Shadowing Practice: Effortless English LEVEL 1| LESON 5 DRAG|| LEAN EINGLISH EVERYDAY - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Drag, high price of mom's help is drag on family business.
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Dear Abby, 20 years ago my sister and I bought a business from our mother.
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We all love and respect one another and get along well.
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We will be finished paying off the business in two years.
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Our problem.
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Mom, who is now 77,
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still draws a salary from us above and beyond the payment for the business.
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Yes, her workload has lessened greatly, as it should.
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She could do all of her work in one day and lessen the burden of her salary.
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However, she says she'd go crazy if she retired.
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We don't want that.
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She could still come in as often as she wants and do her personal paperwork,
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banking, letter writing, reading, etc. These are all things she does at work on the clock.
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If we try to discuss this, mom gets hurt and says,
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just let me know when I'm not worth the money.
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We don't want to do that.
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We would hope she would see the fairness of this and suggest it herself.
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Business expenses are going through the roof and there are updates we should make.
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But we can't do it as long as we are paying mom at the level we are.
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On top of the money for the buyout.
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Signed, Daughter's Dearest.
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Welcome to the vocabulary lesson for drag.
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Drag.
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Drag is the name of this lesson set.
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Let's begin the vocabulary.
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First, the title.
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High price of mom's help is drag on family business.
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Okay, high price, right?
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It means cost a lot.
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And the mom is helping the family business, but it's her help, her cost,
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meaning her salary, meaning the money they pay mom, is a drag on the business.
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Okay, to be a drag, a drag on something, or sometimes just a drag.
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A drag means you hurt something
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or you slow something or you cause a problem for something. For example,
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mom is a drag on the business means mom is causing a problem for the business.
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She's slowing the business.
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She's causing a problem for the business.
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So a drag.
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Sometimes we use a drag when we talk about personality, somebody, describe someone.
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If you say, he is such a drag, or he is a drag,
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in that situation, it means not fun, not fun.
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He is a drag means he is not fun.
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But here in this story, drag means she is causing problems for the business.
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She's pulling the business down.
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Okay, let's start the letter.
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It says, Dear Abby.
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Twenty years ago, my sister and I bought a business from our mother.
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Okay, so the mom had the business.
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It was the mom's business.
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Later she sold the business to her daughters.
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So now the daughters own the business the mom is not the owner now she was in the past now the sisters,
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the daughters own the business and they love their mom
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or their mom loves them they say
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we will be finished paying off the business in two years to pay off means to finish paying.
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So we use pay off when you must pay for something over time.
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Maybe every month you pay some money.
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For example, if I buy a car, every month maybe I pay $200.
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And in, I don't know, 20 years, I will pay off the car.
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Means I paid everything.
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I paid all of the cost.
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So, in two years, they will pay off the business.
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It means they bought the business from their mom,
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but they are still paying her money for the business.
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In two more years, they will finish paying her.
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They will totally own the business.
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Okay.
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One problem, or our problem.
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Mom, who is 77, so the mom is 77 years old, she still draws a salary.
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Draws a salary now here the word draw means takes
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or to take right you know the meaning of draw like you're drawing with a pencil
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but here the meaning is different here it means take she still takes a salary.
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She takes a salary.
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She gets a salary.
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She draws a salary.
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We use the word draw sometimes with money, with a salary.
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Salary means your payment every month from your job, your paycheck check every month from your job.
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So she draws a salary.
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So the sisters still pay her.
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They pay her to buy the business.
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They also pay her a salary like an employee,
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maybe $10 per hour so they pay the mom for doing work
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and they are paying her to buy the business
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so they're paying her two different things
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and they say she draws a salary above
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and beyond the payment for the business above
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and beyond means more than or also
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or in addition to
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or plus right she draws a salary plus the payment from the business
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so she has the payment and also right in addition she has a salary
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so above and beyond means
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that plus more okay her workload has lessened greatly
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workload her workload has lessened lessened means getting smaller getting smaller, getting smaller.
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So her workload is getting smaller.
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Workload means how much work you do.
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It's your jobs at work.
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If you have a heavy workload,
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then you are very busy at work you have a lot to do
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If you have a light workload, then you are not busy.
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It's an easy job, workload.
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So now the mom has a light workload.
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She's old.
