Shadowing Practice: Dwight's Health Care Plan - The Office US - Learn English Speaking with Video

This video has 127 sentences and 548 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:04. The speaker talks at a steady 135 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

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

• killer /ˈkɪlɚ/ (noun) — One who or that which kills.
• mall /mɔːl/ (noun) — A pedestrianised street, especially a shopping precinct.
• lion /ˈlaɪən/ (noun) — A big cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa, India and formerly much of Europe.
• shoe /ˈʃu/ (noun) — A protective covering for the foot, with a bottom part composed of thick leather or plastic sole and often a thicker heel, and a softer upper part made of…
• finger /ˈfɪŋɡɚ/ (noun) — A slender jointed extremity of the human hand, (often) exclusive of the thumb, and the corresponding part, irrespective of including a thumb, in many other…
• bone /boʊn/ (noun) — A composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates.
• carefully /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ (adverb) — With care; attentively, circumspectly.
• ridiculous /ɹɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/ (adjective) — Deserving of ridicule; foolish, absurd.
• suffer /ˈsʌfɚ/ (verb) — To undergo hardship.
• bother /ˈbɑðɚ/ (verb) — To annoy, to disturb, to irritate; to be troublesome to, to make trouble for.
• intense /ɪnˈtɛns/ (adjective) — Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering.
• infection /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/ (noun) — The act or process of infecting.
• robot /ˈɹoʊ.bɑt/ (noun) — An intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal.
• flesh /flɛʃ/ (noun) — The soft tissue of the body, especially muscle and fat.
• grain /ɡɹeɪn/ (noun) — The harvested seeds of various grass food crops, especially wheat, maize, rye, barley, and rice.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

• call for (verb) — To shout out in order to summon (a person).
• come up with (verb) — To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
• get back (verb) — Return to where one came from.
• hold on (verb) — To grasp or grip firmly.
• talk about (verb) — Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 21 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

• The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shoe /ˈʃu/, infection /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/, flesh /flɛʃ/, harsh /ˈhɑɹʃ/, punish /ˈpʌnɪʃ/
• Long words — get the stress right: ridiculous /ɹɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/, epidemic /ˌɛpɪˈdɛmɪk/, accusation /ˌæk.jʊˈzeɪ.ʃ(ə)n/, perpetrator /ˈpɜː(ɹ).pɪˌtɹeɪt.ə(ɹ)/

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 killer, mall, lion.

Grammar in this video

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