Shadowing Practice: Learn English Through Stories | Perrine's Journey | Level 1 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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130 sentences
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Learn English through stories, with shadowing and conversation.
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Perrine and her mother were walking a long, long way.
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They were traveling from a distant country back to France, to a small town called Maracourt.
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Perrine was a young, smart and brave girl.
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Her mother was very sick and tired.
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They had almost no money, and they slept wherever they could find a safe place.
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Perrine's father had died, and her mother wanted to return to Maracore because Perrine's grandfather lived there.
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His name was Mr Wolfram Payne de Voyne.
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He was a rich and very strict factory owner, but he did not know they were coming.
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Sadly, before they reached their final destination, Perrine's mother became too ill and passed away.
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Perrine was left all alone in the world.
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With a heavy heart, she promised her mother to be strong and keep going.
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She continued the difficult walk to Maricor all by herself When Perrine finally arrived in Maricor she was dirty,
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tired and hungry She found the big factory that belonged to her grandfather but she did not tell anyone who she was
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She knew that her grandfather was angry with her parents long ago, so she decided to be careful.
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Perrine needed to find food and a place to sleep.
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She found a small hidden cave near a pond and she made it her secret little home.
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To survive, she worked hard.
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She used her clever hands to make small things and she helped people in the village.
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Slowly people began to like her because she was kind, honest and very hard -working.
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Perrine wanted to get closer to her grandfather to understand him better.
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She went to the big factory and applied for a job.
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Because she spoke English and French very well, and because she was so smart, she got a job working in the factory office.
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She worked under a fake name, Aurelie.
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Even though she worked hard every day, she always kept a close eye on her grandfather, Mr Wolfram.
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He was an old, lonely man, who looked very sad and angry all the time.
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He did not have anyone to love him.
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Perrine felt sorry for him and wanted to help him heal his lonely heart.
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Perrine was not only smart, she was also very creative.
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She built a little wooden cart, helped sick animals and always tried to make the workers' lives better.
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Everyone in the factory started to respect Aurelie.
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One day, Mr. Wolfram noticed this special young girl.
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He saw how hard she worked and how honest she was.
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Slowly, the old man started to trust her.
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He even asked her to become his personal assistant and help him read and write letters.
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Perrine was very happy because she was finally close to her grandfather, but she still kept her true identity a secret.
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She wanted him to love her for who she was, not just because she was his granddaughter.
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Mr. Wolfram's health was not very good and he was very sad because he thought he had no family left.
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Perrine took great care of him.
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She made his room brighter, gave him good advice, and brought joy back into his big, cold house.
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One day, Mr. Wolfram found out the amazing truth.
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He discovered that Aurelie was actually Perrine, his very own granddaughter.
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He saw the old papers, her mother's things, and the striking resemblance in her eyes.
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The old strict factory owner cried tears of joy.
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He realised that the wonderful girl who had helped him
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and brought light into his dark life was his own flesh and blood.
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From that day on, Perrine was no longer lonely.
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She lived a happy life with her grandfather, and they used their wealth to help all the kind workers and friends in Marocco.
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Now let's do some shadowing together.
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Listen carefully and repeat each sentence naturally with me.
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Kindness can change even the hardest heart.
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Kindness can change even the hardest heart.
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Love sometimes finds us when we least expect it.
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Love sometimes finds us when we least expect it.
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Every difficult journey begins with one brave step.
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Every difficult journey begins with one brave step.
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Small acts of kindness can change someone's life forever.
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Small acts of kindness can change someone's life forever.
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Family is not only about the past, but also about forgiveness.
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Family is not only about the past, but also about forgiveness.
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Courage means moving forward even when you feel alone.
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Courage means moving forward even when you feel alone.
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Now, let's listen to Olivia and Harry talk about the story and some of the key words from it.
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hello everyone welcome back to english natively the podcast where we learn english naturally through wonderful stories i'm olivia
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and i'm harry it's absolutely brilliant to have you with us again we've just finished listening to
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that beautiful slightly heartbreaking story narrated by our lovely colleague margaret
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you look a bit emotional there harry do you need a tissue Just a tiny bit.
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Perrine's journey is so tragic at the start, isn't it?
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Losing both her parents like that.
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It really is a tearjerker.
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The story we just heard, Perrine's Journey, is based on the famous French novel En Femme by Hector Melot.
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It's actually so popular globally that it was turned into a massive anime series in the late 1970s.
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Really?
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That just shows how universal the story is.
