Shadowing Practice: The Root Problem | Peep and the Big Wide World - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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The Root Problem It was a perfect morning.
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Just right for- AAAAAH!
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Quack, quack!
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Ahhhhh!
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Ahhhhh!
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Ohhhh!
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Ohhhh!
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Ahhhhh!
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Oh no!
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Ahhhh!
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Ahhhhhhh!
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Ahhhhh!
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AAAHH!
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Ahhhhhhh!
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Ahhhhh!
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Ohhhhh!
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Ohhhhh!
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Ahhhhhhh!
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Ohhhhhhh!
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Quack!
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Quack!
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Quack!
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What?
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What is it?
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Are you okay?
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There!
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Over there!
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A snake!
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Uh...quack?
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I don't mind sharing my pond with fish, but a snake is just too...
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Black!
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What?
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That's not a snake.
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It's a stick.
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Of course it's a stick.
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Pretending to be a snake.
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I didn't know you were scared of snakes, Quack.
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Me?
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I am not afraid of snakes.
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It's just, you know how snakes are.
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They sneak up on you and tickle your feet.
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I'm pretty sure snakes don't do that.
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You clearly don't know snakes.
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Anyway, we have to get rid of it.
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I'll just pull you out of the ground so you can't...
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...uh, scare ducks.
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Whoa!
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Okay...
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I'll dig you out.
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Peep, lend me a foot, please.
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This is a really big stick.
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Are you sure you want to dig it up?
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Of course I'm sure.
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It was bothering me, wasn't it?
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Ah!
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This must be the biggest stick in the world.
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You could be right.
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Which makes this an amazing discovery.
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And me, an amazing discoverer.
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I'll be famous.
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You think so?
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Definitely.
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Everybody loves big stick stories.
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And so, using a digging stick, little bird toes, and big duck feet, the three friends dug and dug and dug.
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And dug and dug and dug and dug and dug.
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Hey!
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Be careful with those feet!
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That's not a snake, is it?
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I don't think so.
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Sorry, but we're digging up the world's biggest stick.
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Sounds exciting, but I feel I speak for all earthworms when I say, please dig carefully.
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We live here.
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You live in dirt?
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Why? Because we eat dirt.
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And then we like to move it around.
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So it's just very convenient.
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Bye!
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So once again, the three friends dug and dug and dug and dug...
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Until...
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Look!
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A tunnel!
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Hello down there!
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Hello up there!
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The power of duck feet!
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The power of mole feet!
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Howdy!
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Moe's my name, and digging tunnels is my game!
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Hi, I'm Peep, and this is Chirp and Quack.
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Aren't you the ones digging up the world's biggest stick?
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Yes, that's right.
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How did you know?
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I can't see very well, but I have great hearing.
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And one of you is very loud.
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I am not loud.
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I'm exuberant.
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Well, anywho, all play and no hole makes for one homeless mole.
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Ciao.
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Once more, the three friends, dog and dog.
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Hey, I found a berry.
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Let me take a look.
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Hmm, round, check, small, check.
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Yep, that's a berry, all right.
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Who wants to play berry?
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Me.
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Me, not me.
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Hmm?
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A talking berry?
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Could this be, dare I say it, Another amazing discovery?
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I'm not a talking berry.
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I'm a pill bug.
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Why were you rolled up like that? For protection.
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See my shell?
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It's hard as a rock.
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Keeps me safe.
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Well, sorry to disturb you, but we're digging up this stick because Quack is afraid of snakes.
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I am not.
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Why not?
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Well, anyway, we have to dig it up.
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Good luck!
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By now, Peep, Quack, and Chirp were hot and tired.
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So they were very happy when the stick led them into the shade of Newton's tree.
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Hmm.
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I think our stick is stuck to Newton's tree.
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Really?
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Well, we'll have to dig up the tree then.
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Hmm.
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We're going to need a couple more ducks for that.
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Quack, we can't dig up Newton's tree.
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Well, I can't live with a snake.
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I mean, I could.
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But I don't want to.
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It's not a snake.
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It's a stick.
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It's not a stick or a snake.
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It's a root.
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It brings water to my tree.
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But I thought roots were under the ground.
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We kind of made a mess, didn't we?
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Don't blame me.
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Blame that snake!
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And so it turned out to be a perfect afternoon.
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Just right for covering a root with dirt.
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Come on, Quack.
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We have to undig all our digging.
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When we get to your pond, we can bury the snake, a stick, a root, under a rock or something.
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Is a duck's work never done? the duck asked.
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Capri and Hazel and I are digging holes.
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I found a worm right there. Where?
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Right there.
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Pick it up.
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They actually do help you.
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They make the soil nice and clean again.
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Hello, Dippies.
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I found a rock.
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This rock has some yellow in it.
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Maybe the leaves that fall on the ground, when they get crumbled, they go into the ground
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and they make dirt and they might have gave the dirt a little color to give the rock a little color.
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Ooh, what the heck is this?
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It's reddish-orange-ish and it's squished in the back.
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I think it's a tail of a different room.
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We are finding living things and things that are not living.
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It's green!
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Is it a marble?
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It probably is a marble or a little ball.
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I found a rock.
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It's a big one too.
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I know.
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It looks like a bunch of rocks glued together.
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It looks like it could be a chunk of sidewalk or something.
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I have a baby worm in my hand.
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And it's a little green worm.
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So maybe it's a tree worm that blends into the trees and stuff.
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See what you can find when you dig some holes.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 173 sentences and 923 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:15. The speaker talks slowly, about 90 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 72% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- snake /sneɪk/ (noun) — Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptiles with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues.
- dig /dɪɡ/ (verb) — To move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill, or the like, through rocks, roads, or the like. More…
- dirt /dɝt/ (noun) — Soil or earth.
- duck /dʌk/ (noun) — Any of certain aquatic birds of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet, distinguished from swans and geese by generally being smaller and…
- berry /ˈbɛɹi/ (noun) — A small succulent fruit, of any one of many varieties.
- worm /wɝm/ (noun) — A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.
- discovery /dɪˈskʌv.ɹi/ (noun) — Something discovered.
- tunnel /ˈtʌn(ə)l/ (noun) — An underground or underwater passage.
- scare /skɛɚ/ (verb) — To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way.
- pond /pɑnd/ (noun) — An inland body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is smaller than a lake.
- marble /ˈmɑɹ.bəl/ (noun) — A metamorphic rock of crystalline limestone.
- carefully /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ (adverb) — With care; attentively, circumspectly.
- soil /sɔɪl/ (noun) — A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.
- bother /ˈbɑðɚ/ (verb) — To annoy, to disturb, to irritate; to be troublesome to, to make trouble for.
- shell /ʃɛl/ (noun) — The calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- dig up (verb) — To excavate something.
- come on /ˌkʌm ˈɒn/ — Come along with me; join me in going.
- fall on (verb) — To experience; to suffer; to fall upon.
- go into (verb) — To get involved in; to investigate or explore.
- live in (verb) — To reside on the premises of one's employer (used especially of domestic staff such as nannies, cooks, maids, etc.)
- live with (verb) — To share an abode as an unmarried partner in a sexual relationship.
- make for (verb) — To set out to go (somewhere); to move towards.
- roll up (verb) — To dominate by accumulating; to become dominant by accumulating.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 27 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: bother /ˈbɑðɚ/, earthworm /ˈɜː(ɹ)θˌwɜː(ɹ)m/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shell /ʃɛl/, shade /ʃeɪd/, reddish /ˈɹɛdɪʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: discoverer /dɪˈskʌvəɹəɹ/, exuberant /ɪɡˈzuːbəɹənt/
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 snake, dig, dirt.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | we're digging · are digging · are finding |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | I'll just pull · I'll dig · I'll be |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | have to get · have to dig · have to undig |
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.