Shadowing Practice: The Letter I Never Sent - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
Last spring, I was packing up my old bedroom at my parents' house.
2
At the bottom of a box, I found an envelope in my handwriting.
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Wait... it was addressed to Hannah, my best friend from school!
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And it was never sent... not even stamped.
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When we were nineteen, Hannah and I had a huge fight.
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She moved to Scotland for university, and I felt left behind.
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Honestly, I said some really horrible things to her.
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She called me again and again, but I never picked up.
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So, I wrote this letter to say sorry,
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but I was too proud to post it.
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I sat on the floor and read it for the first time in eleven years.
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Oh, it was so silly, so dramatic, so nineteen!
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But at the end, I'd written... you're the sister I never had.
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And I started crying, right there between the boxes.
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Well... I didn't even know if she still lived in Edinburgh.
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So, I asked her mum, who still lives on our street.
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I bought a stamp, wrote a short note, and posted the old letter.
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Then I waited. One week... two weeks... nothing.
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What if she was still angry? What if she'd forgotten me?
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Then one morning, guess what was on my doormat?
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A letter from Hannah! I opened it with shaking hands.
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Inside was a photo of us at sixteen, laughing on a beach.
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And she'd written, I kept this. I knew you'd write one day.
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Wow, I laughed and cried at the same time!
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We talked on the phone for three hours that night.
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And next month, I'm flying to Scotland to see her!
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So, if there's a letter you never sent... maybe it's not too late.
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Write it, post it, and see what happens.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “The Letter I Never Sent”. This video has 28 sentences and 295 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:59. The speaker talks at a steady 149 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 14 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| stamp noun | /stæmp/ | An act of stamping the foot, paw or hoof. |
| bedroom noun | /ˈbɛdˌɹum/ | A room in a house, apartment, hotel, or other dwelling where a bed is kept for sleeping. |
| horrible adjective | /ˈhɔɹ.ɪ.bəl/ | Causing horror; terrible; shocking. |
| dramatic adjective | /dɹəˈmætɪk/ | Of or relating to the drama. |
| silly adjective | /ˈsɪl.i/ | Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance. |
| shake verb | /ˈʃeɪk/ | To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly. |
| eleven noun | /əˈlɛv.ən/ | A cricket team of eleven players. Hence first eleven - the team of best cricket players (at a school), second eleven - the "B" team, etc. |
| envelope noun | /ˈɛnvə(ˌ)loʊp/ | A paper or cardboard wrapper used to enclose small, flat items, especially letters, for mailing. |
| handwriting noun | /ˈhændɹaɪtɪŋ/ | The act or process of writing done with the hand, rather than typed or word-processed. |
| laugh verb | /læf/ | To show mirth, satisfaction, or derision, by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face, particularly of the mouth, causing a lighting up of the face and… |
| cry verb | /kɹaɪ/ | To shed tears; to weep, especially in anger or sadness. |
| angry adjective | /ˈæŋ.ɡɹi/ | Displaying or feeling anger. |
| pack noun | /pæk/ | A bundle made up and prepared to be carried; especially, a bundle to be carried on the back, but also a load for an animal, a bale. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| leave behind verb | To abandon. |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What if she'd forgotten me?
- Then one morning, guess what was on my doormat?
- I knew you'd write one day.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as she'd, didn't, I'd. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
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 litter, stamp, bedroom.
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.