Shadowing Practice: Costs a Pretty Penny - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
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Welcome to English in a Minute.
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America, the land of Hollywood, can sometimes be too concerned with things looking pretty.
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This is going to cost a pretty penny.
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Is she worried about making her money look good?
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Sometimes American English does not make any sense.
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Did you see that car?
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Oh my gosh, that car is awesome.
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Yes, I bet it is really fast.
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That car must have cost a pretty penny.
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Ah, it means that something costs a lot of money.
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Some say the phrase came from a special coin a British king had made long ago.
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American English is very descriptive.
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And sometimes we put a colorful word in front of a noun to get our meaning across.
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And that's English in a Minute.

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Costs a Pretty Penny”. This video has 14 sentences and 126 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:55. The speaker talks at a steady 138 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 11 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
penny noun/ˈpɛni/In the United Kingdom, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a pound sterling, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: p.
phrase noun/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/A short written or spoken expression.
coin noun/ˈkoɪ̯n/A piece of currency, usually metallic and in the shape of a disc, but sometimes polygonal, or with a hole in the middle.
gosh/ɡɑːʃ/A mild expression of surprise or enthusiasm.
colorful adjective/ˈkʌl.əɹ.fl̩/Possessing prominent and varied colors.
noun noun/naʊn/A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as person, animal, place, word, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea…
descriptive adjective/dəˈskɹɪptɪv/Of, relating to, or providing a description.
concern noun/kənˈsɝn/That which affects one’s welfare or happiness. A matter of interest to someone.
welcome/ˈwɛl.kəm/Greeting given upon someone's arrival.
awesome adjective/ˈɔːsəm/Causing awe or terror; inspiring wonder or excitement.
worry verb/ˈwʌ.ɹi/To be troubled; to give way to mental anxiety or doubt.

Grammar in this video

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

StructureIn the video
Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see comingis going to cost

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like penny, phrase, coin.

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 →