring.
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 held · be filled · was achieved |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have become · we've heard |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the longest |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might not know · might feel |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, I'll, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, imagination /ɪˌmæd͡ʒəˈneɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: continuous /kənˈtɪn.juː.əs/, autopilot /ˈɔtoʊˌpaɪlət/, creativity /kri.eɪˈtɪv.ᵻ.ti/, imagination /ɪˌmæd͡ʒəˈneɪʃən/
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 bore, boredom, stave.
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.