Shadowing Practice: The Perfect Home for my Animals | Common Ground 02 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Welcome back to the Common Ground SMP.

In the last episode, I built the cutest little starter house

and storage basement and also trapped my animals in a 3x4 hole.

Well, have no fear

because today I will be focused on giving them a much more permanent home and an adorable one at that.

On top of that, I'll be doing a lot of terraforming

and overall readying up our island for lots of future projects

and I can't wait so let's honestly just get right into it.

I'm back in the common ground SMP and I love my starter house.

In fact, I love the whole area surrounding my starter house except for the rest of the island.

So you guys can see I kind of fixed up the whole surrounding area

and it is very much giving what it needs to give, colorful, whimsy, it's all shaped out perfectly and then you look to the side

and the rest of it is just kind of an eyesore.

Before I get into anything else today, and trust me, there's going to be a lot to get into today, I'm gonna fix up this island and we're gonna start by chopping down the trees,

which it's a little bit...

I don't...

I just feel like I need a blank slate.

I know some of you guys relate.

So let's get to sprucing up this island, aka deforesting.

It's okay.

We'll plant more.

We'll build more even. so well

I popped on a movie and I got busy

because there is a shocking lack of trees let me just run over

and give you the rundown

so I also have began the dreadful task of clearing all of the leaf litter

and mind you I have been using buckets of water like

so to make the process a lot easier

but still it is a headache

and then I immediately just go dump it straight into my little compost system there

which has been good in terms of getting bone meal

but you may also notice some stone up here because I've been bringing down this little hill just a little bit.

I still want the hill and I think I'll even bring it down a couple more blocks maybe even three.

I just felt like it was a little bit too much

and that just got me thinking that in fact there's quite a bit of landscaping

that I want to do on the island before I really get into much more building.

Um, so I think that's what i'm going to do next I

want to have it shaped a little bit more like this

is going to be the hill I'm going to trim it back a little bit Have it all along

that side and then have more of our flat ground all over on the right side here

But that will be yet another grindy process.

So I guess i'll just get right back to it.

I'll see you guys in a bit Actually quick little side note before I get too too distracted by terraforming.

Where is it?

Okay, I have so much dirt.

In fact, yeah, it's a little bit of a problem.

The fact that I'm already having to go into overflow, we're gonna need more of a storage solution, I fear.

I think for now, I'm just gonna end up having a couple overflow chests on the land.

This will only last us for so long.

I just wanted to show you guys because she's so cute, but I just don't have the space.

I could always add a few more.

In fact, maybe that's what I'll do, make this a little three chest instead of just the two rows.

Um, oh well, okay.

Now, let me actually get to landscaping here.

Admittedly, I got quite lost in the rhythm of terraforming and smoothing out my whole area.

I was visited by Gold, who in true Gold fashion watched my progress from her boat, which, love that.

I also ended up with so much leaf litter during this process and ended up offering it away to my friend Salami, who paid me a visit for it.

Here, there's a storage room in the basement.

There's a storage room.

That's where I just was.

Now, where is it?

Here The interior looks so good.

Thank you. So good.

Thank you She's not much but yeah,

I was gonna say you're very You run a tight ship I guess my inventory Yeah,

no. No, I have random stuff in the barrels here.

Yeah, well, that's a good idea.

But, yeah, I was thinking of adding even another row here, too, because I was realizing that, like, some things are all of my dirt, for example.

Already looking a little bit rough.

All right, I have, I should have a little bit in here.

I just took some here, but do you need, do you want any?

No, I also have like five stacks up in a chest

that I'm I'm doing some landscaping so I'm clearing up so much more Okay, no, I think what I just took is enough.

Do you mind if I take one azalea?

Oh, yeah, go ahead take whatever.

Thank you.

I'm gonna just use that in a planter I think that's it.

My interior is almost done.

Oh, I just needed those last couple things You don't have to have like a weird surplus of dried gas, do you?

I don't have a single dried gas.

Are you using them for decoration?

Just one.

I want my shelves.

For like a plushie?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, cute.

I want my shelves to shelves to have like knickknacks Yeah, I need a copper golem which should be easy enough and then a Dried gas,

but yeah, I've never actually made a copper golem.

Oh no time like the present Do you have any oxidized copper?

Yeah?

