Shadowing Practice: new chapter... in the french countryside - Learn English Speaking with Video

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217 sentences

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The look

at the beautiful sunrise and the birds chirping

good morning i am

so excited to be filming for the first time here in the french countryside

you guys might be wondering what we are doing here

so we moved here a month ago

and we'll be staying here for the next three months we are house sitting

and taking care of the dogs

and the cats here this right here is Mateo I don't know

if you guys can see him he is getting very hungry

I need to make them their morning porridge you guys can see that

Miss Matilda is here I am honestly so surprised

and happy how well Matilda is getting along with the dogs I mean we've stayed here for a month

so we took like baby steps when we were introducing them

because we stayed downstairs to begin with and now they're honestly like really good friends

They haven't started playing or cuddling or anything, but Matilda is totally fine being like very close to them and just hanging out with them.

But the only thing is that Matilda is not getting along with the other two cats here.

We've tried to introduce them like really, really slowly and they seem to be very curious of one another.

But there have been a few incidents where they fight

so we've been keeping them separate the other cats are actually living outside for now

which is perfect so Matilda can you know get to know the dogs

but eventually the cats will come inside

and I'm just a little bit nervous about that

but I don't really know how other people do it

so many people have many cats I know that they are very like sensitive and territorial and stuff like that

But if you have any tips, then please let me know because I want them to be friends

Anyways, I'm gonna make porridge for the dogs

They have porridge every other day

And then they have hard -boiled eggs the other days

And we're basically like following what the owner wants us to give them

And I think Helge and I will have skir with cornola

Everyone is joining when we are cooking, waiting patiently.

Hi!

and matilda is here taking her bath

we've been buying sker

and funny thing this is actually my dad's nickname i think the founder is Icelandic

but this is not available in Iceland which is quite funny

but I actually realized

that I love sker way more than Greek yogurt I was always trying to convince myself that I liked

Greek yogurt but it always made me feel like kind of full in my stomach

if I had it for breakfast

but honestly sker is just way better especially this one is really good

and we made some granola on the pan it's such a nice solution

if you don't have any granola you can just put everything on a pan

and you can see it's like golden brown super nice

I am posting a YouTube video.

It's from South Africa.

I posted one video from South Africa, but I always meant to post a video from Cape Town,

and Helge edited the video and everything, and it was ready to go live.

But I don't know what was going on with me.

I don't know if I was in the wrong kind of headspace

but I just felt like it wasn't like good enough

and I can be such a perfectionist

if I'm not like fully satisfied sometimes I just like procrastinate and now

that I haven't been posting like every single week I think

that's the good thing of like having like the schedule I just like I need to post

and then I kind of get over my perfectionism but because now I haven't been posting as consistently.

I guess this video kind of just slipped through the cracks

but it's funny because now I like look back on the video

and I'm like there's nothing wrong with it and it's actually so fun.

It's just so weird how like hard I can be on myself

which is just so annoying but I'm glad

that I'm finally gonna post the video and I'm excited for you guys to see it.

Helga is now bringing me some coffee.

Thank you.

And Sheikah is just like here chilling with me while I'm editing.

My mom told me about this book called The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

and I'm quite excited to read it actually

and I think it's going to be good for me

because I think I started kind of creating content because I wanted to please my audience.

I wanted to make videos that you know the people wanted to see

but that's when you know sometimes you can lose the creativity

when you're kind of you know wanting to please other people

and you're not doing it for yourself and I think

that you know I just realized that I wasn't really doing the things

that I was truly passionate about I wasn't really sharing the things

that like really like fueled me and I was really passionate about.

I don't know what I'm saying.

But now, like here in the French countryside, it just feels so right.

I can't really even explain like the feeling.

But there's also a couple of other things that have changed.

I will have to talk about them later on and like some exciting things coming.

I'm a bit surprised that she's just sitting on my lap for such a long time.

She's not the cuddly one, but she's the one who follows you everywhere.

Like if I go downstairs, if I go to the bathroom, she comes with me everywhere.

She's my little shadow but then over there is Heidi.

She's the one who is extremely cuddly.

And then over here is Mateo and Rosie.

All of them are quite old.

They're all rescues from Portugal.

I think Xica is 12 years old.

Mateo is turning 17 and then Heidi and Rosie are 16.

You honestly wouldn't think for a second that they are this old because they're just so happy and energetic.

I mean they sleep a lot during the day

but we always go on walks out in the woods

and they are just you know running around so so happy

but sadly Mateo can't go on these walks with us

because he has like problems in his joints

so we don't bring him on these long walks we just take him like around the block

100

but other than that they are the sweetest most loving dogs.

101

Heli and I have truly fallen in love with them and I feel like they're my babies now.

