Shadowing Practice: Streamline English Connections 20 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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25 sentences
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1
Comparisons Mr and Mrs Kent are old -age pensioners.
2
They go to the shops every Saturday.
3
They have to walk up a very steep hill between their house and the shops.
4
They both walk slowly.
5
Mr Kent always has to wait for his wife at the top of the hill, because Mrs Kent walks more slowly than Mr Kent.
6
Diana and Margaret work in the same office.
7
They're both good typists because they type carefully.
8
Diana never makes a mistake, and Margaret rarely makes a mistake.
9
Diana types more carefully than Margaret.
10
Some drivers occasionally have accidents, but Alan and David are very careless drivers.
11
Alan has already had two accidents this year, and David has had a lot.
12
David drives even more carelessly than Alan.
13
Both Carlos and Miguel are good students.
14
They speak English well, but Miguel has spent a year in England, so he speaks English better than Carlos.
15
Tyneside United and Humber Rovers are both near the bottom of the fourth division.
16
The football season has nearly finished, and Tyneside have won only one match.
17
They've played very badly.
18
Humber Rovers haven't won a match yet, and they haven't scored a goal.
19
Humber have played even worse than Tyneside.
20
Tony and Jim work for a construction company.
21
They're very hard workers.
22
They work about twelve hours a day.
23
Tony often works at weekends.
24
He earns more money than Jim because he works harder than Jim.
25
Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This A2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Streamline English Connections 20”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Kent, Humber, Tyneside, diana, Margaret. This video has 25 sentences and 241 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:53. The speaker talks at a steady 128 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 76% 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

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

WordPronunciationMeaning
carefully adverb/ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/With care; attentively, circumspectly.
earn verb/ɝn/To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.
badly adverb/ˈbæd.li/In a bad manner.
worker noun/ˈwɝ.kɚ/One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor.
rarely adverb/ˈɹɛəɹli/Not occurring at a regular interval; seldom; not often.
occasionally adverb/əˈkeɪʒənəli/On occasion: at relatively infrequent intervals, from time to time, sometimes.
twelve noun/twɛlv/A group of twelve items.
steep adjective/stiːp/Of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward or downward at an angle approaching vertical.
careless adjective/kɛɹ.ləs/Not concerned or worried (about).
carelessly adverb/ˈkɛɹləsli/Giving the appearance of carelessness; relaxedly.
pensioner noun/ˈpɛnʃənɚ/Someone who lives on a pension, especially the retirement or old age pension.
typist noun/ˈtaɪpɪst/A person who types, a clerical worker who writes letters, etc., using a typewriter.

Grammar in this video

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

StructureIn the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters nowhas already had · has spent · has nearly finished
Comparatives -er than / more … than — comparing two thingsmore slowly than · more carefully than · more carelessly than
Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessaryhave to walk · has to wait

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 5 contractions and reduced forms, such as haven't, they're, they've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: occasionally /əˈkeɪʒənəli/, pensioner /ˈpɛnʃənɚ/

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 carefully, earn, badly.

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 →