Shadowing Practice: The First Nativity Scene - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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This is the oldest standing church in continual use in the Holy Land.
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It's 1 ,449 years old.
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It's amazing to me.
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This is the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
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And as old as it is, it's the second such Christian church built on this same site.
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The first building, built by Roman Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena in the 4th century,
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was burned and destroyed when the Samaritans rose up against the Byzantine Empire in the mid -500s.
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But shortly thereafter, Roman Emperor Justinian began rebuilding this, the current structure, in 556 A .D.
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Modified over the years, it is said to have retained the architectural tone of the original church building as built by Constantine himself.
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But, look, a piece of the old church survived.
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You can still see this large remnants of the floor from Constantine's original construction.
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This dates back to 339 A .D., which makes it 1 ,675 years young, as Grandad would say.
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Now this surviving piece of the original floor was rediscovered in 1934 while they were doing some repair work.
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It's craftsmanship is amazing.
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According to very early tradition, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a cave just beneath this altar.
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Now, this cave, or grotto, as it's known here in the church, is marked by a 14 -point silver star.
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Now, as the genealogy of Jesus is described in the Gospel of Matthew, the 14 points of this star represent the 14 generations from Abraham to David,
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14 from David to the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people, and 14 from the exile to the birth of Jesus.
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Now, the tradition that Jesus was born here dates back to the first century, having been a pilgrimage site for many early Christians.
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In fact, Christian apologist Justin Martyr, who lived from 100 to 165 A .D., along with other church fathers,
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identifies this as the site for Jesus' birth.
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We'll be right back.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “The First Nativity Scene”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: church, Jesus, birth, Christian, built. This video has 22 sentences and 309 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:54. The speaker talks slowly, about 106 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| cave noun | /keɪv/ | A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground or in the face of a cliff or a hillside. |
| exile noun | /ˈɛɡˌzaɪl/ | The state of being banished from one's home or country. |
| tone noun | /ˈtəʊn/ | A specific pitch. |
| shortly adverb | /ˈʃɔɹtli/ | In a short or brief time or manner; quickly. |
| repair verb | /ˈɹiːpɛɚ/ | To restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy. |
| beneath | /bɪˈniːθ/ | Below. |
| retain verb | /ɹəˈteɪn/ | Often followed by from: to hold back (someone or something); to check, to prevent, to restrain, to stop. |
| thereafter adverb | /ˌðɛɹˈæf.tɚ/ | After that time, from then on; thenceforth. |
| architectural adjective | /ˌɑɹkɪˈtɛkt͡ʃəɹəl/ | Pertaining to architecture. |
| rebuild verb | /ɹiːˈbɪld/ | To build again or anew. |
| altar noun | /ˈɔl.tɚ/ | A table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites. |
| modify verb | /ˈmɑ.dɪˌfaɪ/ | To change part of. |
| apologist noun | /əˈpɒl.ə.d͡ʒɪst/ | One who speaks or writes in defense of a faith, a cause, or an institution. |
| continual adjective | /kənˈtɪnjuəl/ | Recurring in steady, rapid succession. |
| craftsmanship noun | /ˈkɹæfts.mən.ʃɪp/ | The quality of being a craftsman. |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “th” sounds: beneath /bɪˈniːθ/, thereafter /ˌðɛɹˈæf.tɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shortly /ˈʃɔɹtli/, craftsmanship /ˈkɹæfts.mən.ʃɪp/
- Long words — get the stress right: architectural /ˌɑɹkɪˈtɛkt͡ʃəɹəl/, apologist /əˈpɒl.ə.d͡ʒɪst/, genealogy /ˌd͡ʒiniˈɑlədʒi/
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 cave, exile, tone.
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.