Shadowing Practice: STARTERS 4 TEST 1.4 READING | A HORSE | Cambridge Smart - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
1
I am an animal.
2
I like eating carrots and drinking water.
3
I have a big head and a long face.
4
I stand on my four long legs.
5
Legs There is brown hair on my body.
6
People live in a big house next to me.
7
In their garden, there are trees and flowers.
8
The children in the family like riding me.
9
What am I?
10
I am a horse.
11
you

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 11 sentences and 68 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:23.

Key vocabulary in this video

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

WordPronunciationMeaning
flower noun/ˈfloʊɚ/A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens…
carrot noun/ˈkæɹət/A vegetable with a nutritious, juicy, sweet root that is often orange in colour, Daucus carota, family Apiaceae, especially the subspecies sativus.
leg noun/ˈlɛɡ/A limb or appendage that an animal uses for support or locomotion on land.
drink verb/ˈdɹɪŋk/To consume (a liquid) through the mouth.
ride verb/ɹaɪd/To transport oneself by sitting on and directing a horse, later also a bicycle etc.
tree noun/tɹiː/A perennial woody plant taller and larger than a shrub with a wooden trunk and, at some distance from the ground, having leaves and branches.
animal noun/ˈænɪməl/A multicellular organism of the kingdom Animalia that is usually mobile, with cells that are not encased in a rigid cell wall (distinguishing them from plants…
garden noun/ˈɡɑː.d(ə)n/An outdoor area containing one or more types of plants, usually plants grown for food or ornamental purposes.
horse noun/hoɹs/A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.

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 flower, carrot, leg.

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 →