Shadowing Practice: storyfun 5 unit 2 ben's wishes - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Students' Book Page 12.
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2. Ben's wishes.
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I have an uncle who writes books for children.
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I didn't see my uncle very often when I was a child, because he lived in Africa.
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But he came to see us sometimes.
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When he did visit us, he usually told me one of his stories.
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I loved them all, but Ben's wishes was my favourite.
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My uncle told it to me one winter, when it was very cold outside.
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I was about ten.
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I think.
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A boy called Ben had two older brothers.
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The older boys often felt hungry and often got angry because they were so poor.
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Go and work in the fields.
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They said to Ben, early each morning.
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Then bring home some vegetables and make an enormous bowl of soup for our dinner.
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Ben always answered in the same way.
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But I want to go to school.
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Learn all about the world.
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Ben's unkind brothers just laughed and said, "Don't be silly." You aren't clever enough to go to school like us.
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So Ben didn't go anywhere.
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He just worked in the fields in the rain, digging and planting and planting and digging.
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One really cold morning,
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Ben was planting some onions when he saw an old silver cup on the ground.
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He picked it up.
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sat down under a tree, and cleaned it with his scarf.
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Then, very carefully.
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He put it down on the grass next to his rucksack.
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Ben was tired and hungry, but he only had five little olives to eat.
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He looked at the cup and said, "'I'm so lucky to have these olives, but I'd like a lovely warm drink,
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too.' Suddenly, the silver cup was full of hot chocolate.
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Ben was very surprised.
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He drank it all.
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but he still felt cold.
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He looked down at his old jacket.
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and at the cup again,
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and said: i'm so lucky to have a jacket but there are hundreds of holes in it i wish
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I wish I could have a new coat.
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A wonderful coat made of wool suddenly appeared from somewhere in the sky.
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Now Ben was really surprised.
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He put it on.
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It felt soft and warm.
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Then he opened a little book that belonged to one of his brothers.
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Ben looked at the cup one more time and said, "I'm so lucky to have one book to read,
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but I'd like one hundred more books so I can learn all about the world,
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please." Suddenly, a hundred books fell from between the leaves in the tree above him.
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Ben couldn't believe it.
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He was so pleased.
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He laughed and laughed, put the old cup in his pocket,
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carried the books home, sat down by the fire and read them all.
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When Ben's older brothers came in through the door, Ben was still reading.
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They were angry.
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"Where's our dinner?
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Where's our vegetable soup?" they shouted.
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Ben looked up and said, I found an old cup in the field today.
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I think it understands about wishes.
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It gave me a hot chocolate, a warm coat, and a hundred really interesting books.
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I'm learning all about the world.
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It's amazing.
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I know all about its lands and its oceans and about all the creatures that live on the earth as well now.
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So, ask the Silva Cup for your dinner.
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The two older brothers looked at Ben's new coat and looked at Ben's new coat his new books,
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and then at the silver cup on the table.
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One of them picked it up.
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He was angrier now.
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We have a wish too.
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Give us our dinner.
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We want it this minute, he said.
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The empty bowls were suddenly full of delicious vegetable soup.
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The brothers couldn't believe it.
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Cup.
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The oldest brother shouted.
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Give me a room full of money.
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Give me more money than my brother and a room full of candy!
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the other brother said.
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There was candy and money everywhere.
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The brothers began to fight.
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"Give me that cup !" One shouted.
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"No !" The other one said.
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"It's mine!
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It's not yours!
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Give it to me !" The cup fell on the ground and broke, and all the candy, the money,
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the delicious vegetable soup, Ben's warm coat and the interesting books, disappeared.
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They were nowhere in the house.
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I felt really sad when my uncle told me that part of the story.
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But then, he added, But the cup couldn't make all the stories about the world disappear from Ben's head.
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And when Ben was a man, he visited all the countries in the world
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and wrote lots of stories about the animals and people who lived there to tell to children.
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I never knew my uncle's first name.
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I just called him uncle.
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Perhaps.
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Just perhaps.
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It was Ben.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This A2 speaking lesson is built on the video “storyfun 5 unit 2 ben's wishes”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Ben, cup, brother, coat, looked. This video has 92 sentences and 798 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:01. The speaker talks at a steady 114 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| coat noun | /ˈkoʊ̯t/ | An outer garment covering the upper torso and arms. |
| uncle noun | /ˈʌŋ.kl̩/ | The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent. |
| soup noun | /sup/ | Any of various dishes commonly made by combining liquids, such as water or stock, with other ingredients, such as meat and vegetables, that contribute the food… |
| vegetable noun | /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ | A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice… |
| candy noun | /ˈkæn.di/ | Crystallized sugar formed by boiling down sugar syrup. |
| shout verb | /ʃaʊt/ | To utter a sudden and loud cry, as in joy, triumph, exultation or anger, or to attract attention, to animate others, etc. |
| hungry adjective | /ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/ | Affected by hunger; having the physical need for food. |
| delicious adjective | /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/ | Pleasing to the sense of taste; tasty. |
| jacket noun | /ˈd͡ʒæk.ɪt/ | A piece of clothing worn on the upper body outside a shirt or blouse, often waist length to thigh length. |
| dig verb | /dɪɡ/ | To move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill, or the like, through rocks, roads, or the like. More… |
| disappear verb | /dɪsəˈpɪɹ/ | To vanish. |
| olive noun | /ˈɑ.lɪv/ | A tree of species Olea europaea cultivated since ancient times in the Mediterranean for its fruit and the oil obtained from it. |
| pocket noun | /ˈpɑ.kɪt/ | A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items. |
| carefully adverb | /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ | With care; attentively, circumspectly. |
| nowhere adverb | /ˈnoʊ.(h)wɛɹ/ | In no place. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. | |
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Where's our vegetable soup?" they shouted.
- I'm learning all about the world.
- I never knew my uncle's first name.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 13 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, couldn't, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shout /ʃaʊt/, delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/
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 coat, uncle, soup.
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.