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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Gogo 22 What's doing”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Jenny, diving, fishing, tappy, submarine. This video has 55 sentences and 392 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:33. The speaker talks slowly, about 71 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 61% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding. 15 of its 55 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:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| dive verb | /daɪv/ | To swim under water. |
| swim verb | /swɪm/ | To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means. |
| submarine noun | /sʌb.məˈɹiːn/ | A boat that can go underwater. |
| sink verb | /ˈsɪŋk/ | To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance. |
| tappy adjective | Resembling a tapping sound. | |
| fish noun | /ˈfɪʃ/ | A typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills; any vertebrate that is not a tetrapod. |
| hello | /hɛˈloʊ/ | A greeting (salutation) said when meeting someone or acknowledging someone’s arrival or presence. |
| worry verb | /ˈwʌ.ɹi/ | To be troubled; to give way to mental anxiety or doubt. |
| bridge noun | /bɹɪd͡ʒ/ | A construction spanning a waterway, ravine, or valley from a height, allowing for the passage of vehicles, pedestrians, trains, etc. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| look out verb | To be vigilant and aware often as an imperative to alert a person to danger. |
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 dive, swim, submarine.
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.