Shadowing Practice: Inside Madonna’s London Home, Filled With Wonderful Objects | Vogue - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Now we're in my bathroom, which is also referred to as my office.
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Get a lot of work done here because it's kind of the only room that people leave me alone in.
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Hi Vogue, it's Mother.
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Welcome to my London home.
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Tonight I'm going to be showing you some of my favorite things.
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The objects of my affection.
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I'm standing in my office.
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This is the mothership.
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Actually, I don't do a lot of work at my desk.
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It's a bit too formal.
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Mostly, I have an excellent sound system in here.
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So when I'm listening to mixes of my music that I'm working on, I sit on this couch, I dim the lights, I light some incense and vibe.
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Tonight I want to show you one of my favorite objects in the whole world.
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It's a painting that Frida Kahlo painted of herself.
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She often painted herself with monkeys on her shoulders.
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She did have a lot of monkeys, but the reason that she had them is
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because she trained them to let her know when her husband had been sleeping with another woman.
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If he came home from a studio and he was having a good time with one of his female models,
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which he did often, the monkeys would go mad and then she would know and then she would punish him accordingly.
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But then there's a history of the painting and how I came to have it in high school.
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There was only one museum that you could go to.
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It was called the Detroit Institute of Arts.
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The first time I came there, there were these huge Diego Rivera paintings all over the wall, murals.
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But what I was really drawn to were these small photographs kind of hidden away of this beautiful Mexican woman.
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And I just was really taken by her self-possession and unique beauty.
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And it really moved me.
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And she became a kind of eternal muse for me.
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A few years later, I moved to New York from Detroit, Michigan, and I started walking around and there was a street fair and I saw this postcard and it was this painting.
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This is my first five minutes in New York and the first person I see is Frida.
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From that day on I kept her with me wherever I went.
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I got a thumbtack or a nail, nailed it to the wall and she was like my guardian angel
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and I vowed to myself one day I would own that painting.
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Cut to 11 years later that painting came on auction and she was mine.
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If you're a struggling artist and a woman struggling in the world
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and you feel like an outsider then you can make a connection to Frida.
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She's just so like don't fuck with me so she gives me a lot of strength.
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We are now in the hallway which has now become a dressing room
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because I don't have any room for any more clothes.
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What I want to show you next are my beloved YSL boots that were made for me
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21 years ago when I was doing shows for Confessions part one.
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I love these boots and they really lasted and stood the test of time.
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They fit incredibly well.
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They're really comfortable for dancing.
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I like being connected to the Confessions part one, now that I'm doing Confessions part two.
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And there's like energy in them, and they support my feet.
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And they, I'm sure they have something to do with my dancing.
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I don't know, they're just the perfect shoe.
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Worn other boots, I've worn other shoes, and these are magic.
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I like to have art in my bathroom as well.
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A few of my favorite pieces are these penis sculptures, or my collection of cocks as I like to refer to them.
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I have four, too small and too big.
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The name of the artist is Anderson Asterklinas.
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He's a young Brazilian artist.
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Right now he's a part of the program that Tracy Emin runs.
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So I went to visit Tracy and I met Anderson.
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I also bought one paintings recently and it was about his relationship with his mother
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and I asked him is your mother proud of you has she seen your paintings you show her your work
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and he said no I think it might disturb her
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and I don't want to upset my mother ever he told me
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that every one of his paintings were in some way about
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her I actually almost started crying I was very touched by a story
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and said goodbye to him after spending some time with him
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he came running after me with this brown paper bag and he said, I want to give you something.
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Got in the car, started driving home and I opened the bag and it was these beautiful penises.
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They're just really lovely and here they are, objects of my affection.
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I like to keep a lot of notes and mementos and I'm very sentimental and romantic, especially about my family.
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So I have a lot of things here that I just hang and tape to the wall.
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It's very informal.
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This rosary that my grandmother gave to me a few years before she died, it belonged to my mother.
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Simple rosary, it's made of wood and my mother was very religious and she prayed every day.
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Every bead of this rosary she said the Hail Mary.
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You may have noticed in the beginning of my career I wore lots of crucifixes around my neck
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which was It's more a tribute to my mother than Catholicism, to be honest.
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Here are some post-it notes that my daughter Esther wrote to me
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when she first started to write and speak in English when she was five years old.
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I am sorry, mom.
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She must have done something bad.
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I don't remember what.
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Here's a picture of her behind my back, looking very mischievous.
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Over here in this corner of priceless items is my mother's perfume called fracas.
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And whenever I miss her, I just spray it on.
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And I smell like gardenias and tuberose.
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And then finally, we have a music box that someone made for me, and it plays my favorite song,
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Bella Ciao, which is basically the song of the Italian partisans during World War II,
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who were fighting against the dictatorship against fascism,
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and that kind of spread across Europe as a kind of anthem.
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The next object of my affection is this beautiful sculpture made by my son Rocco.
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It was actually the first sculpture he's made.
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He gave it to me for my birthday last year, and I burst into tears.
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I love it when my children give me art, even if it, whether it's writing a song or painting a painting.
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And he's quite a talented painter.
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He's been painting since he's 15.
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I'm looking forward to him growing as an artist and trying out other mediums.
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And I just think this is incredible.
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He's the best person to go and see a great show with because he appreciates it as much as I do.
