Shadowing Practice: 2014 Three Minute Thesis winning presentation by Emily Johnston - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Our third finalist is Emily Johnston from the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences.
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Her presentation title is Mosquito Research: Saving Lives with Pantyhose and Paperclips.
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Thank you.
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- Thank you.
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I came to Australia to study the deadliest animal in the world.
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Now there may be some Australian audience members thinking, "Ruth!
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Science has finally recognized the importance of the drop bears.
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But I'm not studying drop bears, because around the world, by transmitting diseases like malaria and dengue fever, Mosquitoes kill more than a million people every year,
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making them the deadliest animal on the planet.
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Now in Australia, the most common mosquito -borne disease is Ross River virus, and it occurs at high rates in some areas but not others.
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My question is why?
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What is it about certain areas that makes them breed disease?
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If we can understand the environmental factors that contribute to disease transmission, then we can alter the environment or target our control efforts prevent human infections.
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But to answer that question, I had to find out where the infected mosquitoes were in South Australia.
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And traditionally, testing mosquitoes for virus has always been difficult.
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So I used a new technique.
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It takes these cards, which are embedded with virus -preserving chemicals, and coats them in honey.
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Mosquitoes will come to feed on the honey, and in the process, spit virus onto the card, where it can later be detected.
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Now, no one had ever used this technique in a broad -scale virus survey before, so I had to adapt it.
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I developed new traps.
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and set them at over 100 field sites across South Australia.
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and I captured over 20 ,000 hungry mosquitoes
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and let them feed on the card for a week before testing the cards for a virus.
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Now you may not think that these traps look very impressive, But science doesn't have to be beautiful.
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It has to be effective.
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And these traps are proving to be our most sensitive method of detecting infected mosquitoes.
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I found three types of infection.
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Ross River virus, Barma Forest virus, and Stratford virus, which has never before been found in South Australia.
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I now have the virus data I need to conduct my analysis.
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and I'm collecting publicly available data about the environment surrounding my traps.
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like the density of human housing, the biodiversity of mammals, and the ratio of green space to buildings.
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to see if any of those environmental factors can link These virus hotspots that I've shown here, But the most exciting part of my research so far has been the success of this method.
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Public health officials in Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia have been in contact with us about implementing this technique for their surveillance next year.
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And I developed these traps in a tight budget.
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I used recycled milk cartons, pantyhose, and paperclips to make the traps.
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Each trap costs less than a dollar and can be reused for the whole season.
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That was important to me because the majority of mosquito -borne disease risk happens in economically impoverished countries.
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In India, for example, where about a quarter of the population lives on a dollar a day, There are 33 million cases of dengue infection every year,
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With my low budget virus surveillance and spatial analysis method, I can help any country, regardless of resources, find out where their deadliest animals occur,
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why they're there, and how we can stop them from infecting humans.
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Thanks.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 42 sentences and 576 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:09. The speaker talks fast, about 183 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 77% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- virus /ˈvaɪ.ɹəs/ (noun) — A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and…
- mosquito /məsˈki.toʊ/ (noun) — A small flying insect of the family Culicidae, the females of which bite humans and animals and suck blood, leaving an itching bump on the skin, and sometimes…
- trap /tɹæp/ (noun) — A machine or other device designed to catch (and sometimes kill) animals, either by holding them in a container, or by catching hold of part of the body.
- technique /tɛkˈniːk/ (noun) — The practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc.; formal requirements.
- infection /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/ (noun) — The act or process of infecting.
- occur /əˈkɜː/ (verb) — To happen or take place.
- honey /ˈhʌni/ (noun) — A sweet, viscous, gold-colored fluid produced from plant nectar by bees, and often consumed by humans.
- surveillance /sɚˈveɪ.ləns/ (noun) — Close observation of an individual or group; person or persons under suspicion.
- detect /dɪˈtɛkt/ (verb) — To discover or find by careful search, examination, or probing.
- regardless /ɹɪˈɡɑɹd.lɪs/ (adverb) — Without attention to warnings or indications of bad consequences.
- impressive /ɪmˈpɹɛsɪv/ (adjective) — Making, or tending to make, a positive impression; having power to impress.
- sensitive /ˈsɛn.sɪt.ɪv/ (adjective) — Having the faculty of sensation; pertaining to the senses.
- hungry /ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/ (adjective) — Affected by hunger; having the physical need for food.
- capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/ (verb) — To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem.
- resource /ɹɪˈzɔːs/ (noun) — Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- find out (verb) — To discover, as by asking or investigating.
- live on (verb) — To endure.
- live with (verb) — To share an abode as an unmarried partner in a sexual relationship.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 5 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, doesn't, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: infection /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, ratio /ˈɹeɪ.ʃoʊ/, transmission /tɹænsˈmɪʃən/, presentation /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: traditionally /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nə.li/, economically /ˌiː.kəˈnɒm.ɪ.kli/, malaria /məˈlɛəɹi.ə/, biodiversity /ˌbaɪoʊdəˈvɚsəti/, impoverish /ɪmˈpɒv(ə)ɹɪʃ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like virus, mosquito, trap.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has finally recognized · has always been · I've shown |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are embedded · be detected · been found |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | cards, which are · virus, which has |
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.