Shadowing Practice: Christmas in Prague Chapter 6 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
Who is Pavel?
2
The old man drank some water and looked up.
3
Pavel, he said, I must ask you to look at this photo.
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He put his hand in his pocket and took out a photograph of a young woman.
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Do you know this woman?
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Yes, said Pavel.
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That's a photo of my mother, Lenka.
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She died when I was very young.
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But my grandmother had many photos of her, and we often looked at them.
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Did you live with your grandmother when you were young?
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Yes, I did.
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But how do you know all this?" Because,
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said Yosef, Lenka was my wife.
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Dad, what are you saying? said Jan.
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Joseph looked at Jan.
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My boy, don't be angry with me.
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I didn't tell you many things about your mother.
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Perhaps I was wrong.
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But I wanted to forget.
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Not to forget your mother.
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Only to forget that terrible night in 1957.
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Jan, this man, Pavel, is your twin brother.
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You can see that it's true.
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Look at your faces." looked at Jan.
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So, I have a brother, he said.
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My grandmother never told me that.
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Jan smiled.
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And my father, our father, never told me about a twin brother.
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He turned to Josef.
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Dad, why Why didn't you tell me?
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It's a long story," said the old man.
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It begins many years ago, when a young man went to Prague University.
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He was there for seven years, and in his last year, he met a beautiful young woman.
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His eyes turned to the photo.
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She was so beautiful.
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Of course, the young man fell in love with her, and they got married in 1956.
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But things were difficult in Prague then.
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People were not happy, and they were not free.
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Lenka and I, and a lot of our friends, wanted to change things.
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But it was dangerous work.
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The Russians knew about us, and they watched us all the time.
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Then, you two boys were born on a wonderful day in June 1957.
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But you went away, Pavel said angrily.
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Your wife died and you left the country.
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You went away to England and began a new life.
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You didn't write.
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You didn't telephone.
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You weren't interested in me, your son.
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Yosef's face was very sad.
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Pavel, he said, I thought you were dead.
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Look, I must show you something.
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From behind the photo of his wife, he took out a letter and gave it to Pavel.
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The letter was old and yellow.
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Pavel opened it and began to read.
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The letter was in check and it was his grandmother's writing.
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I write to tell you, Josef, that your wife is dead.
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On Christmas night, the guards shot her on the road at the border.
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She carried Pavel, your baby son, and my grandson on her back.
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And the guards shot him too.
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Your wife and your son are dead.
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Your friends came and told me yesterday.
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You have yarn.
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And a new life in England.
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And what do I have?
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Nothing.
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You took one grandson away from me.
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And now my daughter and little Pavel are dead because of you.
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Don't write to me.
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And don't come back to Prague.
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I never want to see you or hear from you again.
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Stanislava." Slowly, Pavel put the letter down.
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I understand now, he said quietly.
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What a terrible letter!
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How could she do that to you?
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And to me?
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Stanislava loved her daughter very much, Joseph said sadly.
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She loved you too and didn't want to lose you.
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I see that now.
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But she never liked me.
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And after that letter, how could I go back to Prague?
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You were dead.
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Lenka was dead." He put his face in his hands.
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The room was very quiet.
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Then Pavel put his hand on his father's arm.
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Stanislava is dead now, he said.
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You and I can begin again, he smiled, and learned to be father and son.
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Yosef's face was wet with tears.
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He put his hand over Pavel's hand and smiled back at him.
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But he could not speak.
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Now there were tears in everybody's eyes.
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After a minute or two, Jan said, Dad, I know it's difficult for you.
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Can you tell us about that Christmas in 1957?
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How did it all happen?
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I'd like to know." Yes, said his father.
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You and Pavel must know.
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He turned to Pavel.
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But what did Stanislava tell you?
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little," Pavel said.
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She never wanted to talk about it.
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She told me that my mother died in hospital and you went away to England.
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That was all.
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I can understand that," said Yosef.
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She lost her daughter because of me.
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And she never liked our work for freedom, you see.
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She didn't understand.
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She just wanted a quiet family life." Christmas, 1957, said Jan.
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Yes, said Josef.
108
In October and November of that year, things got more and more dangerous for Lenka and me.
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Our friends told us, leave before the Russians get you.
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Get away to Austria and then to England.
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We didn't want to leave Czechoslovakia, of course.
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It was our home.
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But we couldn't stay.
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Our friends helped us, and Jan and I got across the border on the day before Christmas, December the 24th.
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It was night.
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There was no moon, and we got to Austria all right through the fields and the snow.
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But the next night...
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December 25th, said Pavel.
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My grandmother told me the day.
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My mother died in a hospital bed in Prague, she said.
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Lenka died in the snow, on the road at the border,
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Joseph said, she was so near Austria,
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so near us, with you, Pavel, on her back.
124
The old man's voice stopped, and again, he put his head in his hands.
125
Thank you.
126
Thank you.
127
Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 127 sentences and 964 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:22. The speaker talks slowly, about 78 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
12 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- litter /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ (noun) — Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.
- grandmother /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/ (noun) — A mother of someone's parent.
- tear /tɛɹ/ (verb) — To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.
- twin /twɪn/ (noun) — Either of two people (or, less commonly, animals) who shared the same uterus at the same time; one who was born at the same birth as a sibling.
- grandson /ˈɡɹæn(d)sʌn/ (noun) — A son of one's child.
- pocket /ˈpɑ.kɪt/ (noun) — A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items.
- telephone /ˈtɛləˌfoʊn/ (noun) — A telecommunication device which converts data or sounds (usually speech) into electrical signals which are then transmitted to enable two or more people to…
- photograph /ˈfoʊ.təˌɡɹæf/ (noun) — A picture created by projecting an image onto a photosensitive surface such as a chemically treated plate or film, CCD receptor, etc.
- sadly /ˈsædli/ (adverb) — In a sad manner; sorrowfully.
- quietly /ˈkwaɪ.ɪt.li/ (adverb) — Producing little or no noise.
- yarn /jɑɹn/ (noun) — A twisted strand of fibre used for knitting or weaving.
- angrily /ˈæŋ.ɡɹə.li/ (adverb) — In an angry manner; under the influence of anger.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
- take out (verb) — To remove.
- fall in (verb) — To collapse inwards.
- get across (verb) — To cross; to move from one side (of something) to the other, literally or figuratively.
- go away (verb) — To depart or leave a place.
- go back to (verb) — To stem from; to originate in.
- hand in (verb) — To give something to a responsible person.
- hand on (verb) — To transfer (something) to someone else, especially as a replacement for oneself (such as an official office or duty); to transfer something that was…
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 13 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, don't, couldn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
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 litter, grandmother, tear.
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.