Shadowing Practice: Long Distance Love Birds - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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DeepEnglish.com Every August, Klepetan says goodbye to his lover Malena,
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before going to South Africa where he spends the spring and summer.
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Every March, like clockwork, he flies back to Croatia to be with his partner.
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Klepetan and the love of his life Malena are birds, storks to be more specific, and they have been continuing their long-distance romance for the past 16 years.
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Klepetan is one of millions of birds that travel thousands of kilometers between South Africa and Croatia as the weather warms.
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But his relationship with Malina is one of a kind.
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In 1993, Malina was shot by a hunter in Croatia.
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A school caretaker named Stepan Vokic found the wounded bird and took her home.
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He cared for the bird until she was healthy and named her Malina, which means little one.
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Stepan nursed Malina back to health, but she still cannot fly properly.
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He wanted to make sure that Malina didn't miss out on the joys of motherhood.
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To help her find a mate, Stepan built her a nest on top of his house.
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In that nest, Malina and Klepeton first met, fell in love, and have raised many baby storks.
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The local media celebrate Klepiton's yearly visits.
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There is a 24-hour live video feed of Malina's Nest playing in the capital of Croatia.
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Klepiton not only arrives on the same day, but often at the same hour.
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In 2016, he broke the pattern and arrived six days late.
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It was so out of character that people panicked that something terrible must have happened to him him.
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When another suitor arrived in his place, Malina would accept no substitutes for Klepetan.
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She attacked the new bird until he flew off.
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Klepetan and Malina have four to five baby storks every year.
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Since Malina can only fly short distances, Klepetan handles the flight training of their children.
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In March, Klepetan departs again on his 13,000 kilometer flight home, leaving Malina behind.
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This is when Stepan steps in again to keep Malina from getting lonely.
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He says that after Klepetan leaves Malina, she mourns for ten days.
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Then I take her in the car to the meadows for fishing, to take her mind off it.
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During the cold winter months, he brings Malina into his house to live with him.
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The ever-caring Stepan feeds her fish, and the unlikely pair watch nature documentaries together on TV.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 28 sentences and 398 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:32. The speaker talks at a natural 157 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| arrive verb | /əˈɹaɪv/ | To reach; to get to a certain place. |
| nest noun | /nɛst/ | A structure built by a bird as a place to incubate eggs and rear young. |
| nurse noun | /nɝs/ | Anyone performing this role, regardless of training or profession. |
| hunter noun | /ˈhʌntɚ/ | One who hunts game for sport or for food; a huntsman or huntswoman. |
| romance noun | /roʊˈmæn(t)s/ | An intimate relationship between two people; a love affair. |
| documentary noun | /ˌdɒk.jʊˈmɛn.tɹi/ | A film, TV program, publication etc. which presents a social, political, scientific or historical subject in a factual or informative manner. |
| unlikely adjective | /ʌnˈlaɪkli/ | Not likely; improbable; not to be reasonably expected. |
| goodbye | /ɡʊdˈbaɪ/ | Farewell; a formula used to another person or persons when the speaker, writer, or person addressed is departing. |
| lover noun | /ˈlʌvɚ/ | One who loves and cares for another person in a romantic way; a sweetheart, love, soulmate, boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse. |
| panic noun | /ˈpænɪk/ | Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals; (countable) an instance of this; a fright, a scare. |
| lonely adjective | /ˈloʊnli/ | Unhappy due to feeling isolated from contact with other people. |
| wound noun | /ˈwund/ | An injury, such as a cut, stab, or tear, to a (usually external) part of the body. |
| leaf noun | /lif/ | The usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants. |
| substitute noun | /ˈsʌb.stɪ.tʃuːt/ | A replacement or stand-in for something that achieves a similar result or purpose. |
| yearly adjective | /ˈjɪɹli/ | Happening once every year. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| fly off verb | To flee rapidly; to run away. |
Pronunciation to watch
- Long words — get the stress right: documentary /ˌdɒk.jʊˈmɛn.tɹi/, kilometre /kɪˈlɑmɪtəɹ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like arrive, nest, nurse.
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.