Shadowing Practice: Extreme weather disrupts children's education | Vietnam Today - Learn English Speaking with Video
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More than 171 million students worldwide missed schools in 2025 due to climate -related hazards such as storms,
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floods and extreme heat, according to the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF.
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Vietnam was among the countries that was worse affected, with more than 3 million children experiencing disruption to their education.
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More from the following story.
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In late 2025, successive typhoons Bo Loi and Mat Mo caused severe damage across northern and north -central Vietnam.
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Flood waters rose to three to four meters in some areas, destroying school facilities and learning materials,
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forcing hundreds of schools to close and leaving thousands of children unable to attend classes.
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Khang was among those worst affected.
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He not only had to flee the rising floodwaters, but also saw his home severely damaged by the storms.
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My house was flooded for two days, up to here.
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When we fled the floods, the water came up to my knees.
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My brother's boot kept the floodwater out, but mine got flooded.
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When I came home and saw my house like this, I felt very sad.
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I want to go to school." Every year,
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Vietnam faces four to six typhoons, disrupting the lives and education of millions of children.
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But for many of them, the impact does not end when the storms pass.
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The memories can linger, affecting their emotional well -being and making it harder for them to return to school and focus on learning.
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I've never seen flooding this bad before.
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I was really scared as the water kept rising.
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I kept wondering where we would go and what would happen to my future if I couldn't go to school.
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I even have nightmares about it.
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Across the world, extreme weather is becoming a growing barrier to education.
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In 2025, storms disrupted the education of 109 million students across more than 106 countries and territories,
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while floods affected at least 70 million and extreme heat around 50 million.
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Three -quarters of affected students live in low and lower -middle -income countries,
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where education systems often have fewer resources to respond to climate emergencies.
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Without action, these disruptions could cost them at least 200 billion US dollars in lifetime earnings.
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As extreme weather becomes more disruptive, keeping children in school will require more than reopening classrooms after a disaster.
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The challenge now is to ensure that when the next storm or flood comes, their education does not have to stop with it.
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Now, climate disasters are increasingly disrupting education
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and Vietnam is among the countries most exposed
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so what does this mean for children here
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and how can school prepare for a changing climate tara o 'connell chief of education at unicef vietnam join us now
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thank you for joining the interview with vietnam today
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so from unicef perspective what is currently the biggest gap in vietnam's education system
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when it comes to preparing for the climate related disruption the
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largest gap is actually turning a high level of awareness into
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concrete implementable measures any schools still lack comprehensive preparedness plans learning continuity arrangements early warning protocols
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and dedicated funding for climate resilience which means that
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when a major disaster occurs a school's ability to keep functioning
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can still depend heavily on local capacity rather than on a consistently implemented system nationwide.
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Closing this gap is particularly difficult because climate risks vary greatly across Vietnam.
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What are the longer -term consequences of climate -related disruption to education, particularly for children in vulnerable situations?
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The first consequence is cumulative learning loss.
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Missing a few days of school can often be recovered.
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But missing weeks or months of instruction year after year is much harder.
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In 2024, Typhoon Yagi resulted in approximately 120 hours of classroom learning missed for 2 .65 million children in Vietnam.
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Even when schools remain open, heat, exhaustion, wet conditions, and polluted air can reduce children's readiness to learn.
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The second consequence is increased inequality.
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One study in Vietnam found that ethnic minority children experienced eight to nine percent lower school enrollment after rainfall shocks.
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Repeated shocks therefore widen these already existing education gaps.
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What are the most urgent changes that Vietnam needs to do to build a truly climate resilient education system?
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First, ensuring that learning can continue throughout climate shocks.
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Vietnam should scale up the climate smart school framework and school readiness planning nationwide,
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supported by dedicated school budgets for climate resilience and disaster reduction.
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Second, make schools infrastructure climate resilient
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and climate smart third make teachers climate ready fourth strengthen climate education green skills
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and children's participation fifth prioritize the children facing the greatest risks
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and sixth embed climate resilience in education plans and budgets
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and mobilize climate finance together these actions would move Vietnam from responding to individual emergencies toward building an education system
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that can anticipate, withstand and recover from climate shocks while sustaining learning for every child.
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So following the 81st sessions of the UN General Assembly and ahead of the COP 31,
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what does UNICEF hope to see from the global climate agenda for children's education?
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From the United Nations General Assembly to COP 31,
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UNICEF wants the global climate agenda to recognize education as an essential climate service and to move from commitments to funded implementation.
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Protecting education requires more than rebuilding after disasters.
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It means investing before shocks occur, sustaining learning when they happen, and supporting every child to recover, participate, and help shape a more resilient future.
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Once again, thank you for joining the interview with Vietnam today.
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It's my pleasure talking to you.
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Thank you very much.
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I'm delighted to be here.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Extreme weather disrupts children's education”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: climate, vietnam, learning, unicef, shocks. This video has 71 sentences and 913 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:50. The speaker talks at a steady 134 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 78% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| disruption noun | /dɪsˈɹʌpʃən/ | An interruption to the regular flow or sequence of something. |
| resilient adjective | /ɹɪˈzɪl.jənt/ | Returning quickly to original shape after force is applied; elastic. (of objects or substances) |
| resilience noun | /ɹɪˈzɪl.ɪ.əns/ | The mental ability to recover quickly from depression, illness or misfortune. |
| disrupt verb | /dɪsˈɹʌpt/ | To throw into confusion or disorder. |
| consequence noun | /ˈkɑn.sɪ.kwəns/ | An effect; something that follows a cause as a result. |
| dedicate verb | /ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/ | To set apart for a deity or for religious purposes; consecrate. |
| typhoon noun | /taɪˈfun/ | A severe tropical cyclone; an intense, rotating storm. |
| readiness noun | /ˈɹɛdinəs/ | The state or degree of being ready; preparedness. |
| flee verb | /ˈfliː/ | To run away; to escape. |
| sustain verb | /səˈsteɪn/ | To maintain, or keep in existence. |
| nationwide adjective | /ˌneɪ.ʃənˈwaɪd/ | Extending throughout an entire nation. |
| classroom noun | /ˈklɑːsɹʊm/ | A room, often in a school, where classes take place. |
| disruptive adjective | /dɪsˈɹʌptɪv/ | Causing disruption or unrest. |
| exhaustion noun | /ɪɡˈzɔːs.t͡ʃən/ | The point of complete depletion, of the state of being used up. |
| floodwater noun | The water of a flood. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come up to verb | To approach. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I've never seen flooding this bad before.
- It's my pleasure talking to you.
- I'm delighted to be here.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as couldn't, I'm, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: withstand /wɪðˈstænd/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: disruption /dɪsˈɹʌpʃən/, nationwide /ˌneɪ.ʃənˈwaɪd/, instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: resilience /ɹɪˈzɪl.ɪ.əns/, preparedness /pɹɪˈpɛɹ(ə)dnəs/, prioritize /pɹaɪˈɒɹ.ə.taɪz/, cumulative /ˈkjuːmjʊlətɪv/, anticipate /ænˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/
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 disruption, resilient, resilience.
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.