Shadowing Practice: Why do snakes shed their skin? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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(phone ringing) - Hi, it's Doug.
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This is my family's pet tortoise, Mr. Tortoise.
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I know, not the most creative name in the world.
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Like other tortoises and turtles, as Mr. Tortoise grows, he sometimes sheds little bits of skin, even layers of these little plates on his back.
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Someone named Molly, has a question about another kind of reptile that does this.
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Let's give Molly a call now.
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(phone ringing) - Hi, Doug. - Hi, Molly.
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- I have a question for you, why does snakes shed their skin?
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- Ooh, that's a great question.
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Walking around in a forest, you might even find something like this, an entire skin left behind by a snake after it shed.
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It's not common to see a wild snake in the act of shedding its skin, but people who have pet snakes have filmed lots of videos of this.
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Like, check this out.
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This is a type of snake called a Milk snake.
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This one is named Candy Cane and Candy Cane here is in the process of shedding his skin with a little help from his caretaker.
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Shedding starts at the snake's head and can take hours or days for the snake's old skin to be fully left behind.
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And it's not just snakes that do this.
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Insects do too, like dragonflies for example.
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You can sometimes find the shed skins left behind by them, sitting on the tops of tall grass, or in many parts of North America, you can find the shed skin left behind by this, a cicada.
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Wow, look at that.
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Spiders do this too, like this tarantula.
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Even some ocean creatures do this.
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Crustaceans like this crab, as it slowly backs out of its old shell, shedding and leaving it behind.
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Whoa, look at that.
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Why do all of these animals do this?
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Well, one clue is how often they do it.
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All of these animals shed their skin a lot more when they're young, when they're growing.
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Some baby snakes will shed their skin every two weeks.
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Gradually, as they get bigger and bigger, they do it less often.
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Instead of every two weeks, it becomes more like two to four times per year.
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So shedding their skin seems to have something to do with how they grow, but wait a second, because we grow too and we don't shed our skins like a snake or an insect.
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Can you imagine?
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Would our parents save it and show our friends?
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Aww, come look at the skin you shed when you were a little baby.
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Aww, it's so cute.
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Oh, that would be so weird.
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And it's not just us either, lots of other animals don't seem to shed their skin as they grow, dogs, cats, hamsters, why do animals like snakes and insects shed their skin, but other living things don't?
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What ideas do you have?
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Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss.
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Okay, you ready?
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Well, actually it turns out we do shed our skin, not our entire skin all at one time, the way a snake or an insect or a crab does, but as our bodies grow, we do grow new skin and we shed little bits of old skin as we're growing.
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Usually these little bits of skin we shed are so small, we don't tend to notice them, but sometimes, like if you wear dark clothing, you actually can notice little flecks of it here and there.
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It's no big deal, we all do this and when you think about the fact that it means your body's growing, it's actually kind of interesting.
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So then, why do these other animals shed their entire skin all at once?
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That's something that's hard to know for sure, but it's probably something that's helpful to them.
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I asked this question to some scientists who study these animals.
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Some of them think that one possibility is that their skin is less flexible than ours.
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Animals like insects, spiders, and crabs have a tough outer layer of skin that acts like a shield.
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We call it an exoskeleton.
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With such tough, rigid skin, it might be that being able to shed the entire skin every few months is what allows these animals to grow.
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There could be another reason too.
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A lot of animals often have tiny creatures living on them, tiny things like ticks, fleas, lice, sometimes these little animals even carry diseases.
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Scientists have pointed out that when snakes shed their skin, it leaves lots of these little pests behind.
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Shedding their skin gets rid of these pests.
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So maybe shedding their entire skin all at once is a special feature that some animals have to get rid of pests.
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Now, that said, animals that don't shed their entire skin can still get ticks and lice on them so they have to rely on other ways to get rid of these.
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Like these giraffes who rely on birds to help pick them clean of any little pests, or these snow monkeys in Japan, they're carefully grooming each other to remove any tiny pests that might be hanging out in their fur.
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So in summary, lots of animals shed their skin to make room as they grow.
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Some of them do it all at once, some not.
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Shedding their skin all at once has an interesting plus.
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You don't have to take a shower.
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That's all for this week's question.
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Thanks, Molly, for asking it.
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Now for the next episode I reached into my question jar and picked out three questions sent in to me that I'm thinking about answering next.
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When this video is done playing, you'll get to vote on one.
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You can choose from, why do we have leap years?
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Who invented the piano?
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Or how do traffic lights work?
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So submit your vote when the video is over.
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I wanna hear from all of you watching.
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There are mysteries all around us.
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Stay curious and see you next week.
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Este vídeo tiene 71 frases y 999 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 6:22. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 157 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. El 83 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
15 palabras del vídeo que vale la pena aprender, con su pronunciación y significado:
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| snake sustantivo | /sneɪk/ | serpiente, culebra |
| insect sustantivo | /ˈɪn.sɛkt/ | insecto |
| pest sustantivo | /pɛst/ | peste, pestilencia |
| crab sustantivo | /kɹæb/ | cangrejo, jaiba |
| layer sustantivo | /ˈleɪ̯ɚ/ | capa, tongada |
| rely verbo | /ɹɪˈlaɪ/ | atenerse, fiarse |
| spider sustantivo | /ˈspaɪ̯dɚ/ | araña |
| scientist sustantivo | /ˈsaɪəntəst/ | científico, científica |
| tick sustantivo | /tɪk/ | garrapata, rezno |
| clothing sustantivo | /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/ | ropa, ropaje |
| carefully adverbio | /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ | cuidadosamente |
| curious adjetivo | /ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/ | curioso, tener curiosidad |
| mystery sustantivo | /ˈmɪs.t(ə.)ɹi/ | misterio, arcano |
| helpful adjetivo | /ˈhɛlp.fl̩/ | servicial, adyuvante |
| shell sustantivo | /ʃɛl/ | concha, caparazón |
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
| Palabra | Significado |
|---|---|
| point out verbo | señalar, apuntar |
| turn out verbo | resultar |
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 13 contracciones y formas reducidas, como don't, they're, I'm. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: shell /ʃɛl/, shield /ˈʃild/, crustacean /kɹʌsˈteɪʃən/
Cómo practicar con este vídeo
- Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
- Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
- Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como snake, insect, pest.
Gramática en este vídeo
Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:
| Estructura | En el vídeo |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora | have filmed · have pointed |
| Posibilidad con “might / may” might/may + verbo — algo posible pero no seguro | might even find · might be |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — algo que ocurre ahora o en estos días | they're growing · we're growing · I'm thinking |
| Obligación: must / have to / need to decir que algo es necesario | have to get · have to rely · have to take |
¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?
Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.