Shadowing Practice: WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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45 sentences

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Probably is at my childhood house in California

and I don't know I think like my mom was going to work and I was like upset about it.

Watching my brother play guitar in my childhood home and and I just like fell in love with music from there.

Going to the circus for the first time.

Just seeing the animals, the elephant is in all that.

That's a good question.

I was at the age of diapers.

Rise with the sun, meet the sun, and watch the sunset.

Nice childhood.

Nice to meet you.

Jen, what's up Jen?

I have a new baby brother, and since I got him, I saw that he did tiny times,

so that made me remember when i was a little baby

that i did tummy time as well what's tummy time is

where you lay the baby on a blanket on his tummy on the floor oh god uh

i really don't know oh you know what i remember halloween night i was like with my neighbors

and this kid dropped like a bottle it was glass

and it fell over my knee i was bleeding

i was like four i think do you not like halloween now i love Halloween.

It's my favorite holiday after my birthday.

I had an aunt who had a really big dog

that had a big pillow bed and I used to sleep with the dog on the bed.

Visiting my great -grandfather in the nursing home and helping my mom with directions getting there.

Lighting fires with Cynthia Chichinsky and throwing darts at each other as three -year -olds.

Well I remember when I was little I was in the Philippines.

Part of the Philippine Sea like dried up

and we were all just like looking for fish

and then we found this octopus

and my uncles were like smashing it on the rock uh i could tell you one

that i do remember i remember

when i was a baby they used to like shave my head

i remember actually like my family washing me in the sink i do remember

that uh it's winter

and it's uh we're sliding on the sled in my backyard by my apartment

it's fun i remember i remember my hat

i remember my fur coats yes i remember how it smell i remember my read very good Czechoslovakian boots.

I was four.

Yes, I remember one time I was in daycare and we were having chicken nuggets and I didn't like want them.

And I wanted like some other kind of meal

and I remember screaming because my mom worked at the school and was like in a different area.

And so I was like screaming and I totally thought that she would be able to hear me, but she couldn't.

I grew up on a farm working with my dad, kind of working out in the fields with him,

learning how to work with my hands and doing

that sort of thing so I think being on the balcony of my parents apartment

and looking through the hole I'd like when they're coming back

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: baby, tummy, halloween, childhood, mom. This video has 45 sentences and 527 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:43. The speaker talks fast, about 194 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

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

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
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.
guitar noun	/ɡɪˈtɑɹ/	A stringed musical instrument, of European origin, usually with a fretted fingerboard and six strings, played with the fingers or a plectrum (guitar pick).
meal noun	/ˈmiːl/	Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.
wash verb	/wɑʃ/	To clean with water.
uncle noun	/ˈʌŋ.kl̩/	The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent.
nurse noun	/nɝs/	Anyone performing this role, regardless of training or profession.
coat noun	/ˈkoʊ̯t/	An outer garment covering the upper torso and arms.
knee noun	/ni/	In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.
slide noun	/ˈslaɪ̯d/	An item of play equipment that children can climb up and then slide down again.
grandfather noun	/ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/	A father of someone's parent.
sink verb	/ˈsɪŋk/	To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance.
boot noun	/but/	A heavy shoe that covers part of the leg.
aunt noun	/ɑːnt/	The sister or sister-in-law of one’s parent.
smash verb	/smæʃ/	To break (something brittle) violently.
elephant noun	/ˈɛlɪfənt/	A large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to Africa and Asia.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
come back verb	To return to a place.
dry up verb	To become dry (often of weather); to lose water.
fall over verb	To fall from an upright or standing position to a horizontal or prone position.
look through verb	To take a view of the contents of; search in, either with the eyes or by hand.

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to sleep · used to like
Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past	was bleeding · were having
Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now	we're sliding · they're coming

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, couldn't, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: wash /wɑʃ/, smash /smæʃ/, shave /ˈʃeɪ̯v/

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 scream, guitar, meal.

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: WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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