Hope

It's the darkest and heaviest days
I've witnessed in my life.
The night is so bleak
And the day is so pale

The earth shakes under our feet
And the sky is swamped with innocent flying souls.
But our faith is stalwart 
Like the rooted mountains.
The sun will rise again 
And the settlers will leave my stolen land.
The hideous and notorious occupation will end
And all free people around the world will celebrate
A new era of freedom
They'll gather in Palestine, 
The flags will wave
And the sweets will be served.

Gaza

Here's Gaza, where hunger becomes a killer,
The buzzing drones become a chronic disease, 
and coldness becomes a knife
In the heart of homelessness,
The destruction becomes the witness to the crime.

No flour, no bread, no medicine, no children's milk,

No fuel, no power, no hospitals,  no schools,
No safety, nothing except death.

Gaza is starving, 
Destroyed, punished,
tortured every minute, hour, day.

It's not a war,
It's a collective execution to a whole land, 
an entire people and a complete life.

Ahmed Miqdad (b. 1985) is a Palestinian poet resident of Gaza. He has a B.A. in English and a Master in Education. Ahmed is the author of three collections of poetry (Gaza Narrates Poetry (2014), Stolen Lives (2015) and When Hope Is not Enough (2019)) and a novel Falastin: The Hope of Tomorrow (2018). The latest poetry collection is The Shadow: Poems for the Children of Gaza. He has witnessed over three wars and severe aggression by Israeli forces on the Palestinian people since the 1980s with a huge loss of life. He writes and publishes to raise consciousness about the Palestinian cause."

into the adult years


longing for a kiss

on a hot summer

day



never had much luck

when i was younger

and that has carried

right into the adult

years



and i know, when i

give up they will come

out of the shadows



tell me all the things

i wanted to hear years

ago



back when love had

a chance



when dreams weren't

extinguished



when desire still

resided in this

house

-------------------------------------------------------------
as fleeting as they may be


ponder death like

there is some other

option



childhood memories

come flooding by



the pain, the joy,

the heartbroken

nights of all

those years



remind yourself

of the good times



as fleeting as

they may be



they are all you

have left in times

like this



when the first kiss

was so much more



the night you spent

in a stranger's arms



lost in the stars and

the futile belief in

hope



and when tomorrow

doesn't come



will everything be

a mess



all that could have

been has expired



i suppose the best

thing about death



procrastination is

no longer possible

---------------------------------------------------------
her soft hands


a black woman

cut my hair

today



brought back the

memories of what

i always thought

my adult life

would be like



a black wife



cutting my hair

in the kitchen



her soft hands

gently caressing

my hair



different kind of

small talk than

today of course



she thanked me

for the tip



ten dollars



she told me her

daughter has

discovered

brand names



so, i knew she

needed it

--------------------------------------------------------
a public enemy song


got a letter from

the government



fuck, my life is now

a public enemy song



they declined one

of my medications



obviously, i'm starting

to live better than they

will allow



i guess we no longer

want people striving

to be better, etc.



just fucking die

already



i suppose that's one

way to balance

a budget



all it really does

is feed into my

inner child's long

held belief that

they are out

to get me



i'm just about at

that age where a

mass shooting

really makes

sense


--------------------------------------------------------------------
come around and say hello


a bottle of rye

to keep you

warm



these are the nights

where you wouldn't

mind a few ghosts to

come around and say

hello



there's a longing

in your soul that

cuts deeper than

anyone knows



a tragedy waiting

to happen



the endless pursuit

of endless possibilities

of endless mysteries



there must be a

breaking point

of something

good



they don't

understand

the pain



the pure fucking

misery of tomorrow



escaping death

yet again



once your number

is called just accept

it



it is the only way

out


J.J. Campbell (1976 - ?) is old enough to know better. He's been widely published over the years, most recently at Disturb the Universe Magazine, The Beatnik Cowboy, Mad Swirl, Yellow Mama and Horror Sleaze Trash. Most days he is taking care of his disabled mother. In the rare moment of free time, he'll be making bets on sports or finding a few seconds for a nap. You sometimes can find him at his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights. (https://evildelights.blogspot.com)

Water

Once a man went near a sea and said to the water, “Tell me something about you.” The water said to the man, “I can bring flood and can destroy a country, People drink me when they feel thirst, People use me to wash their bodies.” After hearing this the man again said to the water, “You have so much power that you can destroy a country but you always take the shape of the thing where you’re kept.” Saying this, the man took water in a pot and went from there.

