Shadowing Practice: Zendaya & Tom Holland Are The Perfect Couple | Extended Interview | The Graham Norton Show - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B2
It's been a few years since we last saw you.
222 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
It's been a few years since we last saw you.
2
Yeah, I was great at showing.
3
Yeah, it was great at showing.
4
And we should say congratulations,
5
Euphoria, you won an Emmy.
6
Hey.
7
I know.
8
And that was the, that was that kind of proper lockdown, lockdown Emmys.
9
So where were you?
10
I was in my living room.
11
OK.
12
I was in my living room.
13
And it was actually really special because I think,
14
you know, had it not been done that That way that year,
15
I wouldn't have been able to have my whole family with me.
16
So I did it in my living room.
17
Aww.
18
There's my family.
19
My dad.
20
There's my mom's back there.
21
You can't see it in this picture,
22
but her face is like this.
23
It's so cute.
24
My nieces, my little niece,
25
my dog runs out from under the table when everybody starts screaming.
26
It was really, really special.
27
So I got to share it with them,
28
which I couldn't imagine doing that any other way.
29
And if I had done it in a real audience like this,
30
in front of everyone, I would have just would have probably thrown up.
31
I don't know what I would have done.
32
I was so nervous.
33
But this was the one,
34
wasn't it, where, so how many?
35
There must be five nominees?
36
I think, I believe so.
37
Five nominees, best actress in a drama.
38
Yes.
39
But there was someone outside everyone's house.
40
Yes.
41
In a hazmat suit that looked like a tuxedo.
42
It was actually really cute.
43
What's not cute is everyone,
44
no matter, like, all the nominees,
45
someone would be in front of their house in the hazmat suit with an Emmy.
46
And if...
47
Yeah, like that.
48
And if you didn't get it, they would just...
49
..leave.
50
Drive off.
51
LAUGHTER Oh, dear.
52
I heard you talking somewhere,
53
Zendaya, how your height difference makes those stunts more complicated.
54
Thank you, Graeme.
55
LAUGHTER I didn't say it.
56
Zendaya said it.
57
Now that is a good story.
58
It's a good story.
59
Well, you see, there's a particular stunt,
60
I don't know if it's in this,
61
but there's a, you know,
62
he, Spider-Man swings us on top of a bridge,
63
and he places me there.
64
Oh, there you are.
65
And that's the bridge.
66
Yeah, that's the bridge.
67
We eventually jump off of, and I'm screaming.
68
You look great.
69
Yeah.
70
So he's supposed to gently,
71
you know, rest MJ on the bridge and walk away from her.
72
It, because of our height difference,
73
I obviously, if we're on the same, like, point, I...
74
We were attached.
75
I would land before him.
76
My feet obviously hit the ground before he does.
77
So...
78
What would happen?
79
It's called a bottom mark, isn't it?
80
And the bottom mark is basically a thing that they do in stunts
81
that is basically designed to stop you shattering your kneecaps.
82
So Zendaya would land, and I'm the superhero.
83
I'm supposed to look cool.
84
And she would land, and then I would sort of land like this,
85
my feet would swing from underneath me and then she would catch me.
86
LAUGHTER And they'd be like, cut!
87
I'm like, oh!
88
Stop doing that!
89
You were actually very lovely about it.
90
You were like, oh, my gosh, thank you.
91
It's so nice to be caught for a change.
92
For a proper one.
93
Yeah.
94
And obviously you're back in the suit.
95
Yes.
96
The suit's the same this time, right?
97
Or is it being changed?
98
Yes, it's the same, yes.
99
OK.
100
As the last one, there's no changes.
101
Again, I asked for a zip and I didn't get one.
102
Do you have a zip?
103
Yeah, sort of.
104
Sort of?
105
It's not a conventional zip,
106
no. Otherwise you'd see it.
107
We're talking about the same zip, right?
108
I told you that.
109
I hope so.
110
I've said this publicly before,
111
because I really think we should do something about this.
112
I actually think all of us,
113
we need to band together,
114
we need to tell somebody.
115
Because he can, like, you know,
116
listen, it's one piece, So there's a helmet and there's all these things that go underneath it.
117
And I always have this fear that if he's like working really hard or something's happening,
118
that if he had to throw up, per se, what's...how?
119
How is he going to get it out?
120
This is a genuine concern.
121
Yes.
122
Right?
123
So, honestly, sometimes when I look at him,
124
I get a little scared,
125
because I'm like, what if you...I don't know.
126
I don't know.
127
I don't know.
128
It just stresses me out.
129
I'll be like...
130
I'm like, help him.
131
It's true, because I ain't gonna get it out.
132
But you're, I mean, not a,
133
but you have an old school hobby.
134
Yes.
135
So you knit, but you do more than knit.
136
I tried to start a new hobby while we were shooting Spider-Man.
137
I got one of those,
138
I don't know if you guys have them,
139
but they're like little rugs that you can make,
140
and you basically, yarn by yarn,
141
you attach the thing and colour coordinates to, like, a thing.
142
I chose puppies.
143
Okay.
144
And I got about, like,
145
four squares in, and I was like, I'm done with this.
146
This is too tedious for me.
147
So I got like a little corner of a rug,
148
but that's about it.
