Shadowing Practice: Vol 3 - test 6 - section 4 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
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Section 4.
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You will hear a student presentation about a type of palm tree called the lontar palm
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that grows on an island in Indonesia.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40 on page 7.
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Thank you.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.
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As part of this semester's geography project, I'm going to talk about a tall palm tree called the lontar,
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which mainly grows on the island of Roti in the south of the Indonesian archipelago.
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Now the lontar is a truly amazing example of how one tree can sustain human life.
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The locals call it the tree of life, and with good reason, because the tree provides them with virtually everything they need in the way of food,
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drink, utensils, and shelter.
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The Lontar juice is the most amazingly refreshing juice you'll ever taste.
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The juice is collected from high in the tree in a process known as tapping.
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Basically, a slice is cut into part of the tree and the sap flows slowly from it into a container.
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It's then collected twice daily.
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Male and female lontar trees are different.
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Male lontars can be tapped all their lives, so they are preferred.
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If the female tree is left untapped, a large fruit develops, like a coconut in appearance.
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The watery interior of the fruit can be drunk, but these fruits are often left to fall to the ground as animal feed.
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Men and older boys climb to the tops of the trees to do the tapping.
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They don't use safety equipment, but make things easier for themselves by tying stones to the trunk.
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What is amazing is that
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so much of the equipment they use in the tapping process is actually made from the tree itself.
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The men attach all the tools they need to a belt that they wear when climbing the tree.
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In most cases, climbers own particular trees within their family.
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Ownership involves not only care of the trees themselves, but also a share in the maintenance of the fence, which belongs to the local community.
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Anyway, more about this incredible juice.
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Tapping reaches a peak at the end of the dry season, which runs from September to October,
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villagers work frantically to get their harvest in before the rains come and it gets too wet and windy to climb.
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Whatever juice isn't drunk immediately has to be processed as quickly as possible, as it turns sour very rapidly.
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In the rainy season, when no fresh juice is available, the locals drink a concentrated form with water added.
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The locals also use this rainy season version of the drink in other ways.
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For example, it can be used to make biscuits of brown sugar.
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But the lontar palm supplies much more than sustenance for the Rotanese.
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The broad lontar leaves are woven into a huge number of things.
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Containers for watering the garden and bags for transporting chickens to market.
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People also use them to cover the roofs of their homes.
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When the leaves are replaced every five years or so, the old ones are burned on the garden as a fertilizer.
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So you see, the leaves are never wasted.
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The Rotanese also make a distinctive hat out of the leaf.
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Design-wise, they were inspired by 16th-century Portuguese helmets.
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There are many for different occasions, ranging from simple ones for everyday use to larger and more elaborate hats used for a celebration,
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which are painted in bright colors.
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The lontar leaf even provides the Rotanese people with a unique musical instrument known as the sassando.
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The leaf is made into a sounding board and has strings attached, which are plucked in the manner of a harp.
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and the sound produced is also similar.
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But even that isn't all.
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The stalks of the lontar leaves can also be used.
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They are really strong and grow up to 1.5 meters long, and local people produce ropes from them.
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Even when a lontar tree becomes old and unproductive and no longer can be used for tapping, the whole tree is cut down
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and the thick trunk is utilized for building houses their immense strength means
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that they are highly valued for this purpose now one thing i haven't spoken about is
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that is the end of section four you now have half a minute to check your answers
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Thank you.
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Thank you.

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Vol 3 - test 6 - section 4”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tree, lontar, juice, tapping, palm. This video has 55 sentences and 728 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:54. The speaker talks slowly, about 106 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 79% 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:

WordPronunciationMeaning
lontar nounThe palmyra or leaves of this tree as used for palm-leaf manuscripts in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia.
rainy adjective/ˈɹeɪni/Pouring with rain; wet; showery
attach verb/əˈtæt͡ʃ/To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively).
trunk noun/tɹʌŋk/The usually single, more or less upright part of a tree, between the roots and the branches.
container noun/kənˈteɪ.nəɹ/An item in which objects, materials or data can be stored or transported.
archipelago noun/ˌɑɹkəˈpɛləˌɡoʊ/A sea or other body of water with many islands.
biscuit noun/ˈbɪs.kɪt/A small, flat, baked good which is either hard and crisp or else soft but firm; a cookie.
climber noun/ˈklaɪmɚ/Someone or something that climbs (such as a mountain climber).
frantically adverb/ˈfɹæn.tɪk.li/In a frantic manner.
sustenance noun/ˈsʌs.tə.nəns/Something that provides support or nourishment.
unproductive adjective/ˌʌn.pɹəˈdʌk.tɪv/Not productive; useless; fruitless.
untapped adjectiveNot tapped; not drawn on in terms of resources.
utensil noun/juˈtɛn.səl/An instrument or device for domestic use, especially in the kitchen.
villager noun/ˈvɪlɪd͡ʒɚ/A person who lives in, or comes from, a village.
watery adjective/ˈwɔtəɹi/Resembling or characteristic of water.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

WordMeaning
cut down verbTo cut downward.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as isn't, don't, haven't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • Long words — get the stress right: archipelago /ˌɑɹkəˈpɛləˌɡoʊ/, unproductive /ˌʌn.pɹəˈdʌk.tɪv/, amazingly /əˈmeɪzɪŋli/, geography /d͡ʒiˈɑɡɹəfi/, elaborate /ɪˈlæb.ə.ɹeɪt/

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 lontar, rainy, attach.

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 →