Shadowing Practice: The Elephant Man | True Stories | Bookworms Stage 1 | BrE - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Chapter 1 The Creature in the Shop My name is Dr. Frederick Freese.
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I am a doctor at the London Hospital.
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One day, in 1884, I saw a picture in the window of a shop near the hospital.
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I stopped in front of the shop and looked at the picture.
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At first, I felt interested.
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Then I felt angry, then afraid.
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It was a horrible, ugly picture.
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There was a man in the picture, but he did not look like you and me.
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He did not look like a man.
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He looked like an elephant.
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I read the writing under the picture.
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It said, Come in and see the elephant man, two pence.
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I opened the door and went in.
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There was a man in the shop.
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He was a dirty man in an old coat with a cigarette in his mouth.
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What do you want?
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he asked.
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I'd like to see the elephant man, please, I said.
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The man looked at me angrily.
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Well, you can't, he said.
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The shop's closing now.
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You can come back tomorrow.
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I'm sorry, I said, but I would like to see him now.
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I have no time tomorrow.
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I have a lot of work to do.
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But I can give you more than two pence.
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The man looked at me carefully.
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Then he took the cigarette out of his mouth and smiled with his yellow teeth.
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All right, sir, he said.
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Give me twelve pence then.
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I gave him the money and he opened the door at the back of the shop.
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We went into a little room.
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The room was cold and dark, and there was a horrible smell in it.
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A creature sat on a chair behind a table.
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I say a creature because it was not a man or a woman like you or me.
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The creature did not move or look at it.
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It sat very quietly on the chair in the cold, dark, dirty room and looked at the table.
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The creature had a cloth over its head because of the cold.
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On the table in front of it, there was a dead flower.
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Stand up, said the shopkeeper loudly.
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The creature stood up slowly.
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It took the old cloth off its head and put it on the chair.
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I looked at the creature and felt sad.
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I am a doctor, so I know a lot about accidents and ill people.
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I see horrible, ugly things every day.
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But this creature, this thing, was the worst of all.
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There were no men or women in the hospital like him.
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He wore some old trousers, but no shirt, coat or shoes, so I could see his body very well.
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His head was the most interesting thing.
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It was very, very big, like an enormous bag with a lot of books in it.
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The head did not have much hair, and there was another bag of brown, dirty skin at the back of it.
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This skin came down below his neck.
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I could not see one of his eyes very well, because a lot of skin came down in front of his face too.
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An enormous red tooth came out of his mouth, under his nose.
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It looked like an elephant's tooth.
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The mouth and nose were like holes in the face.
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The face could not smile or laugh or look angry or sad because the skin could not move.
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It was dead, like an elephant's face.
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There were more bags of dirty skin on the front and back of the creature's body.
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These bags came down to his legs.
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The right arm was enormous, and there were bags of skin on it, too.
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The right hand was like a man's foot.
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But the left hand, the left arm and the left hand, were beautiful.
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The left arm had wonderful skin, and the fingers of the left hand were long and beautiful.
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It was like a young woman's hand.
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"'Walk, Merrick!' said the shopkeeper angrily.
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"'Come on, quickly, move!' He hit the creature with his hand.
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Slowly, the creature walked across the room.
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But he could not walk well.
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His legs were very big and fat, and he had a bad back.
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He could not walk far without a stick.
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All right, thank you, I said.
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Let him sit down.
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I don't want to see any more.
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I felt ill, and the smell in the room was very bad.
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Yes, sir, said the shopkeeper.
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Sit down, Merrick.
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We went out of the room and closed the door.
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The shopkeeper smiled at me with his yellow teeth.
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Wonderful, sir, isn't it?
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He said The best elephant man in England Hundreds of people come to see him, you know Hundreds!
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I take him all over the country, I do Yes, very interesting, I said Can I sit down?
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Yes, sir, of course
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Here's a chair
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He looked at me, smiling
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Would you like a glass of water, sir?
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Yes, please, I said.
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Then I looked at the things in the dirty shop.
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There were two or three bad apples, and some old black bananas.
