Shadowing Practice: Bài 9 - Du Lịch đen - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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This is 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com Welcome to 6 Minute English.
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I'm Rob.
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And I'm Neil.
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Hello.
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Today we're talking about an unusual type of tourism.
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Now, tourism is the business of providing services such as transport, or places to stay, or entertainment for people who are on holiday.
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But instead of providing sunny holidays in a nice hotel by the sea, this is where tourists travel to sites of death, brutality and terror.
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It's being called dark tourism.
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Now, Rob, have you ever been to any dark tourist destination or place?
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Yes, I visited Auschwitz in Poland.
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A fascinating trip, but an obviously depressing place.
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And next month I'm planning to go to visit Chernobyl, the site of a catastrophic nuclear accident back in 1986.
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So these are not your typical sightseeing trips, but a visit to places that make you curious because of their significance significance, their importance in history.
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Exactly.
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We'll talk more about this soon, but not before I set you today's question.
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Now, Robyn Island in South Africa is one dark tourism destination.
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It's where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years.
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But do you know in which year it finally closed as a prison?
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Was it in A 1991, B 1996 or C 1999?
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I don't know but I am going to guess A 1991
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because I think he was released in 89 and surely they would have shut it down pretty quickly after that.
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Well, I like your thinking.
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I'll reveal the answer later on.
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So let's talk more about dark tourism.
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The word dark is used here because it relates to places that are connected with bad or sinister things, or things that could be considered morally wrong.
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It's strange to want to visit places like these.
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There is what we call a morbid fascination.
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It's showing an interest in things connected with death and destruction, and these kinds of trips are on the increase.
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Yes, there are organised tours to places like Ground Zero in New York, the killing fields in Cambodia and the nuclear power station in Chernobyl.
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And there are the battlefields of World War I and II and the top security prison of Alcatraz.
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There are also plans to turn the disaster site of the
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Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan into a tourist destination once the radiation is reduced.
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But why do people want to visit these macabre sites?
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Well, I mentioned curiosity and a chance to learn about history, but sometimes people just feel compelled to visit them.
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But what about the ethics of dark tourism?
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Is it wrong to make this trip?
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Are we not just exploiting or making money or cashing in on someone suffering?
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Dr Philip Stone is an expert in the subject.
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He's director of the Institute for Dark Tourism Research.
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He says this type of tourism isn't new.
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People have been visiting these types of places for years.
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He says it's always been there.
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It's not new in the sense that we are fascinated by other death and the people's suffering,
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but it's how it's packaged up by the tourist industry.
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So, he says, dark tourism isn't new.
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In fact, a medieval execution was an early form of dark tourism.
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Maybe it's just human nature that draws us to these places.
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Dr Stone says it's all about how these dark trips are packaged.
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So it depends how they're sold and how tasteful they are.
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Are they sensitive to the horrors of what has taken place?
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Yes, being able to walk around a historic site or visit a museum is one thing,
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but how about staying in a former prison in Latvia and paying to be treated like a prisoner?
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Or how about crawling around Vietnamese war tunnels whilst people fire guns outside?
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Hmm, maybe that's taking the experience too far.
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Dr Stone says there's a blurred line between memorialisation and tourism.
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He means it's hard to separate going to remember an event and the people who've died
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with visiting somewhere as part of a holiday.
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Another issue when visiting these places is how you remember your visit you must be respectful.
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Perhaps taking photos, yes, but should you take a selfie?
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And should you buy a souvenir or send a postcard home?
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Yes, well you certainly wouldn't write on your postcard, wish you were here.
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Anyway, let's now reveal the answer to the question I set you earlier.
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Yes, this was about the former prison on Robben Island, which is now a popular destination for dark tourism.
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I asked you when it finally closed as a prison.
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Was it in A 1991, B 1996 or C 1999?
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And I said A 1991.
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you were wrong actually.
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It was in 1996.
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About 350,000 people now visit the site every year, which shows how much interest there is in a place that you would have once never wanted to go near.
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Is it somewhere you would like to visit, Neil?
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Err, I'm not so sure about dark tourism, to be honest.
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OK.
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Well, could you instead remind us of the vocabulary that we've heard today?
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Yes, we heard...
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...tourism, depressing, catastrophic, curious, morally wrong,
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morbid fascination, macabre, compelled, ethics,
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exploiting, human nature, tasteful, memorialisation, Respectful.
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Thanks, Neil.
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Well, we hope you've enjoyed today's programme.
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Please join us again soon for 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
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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 B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Bài 9 - Du Lịch đen”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tourism, dark, visit, site, prison. This video has 83 sentences and 890 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:06. The speaker talks at a steady 146 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding. 15 of its 83 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 |
|---|---|---|
| compel verb | /kəmˈpɛl/ | To overpower; to subdue. |
| fascinate verb | /ˈfæsɪneɪt/ | To evoke an intense interest or attraction in someone. |
| fascination noun | /fæsɪˈneɪʃən/ | The state or condition of being fascinated. |
| macabre adjective | /məˈkɑb/ | Representing or personifying death. |
| memorialization noun | /məˌmɔːɹi.əˌlaɪˈzeɪ̯.ʃən/ | The act or process of memorializing or creating a memorial. |
| morbid adjective | /ˈmɔɹ.bɪd/ | Of, relating to, or afflicted by disease. |
| postcard noun | /ˈpoʊstˌkɑɹd/ | A rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically used for sending messages by mail without the need for an envelope. |
| tasteful adjective | /ˈteɪstfəl/ | Having or exhibiting good taste; aesthetically pleasing or conforming to expectations or ideals of what is appropriate. |
| catastrophic adjective | /ˌkætəˈstɹɑfɪk/ | Of or pertaining to a catastrophe. |
| morally adverb | /ˈmɔɹəli/ | In terms of morals or ethics. |
| respectful adjective | /ɹɪˈspɛkt.fl̩/ | Marked or characterized by respect |
| exploit noun | /ˈɛksplɔɪt/ | A heroic or extraordinary deed. |
| depressing adjective | /dɪˈpɹɛsɪŋ/ | Causing depression or sadness. |
| significance noun | /sɪɡˈnɪfɪkəns/ | The extent to which something matters; importance |
| ethics noun | /ˈɛθ.ɪks/ | Morality. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| walk around verb | To walk with no planned destination; to meander. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Today we're talking about an unusual type of tourism.
- I'll reveal the answer later on.
- Perhaps taking photos, yes, but should you take a selfie?
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 | being called · was imprisoned · was released |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has taken · we've heard · you've enjoyed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who are · Island, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 15 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, isn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: fascination /fæsɪˈneɪʃən/, memorialization /məˌmɔːɹi.əˌlaɪˈzeɪ̯.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: fascination /fæsɪˈneɪʃən/, memorialization /məˌmɔːɹi.əˌlaɪˈzeɪ̯.ʃən/, catastrophic /ˌkætəˈstɹɑfɪk/, significance /sɪɡˈnɪfɪkəns/, brutality /ˌbɹuːˈtælɪti/
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 compel, fascinate, fascination.
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.