Shadowing Practice: The Mentalist - Patrick Jane solves cases quickly - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
Hi guys.
2
Hey, Sarge.
3
Good to see you again.
4
Nice to see you.
5
How are things?
6
It's been pretty busy.
7
Hey there.
8
You can't say hello?
9
It's a tough day.
10
So I understand you got the call about three hours ago.
11
What have we got?
12
The victim's name is Sandra Helbig.
13
She lives here with her fiancé.
14
That's Cody Benbow, the baseball player.
15
So he comes home from practice and finds her lying right here.
16
Looks like she's strangled with her own scarf.
17
Probably dead for a couple of hours.
18
Back window is broken.
19
There's both jewelry and cash missing.
20
We're thinking she came home and surprised a burglar.
21
Well, besides the forced entry, I don't see any obvious signs of a struggle here.
22
Hey, Cody, how much was stolen from the dollar value?
23
I don't know, sir.
24
Her engagement ring alone was 50 grand.
25
A couple hundred grand in total.
26
What's your bet on your average this year?
27
260. How about last year?
28
312. Oh, what happened?
29
You came here to talk about baseball?
30
I'm trying to work here and you're staring at me like I have two heads.
31
Do I look like I have two heads?
32
Uh, no. No. Sarch, why don't you and I go outside and do our paperwork?
33
Cody, look at me.
34
I think it was you that killed Sandra.
35
Sir, you were flat out wrong.
36
If she is the love of my life, why would I kill her?
37
You tell me.
38
There is no reason in the world, sir.
39
No reason.
40
Okay, Cody.
41
Fair enough.
42
I know when a man is telling me the truth.
43
Do you have any guns?
44
Do I have any guns?
45
Yeah.
46
Yeah, yeah, I do. Where?
47
What kind?
48
A couple of handguns are so in the safe.
49
Show me.
50
What does guns have to do with anything?
51
I'm sorry, but she was strangled.
52
Can you not see that?
53
Who's in charge Do you hear me or you?
54
I just want to see your guns.
55
I can search this place from the roof to the basement.
56
I can dig up the garden if I want to.
57
Okay, okay, alright.
58
Just chill.
59
I'll show you my guns.
60
They're in the safe.
61
It's that way. Are they loaded?
62
Just the 9.
63
Let me see.
64
Hmm.
65
Well, it doesn't look like it's been fired.
66
Here's the thing, Cody.
67
Sandra wasn't coming home when she was killed, was she?
68
She was leaving.
69
She was just about to walk out the door when you got home.
70
She was leaving you.
71
No, we've never been happier.
72
She packed her suitcases, left the engagement ring on the table like you were nothing.
73
But you're Cody Benbow, for God's sakes.
74
No one can treat you like that.
75
No. And you got mad, and you killed her.
76
Then you had to unpack her suitcase, put her clothes and her makeup away, but you did it poorly.
77
Like a man putting away a woman's things.
78
Are you serious?
79
That's your proof that her closet's messy?
80
Yeah, you're right, it's not really much as it's not proof.
81
Proof would be finding the jewelry and the cash that was taken from her.
82
But a sensible man like you wouldn't actually throw that money away, would they?
83
Even if they had the time, a sensible man would hide it someplace that no one would think to look someplace close.
84
Like the garden.
85
You buried it in the garden, didn't you?
86
Shut your mouth now.
87
Shut your mouth.
88
I'll take that as a yes.
89
You're very chipper today.
90
Why not?
91
I thought you'd be sad about Lisbon leaving for D.C.
92
Oh, Lisbon's not leaving.
93
She likes to talk like she might, but I don't think she's going anywhere.
94
From what I heard, it's a done deal.
95
She put in her transfer papers.
96
She starts work at the DC office next month.
97
She's leaving Austin in a week next Friday.
98
Morning.
99
Captain Mueller, Captain's police.
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Child, this is Jane.
101
This way, fellas.
102
We got a call at 6.07 AM.
103
Housemates woke up and found him like this.
104
Name's Tyler Van Camp.
105
Sophomore still doing business.
106
Practice squad linebacker.
107
You sure about Lisbon?
108
Did you hear it from her or did you hear it from other people?
109
Say?
110
That's okay, sir.
111
He's talking to me.
112
I heard from other people.
113
Abbott.
114
Well, it's not a done deal then, is it?
115
It's just a rumor.
116
Jane, she's leaving.
117
I believe it when I hear it from her.
118
She's telling you what I heard.
119
Uh, excuse me?
120
What?
121
Tyler Van Camp?
122
Yeah, we're on it.
123
Where are these, uh, housemates?
124
Housemates.
125
This way.
126
Hello, finally.
127
We've been sitting here like two hours, dude.
128
You guys heard of human rights?
129
No such thing.
130
I'm sorry.
131
Which one of you found Tyler's body?
132
I did.
133
What time was that?
134
6 AM.
135
What were you doing up at 6 AM?
136
I mean, called Go Running.
137
You guys have any playing cards?