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That was all.
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Uh, no. No, thank you.
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I'm all right, I said. Did you...
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Did you call the creature Merrick?
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That's right, sir.
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Joseph Merrick.
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The best elephant man in England.
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I take him all over the country, you know.
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Lots of people want to see him.
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Yes, I see.
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Do you get a lot of money?
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Well, sometimes we do, sir.
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Yes.
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But it's difficult, you see, sir, because of the police.
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The police don't like us, you see, sir.
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So we can't stay in a town very long.
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We usually move every week.
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Yes, I see.
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Well, anyway, Mr.. er...
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Silcock, sir.
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Simon Silcock.
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Yes, well, Mr Silcock, I'm a doctor at the London Hospital.
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My name is Dr. Treves.
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I think this, uh, this man, Joseph Merrick, is very interesting, and I would like to see him at the hospital.
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I want to look at him more carefully, you see.
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Yes, sir.
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I see.
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But how can he get to the hospital?
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It's going to be difficult.
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Why, man?
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The hospital's not far from here.
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Well, yes, sir.
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I know.
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But you see, Merrick can't walk very well.
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He needs help.
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You can come with him.
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Do you want more money?
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Is that it?
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Well, yes, sir.
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I do.
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But you see, people are afraid of him, too.
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"'In the road, little boys always run after him and hit him.
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"'Then the police get angry because people are afraid.
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"'Sometimes they take us to prison.' "'I see,' I said.
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"'Well, how can he come to the hospital then?' "'Bring a cab, sir,' said Silcock.
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"'You can take him to the hospital in a cab.' Chapter Two The Card
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So next day, at seven o 'clock, I came to the shop in a cab.
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There were not very many people in the road, because it was early in the morning.
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In November, it is dark at seven o 'clock in the morning, and I could not see the shop very well.
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I waited five minutes.
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A postman walked past.
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Then the door of the shop opened, and the creature, Merrick, came out.
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I could not see his face or his body.
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He had an enormous black hat on his head, like a big box.
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A grey cloth came down from the hat in front of his face.
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There was a hole in the cloth, in front of his eyes.
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He could see out of the hole, but I could not see in.
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He wore a long black coat, too.
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The coat began at his neck and ended at his feet, so I could not see his arms, his body, or his legs.
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On his feet he wore big shoes like old bags.
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He had a stick in his left hand, and he walked very slowly.
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I opened the door of the cab and got out.
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"'Good morning, Mr. Merrick,' I said.
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"'Can you get in?' "'Help my upper steps,' he said.
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"'I'm sorry,' I said.
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"'I don't understand.' For a minute, he stood by the door of the cab and said nothing.
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Then he hit the cab with his stick.
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"'Steps,' he said loudly.
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Help me up the steps.
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Then I understood.
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There were three steps up into the cab, and he could not get up them.
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Yes, I see.
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I'm sorry, I said.
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Let me help you.
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I took his left hand and began to help him.
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My right hand was behind his back.
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I felt very strange.
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His left hand was like a young woman's, but his back under the coat was horrible.
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I could feel the bags of old skin on his back under the coat.
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He put one enormous foot on the first step, and then he stopped.
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After a minute, he moved his second foot slowly.
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Then he stopped and waited again.
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Hello, sir.
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Can I help you?
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I looked behind me.
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It was the postman.
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And behind him I could see three young boys.
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One of the boys laughed.
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The postman smiled.
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Is the gentleman ill?
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he asked.
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I thought quickly.
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Yes, but this is a lady, not a gentleman.
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I'm a doctor, and she's ill.
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Take her hand so I can help her better.
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The postman took Merrick's left hand, and I helped him with two hands from behind.
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Slowly, very slowly, Merrick went up the steps and into the cab.
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One boy was very near the cab.
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He called to his friends.
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Come and see this, boys.
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A fat lady in a black coat.
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And look at that enormous hat.
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The boys laughed.
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They were very near the cab, too, now.
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I closed the door quickly.
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Thank you, I said to the postman.
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That's all right, sir, he said.
