Shadowing Practice: (Oxford RnD - Level 4) Wonders Of The Past - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 Wonders of the Past by Katherine Harper Read by Laurel Lefkoe Published
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 Wonders of the Past by Katherine Harper Read by Laurel Lefkoe Published
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and Copyright Oxford University Press 2010 Introduction What is a wonder?
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It's something amazing.
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When we see it, we ask, how is this possible?
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Nature makes many wonders.
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People make wonders, too.
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What is a wonder of the past?
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It's something amazing that people made a long time ago.
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What are these wonders of the past? Where are they?
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What wonders are there in your country?
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Discover!
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Now read and discover more about some wonders of the past.
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Chapter 1 Stonehenge The Stonehenge stone circles are in England.
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People transported the first stones to this place about five thousand years ago.
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We don't know a lot about Stonehenge.
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Who built it?
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How did they build it?
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Why did they build it?
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It's a mystery.
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People built Stonehenge with blue stones and sarsen stones.
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There were about 80 bluestones.
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They came from mountains 250 kilometers away.
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They are very heavy.
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Some weigh about 4 metric tons.
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Discover!
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The biggest sarsen stone weighs about 45 metric tons.
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That's like 10 elephants.
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The sarsen stones are even bigger and heavier.
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About 4,000 years ago, people transported them from 30 kilometers away.
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How did people use Stonehenge?
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Maybe they used it as a cemetery or a place for studying the sun and the stars.
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Maybe it was also a temple.
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It's still a special place for some people today.
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Every year, on June 21st,
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lots of people go to Stonehenge to celebrate the longest day of the year.
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Chapter 2 Tutankhamun's Treasures Tutankhamun was a king in Egypt more than 3,300 years ago.
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He died when he was only nineteen years old.
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When he died, people put a gold mask over his face.
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They put his body in a coffin made of gold.
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Then they put the coffin into two bigger coffins.
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They put all three coffins in a tomb with food and many treasures.
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The Egyptians thought that the king needed these things after he died.
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Tutankhamun's tomb was in the Valley of the Kings.
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No one discovered it for a long, long time.
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Then a British archaeologist called Howard Carter discovered it in 1922.
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When he broke through the door, he was amazed.
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There were gold statues, boats,
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jewels, toys, masks, and even a gold bed.
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There were about 3,500 treasures.
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For ten years, Carter took the treasures from the tomb and wrote about them.
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Tutankhamen became one of the most famous kings in the world.
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Today, many of his wonderful treasures are in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, in Egypt.
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Chapter 3 The Great Wall of China About 2,400 years ago,
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there were many small countries in China.
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There were often wars.
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People didn't want enemies in their country,
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so they built big walls to keep them out.
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For more than 2,000 years,
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people built walls, destroyed walls, and built new walls.
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The Great Wall of China is really many walls.
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Together, they are about 7,000 kilometers long.
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The walls are about seven meters high.
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There are also many taller towers.
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Prisoners, soldiers, and other people built the wall.
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They transported the stones and bricks by hand.
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This work was hard and dangerous.
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About three million people died building the wall.
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Later, more than one million soldiers guarded the wall.
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But it was hard to stop the enemies.
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People also used the wall as a road.
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Today, tourists like to walk along the wall.
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Discover!
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For many years, people thought that you could see the Great Wall of China from the moon.
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But this is not true.
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Chapter 4 The Colosseum Where did ancient Romans go for fun?
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They went to the Colosseum in Rome.
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They watched fights in this big and beautiful stadium.
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The fights were with gladiators and wild animals,
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like lions, crocodiles, rhinos, and even elephants.
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The Colosseum wasn't fun for everyone.
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About 500,000 people and one million wild animals died there.
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About 2,000 years ago, Rome was a very important city.
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The Colosseum was the most fantastic building in the city.
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It was big enough for more than 50,000 people.
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The Colosseum had many arches.
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There were about 80 big arches to let people in and out.
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There was also a cloth roof to protect people from sun and rain.
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Later, two earthquakes destroyed some of the Colosseum.
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Then people took stones from the Colosseum to build many other buildings in Rome.
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So the building that we can see today gives only an idea of how beautiful it was in the past.
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Thousands of tourists visit the Colosseum every year.
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There are music concerts here, too.
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Chapter 5 Petra About two thousand years ago,
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people in the Middle East bought and sold cloth and spices in many countries.
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They often travelled across land in large groups called caravans.
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They used camels to transport people and things.
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One of the places where the caravans stopped was Petra.
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Petra is a fantastic city in the desert in Jordan.
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People built the city in the pink cliffs.
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The caravans stopped in Petra because it had water and places to sleep,
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and it was safe from enemies.
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Discover!
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Some of the caravans were seven kilometers long,
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and they had 2,500 camels.
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At different times, people from different places lived in Petra.
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They made wonderful temples, a theatre,
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a palace, and tombs in the pink cliffs.
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Later, earthquakes destroyed a lot of Petra.
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Today, many tourists visit this amazing place.
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also make movies here, for example,
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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
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Chapter 6.
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Easter Island Statues Easter Island is in the Pacific Ocean, far from anywhere.
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The island is famous for its eight hundred
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and eighty seven stone statues they have big heads
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and little bodies why are the statues here there is a story
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that one thousand seven hundred years ago people were lost on
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the ocean they arrived at this beautiful island there were lots of plants and animals so they stayed made.
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These people made the big statues for their gods.
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They made the statues with stone from the middle of the island.
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Then up to 250 people transported the statues across the island to the coast,
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where they stand today.
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After a few hundred years,
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there were too many people for this small island.
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They cut down many of the trees.
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This was bad for the ground and bad for other plants and animals, too.
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Soon there wasn't much food.
