Shadowing Practice: DICTATION3 UNIT4 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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23 sentences
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Unit 4.
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The Oil Spill My best friend Katie lives near a beautiful white sand beach.
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Her parents take us there every summer.
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The water is clean and refreshing.
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We have a lot of fun in the waves.
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Last year, there was an oil spill at Katie's beach.
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We volunteered at the beach to clean up the oil and help the birds that were caught in the spill.
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When we arrived at the beach that day, the water was slick with oil and the white sand had turned black.
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It was an ugly sight.
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At first, the rescue workers would not let us on the beach.
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We had to watch from a distance.
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We watched as they put a huge float in the water called a boom.
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This device kept the oil slick from spreading.
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Once they stopped the slick, we were allowed on the beach to help.
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Each of us was given a broom.
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We swept the oil into a pile.
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The workers took it away in big trucks.
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We all worked very hard that day to restore the beach.
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Once the oil was removed, the birds that had been caught in the oil had to be helped.
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The workers showed us how to remove the oil from their wings.
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Then the birds could fly away to safety.
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We were very proud of ourselves that day.
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We helped save our beautiful beach and the birds who visit it.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 23 sentences and 238 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:33. The speaker talks at a natural 153 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| worker noun | /ˈwɝ.kɚ/ | One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor. |
| spill verb | /spɪl/ | To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour. |
| slick adjective | /slɪk/ | Slippery or smooth due to a covering of liquid; often used to describe appearances. |
| sand noun | /sænd/ | Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in… |
| rescue verb | /ˈɹɛs.kjuː/ | To save from any violence, danger or evil. |
| ugly adjective | /ˈʌɡli/ | Displeasing to the eye; aesthetically unpleasing. |
| arrive verb | /əˈɹaɪv/ | To reach; to get to a certain place. |
| boom verb | /bum/ | To make a loud, hollow, resonant sound. |
| volunteer noun | /ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/ | One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay. |
| restore verb | /ɹɪˈstoɹ/ | To reestablish, or bring back into existence. |
| pile noun | /paɪl/ | A mass of things heaped together; a heap. |
| sweep verb | /swiːp/ | To clean (a surface) by means of a stroking motion of a broom or brush. |
| float verb | /fləʊt/ | To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object). |
| refresh verb | /ɹɪˈfɹɛʃ/ | To renew or revitalize. |
| broom noun | /bɹum/ | A domestic utensil with fibers bound together at the end of a long handle, used for sweeping. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| clean up verb | To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy. |
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 worker, spill, slick.
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 | were caught · were allowed · was given |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | had to watch · had to be |
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.