Shadowing Practice: Using Adjectives to Describe Family 👪 | Learn with Examples - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 28 sentences and 181 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:26. The speaker talks slowly, about 53 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- uncle /ˈʌŋ.kl̩/ (noun) — The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent.
- cookie /ˈkʊki/ (noun) — A small, flat, baked good which is either crisp or soft but firm.
- grey /ɡɹeɪ/ (adjective) — Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
- ear /ˈɪə̯/ (noun) — The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.
- bold /ˈbəʊld/ (adjective) — Courageous, daring.
- outdoor /aʊtˈdɔː/ (adjective) — Situated in, designed to be used in, or carried on in the open air.
- artistic /ɑɹˈtɪs.tɪk/ (adjective) — Having or revealing creative skill.
- grandmother /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/ (noun) — A mother of someone's parent.
- grandma /ˈɡɹænmɑː/ (noun) — Grandmother.
- ginger /ˈd͡ʒɪnd͡ʒɚ/ (noun) — The pungent aromatic rhizome of a tropical Asian herb, Zingiber officinale, used as a spice and as a stimulant and acarminative.
- bake /beɪk/ (verb) — To cook (something) in an oven (for someone).
- curly /ˈkɝli/ (adjective) — Having curls.
- blond /blɑnd/ (adjective) — Of a bleached or pale golden (light yellowish) colour.
- granddad (noun) — grandfather
- hardworking /ˈhɑːɹdˌwɜːɹ.kɪŋ/ (adjective) — Of a person, taking their work seriously and doing it well and rapidly.
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 uncle, cookie, grey.
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.