Shadowing Practice: Planning Mum's Birthday Surprise - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
Tom, Mum's birthday is next Saturday!
2
Oh no, really? I forgot again!
3
Ha, of course you did.
4
Let's plan a surprise party for her!
5
A surprise party? Great idea!
6
So, what about the cake?
7
Mum loves chocolate cake. Let's get a big one!
8
I'll call the cake shop on Market Street tomorrow.
9
Good. And what are we going to buy her?
10
Hmm, maybe a new scarf?
11
A scarf? Oh, come on, that's boring!
12
She wants a garden chair. Her old one is broken.
13
Oh, that's a better idea. And it's cheaper too!
14
Now, who are we going to invite?
15
Aunt Jane, Uncle Mike, and her friends from work.
16
And Mrs Brown from next door. She's lovely!
17
Okay. I'll text everyone tonight.
18
Oh no. Sophie, we have a problem.
19
What? What happened?
20
The cake shop is closed today... all day.
21
Oh no... and Mum comes home at four!
22
Ugh, we only have five hours!
23
Wait, I have an idea!
24
Let's make the cake ourselves!
25
Us? Ha, I can't even make toast!
26
Don't worry. I'll help you. It's easy.
27
Well... it doesn't look very good.
28
It looks a bit funny, but it smells great!
29
Quick, I can hear her car! Lights off!
30
Happy birthday, Mum! Surprise!
📺 Same Channel
A11,042
Taking the Bus to the City Centre
British AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B1898
My First Month Living Abroad
American AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
A1581
Fruit at the Market
American AccentKidsDaily Conversation
A2452
Finding Things at the Supermarket
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
A1348
A Rainy Night at the Corner Shop
American AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B2319
Weekly Team Meeting: Project Status Update
American AccentBusiness EnglishWorking Adults
A2186
Buying a Phone Charger
American AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
A179
What's Your Phone Number? Meeting a New Classmate
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity Students
A1169
Breakfast Time
American AccentKidsDaily Conversation
A1121
Meeting My New Neighbour
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
A1108
How Much Is This Bag?
American AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
C1208
IELTS Speaking Part 2: A Place That Changed My Perspective
American AccentBritish AccentIELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B298
Talking to a Neighbour About the Noise
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
A254
Buying Train Tickets at the Station: Single or Return?
American AccentBritish AccentTravel EnglishDaily Conversation
B1111
First Day at a New Job
British AccentBusiness EnglishWorking Adults
A2148
Buying a Train Ticket to Bath
British AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
A196
Ordering Coffee at a London Café
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
A173
At the Bakery: Buying Bread
American AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B1147
IELTS Speaking Part 1: Hometown, Studies and Free Time
American AccentBritish AccentIELTS PrepUniversity Students
B173
Husband and Wife: Planning a Weekend Getaway
American AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
✨ Recommend Video
B114
31 sentences
Gossip Over the Garden Fence: The New Neighbours at Number Twelve
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B17
190 sentences
BEGINNER ENGLISH STORY 🎂The Surprise Party A2 - B1 | Level 4 | English Listening & Reading Practice
British AccentKidsTeensDaily Conversation
B11
28 sentences
Grandma's Lemon Cake: Grams, Degrees and Minutes
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity Students
A217
40 sentences
Past Simple Regular and Irregular Verbs - Daily Routine story in Past Tense
British AccentKidsTeensDaily Conversation
A29 sentences
Shadowing with Hotel Transylvania
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
A12
188 sentences
Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom | Dinner Party! - Full Episode | Kids Adventure Cartoon
British AccentKidsDaily Conversation
A2110 sentences
Scary Sleepover Prank Gone Wrong SLOW ENGLISH Learn English Through Family Story
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
A28
125 sentences
Birthday Gift Shopping | Slow English Listening Practice | AnyTalk A2
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
B15
78 sentences
Shadowing English British Accent – Daily Dialogue – Native Speakers – Speaking Practice
British AccentDaily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B11
141 sentences
I say this EVERY day! Daily British English (through story!)
British AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
A22
47 sentences
Kitchen Chaos: You Won’t Believe What Happened! | Easy English Listening Practice (A2)
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
A21
90 sentences
Storyfun 4 Unit 8 The fancy - dress shop
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This A2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Planning Mum's Birthday Surprise”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: cake, Mum, surprise. This video has 30 sentences and 204 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:45. The speaker talks at a steady 117 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 10 of its 30 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| scarf noun | /skɑːf/ | A long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck. |
| invite verb | /ɪnˈvaɪt/ | To ask for the presence or participation of someone or something. |
| aunt noun | /ɑːnt/ | The sister or sister-in-law of one’s parent. |
| toast noun | /toʊst/ | Bread that has been toasted (cooked lightly by browning). |
| bore verb | /boɹ/ | To inspire boredom in somebody. |
| cake noun | /keɪk/ | A rich, sweet dessert food, typically made of flour, sugar, and eggs and baked in an oven, and often covered in icing. |
| ourselves | /aʊɚˈsɛlvz/ | Us; the group including the speaker as the object of a verb or preposition when that group also is the subject. |
| chocolate noun | /ˈtʃɔk.(ə.)lɪt/ | A food made from ground roasted cocoa beans. |
| smell verb | /smɛl/ | To sense a smell or smells. |
| surprise noun | /sə(ː)ˈpɹaɪ̯z/ | Something unexpected. |
| shop noun | /ʃɑp/ | An establishment that sells goods or services to the public; originally only a physical location, but now a virtual establishment as well. |
| birthday noun | /ˈbɜːθ.deɪ/ | The anniversary of the day on which someone is born. |
| text noun | /tɛkst/ | A writing consisting of multiple glyphs, characters, symbols or sentences. |
| quick adjective | /kwɪk/ | Moving with speed, rapidity or swiftness, or capable of doing so; rapid; fast. |
| worry verb | /ˈwʌ.ɹi/ | To be troubled; to give way to mental anxiety or doubt. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| light off verb | To light the fire on a gas boiler to turn it on. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Let's plan a surprise party for her!
- Let's get a big one!
- Let's make the cake ourselves!
- Ha, I can't even make toast!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is broken · is closed |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | I'll call · I'll text · I'll help |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'll, can't, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
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 scarf, invite, aunt.
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.