138
No. Yes.
139
No. Some place.
140
Over there.
141
First drawer.
142
Ah.
143
Yes.
144
She's leaving a week from Friday?
145
Yeah.
146
That's only ten days.
147
Yeah.
148
When was the last time anyone saw Tyler alive?
149
I came in at like two.
150
He was up studying.
151
He was there on the couch, totally chill.
152
We figured he must have surprised a sneak thief.
153
We need to go, Joe.
154
We're working.
155
Uh, yeah, sorry, this, I almost forgot to say it.
156
It was all of them.
157
The ninja knife wasn't in more than an inch, not deep enough to kill him, so he was drowned.
158
In a kiddie pool?
159
Well, only if someone was helping him along.
160
I mean, big athletic guy like Tyler, I would guess that would be a job for two people.
161
Yeah, but why drown him?
162
Well, probably something to do with the drunken card game that took place here last night.
163
They used toy money as chips.
164
Tyler was the player, huh?
165
Flashy gold watch, slick sneakers.
166
I bet he knew how to play cards.
167
I bet he won a lot of money.
168
Money that none of you could spare.
169
Then someone accused him of cheating.
170
That would be you with the red eyes and the turtleneck to cover the bruises on your neck.
171
What's your name?
172
Barry.
173
Barry.
174
Tyler's an angry steroid freak.
175
He got mad, he smashed a chair
176
and started throttling you until this brave man stepped in to help you
177
and received a punch in the face for his trouble.
178
Hence the badly applied makeup covering your black eye.
179
You apply the makeup?
180
You wear your watch on your right hand, probably left-handed, so judging by the angle and the depth of the wound,
181
I would guess that it was you that stabbed Tyler in the back to stop him from throttling Barry here.
182
Now stabbing Tyler in the back didn't help much, made him madder.
183
He chased you outside, he fell in the pool.
184
That's when you two, with the still damp sneakers, got on top of him and held him down until he drowned.
185
And you all came inside and cleaned the room.
186
Now what self-respecting student voluntarily throws away perfectly good vodka?
187
Can we go now?
188
I've stuffed it.
189
I guess so.
190
You're all under arrest.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “The Mentalist - Patrick Jane solves cases quickly”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Tyler, leaving, Cody, guns. This video has 190 sentences and 1209 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:10. The speaker talks at a steady 132 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 47 of its 190 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| housemate noun | /ˈhaʊsˌmeɪt/ | Someone living in the same house. |
| drown verb | /dɹaʊn/ | To die from suffocation while immersed in water or other fluid. |
| sneaker noun | /ˈsnikɚ/ | One who sneaks. |
| someplace adverb | /ˈsʌmˌpleɪs/ | Somewhere. |
| strangle verb | /ˈstɹæŋɡəl/ | To kill someone by squeezing the throat so as to cut off the oxygen supply. |
| throttle noun | /ˈθɹɔ.tl̩/ | A valve that regulates the supply of fuel-air mixture to an internal combustion engine and thus controls its speed; a similar valve that controls the air… |
| suitcase noun | /ˈsutkeɪs/ | A large (usually rectangular) piece of luggage used for carrying clothes, and sometimes suits, when travelling. |
| jewellery noun | /ˈd͡ʒʊ-/ | Collectively, personal ornamentation such as rings, necklaces, brooches and bracelets, made of precious metals and sometimes set with gemstones. |
| stab verb | /stæb/ | To pierce or to wound (somebody) with a (usually pointed) tool or weapon, especially a knife or dagger. |
| sensible adjective | /ˈsɛn.sɪ.bəl/ | Acting with or showing good sense; able to make good judgements based on reason or wisdom, or reflecting such ability. |
| chill verb | /tʃɪl/ | To lower the temperature of something; to cool. |
| bruise noun | /bɹuz/ | A purplish mark on the skin due to leakage of blood from capillaries under the surface that have been damaged by a blow. |
| burglar noun | /ˈbɝɡlɚ/ | A person who breaks in to premises with the intent of committing a crime, usually theft. |
| chipper noun | /ˈt͡ʃɪpɚ/ | Someone who or something which chips (e.g. wood). |
| flashy adjective | /ˈflæʃi/ | Showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| dig up verb | To excavate something. | |
| put away verb | To put (something) in its usual storage place; to place out of the way, clean up. | |
| throw away verb | To discard (trash, garbage, or the like), to toss out, to put in the trash. | |
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| walk out verb | To stage a walkout or strike. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What's your bet on your average this year?
- You came here to talk about baseball?
- Do I look like I have two heads?
- That's your proof that her closet's messy?
- You buried it in the garden, didn't you?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is broken · was stolen · was strangled |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | we've never been · I've stuffed |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 29 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: throttle /ˈθɹɔ.tl̩/, thief /ˈθiːf/, cloth /klɒθ/, athletic /æθˈlɛt.ɪk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: flashy /ˈflæʃi/, smash /smæʃ/
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 housemate, drown, sneaker.
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.