Shadowing Practice: Duchess of Cambridge Q&A on Early Years - Learn English Speaking with Video
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56 sentences
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I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who sent in their questions.
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A huge number here with loads of wonderful emojis attached to them.
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What is the early years?
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Help!
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With a wonderful emoji at the end of it.
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I suppose we're looking at it from pregnancy through to the age of five, so through to children starting school.
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What sparked my interest in the early years?
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I actually get asked this question a lot.
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I think people assume that because I'm a parent, that's why I've taken an interest in the early years.
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I think this really is bigger than that.
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This isn't about just about happy healthy children, this is about the society I hope we could and can become.
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Right from the early days meeting
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lots of people who are suffering with you know addiction
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or poor mental health and hearing time and time again
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that their troubles now in adulthood stem right back from early childhood experience.
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How do you manage toddler tantrums in your household, especially with multiple children?
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Yes, that's a hard one i'd also like to ask the
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experts myself as a mum of a two-year-old tantrums are something i'm very familiar with
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when my son has a tantrum i try to put into
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words um how i think he might be feeling in a slow and calm
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and gentle way okay the next question is what was the
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best part in the development of the early years project
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that I think has to be going around the nation
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when we launched the survey and I got to meet loads of amazing families, loads of amazing parents, hearing firsthand what they were going through,
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what their experiences of parenthood was really like
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but also meeting amazing people who have done fantastic work up
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and down the country in supporting families and children in the early What did you like most in your childhood?
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That's a very good question.
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I love spending time outside and that has stuck with me for my whole life.
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Gosh, I'm amazed by the honesty actually and some of the questions that are coming through.
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So this is a Covid, the impact of Covid on our children.
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So how can we help children adjust post lockdown?
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As grown-ups we can't take Covid away but we can try to help children feel better about it.
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And we can do that with our conversations, by modelling good behaviour and giving children some control.
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How important are the early years of a child for their future endeavours?
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That's a great question and such an important question to ask as well.
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I was amazed as a first time parent
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that 90% of our adult brain develops by the age of five
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so there's such a huge opportunity as parents and carers and all those looking after children in those early years.
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What links have you found between maternal mental health and the early years on children?
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Firstly there's suffering for everybody which is unquantifiable.
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There can also be a range of physical issues such as the baby arriving early, as well as a range of emotional,
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social and cognitive problems for the child as they develop.
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Do you think about taking the project to other countries?
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There's amazing work going on internationally because ultimately this is a global issue
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and it would be great to see best practice being shared.
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So yes, I hope so in the future.
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Are there any projects coming out for 2021?
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Yes, a lot.
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And I think there will be for quite some years to come too,
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because this really isn't something that we're going to be able to change quickly and overnight.
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It's going to take, you know, generations, and I'm keen to support this for the long term.
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So I think that's it.
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But thank you very much to everybody again for sending in your questions.
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This is just the start of the conversation, so thank you so much for being part of this.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Duchess of Cambridge Q&A on Early Years”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: parent, amazing, tantrum, Covid, loads. This video has 56 sentences and 675 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:24. 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. 9 of its 56 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 |
|---|---|---|
| tantrum noun | /ˈtæn.tɹʌm/ | An often childish display or fit of bad temper. |
| amaze verb | /əˈmeɪz/ | To fill (someone) with surprise and wonder; to astonish, to astound, to surprise. |
| emoji noun | /ɪˈmoʊ.d͡ʒi/ | A digital graphic icon with a unique code point used to represent a concept, object, person, animal or place, originally used in Japanese text messaging but… |
| endeavour noun | /ɪnˈdɛv.ə/ | British standard spelling of endeavor. |
| firsthand adjective | /ˈfɜːstˌhænd/ | Direct, without intermediate stages. |
| unquantifiable adjective | Incapable of being quantified or precisely defined mathematically. | |
| parenthood noun | The state of being a parent | |
| lockdown noun | /ˈlɑkˌdaʊn/ | The confinement of people in their own rooms (e.g., in a school) or cells (in a prison), or to their own homes or areas (e.g., in the case of a city- or… |
| adulthood noun | The state or condition, for humans and other animals, of physical and psychological maturity: being an adult. | |
| firstly adverb | /ˈfɜɹstli/ | In the first place; before anything else; first. |
| attach verb | /əˈtæt͡ʃ/ | To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively). |
| maternal adjective | /məˈtɝnəl/ | Of or pertaining to a mother; having the characteristics of a mother; motherly. |
| toddler noun | /ˈtɑdlɚ/ | A young child (typically between one and three years old) who has started walking but not fully mastered it. |
| gosh | /ɡɑːʃ/ | A mild expression of surprise or enthusiasm. |
| internationally adverb | In an international manner. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come through verb | To come into a room or other space through a door or passageway. |
| go around verb | To move or spread from person to person. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| work up verb | To raise; to excite; to stir up. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | everyone who sent · people who are · people who have |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've taken · have done · has stuck |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 11 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, isn't, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, addiction /əˈdɪkˌʃən/
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 tantrum, amaze, emoji.
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.