Shadowing Practice: Phrasal verbs with ‘go’ | Coffee Break English Podcast S4E10 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Coffee Break English, Season 4, Episode 10.
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Hi everyone, and welcome to Coffee Break English.
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My name's Josie.
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And my name is Mark.
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This is the final episode in Season 4 of our show,
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and we hope that you have been enjoying each of these episodes and learning lots about the English language.
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Yes, and in today's episode, we're talking about Niagara Falls.
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That's right.
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Josie, have you ever been to Niagara Falls?
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I have.
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Niagara Falls is technically in the US and in Canada, and I've been to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
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What about you?
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Interesting.
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I've been to the American side of Niagara Falls.
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Ah, so we've seen it from different perspectives.
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We have indeed.
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Let's listen to our text, and should we be listening out for anything in particular?
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Yes, today's language point is phrasal verbs and expressions, including the word go.
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Excellent.
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Let's listen to Ryan as he reads the text about Niagara Falls.
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Hi everyone, this is Ryan
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and I'm delighted to be back on Coffee Break English with
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another article about a landmark we share with our friends in the USA.
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Let's have a listen.
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The Niagara Falls are some of the most incredible natural landmarks in the world.
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The three huge waterfalls are known all over the world for their size and beauty.
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The largest and most famous of the three is Horseshoe Falls,
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the 820-meter-wide giant which sits on the border between Canada and the USA.
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Some of the most famous stories about the falls' history are the attempts to cross them.
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The very first person to try it actually succeeded.
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63-year-old schoolteacher Annie Edson Taylor went across the falls in a barrel in 1901
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and reached the other side without any serious injuries.
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After her achievement, Taylor became famous, and many other people wanted to have a go at the dangerous adventure.
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But it was illegal on both sides of the falls.
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This is for good reason.
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More than a dozen people have gone for it
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and tried to cross the falls since 1901 and not all of them have survived.
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Another well-known story about the Niagara Falls is that of the Niagara Scow.
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On 6th August 1918, Gustav Lofberg
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and Frank Harris went out to clear the banks of the Niagara River on board the scow, which was an old flat-bottomed boat.
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When it was time for the scow to go back to shore, the line attaching it to its tugboat broke and the scow began floating towards the falls.
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Lofberg and Harris managed to stop the boat on some rocks.
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which they held onto to avoid falling over the waterfall.
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Eventually, the fire department and coast guard arrived to rescue the men from the boat.
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The wreck of the scow is still in the river today, reminding people of the experience the two men went through.
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While many stories you hear about the Niagara Falls and their history are about danger and excitement,
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Don't underestimate the beauty of the falls themselves.
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The magnificent white cascades of water have an amazing roar.
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So a visit to Niagara Falls is a truly unforgettable experience.
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You won't go away disappointed.
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Thank you, Ryan.
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I think Ryan is exactly right when he says you won't go away disappointed.
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Definitely.
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When I visited Niagara Falls, I was amazed.
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Let's go back through the text now, and we'll talk about the interesting language in it.
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The Niagara Falls are some of the most incredible natural landmarks in the world.
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Yes, we're describing the Niagara Falls as plural, so we're using a plural verb.
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The Niagara Falls are some of the most incredible natural landmarks.
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Yeah, and what does incredible mean, Josie?
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Incredible means very good, amazing.
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And this is an example of an extreme adjective, which we focused on in the previous episode.
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And a landmark?
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A landmark is a noticeable natural thing or a building in a place.
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Okay, the three huge waterfalls are known all over the world for their size and beauty.
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Yes, so the three huge waterfalls, the three very big waterfalls.
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The largest and most famous of the three is Horseshoe Falls, the 820 metre wide giant, which sits on the border between Canada and the USA.
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Yes, so the Horseshoe Falls, this is an 820 metre wide giant.
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What's a giant, Mark?
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Giant means very big.
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So a giant is something or someone who is very big.
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Like in the children's story, Jack and the Beanstalk, the giant, lived at the top of the beanstalk.
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That's right.
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I'm not sure how famous that story is outside the UK and the US, but anyway.
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Hopefully it makes sense.
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The giant, the waterfall, sits on the border between Canada and the USA.
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Yes, so the border, the dividing line between Canada and the USA.
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Some of the most famous stories about the falls history are the attempts to cross them.
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The attempts to cross them.
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So, an attempt is a try, or to attempt something is to try something.
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And in this case, people are trying to cross the falls.
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What's cross, Mark?
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Cross is going from one side of a road or a river to the other side.
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That's right.
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The very first person to try it actually succeeded.
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Yes, so the first person to try to cross the falls succeeded.
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They managed to do this difficult thing.
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63-year-old school teacher Annie Edson Taylor went across the falls in a barrel in 1901
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and reached the other side without any serious injuries.
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So, this school teacher, she went across the falls.
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This is our first example of a phrasal verb with the word go.
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And to go across something just means to cross, as we spoke about before.
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Okay.
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And she went across the falls in a barrel.
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What's a barrel, Josie?
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Yes, a barrel is a big round container for liquid or food.
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It's made of wood.
