Shadowing Practice: Who Was John the Baptist? - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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John the Baptizer was a fearless preacher who followed the example of a prophet from 800 years earlier named Elijah.
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Here's what the Gospel of Matthew says about John.
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In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, repents for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
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prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
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Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
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Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,
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and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
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Matthew 3, 1 -5.
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John helped create a spiritual fervor among many people in Judea.
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He rejected the corrupt priesthood in Jerusalem and sought the Judean wilderness instead.
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Now John the Baptist's ministry was located somewhere near here in the Jordan River Valley about a day's walk from Jerusalem.
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Now the presence of John the Baptizer in the Judean wilderness
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was seen by many to be the fulfillment of prophecies made by Isaiah and Malachi.
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Hundreds of years earlier, these Jewish prophets predicted a man in the desert who would prepare a way for the Messiah.
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The prophet Isaiah writes, low,
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and the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
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And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
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For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
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Isaiah 40, 3 through 5.
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Transcription by CastingWords
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Who Was John the Baptist?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Isaiah, wilderness, prophet, Judea, Jerusalem. This video has 21 sentences and 276 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:52. The speaker talks slowly, about 96 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 74% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| wilderness noun | /ˈwɪldɚnəs/ | Uncultivated and unsettled land in its natural state inhabited by wild animals and with vegetation growing wild; (countable) a tract of such land; a waste or… |
| prophet noun | /ˈpɹɑ.fɪt/ | Someone who speaks by divine inspiration. |
| baptize verb | /ˈbæptaɪz/ | To perform the sacrament of baptism by sprinkling or pouring water over someone or immersing them in water. |
| fervor noun | /ˈfɝ.vɚ/ | An intense, heated emotion; passion, ardor. |
| fulfilment noun | /fʊlˈfɪl.mənt/ | The act of fulfilling or the state or quality of being fulfilled; consummation; completion; realization. |
| locust noun | /ˈloʊ.kəst/ | Any of the grasshoppers, often polyphenic and usually swarming, in the family Acrididae that are very destructive to crops and other vegetation, especially… |
| priesthood noun | /ˈpɹiːstˌhʊd/ | The role or office of a priest. |
| repent verb | /ɹɪˈpɛnt/ | To feel pain, sorrow, or regret for what one has done or omitted to do; the cause for repenting may be indicated with "of". |
| transcription noun | /tɹænˈskɹɪpʃən/ | The act or process of transcribing. |
| uneven adjective | /ʌnˈivən/ | Of a surface, not even; covered with raised spots, pits and grooves. |
| fearless adjective | /ˈfɪɹləs/ | Without fear. |
| garment noun | /ˈɡɑɹmənt/ | A single article of clothing. |
| preacher noun | /ˈpɹit͡ʃɚ/ | Someone who preaches a worldview, philosophy, or religion, especially someone who preaches the gospel and especially a clergyman or clergywoman. In a religious… |
| preach verb | /pɹit͡ʃ/ | To give a sermon. |
| prophecy noun | /ˈpɹɑfɪsi/ | A prediction, especially one made by a prophet or under divine inspiration. |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: transcription /tɹænˈskɹɪpʃən/, flesh /flɛʃ/
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 wilderness, prophet, baptize.
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.