Shadowing Practice: Matthew's Foster Care Adoption Story - Learn English Speaking with Video
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24 sentences
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1
Hi my name is Audrey and this is my brother Matthew.
2
Matthew, what do your friends call you?
3
Bubba. How old are you Bubba?
4
Um, five. You're four silly! Four.
5
Foster care adoption was definitely not on our radar when we were thinking about growing our family. Kelly and I were able to have a biological daughter like right away, and the second time around we tried to have another baby and it just wasn't the same experience.
6
We spent probably two years trying.
7
On Audrey's fourth birthday her and I were coloring in her room together and she pretty much changed the world for us on that day. She said, "Mom there has to be a boy or a girl out there that doesn't have parents and you could be their parents and I'll share you." And that sounded a little different than just 'Mom have another baby.' She was really talking about someone else that's already out there that needs parents and it changed everything.
8
To have our four-year-old daughter say that there's you know, we have enough love to share with another baby. We kind of talked more about you know, what did she say?
9
Do we have room for another kid, do we have enough love? And we did.
10
We had worked so hard for almost two years to get to the place where we were matched with Matthew and we just got a call that we were selected as his family "Oh and he'll be at your home in two weeks" and it was like whoa, get ready to have a baby!
11
Seeing his profile and his pictures with his foster mom really sent it home that this is, this is the match. That's when we really knew he was our son.
12
I definitely analyzed every crevice of his one photo that we had and the two weeks felt like forever. But our initial meeting we had brought him some toys and he sat in my lap and he like looks up at me and starts like tracing my face with his hands, making this like lovey-dovey sound and his caseworker was sitting there watching and she said, "Look at that, look at that, he knows, he knows that you're his Mom." When we brought Matthew home I remember him being very, very quiet and he could start to see that once he figured it out that this is his forever home then he started to show his true self.
13
Bubba loves all the animals that we have in the house.
14
<singing> Cheese and Beans He is extremely strong, extremely fast, but he's also very sweet and loves to cuddle.
15
He's very thoughtful, caring, sweet guy, like just the nicest buddy to all of his friends at his school.
16
But if he's in his happy place he is tearing stuff up, he's running around here like a tornado.
17
Matthew and Audrey's bond is a very healthy, sibling relationship. They have so much fun together. They're a good team and she takes a lot of pride in being a big sister.
18
When Matthew first came into our family he could barely bend his legs and his arms were very stiff, very stiff in the torso and the hips, so he was in physical therapy. It's just amazing to see his growth. We really didn't know if he would get to where he is now.
19
We have him in gymnastics and he's just thriving. Whether it's physical therapy or speech therapy, which we did, everything that we've invested in him has just paid off in dividends.
20
One of the reasons, ultimately, that we decided to adopt was because no child is in foster care because of anything that they did. They're not there because they're bad kids or they did something wrong, it's because they don't have safe parents. They don't have a safe place. Somebody else made bad choices.
21
It's important for people to support kids in foster care because if they don't have parents and family to take care of them, who is going to?
22
Without Boys & Girls Aid, where would these kids be?
23
I feel so happy the DHS worker selected us as his family, because we 100% are his people.
24
He's got a great future ahead of him.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Matthew's Foster Care Adoption Story”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Matthew, parents, foster, kid, mom. This video has 24 sentences and 717 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:08. The speaker talks at a steady 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 6 of its 24 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| stiff adjective | /stɪf/ | Rigid; hard to bend; inflexible. |
| caseworker noun | A social worker. | |
| crevice noun | /ˈkɹɛvɪs/ | A narrow crack or fissure, as in a rock or wall. |
| cuddle verb | /ˈkʌd.l̩/ | To lie together snugly (with someone), in an intimate physical embrace; to snuggle. |
| gymnastics noun | /d͡ʒɪmˈnæs.tɪks/ | A sport involving the performance of sequences of movements requiring physical strength, flexibility, and kinesthetic awareness. |
| sibling noun | /ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/ | A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with. |
| thrive verb | /θɹajv/ | To grow or increase stature; to grow vigorously or luxuriantly; to enjoy a state of excellent health and well-being; to flourish. |
| whoa | /woʊ/ | Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down. |
| tornado noun | /tɔɹˈneɪ.doʊ/ | A violent wind in the form of a mobile, rapidly rotating, funnel cloud that has contacted the ground. |
| dividend noun | /ˈdɪvɪdɛnd/ | A cash payment of money by a company to its shareholders, usually made periodically (e.g., quarterly or annually). |
| thoughtful adjective | /ˈθɔːtfəl/ | Demonstrating thought or careful consideration. |
| analyze verb | /ˈæn.əˌlaɪz/ | To subject to analysis. |
| bend verb | /bɛnd/ | To cause (something) to change its shape into a curve, by physical force, chemical action, or any other means. |
| adoption noun | /əˈdɑp.ʃən/ | The act of adopting. |
| trace noun | /tɹeɪs/ | An act of tracing. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| run around verb | To be very busy doing many different things. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Matthew, what do your friends call you?
- We kind of talked more about you know, what did she say?
- Do we have room for another kid, do we have enough love?
- That's when we really knew he was our son.
- We have him in gymnastics and he's just thriving.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | were thinking · were coloring · was sitting |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | I'll share · he'll be |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 14 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, they're, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thrive /θɹajv/, thoughtful /ˈθɔːtfəl/
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 stiff, caseworker, crevice.
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.