Shadowing Practice: Walk & Talk By The Beach | Comprehensible Input in English - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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The past few weeks I've been in Spain, mainly by the beach, combining my work routine with holidays.
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Oh, and to say this sign, it is...
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Quote, unquote.
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Or you can say, in inverted commas.
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Anyway, my fiancée has just gone out to see some live music.
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She's gone to a gig, also known as a concert.
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So I thought I'd take you on a little bit of an evening walk through a natural park
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and then back along the beach.
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And I'll be describing things that I see in English
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and having a chat to provide you with some comprehensible input in English.
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And because I don't like carrying a bag with me and taking lots of random stuff, here are a few things that I would normally take with me to the beach,
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but today I haven't done.
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These are flip-flops, but in Australian English they call them thongs.
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There you can see two beach chairs and a couple of beach umbrellas.
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This is a towel, of course, to dry yourself after you go for a swim.
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And don't worry, I've already put on sun cream.
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You can also say sunblock or sunscreen.
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I've already put on some insect repellent, so hopefully no mosquitoes will bite me.
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These are vending machines.
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Here we have a nice picnic area with some trees.
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We have sand on the ground.
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And we have a children's playground with a slide over there.
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And here in front of me, we have a lovely climbing wall where people can climb up the wall.
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Now I'm walking straight forward along this wooden path and you can see my shadow as I'm walking forward.
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And let me explain to you the difference between shade and shadow.
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The shade is any area that isn't in the sun, that it's covered.
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This, this would be shade.
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Whereas here, somebody's reflection, that is their shadow.
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This is my shadow.
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All clear?
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Here we have a bin where people should throw away their rubbish.
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And it's a bit bright.
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It's quite hard to keep my eyes open.
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So I'm going to put on my sunglasses, also known as my shades or sunnies.
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Now, luckily, I'm walking through this big area in the shade.
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Now, let me just zoom in because in the distance on the horizon,
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you can see these huge wind turbines producing electricity.
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It is of course wind energy, which is a form of renewable energy.
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And to be honest it's a little bit windy at the moment.
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You could also say it's a bit breezy at the moment.
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And right now I was sat down on a bench and I'm recording this in the evening.
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It's about seven o'clock now
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so thankfully luckily it has cooled down it's like 28 degrees right now
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but earlier it was like 36
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so it is boiling scorching sweltering baking roasting all different ways to say very hot over there you can see
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that there are people walking out along the pier to then get into some kayaks and start kayaking.
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I think from this angle you can see the kayaks a little bit more clearly and the wind turbines behind them.
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As I'm walking I thought I'd show you my swim shorts.
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You can also call them swimming trunks and I'm wearing trainers instead of flip flops.
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That's because I have sensitive feet and if I wear flip flops for too long then my feet start to hurt.
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I've just stopped for a moment because I noticed in front of me you have lots of cacti.
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One of these plants, trees that are able to survive in very dry weather.
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The singular is cactus and the plural is cacti.
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I've just taken off my shirt because,
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you know, I want to get a tan and getting a tan is when your skin starts to become browner.
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You become tanned and as maybe can see behind me, I'm on a bridge and there is a little stream passing through it.
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And look at this, check it out.
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The stream is a little bit dry to be honest,
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but the thing I want to show you is that when I zoom in you can see lots of little crabs.
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These little crabs that are digging holes and then climbing out of the holes.
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It's cool, isn't it?
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Well, nature is cool in general.
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Ah, isn't that satisfying?
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Looking ahead of me and seeing that it's empty.
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There's nobody in front of me.
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Lovely.
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A bit of peace and quiet at last.
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Oh, and by the way, maybe you haven't seen me with a mustache before, so I'm curious.
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What do you think of the mustache?
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Oh, and as I said at the beginning of the video, I'm still working whilst I'm kind of on holiday, combining being by the beach with my classes.
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And if you'd like to join my classes for groups or individuals, I'll leave a link in the description.
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And there, you can also try out my application for free as well.
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Now, just before I start walking back along the beach, I'm going to sit down and have a quick pause,
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a little rest at that bench which is just underneath a beautiful tree.
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By the way, this is something that I do almost every day.
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I come for a walk, I put on my earphones and I listen to podcasts or music and I get my steps in.
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I do a little bit of exercise.
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Do you enjoy going for a walk as well?
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And if you do, do you ever watch my videos or listen to my podcasts whilst going for a walk?
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If so, let me know in the comments.
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And yeah, it's a great way of killing two birds with one stone by doing a bit of exercise, getting out of the house,
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whilst listening to me speaking in English at the same time to improve your listening skills.
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Right in front of me, you can see the sun blazing.
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and you can see it reflecting against this stream
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and I'm on another one of these little bridges
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and here you can see yet again some little crabs that keep popping out of their holes.
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Okay I'm just about to reach the beach
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and behind me you can see a bridge
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and you can see the part of the city of cadiz
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which is in the south of spain and it's famous for being very windy
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so hopefully the volume and the sound quality isn't too bad despite it being
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so windy look at my hair wow it looks mental doesn't it it looks crazy now finally i have reached the beach
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So looking across here you can see that huge bridge and over there you can see the city of Cadiz.
