Shadowing Practice: Family and friends - unit 11 - lesson 5 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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18 sentences
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1
Listening 118.
2
Read and listen to the poem.
3
What am I?
4
I am an animal at the zoo.
5
Listen now, this is true.
6
I'm yellow and brown.
7
My tongue is red.
8
I've got two little ears on top of my head.
9
My neck is long and I am tall.
10
I haven't got any hands at all.
11
I can see the tops of trees.
12
My food is there.
13
I like green leaves.
14
To get my food, my tongue is long.
15
Can you guess?
16
Don't get it wrong. So what am I?
17
Do you know?
18
Point to me and say hello.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This A1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Family and friends - unit 11 - lesson 5”. This video has 18 sentences and 98 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:00. The speaker talks slowly, about 99 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 4 of its 18 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

9 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
ear noun/ˈɪə̯/The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.
poem noun/ˈpoʊ.əm/A literary piece written in verse.
leaf noun/lif/The usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants.
yellow adjective/ˈjɛloʊ/Of a yellow hue.
neck noun/ˈnɛk/The part of the body connecting the head and the trunk found in humans and some animals.
tall adjective/tɔl/Having great vertical extent (usually reckoned from the bottom of the feet to the very top of the head) when standing. (For instance, somebody with a height of…
tree noun/tɹiː/A perennial woody plant taller and larger than a shrub with a wooden trunk and, at some distance from the ground, having leaves and branches.
animal noun/ˈænɪməl/A multicellular organism of the kingdom Animalia that is usually mobile, with cells that are not encased in a rigid cell wall (distinguishing them from plants…
hello/hɛˈloʊ/A greeting (salutation) said when meeting someone or acknowledging someone’s arrival or presence.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 4 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, haven't, I'm. 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 ear, poem, leaf.

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 →