Shadowing Practice: Alien Contact. | 6 Minute English. - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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This is 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com Hello, I'm Rob and this is 6 Minute English.
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I'm joined today by Alice.
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Hello Alice.
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Hi Rob.
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Today we're talking about alien life form and who on planet Earth would aliens speak to if they one day made contact.
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Alien life form.
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This is something that's written about in science fiction books but nobody has actually discovered anything extraterrestrial yet.
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Extraterrestrial.
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That's something that's not from our planet.
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Now, Alice, I've got a question for you.
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OK.
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What was the year that man first walked on the moon?
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Hmm, I'm not sure.
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Can I have a think? Of course.
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You can give me the answer at the end of the programme.
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But back to the subject of contact from aliens.
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If someone from another planet did land on Earth, what do you think they might say?
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Would they say, take me to your leader?
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That's a nice thought.
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But who would our leader be?
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Who would be the first person they should speak with?
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That's difficult.
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Maybe the President of the United States of America?
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The leaders of China or Russia?
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What about me?
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Well, the answer, according to one expert, is a space ambassador.
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A space ambassador.
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What would they do?
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Well, they would be the first point of contact for aliens trying to communicate with us.
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So they would be the first person to talk to, a point of contact.
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And would they meet and greet these aliens when they land in their UFOs, their unidentified flying objects?
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Not exactly.
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A space scientist called Professor John Zanicki, who has suggested the idea of a space ambassador, can explain.
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He thinks it's unlikely to be a face-to-face meeting.
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The likelihood is not that aliens will suddenly appear in Guildford or Manchester or somewhere like that.
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The contact, if it does happen, is most likely to be through radio signals.
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Because, you know, in the last decade we've discovered something like 500 planets orbiting other stars like our sun.
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So it's no longer fanciful to think about the possibility of life on distant planets.
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Ah, so Professor Zanecki doesn't think aliens will land in a town or a city.
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Our contact will be through radio signals.
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Yes, radio signals.
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We will pick up some kind of sound.
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He believes it might really happen one day and the idea is no longer fanciful.
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Fanciful.
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That's something that's unreal or imagined.
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But, he says, this is no longer fanciful.
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Yes, that's because in the last decade, 500 new planets orbiting other stars have been discovered.
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So it's no longer fanciful to think that there may be life on distant planets.
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I see.
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So he wants us to be prepared for a possible contact from aliens.
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Yes.
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And who might this space ambassador be?
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Well, next week a meeting at the Royal Society in London will be discussing the appointment of someone, and a likely candidate is an astrophysicist called Maslan Othman.
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She already heads the Office of Outer Space Affairs for the United Nations.
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So the UN has an Office of Outer Space Affairs.
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It deals with issues that are literally out of this world.
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That's right.
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Professor Zaneki can explain a bit more about the things it looks after.
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There are laws and regulations
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that have been signed up by many countries about what we can and can't do on the moon, you know, who owns the moon,
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and also concerning the non-proliferation of weapons in outer space.
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So the Office of Outer Space Affairs oversees laws and regulations about which activities can take place on the moon,
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who owns it, and also the non-proliferation of weapons in outer space.
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Non-proliferation.
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That's a limit on the use of weapons in space and keeping it a peaceful place.
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Well, having a space ambassador seems like a good idea, but they may have a lot of waiting to do.
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Hmm, possibly.
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Professor Zaneki says alien contact could happen next week, next year, next century or maybe even never.
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But it would be really unfortunate to miss their call.
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Now Alice, what's the first thing you would say if you were contacted by aliens?
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I would ask them if they knew the answer to your question.
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What year did man first walk on the moon?
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And what do you think their answer might be?
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1969?
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Yes, that's correct.
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American Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon in 1969.
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And what do you think he said?
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After such a long journey, I'd like a cup of tea.
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No, not quite.
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His famous words were, that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
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It really was a big step, but he didn't encounter any aliens.
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OK, Alice, we've taken a small step in learning English today.
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Could you remind us of some of the words that we've learnt, please? Of course.
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Alien life form Science fiction Extraterrestrial Ambassador
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Fanciful Orbiting Appointment Non-proliferation
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Weapons Thank you.
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That's all we've got time for today, so thanks for joining us and see you next time.
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Bye!
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That was 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Alien Contact”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: alien, space, contact, planet, fanciful. This video has 88 sentences and 861 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:06. The speaker talks at a steady 141 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 17 of its 88 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| fanciful adjective | /ˈfænsɪfl̩/ | Imaginative or fantastic; ignoring reality. |
| proliferation noun | /pɹəˌlɪf.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ | The process by which an organism produces others of its kind; breeding, propagation, procreation, reproduction. |
| extraterrestrial adjective | /ˌɛk.stɹə.təˈɹɛs.tɹi.əl/ | Originating from outside of the Earth's atmosphere, from space, or from another planet; alien to Earth or its environment. |
| orbit noun | /ˈɔɹ.bɪt/ | An elliptical movement of an object about a celestial object or Lagrange point, especially a periodic elliptical revolution. |
| distant adjective | /ˈdɪstənt/ | Far off (physically, logically or mentally). |
| astrophysicist noun | /ˌæstɹəʊˈfɪzɪsɪst/ | One who studies astrophysics. |
| oversee verb | /ˌəʊ.vəˈsiː/ | To survey, look at something in a wide angle. |
| unreal adjective | /ʌnˈɹi.əl/ | Not real or substantial; having no actual presence in reality; lacking the characteristics of reality. |
| unidentified adjective | /ˌʌnaɪˈdɛntɪfaɪd/ | Not identified; having an unknown or unnamed identity. |
| greet verb | /ɡɹiːt/ | To welcome in a friendly manner, either in person or through another means such as writing. |
| mankind noun | /mænˈkaɪnd/ | The human race in its entirety. |
| likelihood noun | /ˈlaɪklihʊd/ | The probability of a specified outcome; the chance of something happening; probability; the state or degree of being probable. |
| leap verb | /ˈliːp/ | To jump. |
| unfortunate adjective | /ʌnˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nɪt/ | Not favored by fortune. |
| communicate verb | /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/ | To impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. |
| sign up verb | To add a name to the list of people who are participating in something. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- That's something that's not from our planet.
- Can I have a think?
- Would they say, take me to your leader?
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 actually discovered · has suggested · we've discovered |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | have been discovered · be prepared · have been signed |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might say · might really happen · may be |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | will suddenly · will land · will be |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 13 contractions and reduced forms, such as we've, I'm, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: proliferation /pɹəˌlɪf.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, extraterrestrial /ˌɛk.stɹə.təˈɹɛs.tɹi.əl/, astrophysicist /ˌæstɹəʊˈfɪzɪsɪst/, unidentified /ˌʌnaɪˈdɛntɪfaɪd/, unfortunate /ʌnˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nɪt/
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 fanciful, proliferation, extraterrestrial.
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.