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Then in about an hour I guess the sun will go down,
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it will set, and I'm gonna walk all the way back over there where you can see those buildings.
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And whenever I see some words or phrases that I think are interesting and worth teaching you, well I'll do that as well.
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As I keep walking here you can see lots of footprints from where other people have walked along the beach.
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There are of course lots of these little shells, we can also specify and call them seashells.
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These shells are slightly different because they're from razor clams, a type of clam that looks like this.
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Delicious if you ask me.
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And what do you call these birds that are found by the beach?
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They are seagulls.
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And the seagull is flying away.
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This is a little bit dry, but it is seaweed.
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And this, of course,
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is sand this is a sandy beach there the seagull is perching on top of some kind of pole
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and there you have a fence on each side of it now i'm going to walk towards the shore
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and then I'm going to walk along the shore
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which is the little part of the beach just next to where the sea begins.
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And behind me there are some waves but they're not very strong
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so I don't think you can really go surfing in this water.
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And to be honest I'm tempted to go for a dip.
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Go for a dip means to go for a quick swim.
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I'm tempted to go for a dip but it's not
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that hot anymore and I haven't brought a towel
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so I think I'm gonna pass this time
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and earlier this morning I went to a different beach and there I did go for a dip.
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I did have a little swim in the sea and it was amazing I loved it.
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Oh and right now as you can see
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because the beach is quite big and there's a lot of sand where people can sit down and sunbathe,
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it means that it is low tide.
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But I think the tide will be coming in, will be approaching and taking over more of the sand.
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Then it would be high tide.
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Here you have more seagulls.
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It seems like they've all got together
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and they're fighting over some food beautiful these floaty things
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that you see in the water they're called boys yes it
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sounds just like boys as you can see i'm now getting closer
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and closer to these apartment buildings these blocks of flats where lots of people have a second residence
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and right along the shore you You can notice lots of people are out for a stroll.
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A nice evening walk.
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And if I zoom in, you can see that the beach is packed.
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It's crowded.
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It's teeming with people.
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It is chock-a-block.
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It looks a little bit like a bird, but no. Over there, flying in the sky is a kite.
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Someone is flying a kite.
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Now, as I'm getting to the end of my walk, you can see some palm trees and I'm walking along the promenade, along the seafront.
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That's the direction I've come from, where you can see the city and the bridge in the distance.
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And across, you can see that the sun is going down, it's starting to set, and the beach is packed.
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So that is the end of my walk.
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I'm going to head home.
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I hope you enjoyed this video, and I'll see you next time.
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Bye-bye!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 144 sentences and 1738 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:47. The speaker talks at a steady 147 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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:
- swim /swɪm/ (verb) — To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
- shade /ʃeɪd/ (noun) — Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked.
- sand /sænd/ (noun) — Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in…
- shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/ (noun) — A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.
- whilst /waɪlst/ (adverb) — Often preceded by the: During the time; meanwhile.
- shore /ʃɔɹ/ (noun) — Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond.
- climb /ˈklaɪ̯m/ (verb) — To traverse a slope or contour, either upwards (ascending) or downwards (descending).
- flip /flɪp/ (verb) — To throw so as to turn over.
- tide /taɪd/ (noun) — The daily fluctuation in the level of the sea caused by the gravitational influence of the moon and the sun.
- zoom /zuːm/ (verb) — To move fast with a humming noise.
- crab /kɹæb/ (noun) — Any crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having five pairs of legs, the foremost of which are in the form of claws, and a carapace.
- windy /ˈwɪn.di/ (adjective) — Accompanied by wind.
- flop /flɑp/ (verb) — To fall heavily due to lack of energy.
- bench /ˈbɛnt͡ʃ/ (noun) — A long seat with or without a back, found for example in parks and schools.
- shell /ʃɛl/ (noun) — The calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- go for (verb) — To try for, to attempt to reach.
- put on /ˌpʊt ˈɒn/ (verb) — To don (clothing, equipment, or the like).
- zoom in /ˌzuːm ˈɪn/ (verb) — To increase the focal length of a zoom lens in order to obtain a magnified image, or a close-up.
- go down (verb) — To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one.
- look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
- see in (verb) — To show (someone) in: to introduce (someone) to the inside of a place.
- sit down (verb) — To assume a sitting position from a standing position.
- come for (verb) — To search for someone with the intent to apprehend or cause harm.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 55 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, I've, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, sunbathe /ˈsʌnbeɪð/, thong /θɔŋ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shade /ʃeɪd/, shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, shore /ʃɔɹ/, shell /ʃɛl/, delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/
- Long words — get the stress right: electricity /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪsɪti/, comprehensible /kɒmpɹəˈhɛnsɪbəl/
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 swim, shade, sand.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've been · has just gone · haven't done |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was sat · are found · is seaweed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | energy, which is · bench which is |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | start kayaking · start walking · keep popping |
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.