Yeah, and then do you have a pumpkin?

I have a jack-o-lantern That I think will do.

I don't think I have any concrete.

I actually do have normal ones as well.

Umm, shears.

Oh, you have shears.

Okay, well you still made it.

I still haven't made a copper roll.

Oh!

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So, I still haven't made a copper roll!

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Do you have iron in any of these?

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Yeah, yeah.

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But it's this one.

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I don't know if he can reach it.

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Did he take it out?

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No, I think you stressed him out.

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Perfect!

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I guess I'll take that!

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Great, great, great!

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Awesome, awesome!

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Anything else you need?

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So.. no, I think that went pretty well.

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Here's some candles.

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Oh, great!

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Thank you! And, um...

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An iron nugget.

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Here's an axe.

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A slick touch axe.

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There you go.

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Oh, thank you, actually.

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I will use that.

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Okay, all right.

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Perfect.

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I don't feel as bad.

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Beautiful.

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Thank you.

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I feel very satisfied.

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Good.

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I'm glad.

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I'm glad this deal worked out.

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I'm going to go try to finish my interior real quick.

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Okay, you got this.

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I know.

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I'm like, I need to be productive right now.

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Okay, good luck.

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You're welcome to stop by.

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I have a visitor's log, so you can sign the visitor's book.

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oh okay i might have to after essentially robbing me in

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broad daylight salami made his way back to his base

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and i finally got back to some more terraforming joined of

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course by gold still after about 15 more minutes of this

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past we both made our way over to sign salami's new

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visitor's log camp salami the humble camp salami we haven't quite gotten there yet but uh we're somewhere.

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It looks nice.

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I haven't seen this at all.

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One second.

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Let me digest this.

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This is the log book.

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Home is where the heart is, but what a shame because everyone's heart doesn't beat the same.

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Aww.

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So how do I follow that up?

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Gold, I'm gonna let you go first.

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What?

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Okay, I'll sign the book.

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It was like the third result on Pinterest quotes.

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She's using Pinterest as like Tumblr.

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Now that I had finally signed the logbook, we all yapped for just a little bit longer in true SMP fashion.

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I've really, really been enjoying that aspect of the SMP.

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Be sure to go check out Salami and Gold's channel if you haven't already, as well as honestly all of the other Common Ground members.

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But with that all being said and done, I finally made my way back to my base.

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Well, I am happy to report that some big progress has been made.

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hence the floating nether portal there we have done quite a fair bit of terraforming

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and of course she will find her place eventually this has

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always been a very very temporary position for the portal

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but heading up here I have some excess dirt storage

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and wow seeing this is just insane the amount of overfill as well as some odds

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and ends in here that brings me to our next build

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and I'm thinking this flat area here is going to be the perfect space for it.

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I'm not sure it'll fill up the whole thing

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and in fact I really don't think it will

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but my next plan like I said is going to involve some of our other friendly animals

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because as of right now sorry guys I know this isn't

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this isn't a permanent solution that's what I'm working on I'm sorry we need to move them out of

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that sad little hole and into a proper enclosure, whatever it ends up being.

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So that's our next plan, and hopefully I can find a way to tie it into our beautiful little starter base here.

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I'm super happy with how it turned out.

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Also, shout out Gold Earth Insider.

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I honestly have no plans going into this farmhouse animal build, whatever it ends up being, something to house the animals or at least a few of them.

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We're in this together.

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Let's go figure out a block palette, some resources and I'll just report back with you guys

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because let's be real knowing me and knowing this SMP

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so far I'm gonna get distracted 5,000 more times so I'm sure we'll be up to some shenanigans pretty quick here.

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so what do we think oh my goodness oh I am obsessed with all of the details

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that went into this and honestly it's simple it's it didn't end up turning into a house

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but we do have a little bit of shelter over on this side

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which I'm obsessed with the little hanging sign details and everything

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and I mean I don't know this is just the exact like block palette

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and energy that I need to carry with me moving forward.

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Obviously this and so many more colors because

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that is my whole vibe for this season and for this S&P I'm loving it.

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I feel like it meshes so well with our starter house.

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I just need to add like obviously it looks a little

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bit naked for lack of a better word right now but once I get some trees and more shrubbery leaves,

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greenery in here especially I I also want to give them a little bit of a water source.

