Shadowing Practice: Lesson 347 – Carnival | English Listening Practice - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Less than 347, Carnival.
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Clayann talks about the big tradition of Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago.
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Listen to the end for bonus study materials.
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Now, let's begin.
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So, Clay -Ann, can you talk a little bit about Carnival in your country?
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Actually, Carnival in my country started a very long time ago, after the end of slavery.
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And now it has kind of changed a lot into a big festival.
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where everybody basically dances in the street wearing very little clothes, very colorful costumes listening to music.
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It lasts for two days.
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It's called Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
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And for those two days, that's when we have the big parades in the street, with big costumes, small costumes, and a lot of music.
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The days leading up to Carnival may actually be more important.
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than the two days of Carnival themselves,
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because that's when we have a lot of concerts and competitions for calypsonians and Calypstonians.
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Uh...
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people who sing Calypso, which is music that's native to Trinidad and Tobago.
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and We have a lot of steel band festivals and steel bands are like big musical bands who play the steel drums.
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which were invented in Trinidad and Tobago.
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So this is a national holiday everything is closed down for at least a week.
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A week?
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Yeah, even before before Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
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It's closed from the Wednesday of the week before.
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So Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.
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And then everybody goes right back to work?
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On the following Wednesday is Ash Wednesday.
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It started I think as a kind of a religious festival.
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I've seen examples of it all over the world including Europe.
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And actually it started from the Catholic Church.
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So on Ash Wednesday, people are supposed to go to church and confess their sins and get ashes.
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And I can assume that we probably have a lot to confess after Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
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So is it usually pretty much the same thing every year or does it change a little bit?
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It always changes because it's not government run.
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The carnival bands, that means the bands of people who parade the streets in different costumes, they're actually competing with each other to get a lot of people.
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to win the band of the year and their judge on their costumes.
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So we have private owners of bands who design different costumes every year with different themes.
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And they have to portray these themes on the street.
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And the aim is to win.
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the competition for band of the year and every year the costumes are different - Actually,
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Carnival is launched from the year before.
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So I think this year Carnival will be launched somewhere in...
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Actually, I think they already launched it last month, July.
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and so from july you're going to see all the bands um coming out with their
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costumes on display for people to decide which band they want to play in, which costumes they would like to use.
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artists start to release their sing their Calypso singles because there's all there's also competition for best calypso and Um...
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and other different types of music.
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which are not as big as calypso music in Trinidad and Tobago.
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Welcome back.
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This lesson comes with free study materials First, students can play the audio and read the transcript and go over the conversation.
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Students can also take a listening comprehension quiz and check their score.
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They can review the vocabulary used in the lesson, for example, "confess your sins," government run,
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And they could also do a grammar puzzle, my favorite.
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Students can read the script and try to choose the correct word and then get their grammar score at the end.
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Also, this lesson comes with a free worksheet similar to the grammar lesson that students can do offline.
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And of course, there are hundreds of more free conversations that students can listen to on Ello.
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Check the link below.
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for the free lesson details.
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And that's it for this lesson.
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Thanks so much.
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You've been listening to English Listening Lesson Library Online.
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My name's Todd.
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I'm an English teacher and the creator of the site.
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Thank you so much for your participation, and please stay tuned for more lessons.

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Why practice speaking with this video?

Engaging with the video titled "Lesson 347 – Carnival | English Listening Practice" offers a rich opportunity for English speaking practice. The speaker, Clayann, shares vibrant insights about the Carnival tradition in Trinidad and Tobago, which provides a culturally immersive context. This unique atmosphere encourages learners to explore the rhythm and cadence of the English language in a lively setting.

Through the use of descriptive language and lively expressions, viewers can shadow the speaker to enhance their fluency and pronunciation. By replicating the phrases and intonations, learners can effectively practice their speaking skills. Utilizing the shadowing technique allows for better assimilation of sounds and structures, making language learning dynamic and enjoyable.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

In this lesson, several grammatical structures and expressions are prominent and demonstrate how to weave context into language use:

  • "It started a very long time ago..." - This introductory phrase uses the simple past tense to indicate the historical context of Carnival.
  • "The aim is to win the competition..." - This expression effectively utilizes the present simple tense to describe ongoing activities and intentions.
  • "People are supposed to go to church and confess their sins..." - Here, the phrase "are supposed to" is used to indicate expectations and social norms, which learners can incorporate into their own conversations.
  • "Carnival is launched from the year before..." - The passive voice here emphasizes the process rather than the doer, a useful construction to grasp for more formal descriptions.

By recognizing these structures, learners can practice speaking the same way and enhance their grammatical understanding through context.

Common Pronunciation Traps

As you immerse yourself in this lesson, be aware of specific words and phrases that may present challenges in pronunciation:

  • Calypsonians - The word is pronounced as "kuh-lip-soh-nee-uhns," and stressing the correct syllables is crucial for clarity.
  • Competitions - This word can sometimes be tricky; practice saying it as "kom-peh-tish-uns," noting the stress on the second syllable.
  • Carnival - Ensure that you emphasize the 'ar' sound correctly, pronouncing it as "car-nih-val" with clear syllables.

Listening attentively to the video and utilizing the shadow speak method will help you master these tricky pronunciations. This not only enhances your ability to communicate effectively but also makes you sound more natural in conversations.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

StructureIn the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does itwere invented · is closed · is launched
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thingpeople who sing · people who parade

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →