Shadowing Practice: 96K - Learn English Speaking with Video

Standing cold, alone and naked next to a river in a strange foreign country, I wanted to scream, but I couldn't.

My words were caught in my throat.

I'd never been so scared in my life.

It was then that I realized everything was going wrong, and I began to regret ever coming here in the first place.

How was I going to get out of this strange place alive?

You see, earlier that year, I was browsing Facebook, and I found that a voluntary organization

that was announcing a trip to go and help some people who were less fortunate than me.

It was in Africa.

I'd always wanted to help people.

So without a second thought, I signed up.

This is my chance, I thought to myself.

A few days later, I found out I was accepted.

We were traveling to provide assistance to one of the forgotten African tribes that lived in the jungle.

We had been told that the tribe didn't have vehicles, electricity, or even phones.

Can you imagine how my life would be like without a phone for a whole week?

It was madness.

I believed that it would be an amazing experience, and I was very excited to finally be able to help others.

But in reality, things turned out to be so different than I imagined.

For starters, the journey was unbelievably long.

We traveled by plane, then we got on trucks for a while, then finally walked our way to our destination.

And that wasn't even the worst part.

Not in my worst nightmares did I imagine that there were people living the way that this tribe was living.

They were living right in the middle of nowhere.

When we finally arrived at our destination.

We were greeted by someone from the tribe.

They spoke in Maasai, and they barely spoke any English.

But still, they were kind and excited by our visit.

They hit the drums and performed their special dance.

After only a few minutes, I was dancing and singing with them.

Suddenly, all the dancing and singing stopped, and they brought a huge wooden plate that was filled with pieces of raw meat, and they wanted us to eat with them.

But what exactly did they want us to eat?

It was raw meat.

I screamed in disgust.

I could never eat that, but Sally, who was one of the volunteers, looked at me in all seriousness and said, you have to eat.

If you don't eat it, they will consider it an insult.

It was in no way a good start to the trip, but it was nothing compared to what was waiting for me.

On the next day, I got to meet the children of the tribe and spent the day with them, but there was something that caught my eye.

There was a little kid named Quanty, who didn't talk with the other kids and preferred to stay out of sight.

He definitely made me curious about him.

I found out later that Quanty was an orphan.

His parents went hunting one day and never returned.

Poor Quanty.

He didn't deserve what happened to him.

I felt the need to get closer to that kid.

I approached him and told him in a very few simple words.

I have come a long way to meet you.

I hope I can be your friend.

Quanty suddenly came close to me and said, friend?

I smiled and he smiled back.

You might think that things were starting to get better.

But what happened next had me put my life on the line.

Since there were no bathrooms, we had to go to the river to bathe.

So at the end of the day, I carried my stuff and went along to bathe in the river.

I put my stuff by the bank.

I took off my clothes and went into the water, which was ice cold by the way.

But guess what happened next?

When I was done, I couldn't find my clothes.

They were simply gone.

Oh god, who would do such a thing?

And more importantly, how would I get out of the water naked?

I didn't even have a towel to cover up.

I was so very, very scared.

But luckily, one of the girls who came on the trip with me came running over when she noticed what happened.

She lent me a dress so I could get out of the water.

I was positive that no one else had been in the water with me.

But when we started walking back towards the tribe, I heard a sound of movement coming from the river.

I looked around, but nobody was there.

I thought I was imagining things, and that some animal was responsible for the vanishing of my clothes.

But what I discovered when I returned back to my tent had me shocked.

My stuff.

They were lying on the ground in front of my tent.

I thought that maybe the cold water of the river had made me sick, but I was sure that what happened next while I was sleeping wasn't a hallucination.

Suddenly, I felt as if someone was getting closer and closer to me.

I felt them standing right over me.

I could almost hear the sound of their breathing.

I couldn't remove my blanket to look at them, so I stayed covered and scared until the sun began to rise.

It was only then that I could no longer hear the sound of that person breathing.

In the morning, I told one of my friends what happened.

She laughed and said, they must be ghosts, but I didn't believe her at all.

Still, I didn't want to look strange, so I responded.

That's probably right.

They're probably just ghosts.

Maybe the close event was just a bad joke by someone, but was the person who stayed with me in my tent all night long a joke as well?

I didn't think so, and I don't think that anyone would believe me if I told them what had happened.

I got out of my tent the next day only to find Quanty standing there.

When he saw me, he ran towards me and hugged me.

I was really in need of a hug at that moment.

I felt so worried and scared.

I looked into Quanty's eyes and said, thank you for being here with me in this weird place.

I feel like I want to cry so hard.

If it weren't for your lovely smiling face, I could no longer go on with what I came here to do.

Quanty did not understand what I said, but he said, Quanty is friend of Kathy, which was my name.

So I laughed and said, yes, Quanty is a friend of Kathy.

I spent my whole day trying to call my father, but there was no signal where I was.

Needless to say, that there was no electricity as well.

It wasn't long before my battery died.

I got out of my tent, sat alone, and started to cry hysterically.

But Quanty then came and sat next to me without saying a word.

It might seem odd, but that child was like an angel, accompanying me since the day I arrived at that weird place.

100

On the next day, we had to distribute food packages according to a list that I had with me.

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The last box was for a woman who lived a little further away from the tribe.

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I was told she was a witch who spent most of

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her time throwing spells to protect the tribe from evil spirits that inhabited the jungle.

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After I heard that, the thought of visiting and meeting her excited me.

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But I never expected to see what I saw when I went to where she lived.

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Her front yard was full of animal skulls.

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I couldn't believe it.

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Her tent was also made up of animal skins that had writings with weird letters written all over them.

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I thought to myself, that could definitely be the spells that everyone told me about.

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But what really sent a shiver down my spine the most was the bells hanging outside her tent

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that rang as the wind blew.

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I didn't feel so good there, and I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

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I shouted, hey, is anybody here?

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But no one answered.

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I placed the box on the front of the tent and turned around to leave.

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But when I turned around, I saw someone hiding behind a tree.

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I thought it was her, so I said, I brought you some stuff, but you didn't answer.

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But no one responded.

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Fear took over me, and I hesitantly asked, Who is there?

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But again, there was no answer.

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I asked two or three more times, but no one answered.

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I was shaking like a leaf, and I didn't know which way to go.

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Whoever was hiding behind that tree was probably the same person who had been following me

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and messing with me from the start.

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I tried to stay calm and go back to where I came from, but with every step that I took, I kept hearing their steps following me.

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Finally, I looked behind me, but there was nobody there.

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I got very anxious and shouted, This is not funny!

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But no one responded.

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I was literally living a nightmare.

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I started to run towards the woods.

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I was crying so hard that I could no longer see where I was going.

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But I kept on hearing the sound of feet stepping on the dry leaves

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that were covering the ground everywhere in the forest.

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I tried to lose whoever it was behind me, but instead I got myself lost in the woods.

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Due to the bad luck that followed me since I arrived here, my feet slipped and I fell into a very deep hole in the ground.

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The fall hurt like hell.

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And to make things even worse, piles of dust slid over me.

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I tried to stand up, but it turned out that I had broken my leg.

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I panicked.

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I was alone in the middle of nowhere and nobody knew where I was.

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I was doomed.

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There was no way around it.

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Was it evil spirits that chased me?

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I started to scream for help, but it wasn't long before I gave up screaming as I knew that I was very far away from everybody else.

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The sun started to go down and I was still stuck in that hole as the night started to fall.

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I was positive that no one would come to save me.

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I desperately called one last time.

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But even my guardian angel wasn't there to save me from the evil spirits.

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Or was he?

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Something inside me kept telling me that Quanti would appear at any moment.

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I had been laying in that hole for hours when I heard a faraway sound.

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Yes, what you are thinking is true.

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They came to save me, but how did they know where I was?

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One of the tribe's strongest men came down to where I was

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and tied me with many ropes so they could pull me up.

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When they returned me to where the tribe lived, I started looking at all the faces around me.

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But Quanti wasn't there.

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I couldn't find him anywhere.

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Sally approached me and asked me what happened.

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I told her the truth about what I was dealing with since I arrived at that place.

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I told her that I felt like I was being stalked since I arrived, and then when I got done distributing my packages, I felt that there was someone watching me.

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I told her that I got lost in the woods because I was scared, and was trying to escape from whomever was stalking me, and that I still didn't know who he was.

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Suddenly, Sally burst into laughter, and I couldn't understand why.

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When she was finally done laughing hysterically, she wiped the tears of laughter off her eyes and said

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that Quanty was the one who followed me everywhere and

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that he was the one who went back to the tribe and told them where I was.

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How naive I must have been.

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How I didn't think about that from the beginning.

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It made perfect sense.

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Quanty was the one that I would find around me all the time.

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Thank God that Quanty was there when I fell into the hole.

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If it weren't for him, I would have become food for the animals in the woods.

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But why would Quanty do what he did?

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I asked Sally to bring Quanty to me.

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But before she moved a muscle, Quanty entered the tent and said, Quanty is here.

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He must still have been stalking me even then.

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I asked him why he was acting that way, so he mumbled a sentence that we barely understood.

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Katie friend of Quanty.

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Quanty friend of Katie.

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Quanty protect.

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Now I understood it all.

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Quanty was trying to protect me all this time.

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I was the first person to show him any kindness since his parents died.

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He didn't want anything bad to happen to me either.

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I hugged him tightly and cried.

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What a poor sweet child.

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I vowed right then and there that I would never leave him alone again.

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Months passed until I made a full recovery and Sally had returned by then.

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In the meantime, while I rested my leg, I managed to find a loving family that could adopt Quanti.

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I connected that family with the voluntary organization and now, after all the necessary procedures have been completed, Quante is living right here in America with that family.

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In fact, he is only two towns over.

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What do you think about my story?

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Please like and subscribe for more tales like mine.

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29 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Quanty, tribe, tent. This video has 193 sentences and 2337 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:28. The speaker talks fast, about 204 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

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
tent noun	/tɛnt/	A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, used for sheltering people from the weather.
scare verb	/skɛɚ/	To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way.
scream verb	/skɹiːm/	To cry out with a shrill voice; to utter a sudden, sharp outcry, or shrill, loud cry, as in fright or extreme pain; to screech, to shriek.
stalk noun	/stɔk/	The stem or main axis of a plant.
cloth noun	/klɒθ/	A fabric, usually made of woven, knitted, or felted fibres or filaments, such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use. Sometimes…
bathe verb	/beɪð/	To clean oneself by immersion in water or using water; to take a bath, have a bath.
hysterically adverb		In a hysterical manner; showing signs of hysteria.
distribute verb	/dɪˈstɹɪbjuːt/	To divide into portions and dispense.
voluntary adjective	/ˈvɑ.lənˌt(ɛ)ɹi/	Done, given, or acting of one's own free will.
shout verb	/ʃaʊt/	To utter a sudden and loud cry, as in joy, triumph, exultation or anger, or to attract attention, to animate others, etc.
hug verb	/hʌɡ/	To cling closely together.
laughter noun	/ˈlæftɚ/	The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.
jungle noun	/ˈd͡ʒʌŋ.ɡ(ə)l/	A large, lush, undeveloped, humid forest, especially in a tropical region, thick with vegetation and wildlife; a tropical rainforest.
nightmare noun	/ˈnaɪt.mɛɚ/	A very unpleasant or frightening dream.
faraway adjective	/ˈfɑɹəweɪ/	Distant.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
get out of verb	To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
find out verb	To discover, as by asking or investigating.
go back to verb	To stem from; to originate in.
hide behind verb	To use someone or something as a shield in order to avoid taking responsibility for something; to avoid attention by using someone or something as a shield.
come down to verb	To reach by moving down or reducing.
cover up verb	To conceal or disguise.
give up verb	To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone).
go down verb	To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one.

Sentences worth repeating

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

I'd never been so scared in my life.
Quanty suddenly came close to me and said, friend?
I shouted, hey, is anybody here?
Was it evil spirits that chased me?
What do you think about my story?

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	If you don't eat it, they will consider · If it weren't for him, I would have
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	were caught · was accepted · had been told
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	people who were · water, which was · person who stayed
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have come · have been completed

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 32 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, couldn't, wasn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: cloth /klɒθ/, bathe /beɪð/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shout /ʃaʊt/, hallucination /həˌluːsɪˈneɪʃən/, shiver /ˈʃɪvɚ/, vanish /ˈvænɪʃ/, anxious /ˈæŋkʃəs/
Long words — get the stress right: voluntary /ˈvɑ.lənˌt(ɛ)ɹi/, hallucination /həˌluːsɪˈneɪʃən/, inhabited /ɪnˈhæbɪtɪd/, accompany /əˈkʌm.pə.ni/, desperately /ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹət.li/

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 tent, scare, scream.

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 →

Shadowing Practice: 96K - Learn English Speaking with Video

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