Shadowing Practice: English in a Minute: Drop the Ball - Learn English Speaking with Video
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14 sentences
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1
Welcome to English in a Minute.
2
Many American English idioms come from popular US sports, like baseball, basketball, and football.
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Drop the ball.
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Anna, what's wrong?
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You look upset.
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I really dropped the ball.
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I forgot my great aunt was coming to town, and I was supposed to pick her up at the airport.
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You didn't.
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What happened?
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She took a taxi, but she is never going to let me forget this.
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In a sport like baseball, dropping the ball instead of catching it can lead to poor results.
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As an idiom, to drop the ball means to fail to do something that was your responsibility.
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It can also mean to make a mistake at an important moment.
14
And that's English in a Minute.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “English in a Minute: Drop the Ball”. This video has 14 sentences and 124 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:56. The speaker talks at a steady 132 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| taxi noun | /ˈtæksi/ | A vehicle that may be hired for single journeys by members of the public, particularly one with an automated meter to calculate the fare. |
| aunt noun | /ɑːnt/ | The sister or sister-in-law of one’s parent. |
| idiom noun | /ˈɪdiəm/ | A manner of speaking, a mode of expression peculiar to a language, language family, or group of people. |
| baseball noun | /ˈbeɪs.bɔl/ | A sport common in North America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, in which the objective is to strike a ball so that one of a nine-person team can run… |
| mistake noun | /mɪˈsteɪk/ | An error. |
| fail verb | /feɪl/ | To be unsuccessful. |
| upset verb | /ʌpˈsɛt/ | To make (a person) angry, distressed, or unhappy. |
| basketball noun | /ˈbæs.kɪt.bɔl/ | A sport in which two opposing teams of five players strive to put a ball through a hoop. |
| suppose verb | /səˈpoʊz/ | To take for granted; to conclude, with less than absolute supporting data; to believe. |
| drop noun | /dɹɑp/ | A small quantity of liquid, just large enough to hold its own rounded shape through surface tension, especially one that falls from a source of liquid. |
| sport noun | /spoɹt/ | Any activity that uses physical exertion or skills competitively under a set of rules that is not based on aesthetics. |
| welcome | /ˈwɛl.kəm/ | Greeting given upon someone's arrival. |
| catch verb | /kæt͡ʃ/ | To capture or snare (someone or something which would rather escape). |
| airport noun | /ˈɛɹ.pɔɹt/ | An airfield (an area designated for the takeoff and landing of aircraft), including one or more runways and (for commercial airports) one or more passenger… |
| responsibility noun | /ɹɪˌspɑn.səˈbɪl.ə.ti/ | The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was coming |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | is never going to let |
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 taxi, aunt, idiom.
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.