Shadowing Practice: 2A shadowing adult - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Never actually cook any.
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What's for dinner?
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Linda Roberts investigates the rise in popularity of ready meals.
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One, like many working people, I never actually cook anything.
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I just don't have the time.
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My mother, on the other hand, still cooks a full three-course meal every evening, but then she doesn't have to work anymore.
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I usually work very long hours, and now I'm writing a book in my spare time.
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So ready meals are the perfect solution, or are they?
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2. According to a survey by a British market research company, we only spend 20 minutes cooking each day.
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20 years ago, it was an hour a day.
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One reason for this change is ready meals.
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Now you can heat up a delicious Indian, Thai, Chinese, or Italian meal in the microwave in under 4 minutes.
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What could be easier or quicker?
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3. We all know these ready meals taste delicious,
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but many experts now believe they're bad for our health because they often contain a lot of sugar, fat, and salt.
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Health advisors say that we shouldn't eat ready meals too often and we need to read the labels carefully.
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Despite this, people who live in the UK spend over 1 billion pounds a year on ready meals
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and the market is growing rapidly.
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people in the USA and Sweden also buy a lot of ready meals, and they're becoming more common in Germany, France, and Holland.
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The Spanish and Italians still cook their own meals, but things are beginning to change there too.
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My mother will never change, though now she's doing an evening course in traditional English cooking.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 21 sentences and 267 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:53. The speaker talks at a steady 142 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| meal noun | /ˈmiːl/ | Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity. |
| delicious adjective | /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/ | Pleasing to the sense of taste; tasty. |
| carefully adverb | /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ | With care; attentively, circumspectly. |
| label noun | /ˈleɪ.bəl/ | A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached. |
| rapidly adverb | /ˈɹæpɪdli/ | With speed; in a rapid manner. |
| pound noun | /ˈpaʊ̯nd/ | A unit of weight in various measurement systems. |
| investigate verb | /ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪt/ | To inquire into or study in order to ascertain facts or information. |
| spare adjective | /spɛɚ/ | Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous. |
| popularity noun | /ˌpɑ.pjəˈlæɹ.ə.ti/ | The quality or state of being popular; especially, the state of being widely liked or in favor with the people at large. |
| advisor noun | /ædˈvaɪ.zə(ɹ)/ | One who offers advice. |
| microwave noun | /ˈmaɪkɹoʊˌweɪv/ | An electromagnetic wave with wavelength between that of infrared light and radio waves. |
| cook verb | /kʊk/ | To prepare food for eating, typically by heating it, combining it with other ingredients, seasoning it, preparing it for serving, etc. |
| survey noun | /ˈsɝˌveɪ/ | The act of surveying; a general view. |
| sugar noun | /ˈʃʊɡə/ | A food consisting of small, sweet crystals, principally of sucrose, obtained from sugar cane or sugar beet and used as sweetener and preservative. |
| salt noun | /sɒlt/ | A common substance, chemically consisting mainly of sodium chloride (NaCl), used extensively as a food ingredient, seasoning, condiment, and preservative. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| heat up verb | To heat, to cause to become hotter. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | I'm writing · is growing · they're becoming |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | have to work · need to read |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, doesn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/, sugar /ˈʃʊɡə/
- Long words — get the stress right: investigate /ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪt/, popularity /ˌpɑ.pjəˈlæɹ.ə.ti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like meal, delicious, carefully.
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.