Shadowing Practice: Tom Holland Facts And Secrets You Never Knew - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Tom Holland is without a doubt one of the internet's favorite people.
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I mean, he's basically right up there with Keanu Reeves.
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We love the fact that he's energetic, a seemingly genuine good person, and that he's always seconds away from spoiling a big Marvel secret.
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But speaking of secrets, there's actually a lot you don't know about the Marvel star.
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Like what would he have been doing if his acting career didn't work out?
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Is he a real life superhero?
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And what are his plans for the future?
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Let's get into some major Tom Holland facts right now.
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Tom Holland's got to put his superhero skills to the test a few years ago when he helped a fan in need.
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Being a huge Marvel star means that you're gonna have mobs of fans straight up attack you wherever you go.
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It's the price of fame.
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But sometimes there are fans that are just
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so obsessed with snatching a precious Tom Holland signature that they aren't aware of their surroundings.
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That's what happened outside the Ed Sullivan Theater where Stephen Colbert tapes his show.
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A 20 year old college student named Cassidy Ariel was put
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in a scary situation as Tom Holland's appearance drove the group of Spidey fans into a frenzy.
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Ariel found herself on the verge of a panic attack as she was pushed and shoved against the railing, finding herself surrounded by taller fans who were struggling to get an autograph.
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Holland saw what was going on and jumped to her aid.
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And this wasn't a singular occurrence either.
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One time
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when he was traveling on a plane a lady passed out next to him causing Holland to jump up
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and try to get help.
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Though he admits as he was trying to do things like clear her hair out of her face
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and check her airways that he had no idea what he was doing and was calling out for other people to help.
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Hey, but at least he tried, right?
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Anyone who's seen Tom Holland's epic lip sync battle routine knows that the kid can dance.
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That's actually how he started in the business, and it's a big reason he was able to get the part of Spider -Man.
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When he was young, he took extensive hip -hop and ballet lessons, something he was bullied for as a kid.
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Who's laughing now, right?
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Anyways, he first got his start on a stage version of Billy Elliot, where he played Billy's best friend.
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He worked hard for two years in that role, growing a bit and learning more to the point where he eventually got to play the titular character himself.
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From that moment on, he knew that he wanted to continue being an actor.
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Can you imagine starring in a dance show musical around the age of 10?
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I could barely tie my own shoes at that age.
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Right now it's hard to imagine anyone else in the Peter Parker role in the MCU.
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I know a lot of people said Tobey Maguire made a great Peter Parker
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but an okay Spider -Man while Andrew Garfield made a great Spider -Man but an okay Peter Parker.
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But it's a general consensus that Tom Holland rocks the best of both worlds.
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Though if Sony had it their way, things might have turned out a lot differently.
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We all know that the Spider -Man character is one of the most complicated in terms of rights and usage.
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Sony and Disney seem like their two divorced parents fighting for custody of the kid, and they think they know what's best for Peter Parker.
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It's not our place to say who's right and wrong here, but it is interesting that Sony was the one that was initially hesitant on the Tom Holland casting.
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Marvel mastermind Kevin Feige and company were adamant about bringing Tom Holland on board, but Sony was thinking about other things.
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They were a little nervous about casting such a young kid in their most important role, A role that would earn them hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few years,
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so it wasn't a decision they could make lightly.
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Fortunately, with Marvel holding firm in their decision and commitment, Sony finally agreed and Holland was cast.
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Sometimes you go through a rut and start re -evaluating your career.
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This happens to famous actors as well.
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After having a sort of successful run, thanks to starring in the Clint Eastwood film The Impossible, Holland thought his career would take off.
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But it actually didn't.
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He wasn't getting parts and that started to worry both him and his mother.
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His mom actually forced him to go to carpentry school after his career had stalled a bit
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and Holland threw himself into his studies.
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He got pretty far along in that course until he left to go do Marvel auditions.
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Sure, it was risky, but it now seems like it was a good move to take that chance on his acting career.
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And it wasn't even a total waste of time.
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Holland says he's now pretty handy and can hold his own on carpentry projects.
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So now I desperately want a video of Tom Holland in character as Peter Parker putting together IKEA furniture.
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That'd be hilarious.
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An Allen wrench.
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One Allen wrench puts together all the furniture.
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We always want to know the tea
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when a star starts dating their romantic lead a co -star and that's exactly what happened with Tom Holland and Zendaya.
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The couple have had such an on -and -off -again relationship that it's hard to keep track.
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They started off denying dating rumors back in 2017, but then announced their relationship where everything seemed to be going well.
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Then they broke up and seemingly moved on, with Tom moving in during quarantine with Nadia Parks and Zendaya rumored to be dating her Euphoria co -star.
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But now, just recently Tom and Zendaya were seen back together again, kissing, holding hands, all that jazz.
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Now does a part of me believe these crazy kids worked it all out?
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Sure.
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Or does another part of me think a lot of celebrity
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relationships are manufactured right around the time they have to promote a big.. project.
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I mean, it's show business after all.
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Did you know Tom Holland has some ink?
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Not that you would probably ever see it.
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Turns out he kind of liked his Spider -Man role a lot and wanted to do something to commemorate it.
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This led him to getting the classic Spidey logo tattooed on the bottom of his foot.
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That's how you can tell the tattoo is just for him and not for show.