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I think a pond or something like that.

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It'll look a lot more in place.

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And yeah, so I'm also thinking, as I look up at my island,

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so I think I'm gonna do a custom tree right here between our house and animal enclosure, as well as having one actually in with the animals

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so I'll need to plan those out

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and then I also really feel like I need to expand away from this general vicinity

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and maybe put something over on this side

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or even over here maybe I need to come up with

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a better solution for my garden let's see okay I've got

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all sorts of ideas happening in my head right now actually you know what let's just start from the top.

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Let us get a tree or two in here and I'm going to start with the one between our little builds here.

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So let's see let me think.

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I kind of have I know I want to use the flowering azalea as well as the azalea leaves

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and I also think I'm going to throw in a more basic texture.

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Oh ignore the little baby chick in my house.

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I'm not too sure what that's about

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and I think I'm gonna go with just regular old oak

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and also some spruce detailing which I'm realizing I'm gonna have to go get more of

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that do I have any spruce saplings oh I do okay perfect let's get some bone meal as well

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and I will go grab some more spruce wood

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because I think spruce wood just matches really really well let's

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see I'll show you guys what I mean spruce wood goes super super well with oak logs specifically so

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if i try with a staircase like the darker wood tones

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in those just match super super well as opposed to like

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a regular oak let's see the comparison yeah it's just a

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little bit obviously it does bring out the lighter actually now

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that i'm looking at this i'm like maybe maybe that's what

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i should do i am kind of going for like a

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lighter color palette overall oh well we will experiment we'll see

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both ways now i'm gonna do my little trick of just

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building a little platform so I don't turn everything into podzol

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and then ta-da we have a tree as I'm chopping this I'm realizing my axe has definitely seen better days

227

so I'm gonna have to make a stop over to one of the xp farms on the server

228

because yes there are apparently multiple and get that mended up Okay,

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of course I don't have a single arrow on me in my desperate time of need to kill these monsters.

230

I mean, I could realistically just go to sleep too.

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Let's do that.

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Oh.

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Ow.

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What was that?

235

I was camping the portal.

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Yeah, I was like, somehow she's always looking at me when I come.

237

No, that was actually pure coincidence.

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I was literally just looking at that skeleton like, oh, I don't have a single arrow in my inventory.

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What are you up to?

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I was just about to start my little tree right here.

241

Very nice.

242

Did you think of a favorite block?

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I told you.

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I answered.

245

Amethyst blocks, buds, crystals.

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Okay.

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As you can tell.

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Yes, as I can tell.

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Okay.

250

Okay, we can do that.

251

Okay, wait, what are you doing?

252

This is part of your little gifting service?

253

To add just a little bit of context to this whole interaction, Salami has built his own little Stardew Valley-esque gifting system for all of the Common Ground members.

254

Prior to this, he asked all of our favorite blocks, and mine is, of course, Amethyst, blocks, and clusters, as you can tell by my builds so far in the SMP,

255

and we'll be carrying that vibe forward.

256

So hang tight, and maybe he'll just surprise us with some of those.

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Okay, so I think I have everything that I need finally.

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I have both types of wood I said I was going to experiment with my azalea leaves

259

and i'm also I don't have the stuff in my inventory

260

But i'm going to be making the tree a little tree swing

261

So it's gonna have a little swing on it

262

And I think i'm gonna do

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that out of mangrove to tie in the block palette of my starter house And i'm just so obsessed.

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I mean, obviously it matches these little hanging signs too.

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I think it's going to be right around here.

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So let's just get started and put up a little tree swing.

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After some finishing touches, we have a tree.

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Oh my goodness.

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Now please bear with me.

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I am not the best at building trees, but like I think it's pretty good for someone not being the best at building trees

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and you may be wondering where is the swing well i thought we could build

272

that part together and you'll have to bear with me

273

because the chains are supposed to be a little bit weathered there

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and then replace these with hanging signs

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and ta-da we have a little swing oh my goodness

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and it actually doesn't even look half bad with the copper like unweathered at all cute.

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Oh my goodness.

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Maybe I should like throw in some little path blocks as if someone has been swinging on it.

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And I'll also add some coarse dirt around.

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I think that's adorable.

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Oh, I can't touch the ones actually underneath.

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Oh my goodness.