102

Chica!

103

But now I'm gonna post the YouTube video

104

and I'm gonna do a little bit of admin stuff

105

and I think Helge and I are gonna take the girls out for a walk.

106

I'm really excited to bring you along because the nature here is so stunning.

107

It's been incredible to go on these walks because it's just

108

so magical and yeah i'm just so happy and i'm excited to you know bring you guys along on this

109

journey in the french countryside i wanted to show you guys matilda

110

but she got is not letting me move so i'm gonna take a picture wait look at this

111

hello cutie pie

112

i think matilda kind of wants to cuddle with chica

113

this is not the first time she does this like look at her she's like looking at her

114

and i feel like she wants to get closer they look a bit similar don't they

115

this is the needy one she won't stop until you pet her

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and she can be rough she will like you know scratch you in the face because she wants cuddles Heidi,

117

Heidi Bane Oh, yo

118

Hi I'm

119

gonna wear these brown trousers from Henne.

120

I love them so much.

121

They're perfect for the countryside and I think I'm just gonna go with a gray sweatshirt.

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Matteo, what do you think of my outfit? Is it cute?

123

No, I'm not gonna go with the brown one.

124

I'm wearing brown pants.

125

We need to mix it

126

and for shoes i'm gonna go with these keen ones these are the perfect like walking shoes

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they're a bit dirty because i've been using them a lot these are the pants okay we're gonna go for a walk

128

Guys, why is the spider just hanging out?

129

We have discovered so many different trails in this area.

130

This might be one of our favorites.

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It's just so magical.

132

Like you're just out here in the forest and it's really calming.

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We take a walk almost every single day but I think

134

when it gets colder we might not do it every single day but it's really like the best. so I'm

135

experimenting with lemonades.

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So I put some rosemary from the garden and timian

137

and then of course I used lemon juice and lemon cest

138

and for the sweetener I used raw honey

139

and I actually want to experiment a bit more with like ginger

140

and some tea maybe because it's just so refreshing to like make this

141

and I added a little bit of sparkling water

142

the sun is coming out

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and i'm gonna do yoga out on the patio

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this is what i'm wearing for my yoga both of these are organic cotton you know

145

when you're exercising your pores are more open

146

and you are literally like absorbing everything that's close to your skin

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i just become more mindful it's not about being perfect it's just you know making these swaps

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and just do what makes you feel good so this is what I'm going for so so

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how wholesome was this oh i feel so amazing and it was

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so cute almost all of the dogs came to say hi and Matilda was here.

151

I think she's still outside maybe.

152

I have to go and look for her.

153

We're a bit worried obviously because she is only used to like staying indoors

154

and all of a sudden like you know she can go out.

155

So we've been you know looking out for her making sure that she's not running away.

156

But she's really keen on you know listening to the birds and just being in nature which is so cute.

157

But I have a meeting with my friend.

158

So now I'm gonna go take a shower even though I just want to hug this baby all the time.

159

Matilda has found her new favorite hiding spot up on the closet but I just finished my meeting.

160

It went really well and we were very productive.

161

I'm so excited to tell you guys more about this

162

but it's a secret for now but very soon you're gonna hear more about it

163

but anyways we're gonna drive to the bakery to buy some sourdough bread i think it's like a german bakery

164

and they make like really big loaves of sourdough and cookies

165

and pastry and they're only open like three times a week

166

so today we're gonna go to buy sourdough

167

so we can stock up in the freezer so we can have for the week.

168

we bought three loaves of bread it looks really good we used to buy like the big big loaves

169

but we noticed that the crust is like so hard

170

and thick and it's like really hard to cut down

171

so these are like much better and then we always have to buy some cookies they're like 80 cent per cookie

172

A little treat every time we come.

173

Oh my goodness, guys.

174

We had to stop on the way because Helge recently discovered all of these horses when he went out for a run.

175

Oh my gosh, they're so beautiful.

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like a dream of mine would be to own horses like i know for a fact

177

that like in the future i want horses

178

tonight we are making spaghetti squash for dinner i'm really excited

179

and i'm a bit surprised that I've never tried this before because apparently it's very easy to make.

180

I bought this at the farmer's market and I think it's like the season for spaghetti squash, butternut squash, pumpkin and everything.

181

So I want to make more recipes with these

182

and tonight we are trying the spaghetti squash you basically cut it in half

183

and roast it in the oven for like 40 minutes and

184

when it comes out you just scrape it with a fork

185

and it's literally like spaghetti it's kind of mind blowing i don't know like how it works

186

but it's actually crazy so i'm really excited i'm gonna make a little bolognese sauce

187

or like ground beef with some canned tomatoes some herbs yeah i'm I'm really excited to give this a try

188

Everyone seems to be ready for dinner

189

We have laid down their bowls because we're gonna make their food ready

190

Do you want to tell us what the dogs get for dinner?