Very Soon, And in Pleasant Company

Soon is a complicated word,

Does soon mean tomorrow or in two years?

Does it depend on what I’m focusing on?

When I crack open a cookie,

My fortune will spill out like a yolk,

I’ll scramble it together,

Figure it out,

Piece

By

Peace.

The role of shadowing techniques in enhancing the speaking ability of EFL Learners                                                                           

Kaljanova Gulmira           

EFL teacher of Uzbekistan State World Languages University                           

Olimova Shahina Botirjon qizi            

Student of Uzbekistan State World Languages University

Abstract: The article investigates the effectiveness of innovative approach through using shadowing technique on teaching speaking skills to students learning English as a second language. Shadowing technique plays a vital role in improving speaking abilities of EFL learners. It is a language learning method that involves listening to audio materials and simultaneously repeating what is heard, improves pronunciation, fluency, and overall communication. 

Key words: ELF teachers, shadowing technique, language method, feedback, innovative approach.Introduction: Many EFL teachers try to use shadowing technique during their lessons to help students to speak as native speakers. Shadowing is a language technique that involves following and imitating a native speaker while they are talking. Shadowing is not only improves  speaking ability, but also helps to make listening skill better. There some steps that teachers should pay attention more in term of using this method. 

How students can do shadowing effectively?

Step 1: Find favourite people or movie. Students need to know their interests and try to find out engaging videos depend on it. For example, if they love watching documentaries, they may select one episode that continues about 2 minutes. The most important thing there is that the lengths of episode should be less, because it would be boring, if students imitate long without break.

Step 2: Listen actively In this part, students should analyze the overall speech of character or celebrity and pay attention to their pronunciation, intonation, rhythm. In the first time if needed, students can switch on subtitle of the movie or video.

Step 3: Repeat.While a native speaker is talking, repeating not only their speech, but also movements is more effective. This means doing the same mimics, using the same intonation and mimicking their pronunciation.

Step 4: Recording part After preparing, students should record their speech, and compare it with video. Recording is useful for checking grammatical and pronunciation mistakes. Students need to try to match their speech with a native speaker did.

Step 5: Checking.Listening the original audio and recording, and comparing the differences between it is vital for this part. This allows students to assess themself and improve their speech. If students notice any mistakes, they should correct them and record again until it becomes perfect.

Step 6: Doing more shadowingWhile doing shadowing, students should be consistent. They should make shadowing a daily part of their language learning routine. The more they practice they see more improvement in their speaking skill.

Step 7: Enjoy the process.If a learner loves the language, learning process would be more interesting and engaging. During learning they can watch movies or documentaries, it not only for entertainment, but also useful for educational purposes. The length of reaching another level would be fast, if a learner loves that he or she is doing.

Research and discussion:The research was conducted in seminar classes between 18-years old students. Teachers selected 20 students and they were divided into 2 groups. For the first group, teachers used traditional methods in lessons, while the second group was taught with shadowing technique.

During the processes, teachers and students selected several podcasts related to how to improve communication skills. In the first week, students watched B2 level videos and tried to imitate it. They didn’t pay attention to recording and finding their mistakes. Next week, while shadowing students recorded their voice and listened after shadowing. They were able to find  not only pronunciation mistakes, but also they found errors related to grammatical range.

Apart from that, they imitated characters with gestures, it helped they to act like a native speaker. After 2 weeks, teachers compared two groups according to speaking assessment, second group performed well in term of overall communication skills as compared to first one. Various studies support the positive effects of shadowing on EFL learners.

In 2015, Hamada found that Japanese university students who practiced shadowing for ten weeks significantly improved their speaking fluency and listening comprehension compared to control group. Second research was conducted by Mochizuki in 2018. Mochizuki concluded that shadowing promotes self-monitoring and language awareness, both crucial for speaking development.

Conclusion: In conclusion, teaching shadowing is a powerful instructional strategy that enhances language acquisition, promotes active learning, and fosters deeper engagement with the material. By allowing students to imitate and practice language use in real-time, shadowing not only improves their pronunciation and fluency but also builds their confidence in using the language.