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She doesn't do very much, but they're still paying her every hour she comes to the business.
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Okay, so they say, in fact, her workload is so light,
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so small, so light, She could do all of her work in one day.
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So she has very little work at the business now.
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And if she did everything in one day, it would lessen the burden of her salary.
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Again, lessen means make smaller, make smaller.
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And the burden, the burden is something difficult you must do or something heavy you must carry.
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Two meanings.
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So the burden of her salary, it means her salary is tough,
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it's heavy, it's difficult for the sisters.
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They must pay their mom every day, every hour she comes, and this is difficult.
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It costs a lot of money, so it's a burden.
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It's a burden to the sisters.
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So they want mom to work less.
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They want mom to work only one day each week.
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They want mom to work one day, so they only pay her for one day, maybe eight hours.
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Then they can save a lot of money for the business.
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So that's why they want mom to work less.
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But mom doesn't like the idea.
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She says she would go crazy if she retired.
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Retired means stop working.
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So mom says, no, no, I will go crazy.
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I don't want to work less.
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I want to come every day.
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The sisters don't want her to retire they say
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she could still come in to the office as often as she wants she could come every day
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and do her personal paperwork banking letter writing reading etc
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so it's okay for mom to come just to socialize to talk to them
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so she's not alone they say that's okay
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but they don't want to pay her to do her personal work paperwork banking
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because these are all things she does at work on the clock ah on the clock means
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when you are working it means during work time okay during the time you are paid
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so mom has been doing personal work during work time on the clock so they are paying mom,
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but mom is not helping with the business.
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She's writing letters to her friends.
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She's reading books.
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She's not doing work, but she wants the sisters, the daughters, to continue paying her.
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So it's a problem.
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It says, if we try to discuss this, mom gets hurt.
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Okay, When they tell mom, mom, you're costing us money and you're not working, mom gets hurt.
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She says, just let me know when I'm not worth the money.
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We don't want to do that.
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We hope she would see the fairness of this
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and suggest it herself ah
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so the sisters her daughters they don't want to fire mom they don't want to make her quit they hope
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mom will understand by herself
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but she's not okay last paragraph business expenses are
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going through the roof okay expense means cost right money
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you pay out right it's the opposite of income income means money coming in expense money going out
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so the business costs are going through the roof going through the roof means going up very fast
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Their costs are increasing.
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Their costs are going up very, very fast.
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So they are losing money.
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And there are updates we should make.
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Updates means improvements.
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Improvements.
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They need to improve the business to make it better.
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But we can't do the updates.
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They can't improve while we are paying mom at the level we are.
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So they can't continue to pay mom full time because the business is losing money.
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They can't pay her
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that on top of the money for the buyout on top
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of means also means in addition to on top of means above
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and beyond they both mean same thing on top of means in addition to or plus money for the buy out.
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Buy out means you're buying a business from someone else.
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They are buying the business from their mom.
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So they say, oh, it's too expensive.
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We must pay mom to buy the business.
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Plus, we must pay her salary every hour.
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These two are too much.
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We can't pay for the buyout on top of her salary, too.
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It's too much.
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Okay, that's all.
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Use your dictionary if necessary.
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Look at the text.
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Use your dictionary and review the words.
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Listen to this lesson many times.
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Okay, welcome to mini -story A for drag.
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In this mini story, I will ask questions you know.
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Look at the text.
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You can find the answers.
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Let's start.
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Mom is a drag on the family business.
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Who is a drag on the family business.
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Well, mom, right?
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The mom is a drag on the family business.
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Is the dad a drag on the family business?
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No, not the dad.
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The dad isn't a drag on the family business.
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The mom is a drag on the family business.
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Is the mom a drag or is the dad a drag?
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Right, the mom.
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The mom is a drag on the family business.
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The dad isn't a drag on the family business.
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Who is a drag on the family business?
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That's right, the mom.
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The mom is a drag on the family business.
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When was the mom a drag on the family business?
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Well, the mom was a drag on the family business.
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For many years, for many years, right?
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Starting 20 years ago.
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Starting 20 years ago until now.
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All right.
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When did the daughters buy the business?
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20 years ago.
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So, the daughters bought the business 20 years ago.
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Who did they buy the business from?
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Ah, their mother.
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They bought the business from their mother.