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People started to fight, and they pushed over many of the statues.
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Today, people come to see the statues and learn about Easter Island.
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Discover The biggest statue is called Paro.
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It's now on the ground.
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It's about ten meters long.
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Chapter 7 Chichen Itza About 1,600 years ago,
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the Mayan people in Mexico started to build a new city.
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They built it around water from under the ground.
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So they called the city Chichen Itza.
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The name means the mouth of the well.
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Water was very important in this dry place.
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The first people in Chichen Itza built many temples for their rain god, Chak.
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Later, the city grew bigger and richer.
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Then people built fantastic pyramids and temples for their god, Kukulkan.
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The most famous pyramid is the Temple of Kukulkan.
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The Mayan people liked many activities.
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They played ball games in a courtyard that is bigger than a soccer field.
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The courtyard has walls that are twelve meters high.
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Sometimes they played games for many days.
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They also loved art, music, and dance.
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Today, people still like to watch Mayan dancers,
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listen to Mayan music, and look at Mayan art when they visit Chichen Itza.
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Chapter 8 Angkor Wat Angkor Wat is a temple in the city of Angkor.
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It's in the middle of the rainforest in Cambodia.
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About 800 years ago, this beautiful stone temple was built for King Suryavarman II.
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About 50,000 people built the temple,
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and it took more than 37 years.
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They built it to look like the mountain where their gods lived.
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There are some beautiful stone decorations on the walls.
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When people built Angkor Wat,
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they put water around the buildings.
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This was to protect themselves from enemies and wild animals from the rainforest.
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Today, big trees grow into some of the buildings and monkeys run around them.
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About one million people lived in Anchor when it was an important city.
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Later, there were wars and other people came.
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Then Anchor wasn't so rich or important.
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People said that it disappeared, but that wasn't true.
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Today there are many visitors,
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and they think Anchor Wat is amazing.
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Chapter 9 The Alhambra The Alhambra is in the mountains in the south of Spain.
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It's one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.
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Alhambra means red castle, but the Alhambra also looks grey at night and gold when it's sunny.
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The Alhambra is beautiful inside and outside.
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It has fantastic courtyards with fountains and gardens.
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Like many castles, it has towers and high walls.
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There are also wonderful tiles and decorations.
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Discover!
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There are some amazing tile patterns at the Alhambra.
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People still copy them today.
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The Moorish people in Spain started to build the Alhambra about 800 years ago.
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It took a long time to build.
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Many different kings from different places lived there,
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and they built more buildings.
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They used the Alhambra as a castle and a city.
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Wars and an earthquake destroyed some of the Alhambra.
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The French emperor Napoleon tried to destroy it, but he couldn't.
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In 1828, Spanish people started to build the broken parts again.
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Many people wrote stories and songs about the Alhambra.
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Today it's the most popular place in Spain for tourists.
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Chapter 10 The Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal is in India.
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It looks like a palace, but it's a tomb.
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It's one of the most beautiful tombs in the world.
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There are gardens and fountains around the building.
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The tomb is made of twenty-eight types of stone and jewel from all over India and other countries.
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Most of the tomb is made of a beautiful white stone called marble.
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About twenty thousand people built the Taj Mahal,
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and it took twenty-two years.
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More than 1,000 elephants helped to move the stones for the building.
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The Taj Mahal was built about 400 years ago.
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The Emperor Shah Jahan built it for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
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She died when she had her fourteenth baby.
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Shah Jahan was very sad,
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so he built the Taj Mahal to remember his wife.
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Later, Shah Jahan's son wanted to be the emperor,
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so he put his father into prison.
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When Shah Jahan died, people put his body in the Taj Mahal so that he was with his wife forever.
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Which of all these wonders of the past do you want to visit?
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Context & Background
The video titled "Wonders of the Past," read by Laurel Lefkoe, explores historical wonders, showcasing their mysteries and significance. The discussion begins with the concept of what constitutes a wonder, both natural and man-made. It highlights remarkable ancient structures, such as Stonehenge in England and the treasures of Tutankhamun in Egypt, presenting intriguing facts that spark curiosity about how these wonders were created and their purpose in history. This provides an excellent backdrop for learners interested in enhancing their English skills through engaging content.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- What is a wonder? – A great way to initiate a discussion on extraordinary things.
- How is this possible? – Useful for expressing surprise and curiosity about various topics.
- It's a mystery. – A phrase that conveys intrigue, perfect for conversations about unsolved questions.
- Discover more about... – An excellent prompt for further exploration of a topic.
- Maybe they used it as... – A speculative phrase that encourages discussion and opinion sharing.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To improve your English speaking skills using the "Wonders of the Past" video, follow this structured shadowing approach:
- Watch the video without subtitles: Immerse yourself in the content and familiarize yourself with the speaker's tone and pace.
- Listen and repeat: Use a shadowing app or any reliable tool that allows you to repeat phrases after the speaker. Focus particularly on the key phrases listed above, as they encourage real-life communication.
- Break down complex sentences: If certain phrases or sentences are difficult, pause the video and practice those segments repeatedly. This method allows you to understand sentence structure, vocabulary, and pronunciation effectively.
- Engage with the content: After shadowing, take a moment to paraphrase the main ideas presented in the video. This helps reinforce comprehension and retention of new vocabulary.
- Record and review: Use your shadowing site or app to record your speech. Listening to your recordings can help identify areas for improvement and track your progress.
By following this guide, you can effectively utilize videos like "Wonders of the Past" to expand your vocabulary, improve your fluency, and gain confidence in your English speaking abilities. This method, often referred to as shadow speech, transforms engaging content into a powerful language learning tool. Embrace the excitement of learning English with YouTube and explore the endless wonders language can offer.
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.
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