Shadowing Practice: English in a Minute: What's the Catch - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Welcome to English in a Minute.

As a verb, to catch means to capture or hold on to something.

As a noun, it's a game where two people throw and catch a ball.

You know that house I was looking at last week?

Yes.

Well, I checked this morning and the price went down from $200,000 to $75,000.

Wow!

That sounds great!

But, Jonathan, what's the catch?

The owner said last week's rainstorm completely flooded the basement and first floor.

We use the phrase, what's the catch, when something sounds too good for it to be possible.

If something sounds too good, there may be a catch.

And that's English in a Minute.

Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “English in a Minute: What's the Catch”. This video has 14 sentences and 113 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:59. The speaker talks at a steady 115 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 13 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
capture verb	/ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/	To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem.
flood noun	/flʌd/	An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water.
phrase noun	/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/	A short written or spoken expression.
basement noun	/ˈbeɪsmənt/	A floor of a building below ground level.
verb noun	/vɝb/	A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.
noun noun	/naʊn/	A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as person, animal, place, word, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea…
rainstorm noun	/ˈɹeɪnstɔɹm/	A storm characterized by substantial, heavy rainfall.
catch verb	/kæt͡ʃ/	To capture or snare (someone or something which would rather escape).
completely adverb	/kəmˈpliːtli/	In a complete manner; thoroughly.
welcome	/ˈwɛl.kəm/	Greeting given upon someone's arrival.
floor noun	/flɔː/	The interior bottom or surface of a house or building; the supporting surface of a room.
owner noun	/ˈoʊnɚ/	One who owns something.
throw verb	/θɹoʊ/	To hurl; to release (an object) with some force from one’s hands, an apparatus, etc. so that it moves rapidly through the air.

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 looking
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	may be

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 capture, flood, phrase.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: English in a Minute: What's the Catch - Learn English Speaking with Video

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