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I've dragged them to places all over the world and tried to share my love and knowledge and appreciation of art,
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and I think it's really rubbed off on them.
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Thank God.
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So now we are in my living room, which I call the Blue Room, because everything's blue.
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It's a bit obvious.
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And this is a very small painting over here by Frida Kahlo also.
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It's called My Birth, probably a decade after I bought the Frida Kahlo self-portrait.
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And I was at a person's house, and an elderly man came in the room, And we start talking about Frida Kahlo.
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And he said, oh, I have a small painting of hers in my cupboard, in my armoire.
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He pulls out this painting.
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I sat there holding it, thinking, oh my god, what is this doing in a cupboard?
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Eventually, he sold it to me.
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Basically, the story behind this is that Frida never felt like she was connected emotionally to her mother.
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She felt shunned by her in a way.
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Her mother didn't care whether she existed.
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So she portrays her mother in this painting with a sheet over her head, kind of detached from the whole situation, detached from Frida.
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And I grew up without a mother.
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So again, I could relate to her story immensely.
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I just love the painting.
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It's something very near and dear to me.
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The style of the painting is also really beautiful because it's based on a style of painting in Mexico called Retablo,
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where they paint martyred saints or holy figures,
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and they write underneath a whole story about the person in the painting she never finished writing on the bottom
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and above the bed
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is the virgin mary with two swords going through her neck
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so it's quite a dramatic piece it's quite violent
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because her head hanging on the sheet with the blood underneath it she's not completely out out of her mother's womb.
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Pretty powerful image.
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So now finally we are in my bedroom, and when I get to this room and I'm in this position, I'm so happy.
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I collect books, and I'm really fond of first edition books, but these two books are my favorite.
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This is an Italian book written about Lucchino Visconti, who's a filmmaker I love, adore.
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He made one of my favorite films called Rocco and his brothers.
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Because of this movie, I named my son Rocco.
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And the other book is a book by Simone de Beauvoir, the ultimate feminist.
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This is written in English, this is written in Italian, so.
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This one I can only admire and look at the pictures and hold it in my hands.
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This one I can read.
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And over here, this beautiful blanket that my daughter Esther crocheted for me.
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During quarantine, my daughters learned how to knit and crochet when everybody was locked in their houses.
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She made it for my birthday.
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I love it, it's so soft.
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Everybody should touch it.
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Now that she plays football, she just doesn't crochet for me anymore.
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And now I am ready for bed.
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This is my doo-doo.
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Her name is Octavia.
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I sleep with her every night.
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A couple of years ago, I was really sick in the hospital.
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I was in a coma and this beautiful nurse that was taking care of me, her name was Olivia.
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She was screaming at me every day, telling me I needed to get up, I needed to get out of the ICU, and she really gave me a lot of courage and hope.
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When I got out of the hospital and came home, my sister gave me this octopus.
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I looked at her, and all I could think about was my nurse who took care of me.
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So I didn't want to name her Olivia exactly after her, so I called her Octavia.
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She's been with me ever since.
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Stuffing is starting to get kind of gross, but I love her, I adore her.
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These have been the objects of my affection.
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And now I'm going to go to sleep.
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So, good night everybody.
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Get out of my bedroom.
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Why This Madonna Home Tour Video Is Great for English Speaking Practice
If you’re looking to learn English with YouTube, this casual tour of Madonna’s London home is perfect. The dialogue is conversational, full of everyday phrases, and delivered with natural rhythm—exactly the kind of speech you’d use in real life. She shares stories, jokes, and personal insights, making it easy to follow along and connect with the content. Plus, the mix of formal and informal language (like “mothership” for her office or “cocks” for her sculptures) gives you a taste of how English is really spoken, not just taught in textbooks.
Breaking Down Natural English Phrases
Let’s look at a few lines that sound authentic and why they work:
- “Get a lot of work done here because it's kind of the only room that people leave me alone in.” The phrase “kind of” softens the statement, making it sound less direct—something native speakers do all the time. It’s a great example of how to make your speech feel more relaxed.
- “She's just so like don't fuck with me so she gives me a lot of strength.” The informal “like” here is used to emphasize a feeling, and the blunt “don’t fuck with me” shows strong emotion. This mix of casual words and intensity is common in personal stories.
- “They fit incredibly well. They're really comfortable for dancing.” Short, simple sentences connected by a topic (her boots) mimic how we talk when we’re excited about something. Repeating “they” keeps the focus clear and the flow natural.
A Simple Shadowing Practice Routine for This Video
To improve your speaking with this clip, try the shadowing technique (also called shadowspeak). Here’s how: 1. Watch a 30-second segment of the video, focusing on Madonna’s tone and pace. 2. Pause, then repeat the lines out loud immediately after her, copying her intonation and rhythm. 3. Record yourself doing this. 4. Compare your recording to the video—notice where your pace or stress differs. 5. Repeat until you feel your speech matches hers. This english speaking practice method helps train your mouth to move like a native and builds confidence in real-time communication. With its engaging stories and varied language, this video makes shadowspeaks feel less like work and more like a fun chat with a friend.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is also referred · was called · was really drawn |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has now become · I've worn · I've dragged |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | bathroom, which is · hallway which has · Ciao, which is |
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.