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Okay.
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Now, when Annie did this, she did it without any serious injuries.
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An injury is damage done to a person's or an animal's body.
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Yes, so well done her.
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That's impressive.
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After her achievement, Taylor became famous and many other people wanted to have a go at the dangerous adventure,
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but it was illegal on both sides of the falls.
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Yes, so many people, they wanted to do what Annie had done
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and they wanted to have a go at crossing the falls.
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What does have a go mean, Mark?
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It's another of our expressions involving go and have a go simply means to try.
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That's right, to try. To try.
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To attempt to have a go.
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Yes, they all have the same meaning.
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Now, crossing the falls was illegal on both the American and the Canadian sides.
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And this is for good reason.
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More than a dozen people have gone for it and tried to cross the falls since 1901.
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And not all of them have survived.
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Yes, so more than a dozen people have tried this.
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A dozen means 12.
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And so more than 12 people have gone for it.
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They've tried to cross the falls.
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They've gone for it.
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Go for it.
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What does that mean, Mark?
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Go for it means to make a big effort, to do something.
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If you encourage someone, you can say, go for it.
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Yes, but unfortunately, some of these people who went for it, not all of them survived.
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Not all of them lived.
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OK, there are more well-known stories about the falls, but we'll find out about them after the break.
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The Coffee Break English podcast is helping you to improve your understanding of English.
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We also offer extra resources, which include transcripts of our texts and conversations and vocabulary lists to help you learn even more.
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To get these extra resources, just visit coffeebreakenglish.com and sign up for free.
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Welcome back to Coffee Break English.
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We're talking about stories of people who have tried to cross the Niagara Falls.
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Another well-known story about the Niagara Falls is that of the Niagara Scow.
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Yes, another well-known story, another famous story, is the story of the Niagara Scow.
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So a scow is just a type of boat.
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We'll find out more about that now.
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On the 6th of August 1918,
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Gustav Lofberg and Frank Harris went out to clear the banks of the Niagara River on board the scow,
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which was an old flat-bottomed boat.
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Yes.
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So these men, Gustav Lofberg and Frank Harris, they went out.
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To go out is just to leave your house to do something.
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And the something they were going to do is to clear the banks of the Niagara River.
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What are the banks of a river, Mark?
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The banks of the river is the land on either side of of the river, like the shore.
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That's right, exactly.
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And they went on board, they went on the scow, which was an old flat-bottomed boat, a boat with a flat bottom.
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When it was time for the scow to go back to shore, the line attaching it to its tugboat broke,
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and the scow began floating towards the falls.
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Yes, when it was time for the scour to go back to the shore, to return to the land next to the falls,
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the line attaching it, the line joining it to its tugboat broke.
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What's a tugboat, Mark?
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A tugboat is a boat which helps to move other boats by pulling them.
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That's right, yeah.
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Tug means pull.
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And it started to float towards the falls.
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What's float?
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Yes, so to float is to be on the surface of a liquid like water, without sinking, without going under.
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That sounds quite scary.
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Lofberg and Harris managed to stop the boat on some rocks, which they held on to, to avoid falling over the waterfall.
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Yes, this does sound scary.
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So they stopped the boat on some rocks and they held onto the rocks to avoid falling over the waterfall,
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to stop them from falling over the waterfall.
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And then what happened next?
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Eventually the fire department and coast guard arrived to rescue the men from the boat.
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Yes, so eventually, after some time, The fire department and the coast guard, they arrived.
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What are or what is the coast guard, Mark?
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The coast guard is the organisation which watches the sea near the coast, or indeed on rivers, and helps people in trouble.
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That's right.
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Like these two men, they were definitely in trouble.
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But the coast guard, they managed to rescue the men.
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They saved them.
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Okay.
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The wreck of the scow is still in the river today, reminding people of the experience the two men went through.
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Yes, the wreck of the scow.
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So, the scow, the boat, but now obviously it is broken and it's still in the river today.
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And the experience the men went through, that's to go through something.
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Yes, to go through is a phrasal verb and it means to experience something difficult.
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Okay, let's continue.
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While many stories you hear about the Niagara Falls and their history are about danger and excitement,
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don't underestimate the beauty of the falls themselves.
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Yes, don't underestimate the beauty of the falls.
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What does underestimate mean, Mark?
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If you underestimate something, you don't realise how big or how powerful something may be.
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That's right, yes.
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So all of these people who tried to cross the falls, they underestimated how powerful the falls could be.
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Exactly.
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But the falls are also incredibly beautiful.
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The magnificent white cascades of water have an amazing roar.
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So a visit to Niagara Falls is a truly unforgettable experience.
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Yes, some difficult vocabulary in this sentence.
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The magnificent white cascades of water.
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Magnificent means very good or very beautiful.
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And we have magnificent cascades of water.
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A cascade is just a waterfall.
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And these cascades of water, they have an amazing roar.
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What's a roar, Mark?
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It's a very loud noise.
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For example, a lion roars or a tiger roars.
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It's the word that's used to talk about the sound that these loud animals will make.
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That's right.
