Shadowing Practice: The Childhood years - As Told By Marilyn Monroe - Learn English Speaking with Video

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I never lived with my mother.
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My mother's first husband was named Baker.
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Her second husband was Mortensen, but she was long since divorced when I was born.
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She had, you know, mental disturbances, and she was taken away.
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I called every woman I would see, I'd say, oh, there's a mama.
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And if I see a man, I'd say, there's a daddy.
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One morning I was having a bath, actually, and I referred to the woman as Mama,
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and she said, I'm not your mother.
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Don't call me mother anymore.
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Call me aunt so-and-so.
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The one who comes here with the red hair, she's your mother.
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So to learn that she was my mother was quite a shock.
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It was the red hair.
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I said, but he's my daddy.
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She said, no, you call him uncle.
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Although they weren't my aunt and uncle.
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I was only boarding there.
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They adopted the boy that they had, that they were born in.
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You see, some places I lived, I was taken there at the end of the school term, and they were planning to keep me.
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But then after the summer they'd had enough.
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So then I was taken to another place.
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So that's one of so many.
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See, I don't think there's 12, but there were quite a few.
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Ten counting the orphans home.
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I know I went to six different grammar schools.
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You know, that's before you're in the seventh grade.
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There was one other family I stayed with for a short time.
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Because a woman used to have to deliver things.
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I don't know her husband made things
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and she was to deliver them to these plates and I used to get so car sick driving
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I didn't like the world around me too much because it was kind of grim
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but I loved playing I loved playing with the children in the neighborhood you could imagine anything
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and pretend anything but I loved to play house and it was like,
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you know, you can make your own boundaries, your own situation.
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Other children like to play with me because I could think of things, you know, I'd say, now we're going to have murder, then a divorce, and then they say, how do you think of that?
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I don't know.
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Because then I heard, that's acting, I said, that's what I want to be.
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You know, you could play.
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They used to take me to movies here in Hollywood.
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Every Saturday and Sunday I was taken there because they worked during the week.
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They worked very hard and they didn't want to be bothered with a child around the house, I think.
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You know, you can't blame them.
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They were very tired.
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So I was taken there in the morning and wait till the movie opened.
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I tried to fit my foot.
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My feet prints are there now, but I would try to, you know.
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I never could get my feet in there.
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My feet were always too big.
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For 10 cents, I would go in,
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sit in the first row and I watched all kinds of movies like Cleopatra with Claudio Colbert, that I remembered very well.
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I'd sit there and I'd see it over and over and over and over again till late at night.
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I was supposed to come out at dark but but of course I didn't know when it was dark.
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That was when I was very small.
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When I was seven years old, my favorite was Jean Harlow.
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And the reason why she was my favorite, because she had white hair and I had white hair.
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And I dreamed of having golden hair, but instead mine was white.
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So when she had white hair, I felt close to her.
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And Clark Gable, I'm sure he won't mind if I say it, I used to always think of him as my father.
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I pretended that he was my father.
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I never pretended anyone was my mother, I don't know why, but I always pretended he was my father.
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I would go in my room and I would act out every part.
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Only I would act out before that happened or after, and I would act out all the parts.
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What he said and what she said and what he felt and she felt can usually be sad.
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And then suddenly I was taken to the orphan's home.
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I was only nine or ten.
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And I put my feet down on the sidewalk and they had to drag me in.
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I said, I'm not an orphan.
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And then later some people said, well, it's better you forget about your mother.
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I said, but where is my mother? and they said, she's dead.
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I used to sit up in the window and cry
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because I'd look over and I'd see RKO
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and I knew my mother had work there and she'd been a cutter there and all the kids were asleep.
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Grace used to come to the orphanage and take me out sometime.
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Well, she was my legal guardian, and she once worked as a film editor, and she had been my mother's best friend.
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I could put on her lipstick.
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I was only nine or ten.
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And she would take me someplace to have my hair curled, which was unheard of because I had straight hair.
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Things like that meant a great deal to me.
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I cleaned that dormitory where I slept.
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Oh, everything had to be perfect, you know.
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You swept and then you dusted everything.
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We had a bed and a chair.
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We had a locker downstairs.
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Also the kitchen, you could earn money there.
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I washed 100 plates, 100 cups, spoons, and forks, and you made five cents a month.
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And they took one penny for Sunday school.
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So you had one penny left.
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So you hope you can buy your friend or friends some little thing at Christmas.
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Well, I complained bitterly to Grace, who was my guardian.
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There were these people who took me for a while.
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Grace was financially unable to care for me,
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but I'm very grateful that they at least assumed the responsibility because I could have just been kept there until I'm 18.
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Thank you.

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Speaking Goals for This Clip: Narrative Fluency & Emotional Expression

This video is ideal for practicing narrative fluency—a key milestone for IELTS speaking practice and daily communication. It teaches how to share personal stories with natural flow, using pauses and emphasis to convey emotion. Whether describing childhood memories or life events, you’ll learn to connect ideas smoothly, a skill critical for scoring well in speaking exams.

Phrase Bank: Reusable Expressions for Daily Talk

  • "I never lived with my mother" – Simple past for life history
  • "She was long since divorced" – Describing past relationships
  • "It was quite a shock" – Expressing surprise
  • "I don't think there's 12, but there were quite a few" – Qualifying numbers
  • "You can't blame them" – Defending others' actions
  • "I tried to fit my foot" – Physical action with purpose

These phrases work in contexts like sharing family stories, discussing past experiences, or explaining feelings—perfect for shadowspeaks practice.

Fix Your Weak Spots: Rhythm & Intonation in Storytelling

The video’s conversational tone helps improve English pronunciation by focusing on natural rhythm. Notice how Marilyn Monroe pauses after emotional statements ("It was the red hair") and speeds up when recalling details ("I went to six different grammar schools"). Use the shadowing technique here: repeat her lines aloud, matching her pace and stress. This trains your mouth to move like a native, a must for IELTS speaking practice. For shadow speak success, mimic her rising intonation in questions ("how do you think of that?") and falling tone in facts ("I loved playing with the children"). This isn’t just about words—it’s about sounding authentic. Practice daily with this clip to master storytelling rhythm, a key skill for fluency.

Grammar in this video

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

StructureIn the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer trueused to have · used to get · used to take
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does itwas named · was born · was taken
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thingone who comes · curled, which was · people who took

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 →