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A brave young girl overcoming tragedy and eventually finding her place.
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But I loved how clever she was.
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She went undercover as Aurelie.
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Yes, she wanted her grumpy grandfather, Mr. Volfren, to love her for her true character, not just out of family obligation.
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Also, did you notice?
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Being bilingual literally saved her life.
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She got the office job because she spoke English and French well.
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A lovely little message for our English natively listeners.
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Learning English definitely opens doors for you.
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Exactly.
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Now, Margaret's reading was packed with some wonderful everyday English phrases.
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Let's look at a few, shall we?
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Let's get into it.
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In chapter one, it says, With a heavy heart, she promised her mother to be strong and keep going.
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A heavy heart is a beautiful idiom.
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It means doing something with a lot of sadness, as if sorrow is a physical weight inside your chest.
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For example, With a heavy heart, I sold my childhood home.
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Spot on.
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And right after that.. she promises to keep going.
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This simply means to not stop, even when things are incredibly difficult.
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Like learning English grammar.
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Sometimes it's tough, but you just have to keep going.
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Now, jumping to chapter three, the story says Perrine always kept a close eye on her grandfather.
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To keep a close eye on someone or something means to watch them very carefully.
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Like if I'm cooking, I might say, Olivia, keep an eye on this soup so it doesn't burn.
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Or, Harry, keep a close eye on your puppy so he doesn't chew my best shoes again.
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Oops, point taken.
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Sorry about the shoes.
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Let's quickly move on to chapter five before you get angry.
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The big reveal.
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All right, Mr Volfren sees a striking resemblance in Perrine's eyes.
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This means two people look incredibly similar.
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It's so obvious that it strikes or hits you.
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You can't miss it.
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Like me and my dad.
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We have the exact same nose.
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And finally, Mr Wolfram realises she's his flesh and blood.
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Flesh and blood is a very common expression for your family or relatives.
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It emphasises that deep biological human connection.
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He realised he wasn't alone anymore.
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He had his flesh and blood right there with him.
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A true happy ending.
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A brilliant story and some fantastic vocabulary today.
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Let's do a really quick recap for our listeners.
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Great idea.
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Number one, with a heavy heart, meaning feeling very sad.
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Number two, keep going, meaning don't stop despite difficulties number three keep a close eye
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on meaning to watch carefully number four a striking resemblance meaning looking incredibly similar
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and number five flesh and blood meaning your family or relatives excellent
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if you want to practice and master these phrases try writing your own sentences in the comments below.
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We read all of them.
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We certainly do.
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Thank you for joining us here on English Natively.
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Don't forget to subscribe and we'll see you in the next episode.
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Keep going with your English studies, keep a close eye on our new videos and bye for now.
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Cheerio!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 130 sentences and 1418 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:42. The speaker talks at a steady 112 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% 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
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| grandfather noun | /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/ | A father of someone's parent. |
| flesh noun | /flɛʃ/ | The soft tissue of the body, especially muscle and fat. |
| brave adjective | /bɹeɪv/ | Strong in the face of fear; courageous. |
| kindness noun | /ˈkaɪnd.nəs/ | The state of being kind. |
| carefully adverb | /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ | With care; attentively, circumspectly. |
| incredibly adverb | /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/ | In an incredible manner; not to be believed. |
| realise verb | Non-Oxford British standard spelling of realize. | |
| lonely adjective | /ˈloʊnli/ | Unhappy due to feeling isolated from contact with other people. |
| resemblance noun | /ɹəˈzɛmbləns/ | The quality or state of resembling. |
| naturally adverb | /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/ | In a natural manner. |
| relative noun | /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/ | Someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family. |
| shadow noun | /ˈʃædəʊ̯/ | A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object. |
| worker noun | /ˈwɝ.kɚ/ | One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor. |
| courage noun | /ˈkʌ.ɹɪd͡ʒ/ | The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate. |
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| move forward verb | To cause to make progress. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| pass away verb | To die. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 12 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, doesn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: flesh /flɛʃ/, shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, shoe /ˈʃu/, tissue /ˈtɪʃ.(j)u/, destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, universal /ˌjunəˈvɜɹs(ə)l/, difficulty /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/, biological /ˌbaɪ.əˈlɑ.d͡ʒɪ.kəl/
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 grandfather, flesh, brave.
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 | was left · is based · was turned |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | were walking · were traveling · were coming |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the hardest · my best |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | needed to find · have to keep |
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.