Shadowing Practice: All about chickens - Learn English Speaking with Video

This video has 16 sentences and 72 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:24. The speaker talks slowly, about 51 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 56% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

12 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

• chick /t͡ʃɪk/ (noun) — A young bird.
• egg /ɛɡ/ (noun) — An approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body produced by birds, insects, reptiles, and other animals, often housing an embryo within a membrane or shell…
• hen /hɛn/ (noun) — A female chicken (Gallus gallus), especially a sexually mature one kept for her eggs.
• seed /siːd/ (noun) — Any propagative portion of a plant which may be sown, such as true seeds, seed-like fruits, tubers, or bulbs.
• cock /kɑk/ (noun) — A rooster: a male gallinaceous bird, especially a male domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus).
• grain /ɡɹeɪn/ (noun) — The harvested seeds of various grass food crops, especially wheat, maize, rye, barley, and rice.
• cage /keɪd͡ʒ/ (noun) — An enclosure made of spaced bars, normally to hold animals while providing some ventilation.
• cluck /klʌk/ (noun) — The sound made by a hen, especially when brooding, or calling her chicks.
• rooster /ˈɹustɚ/ (noun) — A male domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) or other gallinaceous bird.
• coop /kʊp/ (noun) — A basket, pen or enclosure for birds or small animals.
• doodle /ˈdud(ə)l/ (noun) — A small mindless sketch, etc.
• bird /ˈbɜːd/ (noun) — An animal of the clade (traditionally class) Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of…

Phrasal verbs you will hear

• come from (verb) — To have as one's origin, birthplace or nationality.
• live in (verb) — To reside on the premises of one's employer (used especially of domestic staff such as nannies, cooks, maids, etc.)
• live on (verb) — To endure.

How to practise with this video

1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like chick, egg, hen.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video: