Shadowing Practice: How the Grand Canyon Was Really Carved? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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29 sentences
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1
This water represents the rain we get during monsoon season.
2
The rain comes by, wets the soil, the soil would soak it up just like that.
3
This next step, this is the wind.
4
The wind comes by and it blows over a whole new layer.
5
That's not when you guys look at the same stone, it's not just whole one layer, it's a layer on layer.
6
The rain comes back again, repeats the process and it just keeps happening over and over again for millions of years.
7
As this keeps on going on, the weight of all the dry and wet sand begins to compress and compile down.
8
So over time, yeah, it will start to compress down.
9
Now, is this the last time I'm putting it on?
10
Right there.
11
So as all this soaks in, the time
12
and the weight starts to pressurize like this then as time
13
goes on it gets covered underneath all this sand making all these sand beads as time goes on
14
and a huge windstorm comes through it'll remove all the sand but leave the new sandstone look at that
15
so because of this yeah there's a lot of reasons why you have this type of stuff look at
16
that it fell so when you guys are here look you're able to pick it up
17
when you look at it look at those layers.
18
So this next step, there we go, it kept the shape.
19
This next step, this is how it looks like when we get the flash floods.
20
Hold on, hold on.
21
I dug it in a little too much.
22
Dig it back out.
23
So right here, this is now the floods.
24
When the floods come through, the floods act like a hot butter knife cuts through over time yeah it gets deeper
25
and deeper other than
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that it's just the water shaping it out see how it gets wide then
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when you go back through go really slow
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it gets deeper yeah that's how long these canyons form that's
29
when you look at it it's not just one single layer every time it goes through it it gets deeper and deeper
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “How the Grand Canyon Was Really Carved?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: layer, deeper, floods, sand, rain. This video has 29 sentences and 360 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:10. The speaker talks at a natural 166 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 86% 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| layer noun | /ˈleɪ̯ɚ/ | A single thickness of some material covering a surface. |
| sand noun | /sænd/ | Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in… |
| flood noun | /flʌd/ | An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water. |
| soil noun | /sɔɪl/ | A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth. |
| soak verb | /soʊk/ | To be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it. |
| flash verb | /flæʃ/ | To cause to shine briefly or intermittently. |
| knife noun | /ˈnaɪ̯f/ | A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge… |
| butter noun | /ˈbʌtɚ/ | A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk). |
| underneath adverb | /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/ | Below; in a place beneath. |
| canyon noun | /ˈkænjən/ | A valley, especially a long, narrow, steep valley, cut in rock by a river. |
| sandstone noun | /ˈsændˌstoʊn/ | A sedimentary rock produced by the consolidation and compaction of sand, cemented with clay etc. |
| compress verb | /ˈkɑmpɹɛs/ | To make smaller; to press or squeeze together, or to make something occupy a smaller space or volume. |
| bead noun | /ˈbiːd/ | Each in a string of small balls making up the rosary or paternoster. |
| compile verb | /kəmˈpaɪl/ | To make by gathering pieces from various sources. |
| monsoon noun | /mɑnˈsuːn/ | Any of a number of winds associated with regions where most rain falls during a particular season. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come through verb | To come into a room or other space through a door or passageway. |
| back out verb | To reverse (a vehicle) from a confined space. |
| blow over verb | To blow on something causing it to topple. |
| come back verb | To return to a place. |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, it'll, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: flash /flæʃ/, pressurize /ˈpɹɛʃəɹaɪz/
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 layer, sand, flood.
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.