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Did they buy the business from George Bush?
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No, they didn't buy the business from George Bush.
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They bought the business from their mother.
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Did they buy the business from their father?
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No, they didn't buy the business from their father.
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They bought the business from their mother.
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How long ago did they buy the business?
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Twenty years ago, right?
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Twenty years ago, they bought the business from their mother.
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All right, very good question.
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Do they love their mother?
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Of course they love their mother.
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Do they respect their mother?
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Yes, of course they respect their mother.
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Does their mother respect them?
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Yes, their mother respects them.
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Do they all respect each other?
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That's right.
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They all respect each other.
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Mom respects them.
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They respect mom.
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All right.
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When will they finish paying paying off the business.
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Ah, in two years.
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In two years, they will finish paying off the business.
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Who will finish paying off the business?
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The sisters or the daughters will will finish paying off the business?
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When will the daughters finish paying off the business? In two years.
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Who will finish paying off the business in two years?
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The daughters
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or sisters will finish paying off the business in two years
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will the father finish paying off the business in two years
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no no not the father the father will not finish paying
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off the business in two years the daughters will finish paying off the business in two years.
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But the daughters have a problem.
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Mom, who is 77, still gets money.
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Who still gets money from the daughters?
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Mom, right?
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Mom still gets money from the daughters.
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Does mom still get money from her daughters?
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That's right.
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Mom still gets money from her daughters.
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Does mom get a salary?
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from her daughters?
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Yeah, that's right.
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She gets a salary, maybe per hour, from her daughters.
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Does mom get a salary?
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Or does mom work for free?
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Ah, mom gets a salary.
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She doesn't work for free.
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Mom gets a salary.
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She still gets a salary.
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Does mom also get money for the business?
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That's right.
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Mom also gets money to pay for the business.
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Who pays mom money for the business.
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Well, the daughters pay mom money for the business.
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Who pays mom a salary?
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Ah, the daughters again.
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The daughters pay mom a salary and the daughters pay money for the business.
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how old is the mom
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she is 77 is the mom very young no not really the mom is 77 she's not
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Not very young.
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Is she old?
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Well, not too old, but yeah, she is a little old.
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She is 77.
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Okay.
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Does mom do a lot of work?
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No, she doesn't do a lot of work.
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Does she do personal work on the clock?
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Yes, she does.
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She does personal work on the clock.
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Does mom read on the clock?
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She does.
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Mom reads on the clock.
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She reads during work time.
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does mom write letters on the clock yes
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she does mom writes letters on the clock during work
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time who writes letters on the clock well mom the mom
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Mom writes letters on the clock.
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Do the daughters pay mom to write letters?
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Well, they do pay her to write letters, but they don't want to.
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Does mom write letters on the clock or does mom work very hard on the clock?
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Mom writes letters on the clock.
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She doesn't work very hard on the clock.
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Is mom's salary expensive for the daughters?
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Yes, mom's salary is expensive for the daughters.
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Whose salary is expensive for the daughters?
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Mom's.
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Mom's salary is expensive for the daughters.
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What is expensive for the daughters?
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Mom's salary, right?
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Mom's salary is expensive for the daughters.
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Is dad's salary expensive for the daughters?
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No, no, dad's salary isn't expensive for the daughter's.
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Mom's salary is expensive for the daughter's.
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Is mom's salary expensive for the daughter's or cheap for the daughter's?
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Well, her salary is expensive for the daughter's.
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It's not cheap for the daughters.
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Are business expenses going up or going down?
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Business expenses are going up.
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Are business expenses going up fast?
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Yes, yes.
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Business expenses are going up fast.
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Are business expenses going through the roof?
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Yes, business expenses are going through the roof.
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They are going up very fast.
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What is going up very fast?
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business expenses business expenses are going up very fast
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whose business expenses are going up very fast
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the daughter's right the daughter's business expenses are
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going up very fast are Bill Gates business expenses going up very fast no no not
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Bill Gates Bill Gates business expenses aren't going up very fast the daughter's business expenses are going up very fast.
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Why are the daughter's business expenses going up very fast?
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Why?
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Because they must pay their mom two times.
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They must pay her a salary and And also,
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they must pay her for the business.
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So why are their expenses going up fast?
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Because they must pay their mom two times.
