Shadowing Practice: Relaxing Thanksgiving at Home - Learn English Speaking with Video

This video has 85 sentences and 747 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:36. The speaker talks slowly, about 78 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

• bean /ˈbi(ː)n/ (noun) — Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods.
• rosemary /ˈɹoʊzˌmɛəɹi/ (noun) — A shrub, Salvia rosmarinus (formerly Rosmarinus officinalis), that originates from Europe and Asia Minor and produces a fragrant herb used in cooking and…
• pour /poɹ/ (verb) — To cause (liquid, or liquid-like substance) to flow in a stream, either out of a container or into it.
• onion /ˈʌn.jən/ (noun) — A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.
• thick /θɪk/ (adjective) — Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension.
• approve /əˈpɹuːv/ (verb) — To officially sanction; to ratify; to confirm; to set as satisfactory.
• flour /ˈflaʊ.ə/ (noun) — Powder obtained by grinding or milling cereal grains, especially wheat, or other foodstuffs such as soybeans and potatoes, and used to bake bread, cakes, and…
• garlic /ˈɡɑɹlɪk/ (noun) — A plant, Allium sativum, related to the onion, having a pungent bulb much used in cooking.
• dessert /dɪˈzɝt/ (noun) — The last course of a meal, consisting of fruit, sweet confections etc.
• serum /ˈsɪɹəm/ (noun) — Blood serum used as a blood product, in the practice of medicine: blood serum from the tissues of immunized animals (human or nonhuman), containing antibodies…
• gross /ɡɹoʊs/ (adjective) — remarkably great, big, vast in an often unpleasant way; (of behaviour) Highly or conspicuously offensive.
• butter /ˈbʌtɚ/ (noun) — A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk).
• delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/ (adjective) — Pleasing to the sense of taste; tasty.
• instant /ˈɪnstənt/ (noun) — A very short period of time; a moment.
• beef /bif/ (noun) — The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

• get into (verb) — To move into (an object), such that one ends up inside it.
• go into (verb) — To get involved in; to investigate or explore.
• start off (verb) — To begin.
• walk down (verb) — To continually advance (on an opponent) and punch (the opponent) in order to control the fight and dominate the opponent, while shrugging off the opponent's…
• work in (verb) — To find time or space for, amid other things.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 41 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, gonna, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

• The “th” sounds: thick /θɪk/, broth /bɹɔθ/
• The “sh” and “zh” sounds: delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/, measurement /ˈmɛʒ.ə.mənt/, mushroom /ˈmʌʃˌɹuːm/, computation /ˌkɑmpjʊˈteɪʃn̩/

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 bean, rosemary, pour.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video: