Shadowing Practice: Ordinary - Alex Warren [Lyrics/Vietsub] - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
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They say the holy waters watered down
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And this town's lost its faith Our colors will fade eventually So if our time is running down
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Day after day we'll make the mundane a masterpiece Love,
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I take one look at you, you're taking me out of the ordinary I want you laying me down to the dead and buried
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On the edge of your knife, staying drunk and cry The angels up in the clouds,
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are jealous now when we found something so wild Of the ordinary,
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you got me kissing the ground Oh Lord,
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return me to dust The angels up in the clouds are jealous, no one will be found Hopeless,
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hallelujah Oh, this side of heaven's gate Oh my life,
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hallelujah Breathe and take my breath away Stoked on the clay,
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oh my, my, you're taking me out of the ordinary I want you laying me down,
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so get and buried On the edge of your night, staying drunk on your vine The angels up in the clouds,
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I'm jealous now when we bow, so let's go out I want you to be ordinary,
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you got me kissing the ground Oh, God, we tell me to die.
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The angels up in the clouds, my jealous know we pass.
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Something so heavenly, higher than the escaseer, whenever you're next to me, oh, my, my.
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When we say black and white, I thought I saw your light, I felt you had to die to fight.
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Down to a dead and buried On the edge of your night,
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staying drunk on your vine The angels up in the clouds
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Are jealous knowing we found Someone's to out in the ordinary You got me kissing the cross,
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sanctuary Shout out to me when you touch Oh,
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no, I'm returning to death Come on!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Ordinary - Alex Warren”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: clouds, jealous, angels, ordinary, kissing. This video has 22 sentences and 302 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:53. The speaker talks slowly, about 105 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
cloud noun/ˈklaʊ̯d/A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.
angel noun/ˈeɪ̯n.d͡ʒəl/An incorporeal and holy or semidivine messenger from a deity or other divine entity, traditionally depicted as a youthful, winged figure in flowing robes.
ordinary adjective/ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases.
jealous adjective/ˈd͡ʒɛl.əs/Suspecting rivalry in love; troubled by worries that one might have been replaced in someone's affections; suspicious of a lover's or spouse's fidelity.
bury verb/ˈbɛɹi/To outlive.
vine noun/ˈvaɪ̯n/Any plant whose stem requires support and which climbs by tendrils or twining.
gate noun/ˈɡeɪ̯t/A doorlike structure outside a house.
dust noun/dʌst/Fine, dry particles of matter found in the air and covering the surface of objects, typically consisting of soil lifted up by the wind, pollen, hair, fiber…
knife noun/ˈnaɪ̯f/A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge…
clay noun/kleɪ/A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics.
breathe verb/bɹiːð/To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases.
sanctuary noun/ˈsæŋkt͡ʃuˌɛɹi/A place of safety, refuge, or protection.
fade verb/feɪd/To hit the ball with the shot called a fade.
masterpiece noun/ˈmæstɚˌpis/A piece of work that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career.
heavenly adjective/ˈhɛvənli/Of or pertaining to Heaven, the eternal celestial abode of God or the gods.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

WordMeaning
go out verbTo leave, especially a building.
run down verbTo hit someone with a car or other vehicle and injure or kill them.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, we'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • Long words — get the stress right: ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/, sanctuary /ˈsæŋkt͡ʃuˌɛɹi/, hallelujah /ˌhæl.əˈl(j)uː.jə/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like cloud, angel, ordinary.

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 →