Shadowing Practice: DICTATION1 UNIT5 - Learn English Speaking with Video

This video has 18 sentences and 138 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:11. The speaker talks at a steady 117 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

14 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

• entrance /ˈɛn.tɹəns/ (noun) — The action of entering, or going in.
• pine /paɪn/ (noun) — Any coniferous tree of the genus Pinus.
• visitor /ˈvɪzɪtɚ/ (noun) — Someone who visits someone else; someone staying as a guest.
• cedar /ˈsi.dɚ/ (noun) — A coniferous tree of the genus Cedrus in the family Pinaceae.
• reserve /ɹɪˈzɝv/ (noun) — The act of reserving or keeping back; reservation; exception.
• tall /tɔl/ (adjective) — Having great vertical extent (usually reckoned from the bottom of the feet to the very top of the head) when standing. (For instance, somebody with a height of…
• tree /tɹiː/ (noun) — A perennial woody plant taller and larger than a shrub with a wooden trunk and, at some distance from the ground, having leaves and branches.
• forest /ˈfɔɹəst/ (noun) — A dense uncultivated tract of trees and undergrowth, larger than woods.
• grow /ˈɡɹəʊ/ (verb) — To become larger, to increase in magnitude.
• unit /ˈjuː.nɪt/ (noun) — Oneness, singularity, seen as a component of a whole number; a magnitude of one.
• damage /ˈdæmɪd͡ʒ/ (noun) — Injury or harm; the condition or measure of something not being intact.
• foot /fʊt/ (noun) — A biological structure found in many animals that is used for locomotion and that is frequently a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg.
• enter /ˈɛntɚ/ (verb) — To go or come into an enclosed or partially enclosed space.
• mountain /ˈmaʊn.tɪn/ (noun) — An elevation of land of considerable dimensions rising more or less abruptly, forming a conspicuous figure in the landscape, usually having a small extent of…

Phrasal verbs you will hear

• grow on (verb) — To become more likeable to someone.
• live in (verb) — To reside on the premises of one's employer (used especially of domestic staff such as nannies, cooks, maids, etc.)

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 entrance, pine, visitor.

Grammar in this video

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