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She's a strange lady, sir, isn't she?
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She's ill, that's all, I said quickly.
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We're going to the hospital.
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Goodbye, and thank you.
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The cab drove down the road to the hospital.
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I looked at Merrick.
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That was difficult, wasn't it?
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I said.
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At first he said nothing, but then he spoke.
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His voice was very strange, but I listened to him carefully, and I could understand him.
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The steps were very difficult, he said.
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But most things are difficult for me.
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Yes, I said.
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Nothing is easy for you, is it?
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No, he said.
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He was very quiet for a minute.
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Then he said, Who are you, sir? Who am I?
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Oh, I'm sorry.
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My name is Dr. Treves.
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Here, this is my card.
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I gave him a card with my name on.
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Then I thought, That was no good.
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This man can't read.
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But Merrick took the card and looked at it very carefully.
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Then he put it in his trousers' pocket.
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I did not talk to him very much at the hospital.
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I looked at his head and arms and legs and body very carefully.
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Then I wrote the important things about him in a little book.
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A nurse helped me.
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Merrick looked at her sometimes, but she did not smile at him or talk to him.
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I think she was afraid of him.
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I think Merrick was afraid too, because he was very quiet.
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At four o 'clock, I took him back to the shop in a cab.
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The next day, I looked in the shop window again, but the picture was not there.
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Chapter 3 A Letter to the Times I did not see Merrick again for two years.
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Then, one day, the police found him.
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He had my card in his hand, so they brought him to the London hospital.
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He was very tired, hungry, and dirty, so I put him to bed in a quiet little room.
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But he could not stay at the hospital.
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He was not ill, and of course the beds in the hospital are for ill people.
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We have no beds for hungry people or ugly people.
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I told the hospital chairman, Mr. Carr Gomm, about Merrick.
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He listened carefully.
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And then he wrote a letter to the editor of the Times newspaper.
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From the Times, December 4th, 1886.
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A letter to the editor.
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Dear Sir, I am writing to you about a man in our hospital.
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He needs your help.
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His name is Joseph Merrick, and he is 27 years old.
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He is not ill, but he cannot go out of the hospital because he is very, very ugly.
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Nobody likes to look at him, and some people are afraid of him.
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We call him the Elephant Man.
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Two years ago, Merrick lived in a shop near the London hospital.
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For two pence, people could see him and laugh at him.
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One day, Dr. Frederick Treves, a hospital doctor, saw Merrick, brought him to this hospital,
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and looked at him carefully.
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Dr. Treves could not help Merrick, but he gave him his card.
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Then the shopkeeper, Silcock, took Merrick to Belgium.
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A lot of people in Belgium wanted to see him, and so after a year, Merrick had 50 pounds.
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But then Silcock took Merrick's 50 pounds, left Merrick in Belgium, and went back to London.
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Merrick came back to London by himself.
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Everyone on the train and the ship looked at him and laughed at him.
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In London, the police put him in prison.
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But then they saw Dr. Treves's card and brought Merrick to the London hospital.
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This man has no money and he cannot work.
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His face and body are very, very ugly, so of course many people are afraid of him.
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But he is a very interesting man.
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He can read and write, and he thinks a lot.
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He is a good, quiet man.
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Sometimes he makes things with his hands and gives them to the nurses because they are kind to him.
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He remembers his mother, and he has a picture of her.
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She was beautiful and kind, he says.
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But he never sees her now.
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She gave him to Silcock a long time ago.
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Can the readers of the Times help us?
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This man is not ill, but he needs a home.
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We can give him a room at the hospital, but we need some money.
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Please write to me at the London Hospital.
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Yours faithfully, F .C.
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Cargham, Chairman of the London Hospital.
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The readers of the Times are very kind people.
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They gave us a lot of money.
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After one week, we had fifty thousand pounds, so Merrick could live in the hospital for all his life.
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We could give him a home.
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Chapter Four Merrick's First Home We gave Merrick two rooms at the back of the hospital.
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One room was a bathroom, so he could have a bath every day.
