Shadowing Practice: Under the Sea: Long and Short - Learn English Speaking with Video

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16 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
Wow! I'm under the sea!
2
Fish are everywhere.
3
Long fish, short fish. Let's look!
4
Ooh! This eel is long!
5
This little fish is short.
6
Long fish, short fish!
7
Hello, octopus!
8
Your legs are so long!
9
One, two, three... eight legs!
10
The turtle has short legs.
11
She swims slowly... so slow.
12
The crab has short legs too.
13
Snap, snap! Hello, crab!
14
What's that long shadow?
15
Oh no... a shark!
16
Phew! He's behind the glass!

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This A1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Under the Sea: Long and Short”. This video has 16 sentences and 73 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:51.

Key vocabulary in this video

12 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
snap verb/snæp/To fracture or break apart suddenly.
crab noun/kɹæb/Any crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having five pairs of legs, the foremost of which are in the form of claws, and a carapace.
shadow noun/ˈʃædəʊ̯/A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.
swim verb/swɪm/To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
turtle noun/ˈtɝtl̩/Any land, aquatic, or semi-aquatic reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body. See also tortoise.
octopus noun/ˈɑktəpʊs/Any of several marine molluscs of the order Octopoda, having no internal or external protective shell or bone (unlike the nautilus, squid and cuttlefish) and…
phew/fjuː/Used to express relief of tension, fatigue, or surprise.
leg noun/ˈlɛɡ/A limb or appendage that an animal uses for support or locomotion on land.
everywhere adverb/ˈɛv.ɹi.(h)wɛɹ/In or to all locations under discussion.
slowly adverb/ˈsloʊli/At a slow pace.
fish noun/ˈfɪʃ/A typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills; any vertebrate that is not a tetrapod.
glass noun/ɡlɑːs/An amorphous solid, often transparent substance, usually made by melting silica sand with various additives (for most purposes, a mixture of soda, potash and…

Pronunciation to watch

  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, fish /ˈfɪʃ/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like snap, crab, shadow.

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 →