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And the beauty of the falls and their amazing roar make a visit to Niagara Falls,
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an unforgettable experience, an experience that is impossible to forget.
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You won't go away disappointed.
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Yes, and here's our final phrasal verb with go.
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Go away just means leave.
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Exactly.
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Okay, before we leave you with this podcast, we will listen one more time to the whole text.
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The Niagara Falls are some of the most incredible natural landmarks in the world.
209
The three huge waterfalls are known all over the world for their size and beauty.
210
The largest and most famous of the three is Horseshoe Falls,
211
the 820-meter-wide giant which sits on the border between Canada and the USA.
212
Some of the most famous stories about the falls's history are the attempts to cross them.
213
The very first person to try it actually succeeded.
214
63-year-old school teacher Annie Edson Taylor went across the falls in a barrel in 1901
215
and reached the other side without any serious injuries.
216
After her achievement, Taylor became famous, and many other people wanted to have a go at the dangerous adventure.
217
But it was illegal on both sides of the falls.
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This is for good reason.
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More than a dozen people have gone for
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and tried to cross the falls since 1901 and not all of them have survived.
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Another well-known story about the Niagara Falls is that of the Niagara Scow.
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On 6 August 1918, Gustav Lofberg
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and Frank Harris went out to clear the banks of the Niagara River on board the scow, which was an old flat-bottomed boat.
224
When it was time for the scow to go back to shore, the line attaching it to its tugboat broke and the scow began floating towards the falls.
225
Lofberg and Harris managed to stop the boat on some rocks, which they held onto to avoid falling over the waterfall.
226
Eventually, the fire department and coast guard arrived to rescue the men from the boat.
227
The wreck of the scow is still in the river today, reminding people of the experience the two men went through.
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While many stories you hear about the Niagara Falls and their history are about danger and excitement,
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don't underestimate the beauty of the falls themselves.
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The magnificent white cascades of water have an amazing roar.
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So a visit to Niagara Falls is a truly unforgettable experience.
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You won't go away disappointed.
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Thank you, Ryan, and thanks everyone for listening to this episode of Coffee Break English.
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As ever, there's also an extra episode of Coffee Break English in which you'll be able to practice your English further, and we'll be talking more about the Niagara Falls.
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This is the last main episode of Coffee Break English for this season, but we'll be back with more content.
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You can look forward to that.
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In the meantime, make sure you check us out on social media.
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We are Coffee Break English on Instagram and you'll find us on Facebook too.
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And you can get the free lesson notes for every episode in this series by going to coffeebreakenglish.com.
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Until the next time, thank you and goodbye.
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Bye bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Phrasal verbs with ‘go’”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: falls, Niagara, scow, boat, cross. This video has 241 sentences and 2547 words to shadow. The speech runs for 19:59. The speaker talks at a steady 127 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| scow noun | /skaʊ/ | A large flat-bottomed boat, having broad, square ends. |
| waterfall noun | /ˈwɔːtəfɔːl/ | A flow of water over the edge of a cliff. |
| roar verb | /ˈɹoɹ/ | To make a loud, deep cry, especially from pain, anger, or other strong emotion. |
| cascade noun | /kæsˈkeɪd/ | A waterfall or series of small waterfalls. |
| underestimate verb | /ʌndɚˈɛs.tɪ.meɪt/ | To estimate too low; to perceive (someone or something) as having a lower value, quantity, worth, etc., than what he/she/it actually has. |
| landmark noun | /ˈlændmɑːk/ | A recognizable natural or man-made feature used for navigation. |
| tugboat noun | /ˈtʌɡboʊt/ | A small, powerful boat used to push or pull barges or to help maneuver larger vessels. |
| float verb | /fləʊt/ | To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object). |
| magnificent adjective | /mæɡˈnɪfəsənt/ | Grand, elegant or splendid in appearance. |
| barrel noun | /ˈbæɹəl/ | A round (cylindrical) vessel, such as a cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends… |
| verb noun | /vɝb/ | A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being. |
| shore noun | /ʃɔɹ/ | Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond. |
| phrasal adjective | /ˈfɹeɪzəl/ | Relating to, or used in the manner of, a phrase. |
| unforgettable adjective | /ˌʌnfə(ɹ)ˈɡɛtəbəl/ | Very difficult or impossible to forget. |
| attach verb | /əˈtæt͡ʃ/ | To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| fall over verb | To fall from an upright or standing position to a horizontal or prone position. |
| go away verb | To depart or leave a place. |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
| go under verb | To descend into a body of water; to founder. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Ah, so we've seen it from different perspectives.
- You won't go away disappointed.
- We'll find out more about that now.
- Yes, and here's our final phrasal verb with go.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've been · we've seen · have gone |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | scow, which was · someone who is · people who went |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are known · is broken |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the most incredible · The largest · the most famous |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 27 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, we'll, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: underestimate /ʌndɚˈɛs.tɪ.meɪt/, magnificent /mæɡˈnɪfəsənt/, unforgettable /ˌʌnfə(ɹ)ˈɡɛtəbəl/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/
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 scow, waterfall, roar.
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.