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Soon his skin was much better, and there was no horrible smell.
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The second room had a bed, table, and chairs.
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I visited him every day and talked to him.
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He loved reading and talking about books.
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At first, he did not know many books, the Bible, and one or two newspapers, that's all.
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But I gave him some books of love stories, and he liked them very much.
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He read them again and again, and talked about them often.
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For him, the men and women in these books were alive, like you and me.
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He was very happy.
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But sometimes it was difficult for him.
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At first, one or two people in the hospital laughed at Merrick because he was ugly.
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Sometimes they brought their friends to look at him.
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One day, a new nurse came to the hospital, and nobody told her about Merrick.
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She took his food to his room and opened the door.
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Then she saw him.
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She screamed, dropped the food on the floor, and ran out of the room.
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I was very angry with the nurse and went to see Merrick.
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He was not happy about it, but he was not very angry.
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I think he felt sorry for the girl.
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People don't like looking at me.
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I know that, Dr. Treves, he said.
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They usually laugh or scream.
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Well, I don't want nurses to laugh at you, Joseph, I said angrily.
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I want them to help you.
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Thank you, doctor, he said in his strange, slow voice. But it's not important.
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Everyone laughs at me.
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I understand that.
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I looked at him sadly.
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In his one good hand, his left hand, he had the little picture of his mother.
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He looked at the picture for a minute, and then put it by a flower on the table.
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A tear ran out of his eye and down the skin of his enormous, ugly face.
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"'Dr. Treves,' he said slowly,
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"'you and the nurses are very kind, "'and I'm very happy here.
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"'Thank you very much.
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"'But I know I can't stay here long,
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and I would like to live in a lighthouse after the hospital, please.
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A lighthouse or a home for blind people.
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I think those are the best places for me.
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What do you mean?
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I asked.
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Why?
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He did not look at me.
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He put the flower on the picture and looked at it carefully.
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Lighthouses have sea all round them, don't they?
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He said.
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Nobody could look at me in a lighthouse,
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so I would be happy there and blind people can see nothing
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so they couldn't see me could they
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but Joseph I said this is your home you live here
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now you aren't going to leave the hospital not today perhaps he said But soon.
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You are a kind man, Dr. Treves, but I can't stay here very long.
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I have no money.
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I smiled.
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Joseph, I said, this is your home now.
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Don't you understand?
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You can stay here all your life.
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Very carefully, I told him about the letter to the Times and the money.
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I don't think he understood at first, so I told him again.
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He was very quiet for a minute.
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Then he stood up and walked up and down the room very quickly.
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A strange sound came from him, like laughing.
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Chapter 5 An Important Visitor I did not want Merrick to live by himself,
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like a man in a lighthouse.
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He read his books and talked to me, but I wanted him to talk to more people, and I wanted him to talk to women.
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Merrick read about women in his books, but he did not often talk to women.
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He met the nurses every day, but they did not talk to him very much.
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For them, he was always a creature, not a man.
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One day, one of my friends, a beautiful young woman, came to the hospital.
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I told her about Merrick and took her to his room.
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She opened the door and smiled at him.
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"'Good morning, Mr. Merrick,' she said.
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Then she shook his hand.
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Merrick looked at her for a minute, with his mouth open.
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Then he sat down on his bed, with his head in his hand, and cried.
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He cried for nearly five minutes.
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The tears ran down his face, between his fingers, and onto the floor.
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My friend sat on the bed beside him and put her hand on his arm.
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She said nothing, but she smiled at him and shook his hand again before she left.
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Dr. Treves, he said to me that night, that lady was wonderful.
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My mother smiled at me once,
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many years ago, but no women smile at me now.
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But this lady smiled at me too, and she shook my hand.
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A beautiful lady smiled at me and shook my hand.
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My young lady friend came again the next week, and talked to Merrick for half an hour.
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The week after that, she came again with a friend.
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They gave him some books and had a cup of tea with him.
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It was wonderful for him.
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For the first time in his life, he had some friends.
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He was a very happy man.