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It also probably helps when it comes to makeup because he doesn't have to spend time covering it up.
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Though with its placement on the bottom of his foot, he said he's had to get it redone a few times because of all the wear and tear.
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That must be painful.
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Hope he's not super ticklish.
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I think you can tell a lot about a celebrity by knowing what their favorite films are, so what are Holland's?
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Well, one of his all -time favorite movies is Primal Fear starring Ed Norton.
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Not a bad choice, just not what I expected.
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One of his other favorites is My Cousin Vinny, which is hilarious because that's the movie that won Marisa Tomei an Oscar.
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You think he ever talked to his Aunt May about that?
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You can tell that Tom Holland is a creative guy.
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I mean, you have to be in that business and his aspirations for his blooming career are quite lofty.
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He's talked about how he wants to continue doing major franchises
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to learn more about the business as well as branch off into more indie series roles.
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Both of which he's done recently with his Uncharted film and his more serious roles in things like Cherry.
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Sometimes I wonder if life was wasted on me.
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But on top of that, Holland has his eyes set on directing too.
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He says he'll definitely get behind the camera one of these days.
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Man, what do you think a Tom Holland's directed movie would look like?
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One thing you might not be aware of is that Tom Holland is actually dyslexic.
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He was diagnosed with a learning disability at an early age and has trouble reading, but it's something he's been incredibly open about throughout his life.
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Though one person who isn't so happy with the diagnosis is his father.
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A comedian and industry vet, Dominic Holland has spoken about his son's diagnosis
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and has said he was never comfortable with his son being diagnosed with dyslexia
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and thinks that some kids just have trouble with literacy.
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Holland is also a pretty charitable guy.
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His family runs The Brothers Trust, which was set up in 2017 by Tom's parents, and is focused on getting funds to smaller charities that you may not have heard of before.
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The Brothers Trust is a family business, but it puts Tom front and center and uses his celebrity status to raise money and promote awareness.
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They do things like participate in sweepstakes to win experience with Holland and visit certain film premieres or set visits.
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It's an example of a star using their powers for good.
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So again, I do think Holland is a real -life superhero.
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You can't convince me otherwise.
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This one isn't exactly a fact, but I just wanted to highlight how pure and hilarious the bromance he developed with Jake Gyllenhaal after Far From Home is.
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Do yourself a favor and go google them hanging out together and I guarantee it will put a smile on your face.
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It's the best bromance in Hollywood hands down.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 111 sentences and 1628 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:49. The speaker talks fast, about 208 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 81% 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:
- celebrity /səˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ɾi/ (noun) — Fame, renown; the state of being famous or talked-about.
- hilarious /hɪˈlɛə.ɹi.əs/ (adjective) — Very funny; causing great merriment and laughter.
- starring (verb) — That which has the specified actor or actors, especially those in lead roles, in its cast.
- superhero /ˈs(j)upɚhɪɹoʊ/ (noun) — Any fictional crime-fighting character, often with supernatural powers or equipment, in popular children's and fantasy literature; a fictional hero who does…
- furniture /ˈfɝ.nɪ.t͡ʃɚ/ (noun) — Large movable item(s), usually in a room, which enhance(s) the room's characteristics, functionally or decoratively.
- diagnosis /daɪəɡˈnəʊsɪs/ (noun) — The process of, or an instance of, identification of the nature and cause of a medical condition or illness.
- tattoo /tæˈtuː/ (noun) — An image made on a body part, usually the skin with ink and a needle.
- seemingly /ˈsiːmɪŋli/ (adverb) — As it appears; apparently.
- rumor /ˈɹumɚ/ (noun) — A statement or claim of questionable accuracy, from no known reliable source, usually spread by word of mouth.
- earn /ɝn/ (verb) — To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.
- complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/ (adjective) — Difficult or convoluted.
- lesson /ˈlɛs.ən/ (noun) — A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
- charity /ˈtʃæɹɪti/ (noun) — An organization, the objective of which is to carry out a charitable purpose.
- awareness /əˈwɛɹ.nəs/ (noun) — The state or level of consciousness where sense data can be confirmed by an observer.
- guarantee /ˌɡæɹ.ənˈtiː/ (noun) — Anything that assures a certain outcome.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- put together (verb) — To assemble, construct, build, or formulate.
- turn out (verb) — To end up; to result.
- back in (verb) — To reverse a vehicle into a space.
- break up (verb) — To break or separate into pieces.
- get behind (verb) — To come to believe or support something.
- get into (verb) — To move into (an object), such that one ends up inside it.
- go on /ˈɡoʊˌɒn/ (verb) — To continue in extent.
- go through (verb) — To travel from one end of something to the other.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as wasn't, didn't, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shoe /ˈʃu/, audition /ɑˈdɪʃən/, shove /ʃʌv/, aspiration /ˌæspəˈɹeɪʃən/, ticklish /ˈtɪk(ə)lɪʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: celebrity /səˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ɾi/, hilarious /hɪˈlɛə.ɹi.əs/, superhero /ˈs(j)upɚhɪɹoʊ/, complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, participate /pɑːˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/
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 celebrity, hilarious, starring.
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 | was put · was pushed · was bullied |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have had · he's been · has spoken |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | Vinny, which is · person who isn · Trust, which was |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | were struggling · was going · was traveling |
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.