Shadowing Practice: Slow English Reading - Learn English with Children’s Books (comprehensible input) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hello, and welcome back to my Slow English Podcast.
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Today, we will be reading Swimming by Leo Leone.
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Read slow English children's books with me.
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A happy school of little red fish lived in a corner of the sea somewhere.
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They were all red.
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only one of them was black black as
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a muscle shell he swam faster than his brothers and sisters.
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His name was Swimmy.
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One day a bad tuna fish,
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swift, fierce, and very hungry came darting through the waves.
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In one gulp, he swallowed all the little red fish.
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Only Swimmy escaped.
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He swam away in the deep wet world.
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He was scared, lonely, and very sad.
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But the sea was full of wonderful creatures and as he swam from marvel to marvel,
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Sumi was happy again.
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He saw a medusa made of rainbow jelly.
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A lobster who walked about
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like a water moving machine strange
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fish pulled by an invisible thread a forest of seaweeds
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growing from sugar candy rocks.
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An eel whose tail was
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almost too far away to remember too far away
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and see anemones who looked like
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pink palm trees swaying in the wind.
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Then, hidden in his dark shade of rocks and weeds,
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He saw a school of little fish, just like his own.
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Let's go and swim and play and see things, he said happily.
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We can't, said the little red fish.
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The big fish will eat us.
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But you can't just lie there, said Swimmy.
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We must think of something.
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Swimmy thought and thought and thought.
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Then suddenly he said, I have it.
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We are going to swim all together like the biggest fish in the sea.
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He taught them how to swim close together,
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each in his own place.
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And when they had learned to swim like one giant fish,
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he said, I'll be the eye.
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And so they swam in the cool morning water and in the midday sun
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and chased the big fish away.
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The end.
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I have a few questions for you.
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First one, Why do you think Swimmy managed to escape from the big fish?
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Two.
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Was the eel's tail long or short?
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Three.
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Why was Swimmy the eye?
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when they made the big fish?
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And four, what do you think the moral of this story is?
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Comment your answers down below.
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I hope you enjoyed my slow English reading and if you like these type of videos,
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Then subscribe and like for more.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 53 sentences and 410 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:26. 82% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| swim verb | /swɪm/ | To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means. |
| tail noun | /ˈteɪ̯l/ | An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails; a strand of material hanging from something. |
| marvel verb | /ˈmɑɹvəl/ | To become filled with wonderment or admiration; to be amazed at something. |
| moral adjective | /ˈmoɹəl/ | Of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour, especially conforming to principles of rectitude. |
| hungry adjective | /ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/ | Affected by hunger; having the physical need for food. |
| chase verb | /t͡ʃeɪs/ | To follow at speed. |
| muscle noun | /ˈmʌs.əl/ | A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement. |
| thread noun | /ˈθɹɛd/ | A cord formed by spinning or twisting together textile fibers or filaments into one or more continuous strands, typically used in needlework. |
| shell noun | /ʃɛl/ | The calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates. |
| candy noun | /ˈkæn.di/ | Crystallized sugar formed by boiling down sugar syrup. |
| weed noun | /wiːd/ | Any plant unwanted at the place where and at the time when it is growing. |
| lonely adjective | /ˈloʊnli/ | Unhappy due to feeling isolated from contact with other people. |
| palm noun | /pɑm/ | The inner and somewhat concave part of the human hand or other primate hand that extends from the wrist to the bases of the fingers. |
| shade noun | /ʃeɪd/ | Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked. |
| swift noun | /swɪft/ | A small plain-colored bird of the family Apodidae that resembles a swallow and is noted for its rapid flight. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| close together adjective | Near each other in time or space. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shell /ʃɛl/, shade /ʃeɪd/
- Long words — get the stress right: invisible /ɪnˈvɪzəb(ə)l/, anemone /əˈnɛməni/
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 swim, tail, marvel.
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.