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He sat in his room and read his books and said no more about living on a lighthouse.
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People began to read about Merrick in the newspapers, so he had a lot of visitors.
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Everybody wanted to see him.
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A lot of important ladies and gentlemen visited him.
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They smiled at him, shook his hand and gave him books.
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Merrick liked talking to these people, and he began to forget about his ugly body.
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His visitors never laughed at him.
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He began to feel like a man, not a creature.
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One wonderful day, a very important lady came to the hospital to visit him.
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I met the lady and took her to his room.
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Then I opened the door and smiled at him.
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Good morning, Joseph, I said.
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There is a new visitor to see you today, a very famous lady.
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Merrick stood up beside his table.
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He did not smile, because his face could not smile, but his eyes looked happy.
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That's good, he said. Who is it?
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I moved away from the door, and the visitor walked in.
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Your Majesty, this is Joseph Merrick, I said.
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Joseph, this is Her Majesty, Queen Alexandra, the Queen of England.
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Queen Alexandra smiled at him.
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How do you do, Mr Merrick? she said.
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I'm very pleased to meet you.
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Then she shook his hand.
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Merrick did not move.
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For nearly half a minute he stood and looked at her with his mouth open.
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Then he spoke in his strange, slow voice.
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How?
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How do you do, Your Majesty?
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He said.
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But I don't think the Queen understood him, because he tried to get down on his knees at the same time.
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It was very difficult for him, because of his enormous legs.
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No, please, Mr. Merrick.
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Do get up, said the Queen.
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I would like to talk to you.
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Can we sit at your table?
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Yes, yes, of course, he said.
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They sat at the table.
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She took his left hand, the good hand, in hers.
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She looked at the hand carefully, and then smiled at Merrick again.
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i often read about you in the newspapers she said you are a very interesting man mr merrick
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you have a very difficult life but people say you're happy is it true are you happy now
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Oh, yes, your majesty.
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Yes, said Merrick.
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I'm a very happy man.
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I have a home here now, and friends, and my books.
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I'm happy every hour of the day.
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What a wonderful story, she said.
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I'm very pleased to hear it.
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Now.
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"'Tell me about your reading.
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I see you have a lot of books here.' "'Oh, yes, your Majesty.
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I love my books,' said Merrick.
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And for nearly half an hour they sat and talked about books.
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The Queen gave him a little book and some red flowers before she left.
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After her visit, Merrick began to sing.
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He could not sing easily, of course, because of his mouth.
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But all that day there was a strange, happy noise in his room.
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He looked at the flowers carefully and put them on his table.
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He had many visits from the Queen, and at Christmas she sent him a Christmas card.
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Windsor Castle, 20 December, 1888
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Dear Joseph, here is a small Christmas present for you.
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I think it looks like me, doesn't it?
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I do like visiting you very much, and I am going to come to the hospital again in the new year.
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Happy Christmas, your friend, Alexandra.
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The present was a picture of Queen Alexandra with her name on it.
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Merrick cried over it and put it carefully by the bed in his room.
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Then he sat down and wrote a letter to the Queen.
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It was the first letter of his life.
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The London Hospital?
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23rd of December, 1888
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My dear Queen, Thank you very,
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very much for your wonderful card and the beautiful picture.
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It is the best thing in my room, the very best, the most beautiful thing I have.
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this is the first christmas in my life and my first christmas present
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perhaps i had a christmas with my mother once but i do not remember it
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i have my mother's picture too and she is beautiful like you
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But now I know many famous ladies and kind people like Dr. Treves,
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and I am a very happy man.
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I am happy too, because I am going to see you in the new year.
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Happy Christmas to you, my dear friend.
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With all my love, Joseph Merrick.
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Chapter 6 Outside the Hospital Merrick had a lot of friends now,
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but he was more like a child than a man.
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He could read about things and talk to his visitors, but he could not go out of the hospital by himself.
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He thought and played like a child.
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After Christmas, he wanted to go to the theatre.
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This was very difficult, because I did not want the people in the theatre to see him.