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Are their expenses going down?
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No, they're not.
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Their expenses are not going down.
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They are going up.
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Do the daughters like this situation?
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No, they don't.
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The daughters don't like this situation.
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Okay, that is all for mini -story A.
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Listen to it many times.
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Listen to it every day.
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Listen to it for two weeks or more.
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Hello.
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Welcome to mini -story B for drag.
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In this mini -story lesson, I will ask two kinds of questions.
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I will ask information you know.
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And I will ask information you don't know.
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If you don't know, guess.
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Let's get started.
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Twenty years ago, the sisters or daughters bought a business from their mother.
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Did they buy a business from their mother?
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yes they did who bought a business from their mother
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Well, the daughters.
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What were their names?
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Hmm. Were their names
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Sam and Olivia?
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Yes, that's right.
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The daughters' names were Sam and Olivia.
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Olivia.
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What did Sam and Olivia buy?
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Well, they bought a business.
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When did they buy a business?
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Ah, 20 years ago they bought a business.
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Where did they buy a business?
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Hmm, No. Did they buy a business in Texas?
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No. Did they buy a business in Canada?
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Yes.
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That's did they buy?
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Did they buy a farm?
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No, no, no,
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no. Did they buy a paper making business? no no
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they didn't they didn't buy a paper making business did they buy a dog cleaning business business.
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Yes, that's right.
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They bought a dog cleaning business from their mother.
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When did they buy a dog cleaning business from their mother?
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Oh, well, you know, 20 years
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Years ago, they bought a dog cleaning business from their mother.
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Where did they buy the dog cleaning business?
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In Canada, they bought the dog cleaning business from their mother in Canada.
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How did they buy the business?
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Ah, how did they buy the business?
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They bought the business with gold, G -O -L -D, gold.
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They bought the business with gold from their mother in Canada.
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What kind of business did they buy with gold?
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They bought a dog cleaning business with gold from their mother.
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Did they buy a cat cleaning business from their mother or a dog cleaning business from their mother?
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Ah, they bought a dog cleaning business from their mother.
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Okay, how much gold did they pay to buy the dog cleaning business?
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did they pay 10 pounds of gold every year no
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they didn't pay 10 pounds of gold every year did
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they pay 500 pounds of gold every year well almost they paid 505 pounds of of gold every year.
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Who did they pay 505 pounds of gold to?
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Ah, to their mother, right?
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They paid five hundred and five pounds of gold every year to their mother, okay?
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How many times did they pay their mother?
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Well, they paid their mother every year.
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Every year they paid their mother 505 pounds of gold.
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Every year did they pay their mother 506 pounds of gold?
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No, every year they paid their mother five hundred and five pounds of gold.
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Why did they pay their mother five hundred and five pounds of gold every year?
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Well, because they bought her business business.
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What kind of business did they buy?
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A dog cleaning business.
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They bought a dog cleaning business.
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Did the mom continue to help with the dog cleaning business?
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Yes, Yes, the mom continued to help with the dog cleaning business.
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Who did she continue to help?
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Well, she continued to help
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Sam and Olivia, her daughters.
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Did she continue to help
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Sam and Olivia?
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Yeah, she continued to help
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Sam and Olivia.
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Where did she help them?
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Well, she helped them at the business, right, at work.
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Where was the business? In Canada, right?
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She helped them at the business in Canada.
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How did the mom help
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Sam and Olivia?
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How did she help them?
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Did she wash the dogs? Did she clean?
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Did she wash the dogs?
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No, no, she didn't wash the dogs dogs.
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Why didn't she help wash the dogs?
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Well, because she was too old.
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She was too old to wash the dogs.
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Was she too old to use the computer?
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No, she wasn't too old to use the computer, she was too old to wash the dogs.
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Was she too old to wash all of the dogs?
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No, no. She wasn't too old to wash all of the dogs.
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Which dogs was she too old to wash?
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Ah, was she too old to wash the big dogs or the little dogs?
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Oh, she was too old to wash the little dogs.
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Yeah, she was too old to wash the little dogs.
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Hmm, why?
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Why was she too old to wash the little dogs?
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Oh, because they are fast.
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The little dogs are very fast.
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The little dogs are very fast, so mom was too old to wash the little dogs.
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Mom only washed the big dogs.