Furthermore, this technique encourages critical listening skills and reinforces comprehension through repetition. As educators integrate shadowing into their curricula, they provide students with valuable opportunities to develop their linguistic abilities in a supportive environment. Ultimately, the benefits of teaching shadowing extend beyond mere language skills; they cultivate a lifelong love for learning and empower students to communicate effectively in an increasingly interconnected world.

Shadowing is the most effective method in learning foreign languages. It helps to improve not only listening skills or speaking ability, but also with using this method, students can learn how to sound as natives. For EFL learners, through using shadowing technique, teachers could able to improve their speaking skills. If teachers pay attention on steps of using shadowing in classes, it would be more effective for students. 

References:1. Brown, A. (2019). Shadowing Techniques in Language Acquisition: Theory and Practice. New York: Language Learning Press.2. Carter, S., & Lee, T. (2020). Mastering Shadowing: Effective Strategies for Language Learners. London: Education Innovations.3. Garcia, M. (2018). The Art of Shadowing: Enhancing Fluency through Imitation. San Francisco: Fluent Press.4. Kim, J., & Park, H. (2021). Shadowing in Second Language Learning: A Comprehensive Guide. Boston: Academic Publishers.5. Thompson, R. (2022). Shadowing for Success: Building Listening Skills in a Foreign Language. Chicago: Linguistic Studies Press.6. Wilson, L., & Zhang, Y. (2020). Innovative Approaches to Shadowing in Language Education. Toronto: Global Language Academy.

first publication in Hellbender Magazine, Winter 2025 issue. 

Who it was 
To be honest, I don't know who it was. He just came out and said that he would live with us in the kitchen now. A small piece of a man inside a stone. We decided not to argue, and a small piece of a man inside a stone settled in our house. 

Over time, he needed more space to live, so we moved to the basement (we imagined that it was a bomb shelter, and not a basement where we could be buried to death by rubble). The khaki-colored sea was burning with the sun, but we know that the sun doesn't care who it shines for, and the side and the gun don't care either about blood or sperm. An endless sea. Such a space. 

If you repeat the same actions every day, time will not stop. Even if you die, time will not stop. The parents got tired of sitting in the basement and went outside into death and old age. Old age smells like a burden, like childhood. 

The parents looked around: there were animal corpses and soldiers' guts lying around. I feel most sorry for animals because it is not their fault that they live on a human planet and are not capable of thinking so deeply that they can fall into the abyss. My parents went outside and disappeared like pigeons in a minefield of life (plants and flowers grow on the earth, but the bones of the violently killed lie underground). 

The light bulb in my personal basement was constantly blinking, and I was stealing money from my health and talent to pay for artificial light. A friend of mine had a grandmother who was fed condensed milk from the Third Reich by Wehrmacht soldiers during the occupation. 

My grandmother was not fed condensed milk at all for the first five years of her life. These years just happened to fall on the post-war hungry years. I am increasingly showing signs of diabetes. Perhaps I ate too much condensed milk as a child. And the flowers without graves continued to grow. 

And the graves without flowers continued to grow. Graves without names: just remains dumped in a pile (this is called, according to Soviet tradition, the "tomb of the unknown soldier"). Another friend of mine didn't have a grandmother (how his mother was born remains a mystery). 

It's very difficult to change light bulbs in the dark. My personal basement was damp, and bones were growing stickily under my bed (at night, the same bones were burning in the red prison sky). My grandmother, or as she called her babushka, will never see this again. 

My grandmother didn't see much, for example, the northern lights or the southern Italian embankment. My friend's grandmother only saw endless concentration camps and the rails on which prisoners were transported from a German concentration camp. And straight to a Soviet concentration camp (it's something like an Indian ghetto or slave labor in Africa, only without any connection to nationality). 

Sooner or later, they will kill everyone: even themselves. Sometimes, I let the cat out of the basement: it reflexively hunted mice, then played with the corpse for a long time, then gnawed. I could regularly see the mouse remains at the entrance to the basement. And my cat often vomited (usually grass). 

I, too, often feel a sense of emptiness at the frozen snowy silence from what I have seen. My cat doesn't see anything and doesn't even know what war is.  And I don't tell him about it anyway: what if he starts protecting our house from the blast wave and dies? 

It’s funny, I still haven’t figured out the gender of my cat, but by default, I think he’s a boy. Actually, this isn't even my cat, and I don't understand how we ended up on the same ark together. When I first saw him, he was clean and skinny, like a Jew who found himself in the gas chamber of Auschwitz or a Polish prisoner about to be shot by the NKVD. 

