Shadowing Practice: تعلم اللغة الإنجليزية من خلال الأفلام للمبتدئين // افلام كرتون انجليزي - Learn English with Ice Age - Learn English Speaking with Video
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This A2 speaking lesson is built on the video “تعلم اللغة الإنجليزية من خلال الأفلام للمبتدئين // افلام كرتون انجليزي - Learn English with Ice Age”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: baby, waddling, alive, touch, miles. This video has 106 sentences and 631 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:22. The speaker talks slowly, about 61 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 28 of its 106 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| asleep adjective | /əˈsliːp/ | In a state of sleep; also, broadly, resting. |
| relax verb | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | To make something loose. |
| waddle verb | /ˈwɑd.əl/ | To walk with short steps, tilting the body from side to side. |
| mammoth noun | /ˈmæməθ/ | Any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus, of large, usually hairy, elephant-like mammals with long curved tusks and an inclined back, which became extinct… |
| shhh | Elongated form of shh. | |
| careful adjective | /ˈkɛɹfəl/ | Taking care; attentive to potential danger, error or harm; cautious. |
| miles noun | /maɪlz/ | A great distance in space or time. |
| touch verb | /tʌt͡ʃ/ | To make physical contact with; to bring the hand, finger or other part of the body into contact with. |
| alive adjective | /əˈlaɪv/ | Having life; living; not dead. |
| minute noun | /ˈmɪnɪt/ | A unit of time which is one sixtieth of an hour (sixty seconds). |
| welcome | /ˈwɛl.kəm/ | Greeting given upon someone's arrival. |
| choose verb | /t͡ʃuːz/ | To pick; to make the choice of; to select. |
| dream verb | /ˈdɹim/ | To see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping. |
| solution noun | /səˈl(j)uːʃən/ | A homogeneous mixture, which may be liquid, gas or solid, formed by dissolving one or more substances. |
| crowd noun | /ˈkɹaʊ̯d/ | A group of people congregated or collected into a close body without order. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Wait a minute, can I help you?
- Doesn't anyone love me?
- Why doesn't anyone love me?
- You wanna go with them?
- I should probably be with a mammoth, don't you think?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | We've been waddling |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | friend who would |
| Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea | should get · should probably be |
| Comparatives -er than / more … than — comparing two things | faster than |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 44 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, doesn't, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
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 asleep, relax, waddle.
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.













