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Shadowing practice: The Bear and the Bee — UK English accent (TheFableCottage.com)

Listen to the line, then say it out loud
Line 1

Full transcript

  1. The Bear and the Bee A version of the tale by thefablecottage .com Everybody knows that bears love honey One day, Mr.0:00
  2. Bear looks in his cupboard and he can't find any honey.0:16
  3. Oh no, no honey, he says So he goes into the forest to find some He sees a beehive in a tree.0:22
  4. He smells the honey He sticks his paw into the beehive and A bee flies out Hey bear, go away says the bee.0:36
  5. This is not your honey Mr.0:54
  6. Bear is annoyed I am bigger than you he says And I am stronger than you too.0:58
  7. I can do what I want now buzz off Mr.1:06
  8. Bear sticks his paw into the beehive again and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz I will squash you!1:11
  9. Come here !"1:50
  10. The bee flies back into the beehive.1:51
  11. Aha!1:54
  12. Now you're trapped!1:56
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  1. yells Mr Bear.1:58
  2. He swings his stick at the beehive.2:00
  3. Smash, smash, smash!2:03
  4. He smashes it to pieces!2:05
  5. Then he hears a strange sound.2:08
  6. It gets louder and louder.2:12
  7. Thousands of bees fly out of the smashed beehive.2:22
  8. They fly around Mr Bear's head.2:27
  9. They sting him on his ear.2:32
  10. They sting him on his elbow.2:36
  11. They chase Mr Bear through the forest.2:39
  12. They sting him on his arms, his legs, his hands, and especially on his nose.2:41
  13. Zing, zing, zing!2:49
  14. Mr.2:51
  15. Bear runs all the way home and slams the door shut.2:52
  16. Bam!2:56
  17. Then he hears a voice behind him.2:58
  18. It's Mrs.3:01
  19. Bear.3:03
  20. You did it again, didn't you?3:03
  21. She says.3:06
  22. You lost your temper?3:08
  23. Yes.3:10
  24. He says as he cries and counts his bee stings.3:11
  25. Here's the bee sting medicine, says Mrs.3:16
  26. Bear.3:19
  27. Also, we have honey in the cupboard.3:20
  28. It's behind the flower.3:23
  29. Moral.3:27
  30. A hot temper always gets you into trouble.3:29

A slow British narration made for english shadowing for beginners

This clip is a British retelling of the fable The Bear and the Bee, narrated at 103 words per minute, a pace slower than almost the whole catalogue. That matters for speaking practice: at A2 level you need room to catch each word before the next one arrives, and this recording gives you that room.

The story itself is simple and visual. Mr. Bear wants honey, finds a beehive, ignores the bee's warning, smashes the hive, gets chased and stung, and comes home to his wife. Because you already know what happens in each scene, you can spend your attention on the sounds rather than on decoding meaning, which is exactly what makes a narration like this good raw material for english speaking practice.

The lines worth shadowing for british english pronunciation practice

A few lines carry more than the plot. Look at how the bee warns Mr. Bear: "Hey bear, go away says the bee." The short, flat delivery of a small creature standing its ground is worth copying word for word, not just reading.

  • "I am bigger than you he says And I am stronger than you too" (from line 6): two boastful claims stacked back to back, said with rising confidence before the fall. Match the narrator's stress on "bigger" and "stronger", not on the smaller words around them.
  • "You did it again, didn't you?" (line 32): a tag question from Mrs. Bear. The pitch has to rise slightly on "didn't you", this is the line to practise if you want to sound less flat when you ask a question in English.
  • "You lost your temper?" (line 34): four words, but the whole meaning sits on how much the voice lifts at the end. Say it as a statement first, then as this question, and hear the difference yourself.

How to work through The Bear and the Bee line by line

Do not start by shadowing the whole 42 lines in one pass. Work through this recording in three stages instead.

  • Warm up on the setup, lines 1 to 4: short, declarative sentences with easy vocabulary (honey, forest, beehive). Get the rhythm before anything speeds up.
  • Shadow the bear's boast on line 6 and the bee's warning on line 4 back to back. Saying both in a row is the fastest way to hear how differently a confident line and a defensive line are paced.
  • Slow down for lines 15 to 25, the smashing and the chase. "Smash, smash, smash!" and "Zing, zing, zing!" are pure sound, repeat them until the rhythm feels automatic, this is where a strange word like a rare one, zing, is worth saying on its own a few times before you put it back in the line.
  • Finish on the exchange between Mr. and Mrs. Bear, lines 32 to 36, this is where the tag question and the short answer "Yes" sit, and where improving your english accent on rising intonation actually shows up in your score.
  • Once you can say all four sections without checking the text, go back and shadow the moral on line 42 by itself. It is the shortest line with the clearest stress pattern in the whole clip.
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