Shadowing Practice: RE3 Unit 11 A - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Track 21, Reading 11A, Van Gogh's World Starry nights and sunflowers,

self -portraits and cafe settings, all painted in bold, intense colors.

Today, people around the world immediately recognize these as the work of Vincent van Gogh, the Dutch painter.

Probably no other artist at any time in any culture has achieved such popularity.

But who was this man, and why, even today, do his art and life have such an ability to move us?

An artist is born.

Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Zindert, a small village in southern Holland.

As a child, he was serious and sensitive.

He loved to draw, and his work showed talent, but no one encouraged him to become an artist.

Instead, his father thought he should take a sensible job, something like a sales clerk or carpenter.

As a young adult, he wandered from job to job with little success and very little money, becoming more depressed with each failure.

In March 1880, however, just before his 27th birthday, something changed inside Van Gogh.

He realized that he was meant to be a painter, and he began to study art in Brussels, receiving financial help from his brother Theo.

Discovering Color In 1886, Van Gogh moved to Paris,

hoping to learn more about the color techniques being used by Impressionist artists there.

Instead of grays and browns, his work began to emphasize blue and red and then yellow and orange.

Soon he began to see life differently.

Go slow.

Stop thinking.

Look around.

You'll see something beautiful if you open yourself.

These were the principles that guided his art.

With his innovative color combinations, Van Gogh wanted to show others how to better appreciate a flower,

the night sky, or a person's face.

Descent into Madness Few who lived in Van Gogh's time appreciated his work, however.

Many laughed when they saw his paintings, which hurt the sensitive artist terribly.

In February 1888, he moved away from Paris to Aul, a town in southern France.

Often he could not eat or sleep and stayed up into the early morning hours painting.

Days passed, and he spoke to no one.

Following an argument with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, Van Gogh took a razor and cut off his own earlobe.

He never explained why he injured himself, but, by now, many were convinced that

Van Gogh was crazy, and, indeed, his mental health started to decline.

He began to have attacks during which he would hear strange sounds and think people were trying to hurt him.

In the spring of 1889, he was sent to a mental hospital in Saint -Rémy, a town near all.

What exactly was Van Gogh suffering from?

No one knows for certain, but some now think it may have been a form of manic depression.

Whatever his condition, Van Gogh's illness both inhibited and inspired his creativity.

When his attacks came, he could not paint, but during his periods of calm, he was able to complete more than a hundred masterpieces,

including the classic

The Starry Night.

Working on my pictures, he wrote, is almost a necessity for my recovery.

Following his release from the hospital in May 1890, Van Gogh took a room in Auvers -Gilloise, a town just north of Paris.

For the 70 days that he lived there, he produced, on average, a painting a day.

Until his death, however, he was unable to sell a single one.

Today, those paintings would be worth more than a billion U .S dollars.

It was at this time that

Van Gogh either borrowed or stole a gun.

On the afternoon of July 27, 1890, he went out to the country and shot himself in the stomach.

Two days later, Vincent Van Gogh died at age 37.

What caused him to take his own life?

His lack of financial success?

Mental illness?

Loneliness?

Van Gogh's Legacy Over a century after his death, Van Gogh remains extremely popular.

His story of a man who resisted materialism and greed, who was alone and unappreciated, gives people something they need.

We find pieces of ourselves in him.

This may also explain the high prices paid for Van Gogh's work.

His Portrait of Dr. Gachet sold in 1990 for more than $80 million to a Japanese businessman, breaking the world record for a painting.

Many of his other works have also sold for millions.

Of course, people are buying great art when they purchase one of Van Gogh's paintings, but they are also buying a piece of his story,

which, like his work, will live on forever over.

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112 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “RE3 Unit 11 A”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: van, Gogh, painting, artist, color. This video has 61 sentences and 756 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:47. The speaker talks at a steady 131 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.

Key vocabulary in this video

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

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
sensitive adjective	/ˈsɛn.sɪt.ɪv/	Having the faculty of sensation; pertaining to the senses.
illness noun	/ˈɪl.nəs/	An instance (episode) of a disease or poor health.
painter noun	/ˈpeɪntɚ/	An artist who paints pictures.
technique noun	/tɛkˈniːk/	The practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc.; formal requirements.
encourage verb	/ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/	To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.
gray adjective	/ɡɹeɪ/	Of a color between black and white, having neutral hue and intermediate brightness.
suffer verb	/ˈsʌfɚ/	To undergo hardship.
flower noun	/ˈfloʊɚ/	A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens…
stomach noun	/ˈstʌmək/	An organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion.
steal verb	/stiːl/	To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it.
decline verb	/dɪˈklaɪn/	To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
discover verb	/dɪˈskʌvə/	To find or learn something for the first time.
intense adjective	/ɪnˈtɛns/	Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering.
principle noun	/ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/	A fundamental assumption, fundamental law or guiding belief.
bold adjective	/ˈbəʊld/	Courageous, daring.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
cut off verb	/ˌkʌt ˈɔf/ [ˌkɐɾ ˈɔf]	To remove by cutting.
look around verb		To inspect a building or area.

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 born · was born · was meant
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has achieved · have also sold

Pronunciation to watch

Long words — get the stress right: popularity /ˌpɑ.pjəˈlæɹ.ə.ti/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, innovative /ˈɪn.əˌveɪtɪv/, creativity /kri.eɪˈtɪv.ᵻ.ti/, necessity /nɪˈsɛsəti/

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 sensitive, illness, painter.

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: RE3 Unit 11 A - Learn English Speaking with Video

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