Shadowing Practice: F&F 2-UNIT 4 LESSON 5+6 - Learn English Speaking with Video

This video has 43 sentences and 181 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:30. The speaker talks slowly, about 72 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 77% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

12 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

• banana /bəˈnænə/ (noun) — An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.
• pizza /ˈpi.tsə/ (noun) — A baked Italian dish of a thinly rolled bread crust typically topped before baking with tomato sauce, cheese, and other ingredients such as meat or vegetables.
• fig /fɪɡ/ (noun) — The fruit of the fig tree, pear-shaped and containing many small seeds.
• olive /ˈɑ.lɪv/ (noun) — A tree of species Olea europaea cultivated since ancient times in the Mediterranean for its fruit and the oil obtained from it.
• tomato /təˈmeɪ.toʊ/ (noun) — A widely cultivated plant, Solanum lycopersicum, having edible fruit.
• grape /ɡɹeɪp/ (noun) — A small, round, smooth-skinned edible fruit, usually purple, red, or green, that grows in bunches on female vines of most species of genus Vitis and the…
• milkshake /ˈmɪlk.ʃeɪk/ (noun) — A thick beverage consisting of milk and ice cream mixed together, often with fruit, chocolate, or other flavoring.
• pear /pɛɹ/ (noun) — An edible fruit produced by the pear tree, similar to an apple but typically elongated towards the stem.
• fruit /fɹut/ (noun) — A product of fertilization in a plant, specifically
• orange /ˈɒɹɪnd͡ʒ/ (noun) — An evergreen tree of the genus Citrus such as Citrus sinensis which yields oranges (the fruit).
• favourite /ˈfeɪv.ɹɪt/ (adjective) — Most-liked. (In other words, [person]'s favorite [noun] = the [noun] that [person] likes the most.)
• apple /ˈæpəl/ (noun) — The fruit of the tree Malus domestica, chiefly with a green, red, or yellow skin, cultivated in temperate climates for cidermaking, cooking, and eating.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 11 contractions and reduced forms, such as haven't, we've, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

How to practise with this video

1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like banana, pizza, fig.