Shadowing Practice: Learn English With This Easy Short Story | Comprehensible Input A1 Beginner - Learn English Speaking with Video
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74 sentences
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Hey, my name is AJ.
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I will be telling you a story about Tom.
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Let's go.
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this is tom tom is at home tom is at his home
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and he is in his bedroom tom wants a book A book.
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Tom wants to read.
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Tom wants to read a book.
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So Tom takes his bag and leaves his house.
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and he goes to the library.
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Again, Tom takes his bag and leaves his house.
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And now Tom is going to the library.
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On the way to the library, Tom walks on a road.
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While he is walking, Tom sees some trees.
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These trees have leaves and have a trunk.
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The green part are the leaves.
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The brown part is the trunk.
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And the trunk is made of wood.
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Tom sees trees that are green and brown that have leaves and that have a trunk
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Tom also sees a house while he is walking.
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The house has windows and a door and a roof.
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again Tom sees a house with a door windows
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and roof and also while he's walking he passes by one girl that is leaving the library
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Tom says hi she says hi to Tom too.
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Then Tom finally gets to the library.
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He grabs the door handle and opens the door.
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Then once Tom opens the library door, Tom walks inside the library
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Tom goes into the library it is very quiet quiet in the library
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Tom sees lots of books and all of these books are on a bookshelf
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Tom also sees a librarian
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The librarian is the person that runs the library.
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So if you want to take a book home, you need to talk to the librarian.
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If you want to bring a book back, you want to talk to the librarian.
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And Tom also sees some chairs and tables to sit on.
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Tom takes a look at the books.
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Tom sees that there are all kinds of books.
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There are books that are short.
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There are books that are tall.
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There are short books and tall books.
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There are There are wide books or thick books.
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There are skinny books or thin books.
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So Tom sees short books,
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tall books, wide and thick books, and thin and skinny books.
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Tom decides to take a book.
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And Tom decides to look at the book.
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Tom likes the book.
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So Tom takes the book and goes to sit down at a table.
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Tom sits in the chair and Tom is reading his book.
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Tom is sitting.
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Tom is reading.
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And Tom is being quiet.
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Tom is being quiet.
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Tom wants to take the book home.
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So Tom goes to talk to the librarian.
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Tom wants to take the book home.
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So Tom gives the book to the librarian.
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And to take a book home, you need a library card.
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A library card, it is a card that is from the library that has your name on it.
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So So they know who has a book.
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Tom gives the librarian the book and his library card.
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Then the librarian gives
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Tom back both the book and the library card.
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Now Tom has both.
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Now Tom is ready to leave.
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Tom says thank you to the librarian.
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And then Tom says bye.
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And he walks out of the library and goes back home with his book.
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Tom is happy that he has a book to read.
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And I want to thank all of you for watching.
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If you want more videos in English at your level,
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you can go to the English Sponge YouTube channel
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or go to EnglishSponge.com where there are a bunch of videos for you to watch in easy English
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that you can understand.
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Thank you for watching and I will see you guys in the next video.
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Bye
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Learn English With This Easy Short Story”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tom, library, librarian, card, door. This video has 74 sentences and 636 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:34. The speaker talks slowly, about 74 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
13 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| librarian noun | /laɪˈbɹɛə̯ɹi.ən/ | The keeper, manager of a library. |
| leaf noun | /lif/ | The usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants. |
| trunk noun | /tɹʌŋk/ | The usually single, more or less upright part of a tree, between the roots and the branches. |
| thin adjective | /ˈθɪn/ | Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite. |
| thick adjective | /θɪk/ | Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension. |
| skinny adjective | /ˈskɪni/ | Thin, generally in a negative sense (as opposed to slim, which is thin in a positive sense). |
| bedroom noun | /ˈbɛdˌɹum/ | A room in a house, apartment, hotel, or other dwelling where a bed is kept for sleeping. |
| bookshelf noun | /ˈbʊkˌʃɛlf/ | A shelf or shelves for storing books for easy visual reference. |
| quiet adjective | /ˈkwaɪ̯.ət/ | With little or no sound; free of disturbing noise. |
| tall adjective | /tɔl/ | Having great vertical extent (usually reckoned from the bottom of the feet to the very top of the head) when standing. (For instance, somebody with a height of… |
| roof noun | /ɹuːf/ | The external covering at the top of a building. |
| bunch noun | /bʌnt͡ʃ/ | A group of similar things, either growing together, or in a cluster or clump, usually fastened together. |
| grab verb | /ˈɡɹæb/ | To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | is walking · he's walking · is reading |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | will be · will see |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “th” sounds: thin /ˈθɪn/, thick /θɪk/
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 librarian, leaf, trunk.
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.