283

Wait, of course I have to hop on it.

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Oh my goodness.

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Look at how cute this is.

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Oh, this actually makes me so happy. Who knew?

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Okay.

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Apparently.

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Okay.

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This is my PSA.

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Everybody needs a tree swing in their world.

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Please, please.

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If you have trees, go add a swing to them.

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Oh, okay.

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I totally forgot, but I brought a spore blossom as well.

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And I think, let's see.

297

Oh, and the sun is setting.

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Perfect for me to see the particles.

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Let's see.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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I need that there.

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Beautiful.

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And it's not even that visible.

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I mean, even if it is, it's cute.

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It's pink.

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It blends in.

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Oh my goodness.

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I'm thrilled.

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What a cute little tree.

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I still need to add one in with the animals, but for now, I'm just, I love this so much.

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And looking around, I'll admit, I think I made a mistake chopping down all my trees

313

because this whole area is a little bit depressing to me now.

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So am I going to go through all the effort of replanting a bunch of trees?

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Absolutely.

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Yes, I am.

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Matter of fact, because I need to bring some more life back to this island.

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And if that means trees that I'm going to have to eventually chop down again, so be it.

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I just need some greenery, some leaves, some movement happening, because I have hit a creative wall and I need inspiration and trees are inspiration for me.

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All right okay this is already miles and miles better.

321

I mean I planted a bunch of trees.

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I still think I'm gonna plant a few more

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but I mean I don't know what I was thinking just deforesting the whole area because this is way better.

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I've also done a fair bit of bone mealing to get some grass as well as removing the flowers

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because I'm not in love with the poppies and dandelions.

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I mean I like them but oh my goodness Hello

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I think this is a running bit of like I literally am always just at the portal when you go in

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My words before I came through were hopefully she's not right

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by the portal Look I brought over popcorn for a play date

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Oh my goodness Popcorn So is it safe to go in with this fen?

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It's safe Yeah it's safe Popcorn friends I actually just added some grass for them so Beautiful.

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I love the tree.

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Actually, I'll give them some more.

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I'll give them some more.

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I come bearing gifts.

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Oooh.

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My Stardew tracker told me that- the wiki told me that you like animals.

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So, I guess that's all I got.

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Tell me when I can open it.

340

Oh.

341

Wait.

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Oh, I didn't see.

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I forgot to put my tag on it.

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Oh, okay.

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Everybody's got the same tag.

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There you are.

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Yay!

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What do we have in here?

349

Oh my goodness, it's like an amethyst cake.

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It is like an amethyst cake.

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Yeah, it's like...

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I don't know.

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Wait, it's so cute!

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Thank you!

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You're welcome.

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These will definitely get some good use.

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And just let me know when you want me to pick up popcorn.

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Oh yeah, he's good for a little while.

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Okay.

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Right, popcorn?

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Oh yeah, you don't have to say that.

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Oh, he's good, he's good.

363

Yeah.

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Okay.

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Bye buddy.

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Bye.

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Oh this really just sets the scene for me.

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The rainbow over my tree over the lovely little gift from my friend Salome.

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He must have secret access to the common ground wiki

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or something to know all of our favorite blocks because this is actually one of my favorite blocks.

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And what a nice little surprise that is.

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I'll definitely get some good use out of those blocks And if you didn't notice, he also brought over his little baby chick,

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Popcorn, who follows him to every universe and every world that he has.

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Little Popcorn.

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So after he has a little play date with my animals here, I'll have to make sure that he gets returned home safe and sound if it's the last thing I do.

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But anyway, now that that's all said and done, welcome little interruption.

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I'm just going to wrap up and finish planting some more grass along my island

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and I can already say this is making me leaps

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and bounds more motivated and excited to continue on on this island project.

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I mean even my little tree here is just getting me

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super excited to see what else I can come up with

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because just look how cute it is the little swing but

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that reminds me I actually need to build another one in with my animals

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and also give them a little water source so that will be my next course of action.

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After I finish planting some more grass and greenery and shrubbery and all the things.

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Let me bring that into my animal pen first.

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well that was a fair amount of detailing that i just did

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and i would call that well worth it because just look behind me

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and admire how beautiful everything came together and i totally forgot to mention

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but we do actually have the very humble beginnings of a shopping district happening.