191

We buy some frozen meat that's specifically made for dogs.

192

And then we also add some frozen vegetables.

193

We have some green beans, carrots, and some other yummy stuff.

194

And then we also make this fish snap for them.

195

And this is like frozen fish fillets and broccoli.

196

And then the cherry on top,

197

we save the meat and vegetable stock that we drizzle over everything and of course we also have the normal kibbles

198

Shika has the nickname

199

Hoover because she's always the first one to finish

200

and she licks all of their bowls like when everyone is finished she will go around and like hoover everything so so

201

well my thoughts on the spaghetti squash guys you need to make it

202

if you haven't tried it already I honestly thought it was almost better than normal like spaghetti bolognese.

203

I mean the taste is obviously like better when you have the pasta.

204

But just for my stomach and like the feeling I just felt so much better afterwards.

205

Because I don't know I don't think the gluten is the best for my stomach.

206

And this felt really light.

207

And like because when I tried the spaghetti squash by itself.

208

I was like is it gonna be weird? because it has like a distinctive taste to it.

209

But when you have the bolognese sauce, it just, I don't know, the flavor is just really good.

210

So this is definitely gonna be in our dinner rotation for now.

211

Anyways, I'm gonna make some tea for us.

212

I love drinking herbal tea before I go to sleep.

213

And we're gonna watch

214

The Vampire Diaries.

215

I used to watch it when I was younger and Helge hasn't seen it before.

216

So we're currently watching it and it's such a vibe during autumn.

217

It's just, you know, creepy vampires, werewolves, witches.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “new chapter... in the french countryside”. This video has 217 sentences and 2501 words to shadow. The speech runs for 22:33. The speaker talks at a steady 111 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
squash noun	/skwɔʃ/	Cucurbita maxima, including hubbard squash, great winter squash, buttercup squash, and some varieties of pumpkins.
countryside noun	/ˈkʌn.tɹiˌsaɪd/	An area located outside of towns and cities; an area that is not urban or suburban; a rural area.
stomach noun	/ˈstʌmək/	An organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion.
freeze verb	/ˈfɹiːz/	Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature.
cookie noun	/ˈkʊki/	A small, flat, baked good which is either crisp or soft but firm.
anyways adverb	/ˈɛn.iˌweɪz/	Anyway, anyhow, in any case.
pants noun	/pænts/	An outer garment that covers the body from the waist downwards, covering each leg separately, usually as far as the ankles; trousers.
experiment noun	/ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/	A test under controlled conditions made to either demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of…
introduce verb	/ˌɪntɹəˈdus/	To cause (someone) to be acquainted (with someone else).
edit verb	/ˈɛdɪt/	To change a text, or a document.
shoe noun	/ˈʃu/	A protective covering for the foot, with a bottom part composed of thick leather or plastic sole and often a thicker heel, and a softer upper part made of…
magical adjective	/ˈmæd͡ʒ.ɪ.kəl/	Of, relating to, or by means of magic.
yoga noun	/ˈjoʊ.ɡə/	Any of several Hindu or Buddhist disciplines aimed at training the consciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquillity; especially a system…
keen adjective	/kin/	Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.
lemon noun	/ˈlɛmən/	A yellowish citrus fruit.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
cut down verb		To cut downward.
get over verb		To overcome.
go around verb		To move or spread from person to person.
go out verb		To leave, especially a building.
lay down verb		To give up, surrender, or yield (e.g. a weapon), usually by placing it on the ground.
run around verb		To be very busy doing many different things.
run away verb		To flee by running.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

I don't know what I'm saying.
I can't really even explain like the feeling.
Matteo, what do you think of my outfit?
No, I'm not gonna go with the brown one.
I was like is it gonna be weird?

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 keeping · we've been buying · haven't been posting
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to buy · used to watch
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	we've stayed · haven't started · We've tried
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	Iceland which is · one who follows · one who is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 111 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, gonna, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thick /θɪk/, bath /bɑːθ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: squash /skwɔʃ/, shoe /ˈʃu/, passionate /ˈpæʃənɪt/, shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, rotation /ɹoʊˈteɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, consistently /kənˈsɪstəntli/, helicopter /ˈheliːˌkɔptə(ɹ)/, creativity /kri.eɪˈtɪv.ᵻ.ti/, territorial /ˌtɛɹ.əˈtɔɹ.i.əl/

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 squash, countryside, stomach.

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 →

Shadowing Practice: new chapter... in the french countryside - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?