Shadowing Practice: High Potential | Opening scene | Kaitlin Olson | S1 - E1 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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57 sentences

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Morgan Guillory, I'm Detective Karadek.

This is Detective Osdill.

We need you to come down to the station.

Sometimes the music takes control.

Tampering with a criminal case is a serious crime.

So is obstruction of justice.

It wasn't tampering.

I saw a problem and I tried to fix it.

You were trying to help us?

No. I don't care about you.

I wanted to be able to sleep.

I have a compulsion to put things right.

If I see a mistake, I need to correct it.

Otherwise, I'm up all night obsessing.

That's all I was doing, cleaning up your mess.

You want to arrest me for that?

Fine.

Go ahead.

You got it.

What mistakes did you see?

Okay.

So, you've got a dead body.

I'm assuming you think this lady offed her husband, but that's not possible.

Look at this room.

Look at this couch.

All of these pillows are evenly spaced with alternating colors.

Check out these shelves.

Those objects are perfectly sized.

Even the choice of metals is consistent.

This house is immaculate.

The owner is a tidiness freak.

Except...

All of these curtains are fastened with a tie back except for one for some reason.

That's odd, isn't it?

You're telling me this woman who meticulously arranges her couch pillows doesn't care about her curtains?

So the tie back must have been used for something else.

See, look, you've got hair stuck to the chair leg.

Somebody put tape around it, ripped it off, the glue stayed, and trapped the little bits.

The samples are at the lab.

We found no tape at the scene.

That means someone was tied up with the curtain cord and taped to the chair around their ankles.

And since there are no marks on the victim's wrist, it wasn't him who was tied up.

Which means there was a third person.

We have Lynette tied to the chair, victim on the ground, and our unknown bondage freak who was either kidnapped or bumped off Lynette.

That's the person you need to find.

So, you guys made mistakes.

I fixed them.

Let's not make a big deal out of this.

You got a suspect to find.

I have some expired ham to fry up before tomorrow.

So if you will excuse me.

Sit down.

Let's wait for the lab results.

For now, this is just speculation.

We have the surveillance footage.

The woman was seen entering the house at the time of the murder.

The third person!

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “High Potential”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: curtain, tied, mistake, chair. This video has 57 sentences and 418 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:40. The speaker talks at a natural 157 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 77% 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
curtain noun	/ˈkɜɹt(ə)n/	A piece of cloth covering a window, bed, etc. to offer privacy and keep out light.
tamper verb	/ˈtæm.pə(ɹ)/	To make unauthorized or improper alterations, sometimes causing deliberate damage; to meddle (with something).
pillow noun	/ˈpɪl.oʊ/ [ˈpʰɪɫ.ö̞]	A soft cushion used to support the head in bed.
couch noun	/ˈkaʊ̯t͡ʃ/	An item of furniture, often upholstered, for the comfortable seating of more than one person; a sofa.
bondage noun	/ˈbɑn.dɪd͡ʒ/	The state of being enslaved or the practice of slavery.
compulsion noun	/kəmˈpʌlʃən/	An irrational need or irresistible urge to perform some action, often despite negative consequences.
fasten verb	/ˈfæsn̩/	To attach or connect in a secure manner.
immaculate adjective	/ɪˈmæk.jʊ.lət/	Having no blemish or stain; absolutely clean and tidy.
kidnap verb	/ˈkɪdnæp/	To seize or detain a person unlawfully and move or conceal them; sometimes for ransom.
meticulously adverb		In a meticulous manner.
obsess verb	/əbˈsɛs/	To be preoccupied with a single topic or emotion.
tidiness noun		The quality of being tidy.
expire verb	/ɪkˈspaɪə(ɹ)/	To die.
obstruction noun	/əbˈstɹʌk.ʃən/	The act of obstructing, or state of being obstructed.
evenly adverb	/ˈiːvənli/	So as to form a flat surface.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
tie back verb		To tie or fasten behind.
bump off verb		To kill, especially to murder.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
clean up verb		To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy.
come down to verb		To reach by moving down or reducing.
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
sit down verb		To assume a sitting position from a standing position.
tie up verb		To secure with rope, string, etc.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

You were trying to help us?
I don't care about you.
Otherwise, I'm up all night obsessing.
You want to arrest me for that?
What mistakes did you see?

Pronunciation to watch

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

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: compulsion /kəmˈpʌlʃən/, obstruction /əbˈstɹʌk.ʃən/, speculation /ˌspɛk.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/, shelf /ʃɛlf/
Long words — get the stress right: immaculate /ɪˈmæk.jʊ.lət/, speculation /ˌspɛk.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/

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 curtain, tamper, pillow.

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 →