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And we have a little pop-up shop for frog lights.

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So of course those in the little swamp on the roof of the little shelter here.

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And I will be the number one customer of that frog light shop because I am obsessed with those blocks.

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But I added a little cake area, a little seating picnic in here for the animals for popcorn.

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And I also gave popcorn a little friend.

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Oh, Have a seat.

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I gave Popcorn a little friend.

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Let's see, where did he go?

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So we have Popcorn and Colonel, adorable, and they can sit up and have some cake, but I'm obsessed.

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I think it turned out super cute and honestly beyond what I could have hoped for.

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I'm obsessed with all the little details and everything, the little pond, the little fishies in the pond.

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I think it all came together super, super well.

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Also, in the meantime, whilst I've been detailing this, I've had so many visitors come over and sit on my little tree swing

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which has just brought me so so much joy

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and I can't wait he's climbing

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and I can't wait to continue on in this S&P

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and I hope you guys can't wait too thank you

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so much for all the love on episode one it's been

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so so so much fun being on an S&P

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and for you guys to watch the S&P make sure you

411

guys check out all of my fellow common ground members like the video

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if you enjoyed and subscribe to the channel if you really enjoyed it means the whole entire world to me.

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Also huge huge shout out to the channel members.

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I've been blown away at the support recently so thank you guys so so much.

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I really can't overstate it enough.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you and I will see you guys all next time.

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I can't wait.

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Bye!

✨ Recommend Video

413 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “The Perfect Home for my Animals”. This video has 418 sentences and 4045 words to shadow. The speech runs for 24:37. The speaker talks at a natural 164 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 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 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
popcorn noun	/ˈpɑp.kɔɹn/	A snack food made from corn or maize kernels popped by dry heating.
goodness noun	/ˈɡʊdnəs/	The state or characteristic of being good.
obsess verb	/əbˈsɛs/	To be preoccupied with a single topic or emotion.
salami noun	/ˌsəˈlɑmi/	A large cured meat sausage of Italian origin, served in slices.
spruce noun	/spɹuːs/	Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully…
starter noun	/ˈstɑɹ.tɚ/	Someone who starts, or who starts something.
copper noun	/ˈkɒpə/	A reddish-brown metallic chemical element (symbol Cu) with the atomic number 29; also, the metal made up of this element.
terraforming noun	/ˈtɛɹəfɔːmɪŋ/	The hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, etc. to make it similar to…
portal noun	/ˈpɔːɹtl̩/	An entrance, entry point, or means of entry.
amethyst noun	/ɛm-/	A transparent purple to violet variety of quartz with traces of manganese, used as a gemstone.
azalea noun	/əˈzeɪliə/	A plant of the obsolete genus Azalea.
palette noun	/ˈpælɪt/	A thin board on which a painter lays and mixes colours.
chop verb	/t͡ʃɑp/	To cut into pieces with short, vigorous cutting motions.
dirt noun	/dɝt/	Soil or earth.
greenery noun	/ˈɡɹiːnəɹi/	Green foliage or verdure.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.
bring over verb		To cause to change allegiance or point of view.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come together verb	/ˈkʌm tʊˈɡɛðɚ/	To assemble; to congregate; to combine.
come up with verb		To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
fix up verb		To provide (someone) with something; to furnish.
turn out verb		To end up; to result.
bring down verb		To make (a ruler or government) lose their position of power.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Do you mind if I take one azalea?
Are you using them for decoration?
Do you have iron in any of these?
What are you up to?
Let's see, where did he go?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	have been using · I've been bringing · has been swinging
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has been · I've never actually made · haven't made
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was visited · being said · has been made
Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea	should have · should be · should do

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 141 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, gonna. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: nether /nɛð.ə/, thrill /θɹɪl/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shelf /ʃɛlf/, shear /ʃɪɚ/, shrubbery /ˈʃɹʌbəɹi/, enclosure /ɛnˈkloʊʒəɹ/, shout /ʃaʊt/
Long words — get the stress right: terraforming /ˈtɛɹəfɔːmɪŋ/, adorable /əˈdoɹ.əˌbəl/, dandelion /ˈdæn.dəˌlaɪ.ən/, interruption /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/, shenanigans /ʃɪˈnæn.ɪ.ɡənz/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like popcorn, goodness, obsess.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?