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But a kind lady from the theatre, Mrs. Kendall, helped us.
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We bought tickets for a box at the side of the theatre.
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We went to the theatre in a cab with dark windows, and we went into the theatre by a door at the back, the Queen's door.
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Nobody saw us.
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Three nurses sat at the front of the box, and Merrick and I sat in the dark behind them.
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Nobody in the theatre could see us, but we could see the play.
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It was a children's Christmas play.
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Merrick loved it.
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It was a most wonderful, exciting story.
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Often he laughed, and sometimes he tried to sing like the children in the theatre.
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He was like a child.
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For him, everything in the story was true.
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Once he was very afraid, because the bad man in the play was angry and had a knife.
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At first Merrick wanted to leave the theatre, but I stopped him.
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Then he was very angry with this bad man in the play.
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He hit his hand on his chair and stood up and talked to the man, but nobody heard him.
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When the bad man went to prison, Merrick laughed.
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Merrick thought the beautiful young lady in the play was wonderful.
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He wanted to talk to her, too.
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At the end of the play, he was very happy, because she married a good young man.
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He remembered this play for a long time, and he talked a lot about the people in it.
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What do you think they did after we left? he asked me
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Where do the young lady and the young man live?
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What are they doing now?
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I don't know, I said
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Perhaps they live in the country Merrick thought about this for a long time
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Then he said Dr. Treves, can I go to the country, please?
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I saw the country once from a train, but I never went there.
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I often read about it in books.
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It's very beautiful, isn't it?
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I would like to see it.
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The visit to the theatre was difficult, but a visit to the country was more difficult.
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But again, one of his new friends helped us.
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She had a small house in the country, and Merrick could stay in it for the summer, she said.
493
I took Merrick to the country in a train with dark windows, so nobody could see him.
494
Then we went in a cab to the country house.
495
There were a lot of trees near the house, but no people lived near it.
496
A countryman brought food to the house every day, but no people came near it.
497
I stayed with him that night.
498
At night it was very dark and quiet.
499
In the morning, hundreds of birds sang in the trees, and everything outside the house was green.
500
Merrick walked under the big trees, looking at things happily, and singing his strange song.
501
I went back to London, but Merrick stayed there for six weeks.
502
He was wonderfully happy.
503
Every week he wrote me a letter.
504
Apple Tree House, West Wycombe,
505
Berkshire, 21 July, 1889
506
Dear Dr. Treves, I had a wonderful day again today.
507
It was very warm, so I walked under the trees and sat by a stream.
508
The water in the stream made a beautiful noise, like singing. Did you know that?
509
I listened to it for two hours.
510
Lots of little birds came near me.
511
One had a red body in front and a brown back.
512
I gave it some bread and it sat on my hand.
513
A lot of birds are my friends now.
514
I watched the fish in the stream too.
515
They were very exciting.
516
because they move very fast.
517
One minute they were there, and the next minute I couldn't see them.
518
But I waited quietly, and they always came back.
519
I put my hand in the water, but I couldn't touch them.
520
I met a big dog yesterday.
521
It made a very loud noise, but I was not afraid.
522
I sat down quietly and looked at it, and it came and smelt my hand.
523
I saw it again today and gave it some bread.
524
It likes me now.
525
I am going to put some flowers from the country in this letter.
526
There are hundreds of flowers here.
527
Did you know that?
528
I like the little blue ones best, but they are all beautiful.
529
I have lots of them in my room.
530
I give them water every morning.
531
Little flowers are very thirsty, you know.
532
I am very happy here, Doctor, but I want to see you again soon, too.
533
With love from your friend, Joseph Merrick.
534
At the end of the summer, he came back to London.
535
He was very well, and his skin looked much better.
536
He talked about the country a lot, but he was happy to see his friends and his books again too.
537
Chapter 7 The Last Letter Six months later,
538
in April 1890, I found him dead in bed.
539
He was on his back in bed, so at first I thought he was asleep.
540
I talked to him, but he did not move.
541
Then I saw that the skin on his face was blue, so I knew he was dead.