149
But who taught you to knit?
150
My mom taught me to knit.
151
All I can do is scarf,
152
so I'm not like, you know,
153
I can't get you a sweater or like a vest or anything,
154
but I get you a nice,
155
thick, warm scarf, which is what I made for everybody.
156
OK, that's really good.
157
I mean, I loved it as a pastime.
158
I usually like little tedious activities,
159
things I can keep my brain occupied.
160
And yeah, I would, I just made everyone scarps because I couldn't,
161
I was like, what am I gonna get everybody for Christmas?
162
I was like, I'll just make them some scarps.
163
That's what I'm doing all day.
164
Like them or not?
165
We've been doing like the most intense fight scenes on set
166
and you used to come to set to watch quite a lot.
167
Yeah.
168
And I'd be there, I'd come and have blood all over my face.
169
I've been fighting the goblin and I'd turn around and you'd just be there knitting.
170
How's the day going?
171
Yeah, it's good.
172
Amazing.
173
And Zadaya, in your story,
174
I love, I mean, I'm sort of in awe of what your parents did for you.
175
I mean, how old were you when your parents kind of totally said,
176
right, we're going to back you in your career?
177
No, I was pretty young.
178
I'm,
179
super grateful because they um i i
180
had this dream and i wanted to go pursue it
181
and i had parents who were totally down to support that
182
and both my parents are teachers
183
so my dad at the time he um he basically became like my stage dad you know um
184
and he would drive me up
185
and back from i mean it wouldn't i don't know how many people know california very well
186
but it was like an eight hour drive from where i'm from to l.a
187
so we would drive up
188
and back during the week sometimes for for uh you know
189
auditions callbacks whatever um until it was actually quite quickly
190
that i got my my disney show when i was a kid
191
so it's been a slow growth kind of thing you know
192
i thankfully didn't i had a nice protective system around me my family my brothers
193
and sister siblings we're talking about siblings but they're all older I was basically an only child.
194
It was great.
195
But I have such a great support system,
196
so I got all the protection I needed.
197
And then as I was growing,
198
I got to do it nice and slow and nice and steady.
199
Famously, though, you did find success very young in the West End as Billy Elliot.
200
You must have seen this.
201
It's a very sweet clip we found.
202
This is you as a little boy.
203
But what I love in this is you're so relaxed and you're so cool.
204
This is you discussing being seen for the role of Billy Elliot.
205
Here we go.
206
Great.
207
I'm Tom Holland and I play Billy in Billy Elliot the Musical.
208
It all started, I used to go to a street dance club,
209
and we did a show in White Lodge,
210
the ballet school, and the headmaster,
211
he spotted me, he was like,
212
we wanted to audition for Billy Elliot,
213
and I was like, oh, fair dues.
214
I love that.
215
Fair dues, fair dues.
216
That video haunts me.
217
Oh, it's so...
218
Oh, fair dues.
219
It's good, though.
220
It's very relaxed.
221
It's very relaxed.
222
Well done.
Download App
AI scoring for every sentence you speak
TRENDING
Popular
Why practice speaking with this video?
Practicing English speaking skills through engaging content like the interview with Zendaya and Tom Holland can significantly enhance your fluency. This video provides a unique glimpse into a relaxed conversation, showcasing natural speech patterns and interpersonal dynamics. By employing the shadowing technique, you can imitate their conversational flow, improving your pronunciation and intonation. Additionally, hearing casual exchanges reinforces cultural nuances and conversational norms, essential for effective communication.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
The interview features several key grammatical structures and expressions that are particularly useful for English learners:
- Present Continuous Tense: Zendaya frequently uses the present continuous to describe ongoing actions, such as "I was in my living room." This structure expresses current actions or situations and is useful in everyday conversation.
- Relative Clauses: Phrases like "that kind of proper lockdown" illustrate how to include additional information about nouns, which can help make descriptions more vivid and detailed.
- Use of Colloquialisms: Expressions like "I probably threw up" or "it's so cute" reflect informal, spoken English. Learning these common phrases can help non-native speakers sound more natural in casual settings.
- Conditional Sentences: When discussing hypothetical situations, such as "if I had done it in a real audience," the conditional structure helps convey what could have happened under different circumstances.
Common Pronunciation Traps
Whenever you practice with native speakers, you may encounter specific pronunciation challenges. In this interview, watch for:
- Contractions: Words like "I wouldn’t" or "I couldn’t" are often spoken quickly, making them tricky for learners who are not familiar with conversational speed.
- Intonation Patterns: The playful tone in their discussion can involve varying pitch and stress. Listen closely to how they emphasize certain words, as this can change the meaning or emotion behind what they say.
- Accent Differences: Both Zendaya and Tom Holland have distinct accents that can introduce variations in pronunciation. Pay special attention to certain vowel sounds and the way they articulate consonants, which can differ significantly from standardized American pronunciation.
To truly enhance your speaking skills, implement the shadowspeak method as you practice along with this video. By shadowing their dialogue, you'll improve not just your words but the subtle nuances of English speech, leading to greater confidence in your speaking abilities.
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.
☕ Buy us a coffee
ShadowingEnglish remains 100% free thanks to your support. Server and AI costs are high — your coffee keeps us going! 🙏