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Why did she only wash the big dogs?
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Well, obviously, because they were slow.
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The big dogs were very slow, but the little dogs were too fast.
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Mom only washed the big dogs.
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How many big dogs did she wash every day?
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Did she wash one big dog every day?
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500 big dogs every day?
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No, she washed half a big dog every day.
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Who washed only half a big dog every day?
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Mom, the mom, what did the mom wash every day?
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The mom washed half a big dog every day.
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When did she wash half a dog every day?
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Oh, well, at midnight, at midnight,
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only at midnight, she washed half a big dog every day.
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Actually, every night.
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Where did she wash half a big dog? In Canada, right?
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At the business in Canada.
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How did she wash half a big dog?
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Well, she washed half a big dog with a toothbrush.
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You know, brush your teeth.
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She washed half a big dog with a toothbrush.
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T -O -O -T -H -B -R -U -S -H.
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She washed half a big dog every night at midnight with a toothbrush.
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Why did she use a toothbrush?
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Oh, she used a toothbrush because her hands were very small.
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Mom's hands were very small.
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That's why she used a toothbrush.
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Who used a toothbrush because her hands were small?
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The mom used a toothbrush because her hands were small.
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What did the mom use to wash half a big dog?
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She used a toothbrush to wash half a big dog.
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When did she use a toothbrush? At midnight.
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At midnight, she used a toothbrush.
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What did she use the toothbrush for.
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She used the toothbrush to wash half a big dog.
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Okay.
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Very good.
477
Now we understand more of the story.
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Listen to this mini story many, many times.
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Listen every day.
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Answer all the questions.
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Use your pause button.
482
Listen to this story every day for two weeks,
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maybe three weeks, maybe ten weeks, but listen every day until you understand everything.
484
Okay.
485
See you next time.
486
Bye -bye.
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Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Effortless English LEVEL 1”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: mom, dog, salary, daughters, drag. This video has 486 sentences and 3880 words to shadow. The speech runs for 49:12. The speaker talks slowly, about 79 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 108 of its 486 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| salary noun | /ˈsæləɹi/ | A fixed amount of money paid to a worker, usually calculated on a monthly or annual basis, not hourly, as wages. Implies a degree of professionalism and/or… |
| drag verb | /dɹæɡ/ | To pull along a surface or through a medium, sometimes with difficulty. |
| wash verb | /wɑʃ/ | To clean with water. |
| expense noun | /ɪkˈspɛns/ | A spending or consuming, often a disbursement of funds. |
| clock noun | /klɑk/ | A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day. |
| pound noun | /ˈpaʊ̯nd/ | A unit of weight in various measurement systems. |
| burden noun | /ˈbɝdn̩/ | A heavy load. |
| mini adjective | /ˈmɪn.i/ | Miniature, tiny, small. |
| midnight noun | /ˈmɪd(ˌ)naɪt/ | The middle of the night: the sixth temporal hour, equidistant between sunset and sunrise. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| retire verb | /ɹəˈtaɪɹ/ | To stop working on a permanent basis, usually because of old age or illness. |
| paperwork noun | /ˈpeɪ.pɚˌwɝk/ | Routine work involving written documents. |
| greatly adverb | /ˈɡɹeɪ̯t.li/ | To a great extent or degree. |
| dictionary noun | /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/ | A reference work listing words or names from one or more languages, usually ordered alphabetically, explaining each word's meanings or senses, oftentimes also… |
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go up verb | To move upwards. |
| pay off verb | To bribe, especially to deter oversight. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. |
| buy out verb | to purchase the entire stock or extent of something |
| get along verb | To interact or coexist well, without argument or trouble. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
| pay out verb | To distribute money; to disburse. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- We don't want to do that.
- It's your jobs at work.
- I don't want to work less.
- Is mom's salary expensive for the daughters?
- Is dad's salary expensive for the daughters?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has lessened |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | will be finished · are paid |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | finished paying · finish paying · stop working |
| Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea | should make |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 48 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, didn't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: wash /wɑʃ/, dictionary /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/, brush /bɹʌʃ/, toothbrush /ˈtuːθ.bɹʌʃ/, socialize /ˈsoʊʃəlaɪz/
- Long words — get the stress right: dictionary /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like salary, drag, wash.
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.