542
He did not usually sleep on his back.
543
His enormous head was very heavy, so he usually sat up in bed, with his arms round his legs,
544
and his head on his knees.
545
He could sleep well like this.
546
But he wanted to sleep on his back like you and me.
547
He tried to sleep on his back that night, but his heavy head came off the bed and he broke his neck.
548
He died very quickly.
549
Next day, the chairman of the London Hospital, Mr. Carr Gomm, wrote to the editor of the Times again.
550
The Times, April 16, 1890
551
Dear Sir, Three and a half years ago, I wrote to you about a man called Joseph Merrick.
552
This man was called the Elephant Man, because he was born with a very ugly body.
553
Merrick was not ill, but he could not work, and he had no money.
554
The readers of the Times felt sorry for him, and they gave me a lot of money for Merrick.
555
Because of this money, we could give Merrick a home in the London Hospital.
556
It was his first good home, and for three and a half years he lived here happily.
557
The doctors and nurses of the hospital helped him, and many important people visited him.
558
He read many books, he went to the theatre, and in the summer he stayed in the country for six weeks.
559
Because of your reader's money, we could give him a happy life.
560
Last night, Joseph Merrick died quietly in his bed.
561
He was a man with a very ugly body, but he was a good, kind man, and he had a lot of friends.
562
We like to talk to him, and we are all very sorry because he is dead.
563
A lot of people are going to remember him for a long time.
564
There is some money left, so I am going to give it to the hospital.
565
Thank you, sir, for your help.
566
Yours faithfully, F .C.
567
Cargom, Chairman of the London Hospital.
568
Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “The Elephant Man”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: merrick, hospital, looked, sir. This video has 568 sentences and 5374 words to shadow. The speech runs for 50:42. The speaker talks slowly, about 106 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 86% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| carefully adverb | /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ | With care; attentively, circumspectly. |
| ugly adjective | /ˈʌɡli/ | Displeasing to the eye; aesthetically unpleasing. |
| nurse noun | /nɝs/ | Anyone performing this role, regardless of training or profession. |
| enormous adjective | /ɪˈnɔː.məs/ | Extremely large; greatly exceeding the common size, extent, etc. |
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| flower noun | /ˈfloʊɚ/ | A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens… |
| coat noun | /ˈkoʊ̯t/ | An outer garment covering the upper torso and arms. |
| elephant noun | /ˈɛlɪfənt/ | A large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to Africa and Asia. |
| shake verb | /ˈʃeɪk/ | To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly. |
| visitor noun | /ˈvɪzɪtɚ/ | Someone who visits someone else; someone staying as a guest. |
| lighthouse noun | /ˈlaɪthaʊs/ | A tower or other structure exhibiting a light or lights to warn or guide sailors. |
| horrible adjective | /ˈhɔɹ.ɪ.bəl/ | Causing horror; terrible; shocking. |
| majesty noun | /ˈmæd͡ʒ.əs.ti/ | The quality of being impressive, great, dignified, powerful, sovereign, or any combination thereof. |
| quietly adverb | /ˈkwaɪ.ɪt.li/ | Producing little or no noise. |
| penny noun | /ˈpɛni/ | In the United Kingdom, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a pound sterling, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: p. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. |
| stand up verb | To rise from a lying or sitting position. |
| come back verb | To return to a place. |
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. |
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. |
| come down to verb | To reach by moving down or reducing. |
| come off verb | To become detached. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Would you like a glass of water, sir?
- Do you get a lot of money?
- Do you want more money?
- Nothing is easy for you, is it?
- I think it looks like me, doesn't it?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the worst · the most interesting · The best |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | It's going to be · am going to come · am going to see |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | am writing · are they doing |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 40 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: cloth /klɒθ/, tooth /tuθ/, bath /bɑːθ/, thirsty /ˈθɝs.ti/, faithfully /ˈfeɪθfəli/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shake /ˈʃeɪk/, shoe /ˈʃu/, shopkeeper /ˈʃɑpkiːpɚ/
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 carefully, ugly, nurse.
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.