Shadowing Practice: Emma Mackey: In The Bag | Episode 11 | British Vogue - Learn English Speaking with Video
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47 sentences
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1
I'm Emma and welcome to What's in My Bag.
2
Okay, I'm just going to tip it.
3
Elegantly, of course.
4
That's...
5
Okay, so...
6
Book, Sapiens, really good.
7
It's basically about the history of humankind.
8
The most interesting thing I've learnt is probably that our language started out through gossiping.
9
So you would tell, oh, so-and-so has been crossing the river at this time of night and blah blah blah.
10
And so our language started by gossiping and finding signals and I think that's really, really cool.
11
So we're all gossipers by nature.
12
The one thing that I couldn't travel without are probably my headphones.
13
Yeah.
14
I listen to a lot of Scissor.
15
Control is one of my favourite albums and I listen to a lot of Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, all of that kind of group as well.
16
Trusty diary with my entire life in it.
17
As in, you know, Vogue today.
18
How exciting.
19
This is my necklace that I put in my bag earlier to keep it safe.
20
My friend gave me this, got my initial on it, and I've got a guardian angel on there from a family friend.
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So yeah, it's very special to me.
22
I wear it every day.
23
Three different lip balms for some reason.
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One, two.
25
This is more of a lip pencil actually, but yeah, it's really nice.
26
Two perfumes because, you know, because I like to smell nice.
27
I love like woody peach and coconut, like my two favorite things in the world, and there are like undertones of peach and coconut in this
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and it's just like wood and cedar and sandalwood and it's lovely.
29
What film character would my bag be?
30
A modern day Celine in Before Sunrise, played by Julie Delpy, just because it's one of my favourite films of all time.
31
When is my bag heaviest and why?
32
Probably when I'm travelling or going somewhere.
33
Travelling.
34
I don't, I mean when I'm going somewhere, so if I'm on a train or on a plane, I just try and cram as much as possible into one bag.
35
I don't like to travel with too many things, so I just cram.
36
If I could trade bags with anyone, it would be Greta Gerwig.
37
I'd like to see what is in Greta Gerwig's bag, because I love her.
38
I see her as being quite poetic, but also really focused and ambitious, so I feel like she'd be quite organised, but have like...
39
I can't imagine having poems in her bag just lying around from admirers.
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I think that my bag shows that I'm very organized, and that I like the perfume, and feel good, and that I like to write.
41
And that's the old one.
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Here.
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You have to put the flat things at the back of the bag for support.
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And then you put the little things to keep them safe.
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and then the things I'll need to just grab and go, i.e. charger and headphones.
46
Voila.
47
See you later.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Emma Mackey: In The Bag”. This video has 47 sentences and 503 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:15. The speaker talks at a natural 154 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| cram verb | /kɹæm/ | To press, force, or drive, particularly in filling, or in thrusting one thing into another; to stuff; to fill to superfluity. |
| perfume noun | /ˈpɝfjuːm/ | A pleasant smell; the scent, odor, or odoriferous particles emitted from a sweet-smelling substance; a pleasant odor. |
| peach noun | /ˈpiːt͡ʃ/ | Any tree of species Prunus persica, native to China and now widely cultivated throughout temperate regions, having pink flowers and edible fruit. |
| headphones noun | /ˈhɛdfoʊnz/ | A pair of cushioned speakers worn over or in the ears so only the wearer can hear the sound. |
| gossip noun | /ˈɡɑsɪp/ | Someone who likes to talk about other people's private or personal business. |
| coconut noun | /ˈkəʊ.kə.nʌt/ | A fruit of the coconut palm (not a true nut), Cocos nucifera, having a fibrous husk surrounding a large seed. |
| admirer noun | /ædˈmaɪ.ɹɚ/ | One who admires. |
| elegantly adverb | Gracefully, smoothly, and swiftly; with supreme style. | |
| excite verb | /ɪkˈsaɪt/ | To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement. |
| gossiper noun | A person who gossips. | |
| humankind noun | /ˌhjuːmənˈkaɪnd/ | The human race; mankind, humanity; Homo sapiens. |
| sandalwood noun | /ˈsandəlwʊd/ | Any of various tropical trees of the genus Santalum, native or long naturalized in India, Australia, Hawaii, and many south Pacific islands. |
| trusty adjective | /ˈtɹʌsti/ | Reliable or trustworthy. |
| undertone noun | /ˈʌndə(ɹ)təʊn/ | An auditory tone of low pitch or volume. |
| charger noun | /ˈt͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒɚ/ | A device that charges or recharges. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| start out verb | To emerge suddenly; to jump out. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What film character would my bag be?
- When is my bag heaviest and why?
- Probably when I'm travelling or going somewhere.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | I'm travelling · I'm going |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | have to put · need to just grab |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
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 cram, perfume, peach.
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.