Shadowing Practice: Kristen Bell's Sloth Meltdown - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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So Dax did something really sweet.
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He certainly did.
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Well, one of the many sweet things he's done.
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So I turned 31 this past summer.
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And he said, I'm going to get you a present that no one else will ever get in their lifetime.
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And I was confused and thought, OK.
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So the day of my birthday, we're sitting in the living room.
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And I hear a knock at the door.
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And he says, your present's here.
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Why don't you go grab the dogs and go in the back room?
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And I had no context for knowing what it was.
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But I grabbed the dogs, walk into the back room of the house, and I immediately was overcome, and I thought, there's a sloth near.
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There's a sloth here, it's close, it's gonna happen.
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And I didn't know how to process that
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because my entire life had been waiting for this moment where I would get to interact,
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I'm serious, with the sloth. And I...
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First thing you should know about me, If I'm not between a 3 and a 7 on the emotional scale, I'm crying.
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You're crying if it's...
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Too sad.
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I'm crying if I'm too excited.
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Too happy.
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Always.
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So between 3 and 7 is you're fine.
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It's a good zone.
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And right now, I'm at, like, a 6, 9, 7, so we're lucky that I'm not crying right now because I'm excited to be here.
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So I am sitting on my bed, knowing that a sloth is here.
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Where are you now on the scale?
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11. What?
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I start to have a full -fledged panic attack.
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I don't know how to compete with all this emotion, so I just kind of crawl up on the bed, and I'm crying so hard.
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And Dax knocks on the door, and he has a video camera, and he's like, surprise, I want you to come on to the, are you all right?
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And sees me basically fetal on the bed, and I am.
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I think you brought a little footage of that.
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It's embarrassing.
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I cannot wait to see it.
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It's worth watching.
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Yes.
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It's embarrassing.
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So we can take a look.
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Oh, there's a little slaw.
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There one is.
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All right, let's watch the, oh, no. I wasn't joking.
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I was absolutely.
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How did you guess that?
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How did you guess that?
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I don't know.
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I don't know.
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You're so sad that one's coming to your party.
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I'm sorry.
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Do you want to come be a part of setting up his little habitat?
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He's coming for the party?
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Oh, my God.
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I was having a birthday party later that evening, and they had set up a little habitat of, like, it's essentially a jungle gym,
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and he or she just hung out on the jungle gym for, like, three hours.
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There she is.
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Her name was Melon.
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I mean, I needed to be sedated, clearly.
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Let's bring out the cutest sloth.
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No, you didn't.
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No. I just wanted to see...
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Oh, my God.
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What?
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My heart is beating so bad.
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I know.
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I'm so sorry.
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I'm so sorry.
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All right.
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All right.
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Oh, my gosh.
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OK.
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We're going to take a break.
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Oh, why would you do that?
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I know.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Kristen Bell's Sloth Meltdown”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: sloth, crying, bed. This video has 73 sentences and 534 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:38. The speaker talks at a steady 147 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 81% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| knock verb | /nɑk/ | To rap one's knuckles against something, especially wood. |
| jungle noun | /ˈd͡ʒʌŋ.ɡ(ə)l/ | A large, lush, undeveloped, humid forest, especially in a tropical region, thick with vegetation and wildlife; a tropical rainforest. |
| habitat noun | /ˈhæb.ɪ.tæt/ | Conditions suitable for an organism or population of organisms to live. |
| confused adjective | /kənˈfjuːzd/ | unable to think clearly or understand |
| essentially adverb | /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/ | In essence: by nature. |
| compete verb | /kəmˈpiːt/ | To be in battle or in a rivalry with another for the same thing, position, or reward; to contend. |
| lifetime noun | /ˈlaɪf.taɪm/ | The duration of the life of someone or something. |
| footage noun | /ˈfʊtɪd͡ʒ/ | An amount of film or tape that has been used to record something, or the content of the recording. |
| overcome verb | /ˌəʊ.vəˈkʌm/ | To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of. |
| panic noun | /ˈpænɪk/ | Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals; (countable) an instance of this; a fright, a scare. |
| 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. |
| interact verb | /ɪn.təˈɹækt/ | To engage in communication and other shared activities (with someone). |
| joking verb | /ˈd͡ʒoʊkɪŋ/ | Kidding, trying to fool. |
| gosh | /ɡɑːʃ/ | A mild expression of surprise or enthusiasm. |
| crawl verb | /kɹɔːl/ | To move by dragging one's body along or close to a surface, like a worm or insect, or on one's hands and knees, like a human baby. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
| bring out verb | To elicit, evoke, or emphasize (a particular quality). | |
| come on to verb | To start to. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'm serious, with the sloth.
- I'm crying if I'm too excited.
- Where are you now on the scale?
- All right, let's watch the, oh, no.
- How did you guess that?
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 27 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/
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 knock, jungle, habitat.
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.