Shadowing Practice: The Most Ridiculous War Humans Ever Fought - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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The machine gun rattles in your hands.
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Somewhere in the sunburned fields ahead, the enemy.
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A head rises above the crops, then another.
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You're an Australian soldier facing emus.
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Everything's falling apart.
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It's 1932 and Australia is deep in the Great Depression.
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In the West, farmers struggle to grow wheat on dry, unforgiving land.
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The government has promised help but delivered nothing.
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Wheat prices are collapsing.
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Many farmers have already left.
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Then it gets worse.
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20 ,000 emus sweep through the region for water and grain.
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It's paradise for the emus, but hell for the farmers.
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The emus eat the crops, flatten the fields, tear down fences.
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The farmers turn to the government.
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They want machine guns loaded.
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Solving problems with guns.
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Under pressure, the Minister of Defence agrees to step in, deploying three soldiers.
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But that's it.
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The farmers even have to pay for the bullets.
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And if the whole thing backfires, it's not his problem.
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Reporters and cameras show up.
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If the army's going to fight Australia's own national symbol, they might as well film it.
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The soldiers are sent to Campion, a remote settlement where large flocks of emus have gathered.
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With them, two machine guns and 10 ,000 rounds of ammunition funded by the local agricultural bank.
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The operation is led by Major Gwynedd Perv's Wynne -Aubrey Meredith.
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Meredith is a World War One veteran.
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On paper, he spent years in a garrison on a remote island defending no one against nothing.
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When he was sent to Europe in 1918 he caught mumps and by the time he left hospital the war was over.
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But now he gets his chance to fight.
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Misinformation quickly takes over reporting in wartime, even if only against emus.
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That's why we've partnered with Ground News, a media literacy tool that helps you navigate these pitfalls.
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With Ground News you can quickly and easily compare coverage on thousands of stories, context on a source's funding
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and how certain sites frame the story lets you cut through
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bias to get better informed on what's going on in the news.
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Try it via the QR code or go to ground .news slash night.
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Our link below gives you 40 % off an unlimited access subscription and directly supports our channel.
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With Ground News, no war party can just feed you their story.
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And now, back to our front line.
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Nothing goes to plan
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Meredith wants the farmers to drive the emus together so
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that his men can gun them down
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But the emus have scattered He decides to ambush them at
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a nearby waterhole at sundown It seems like the perfect setup But Feathers fly, some emus fall But most are running away even
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when hit They can face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks Meredith reports In fact, the emu's thick feathers hide their true shape,
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so bullets often just tear through plumage.
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And much of an emu's body is gut, so hits rarely damage anything vital.
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Meredith gets another chance the next day.
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A thousand emus approach and stop in a long line.
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Perfect targets.
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The gun opens fire, but after a few seconds, it jams.
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The emus are safe again.
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But it seems as if they're planning something.
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EMU RESISTANCE They're now forming small groups, moving quietly through fields and scrub like trained soldiers.
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To the reporters, it looks like organized guerrilla warfare.
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Meredith agrees.
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There even seem to be leaders.
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Tall emus stand in guard while the others feed.
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But that's just normal emu behavior.
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And the leaders aren't towering soldiers, but just larger females.
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As the ridicule grows even in Parliament, the government withdraws the soldiers.
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When they depart, the emus reappear in huge flocks as if to bid them farewell.
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Then they continue destroying the crops.
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The farmers direct their fury at the politicians, and a few days later, the soldiers return, mocked by the public.
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But the more people laugh, the more seriously Meredith seems to take it.
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His reports begin to sound like real war reports.
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Encounters become battles.
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A major success.
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More than 3 ,000 emus killed.
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No casualties on his side.
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The kill count is pure guesswork.
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Countless emus remain.
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The soldiers are out of ammunition.
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And the bank won't pay for more.
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And that's it.
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The war is over.
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The emus have won.
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But out in the fields, things look different.
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The farmers take matters into their own hands, with their old rifles, new fences, and a bounty for every dead emu paid by the government.
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They succeed.
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Meredith doesn't.
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Far away from the fields, he signs up for the Second World War, but waits for his mission again.
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In 1945, he's sent to New Guinea to fight the Japanese, but by the time he arrives, they've just surrendered.
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He served in two world wars, but only fought once.
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...against team use.
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Oh, shit.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 86 sentences and 802 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:07. The speaker talks at a steady 131 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 80% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| soldier noun | /ˈsoʊld͡ʒɚ/ | A member of a ground-based army, of any rank, but especially an enlisted member. |
| farmer noun | /ˈfɑɹ.mɚ/ | A person who works the land and/or who keeps livestock; anyone engaged in agriculture on a farm. |
| crop noun | /kɹɑp/ | A plant, grown for it, or its fruits or seeds, to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, or fuel or for any other economic purpose. |
| remote adjective | /ɹəˈməʊt̞/ | At a distance; disconnected. |
| reporter noun | /ɹɪˈpoɹ.tɚ/ | Someone or something that reports. |
| tear verb | /tɛɹ/ | To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate. |
| bullet noun | /ˈbʊlɪt/ | A projectile, usually of metal, shot from a gun at high speed. |
| fence noun | /fɛns/ | A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house, building, etc. |
| wheat noun | /ˈwiːt/ | Any of the several cereal grains, of the genus Triticum, that yields flour as used in bakery. |
| ammunition noun | /ˌæmjuˈnɪʃən/ | Articles used in charging firearms and ordnance of all kinds; as powder, balls, shot, shells, percussion caps, rockets, etc. |
| feather noun | /ˈfɛðə/ | A branching, hair-like structure that grows on the bodies of birds, used for flight, swimming, protection and display. |
| flock noun | /flɑk/ | A large number of animals associated together in a group; commonly used of sheep, but (dated) also used for goats or other livestock animals, or sometimes any… |
| defend verb | /dɪˈfɪnd/ | To ward off attacks against (something or someone). |
| thick adjective | /θɪk/ | Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension. |
| compare verb | /kəmˈpɛɚ/ | To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| cut through verb | To take a shortcut through. | |
| fall apart verb | To disintegrate, to break into pieces. | |
| run away verb | To flee by running. | |
| show up verb | To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically. | |
| take over verb | To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes by force. | |
| tear down verb | /tɛə(ɹ)ˈdaʊn/ | To demolish. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has promised · have already left · have gathered |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are sent · is led · was sent |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, aren't, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: feather /ˈfɛðə/, thick /θɪk/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, withdraw /wɪðˈdɹɔ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: ammunition /ˌæmjuˈnɪʃən/, politician /ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/, subscription /səbˈskɹɪpʃən/, casualty /ˈkæʒu.əlti/, ambush /ˈæm.bʊʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: ammunition /ˌæmjuˈnɪʃən/, politician /ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/, unlimited /ʌnˈlɪm.ɪ.tɪd/, literacy /ˈlɪtəɹəsi/, casualty /ˈkæʒu.əlti/
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 soldier, farmer, crop.
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.