Shadowing Practice: Frida Kahlo: A Brief History (School Friendly) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist who became famous for her self-portraits that were strongly influenced by her Mexican culture.
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Frida was born near Mexico City on July 6th 1907 and grew up with her parents and six sisters.
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At age six, Frida contracted a disease called polio, which damaged her right leg and meant she couldn't leave her bed for nine months.
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So instead of playing with her sisters, she spent most of her time alone.
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Despite her childhood love of drawing, Frida Kahlo didn't always want to be an artist.
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She wanted to become a doctor.
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But in 1925, she was in a terrible bus accident
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that meant she was unable to walk for three months and she began to paint from her hospital bed.
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Painting helped her pass the time and to express the pain that she was feeling.
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Frida wanted to know if she was talented enough to become a professional painter, so she approached artist Diego Rivera for an opinion on her work.
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The two artists eventually got married in 1929.
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They both continued to paint and became very successful artists.
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In 1931, Diego was asked to paint a mural in San Francisco, so Frida and Diego moved to America.
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They lived there for three years.
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Diego wanted to stay, but Frida was very homesick and unhappy, so they soon moved back to live in Mexico.
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Her unhappiness in her life in America can be seen in her paintings.
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Frida Kahlo is most famous for her many self-portraits.
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She used her art to express her emotions in various moments of her life
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and to reflect the lifelong pain she felt after her accident.
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She was very proud of her Mexican heritage and this is also shown in her paintings, which feature bright colors, dramatic symbols and traditional Mexican clothing.
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Frida Kahlo died in 1954 when she was 47 years old.
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She is remembered as a strong woman who used her art to overcome her circumstances
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and to accomplish great things despite her struggles and she inspires artists to this day to express their emotions through their art.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 23 sentences and 348 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:02. The speaker talks at a natural 172 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| portrait noun | /ˈpɔɹtɹət/ | A painting or other picture of a person, especially the head and shoulders. |
| emotion noun | /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/ | A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data. |
| clothing noun | /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/ | Any of a wide variety of articles, usually made of fabrics, animal hair, animal skin, or some combination thereof, used to cover the human body for warmth, to… |
| strongly adverb | /ˈstɹɔŋli/ | In a strong or powerful manner. |
| dramatic adjective | /dɹəˈmætɪk/ | Of or relating to the drama. |
| reflect verb | /ɹɪˈflɛkt/ | To bend back (light, etc.) from a surface. |
| heritage noun | /ˈhɛɹ.ɪ.tɪd͡ʒ/ | An inheritance; property that may be inherited. |
| symbol noun | /ˈsɪmbəl/ | A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object. |
| talented adjective | /ˈtæləntɪd/ | Endowed with one or more talents. |
| overcome verb | /ˌəʊ.vəˈkʌm/ | To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of. |
| unhappy adjective | /ʌnˈhæpi/ | Not happy; sad. |
| accomplish verb | /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/ | To finish successfully. |
| inspire verb | /ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/ | To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by… |
| painter noun | /ˈpeɪntɚ/ | An artist who paints pictures. |
| lifelong adjective | /ˈlaɪf.lɔːŋ/ | Extending for the entire duration of life. |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like portrait, emotion, clothing.
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.