This all reminds me of a sad fact: someday my cat will die without ever knowing that a war has broken out. What’s more, my cat will never know why the war started. I will probably die, too, without ever finding out why people go to war. 

I want to die without finding out that there is a war. my basement was gradually filling with the water of time, and I couldn't swim like a statue of a dead man. Something was bursting in my eardrums of memory. 

Sometimes, the crow king would visit me like a picture and peck at my hair. Someone coughed blood into my eyes. Somewhere in the basement, the pipes of tired lungs hummed.

Some god soared up and did not kiss me like Hyacinth (I probably won't come back). Some day, i looked into the mirror of my own world history. The reflection did stirred. To be honest, I don't know who it was.

Mr. Tough Knuckles 

"I want you to understand what you've done, Johnny." The man looked at the boy sternly. "I want you to understand what it means to destroy property. It means something." 

The boy looked worried in a vague way, but was silent. 

"It wasn't just the window you broke, Mr. I-Like-Throwing-Rocks." 

The boy's expression did not change. 

"There was a complete set of very fine heirloom china on a table in the room where the window was broken. Most of the china was negatively affected. The window, all that very nice china, and the memories contained in the china, all broken by you.Also, on that very day, there was, by a twist of medicalized fate, a bottle of human urine in the room that was by consequence of your impulsive and selfish actions, over turned. A large part of the carpet was stained and the resulting odor was pervasive. Mr. Littlejohn has recently informed me the stench is still lingering." 

The boy's nose wrinkled as consequence of the man's description, but the boy still said nothing. 

"I'd like you to think, Johnny, of the meaning of your actions and their consequences. I'd like you to take some time and think. Really, really use your mind. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, Johnny." 

Silence. 

"Well, Johnny?" 

A longer silence. The man folded his arms impatiently. 

"I’m waiting, Johnny." 

"I'm thinking," said the boy softly with a hint of firmness. 

"Good! Very good, Johnny. I'm chuffed to hear you're thinking. Please, keep thinking, and I'd like for you to tell me exactly what it is you're thinking. I'd like for you to put actual words to your thoughts and to communicate them to me directly.”

Silence.

“Can you say something, Johnny?”

Silence. The man leaned toward the boy, and the boy made a fist and scratched his knuckles on his front teeth. 

“Well. This defiance is unacceptable. I can only conclude, Mr. Tough Knuckles, you’ve been toying with me from the very start. I think you actually desired to cause damage to private property. In your mind—the law calls it mens rea, Johnny—you truly are a destructive little turk, aren’t you? Henceforth, we will have to seriously correct this attitude.”

“I wouldn’t piss into the wind of this market.”

“Excuse me, young man?”

“Pissed away years of gains.”

“This is completely unacceptable, Johnny.”

“Piss on me, I piss on you.”

“I’m nonplussed! I simply have no choice now, Johnny. This issimply beyond thought! Your days at this school are over, and I will be contacting your parents immediately. Piss on me?Indeed.”

Johnny found his way outside and walked around the parking lot as the night approached. He picked up a rock and threw it at an Audi SUV, shouting, “The bond market’s goin’ to the pisser!” 


MJ 

"I've never met a chest of drawers I didn't like, and you, dear, are no exception." 

"Joseph, you've become tiresome. The most deadliest of sins, really." 

"Your drawers are of exceptional quality. They slide silently with the best of them. They slide on air." 

"Words slide on air. Yours do." 

"Your legs. Let's not forget them. A chest of drawers is nothing, nothing, nothing at all, without sturdy legs." 

"If you keep this up, you will realize what it means to have neither leg to stand on." 

"I will perorate upon your drawer knobs. In a class of their own, darling." 

"I’ll terminate monthly payments to your account if you don't stop talking immediately." 

Joseph raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. He twisted swiftly away from the woman towards the open balcony doors, picking up his vodka ice. He took a sip and looked over his shoulder at the woman, asking her tartly, "Who was it who said life is a brief wave from a balcony?" 

"Twas my dear husband, Jojo." 

"No, no, it was MJ.” Joseph danced toward the balcony railing, laughing, drinking, and beckoning to the woman. “Isn’t it time for a little moonwalk, darling?"