Shadowing Practice: An Apple Pie | Learn English Through Stories Level 1 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “An Apple Pie”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: apple, horse, pie, enjoyed, farmer. This video has 27 sentences and 172 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:58. The speaker talks at a natural 177 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 85% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| farmer noun | /ˈfɑɹ.mɚ/ | A person who works the land and/or who keeps livestock; anyone engaged in agriculture on a farm. |
| soup noun | /sup/ | Any of various dishes commonly made by combining liquids, such as water or stock, with other ingredients, such as meat and vegetables, that contribute the food… |
| barn noun | [ˈbɑɹn] | A building, often found on a farm, used for storage or keeping animals such as cattle. |
| rub verb | /ɹʌb/ | To move (one object) while maintaining contact with another object over some area, with pressure and friction. |
| dessert noun | /dɪˈzɝt/ | The last course of a meal, consisting of fruit, sweet confections etc. |
| sofa noun | /ˈsoʊ̯fə/ | An upholstered seat with a raised back and one or two raised ends, long enough to comfortably accommodate two or more people. |
| bread noun | /brɛd/ | A foodstuff made by baking dough made from cereals. |
| milk verb | /mɪlk/ | To express milk from (a mammal, especially a cow). |
| cook verb | /kʊk/ | To prepare food for eating, typically by heating it, combining it with other ingredients, seasoning it, preparing it for serving, etc. |
| bowl noun | /boʊl/ | As much as is held by a bowl. |
| branch noun | /bɹænt͡ʃ/ | The woody part of a tree arising from the trunk and usually dividing. |
| apple noun | /ˈæpəl/ | The fruit of the tree Malus domestica, chiefly with a green, red, or yellow skin, cultivated in temperate climates for cidermaking, cooking, and eating. |
| horse noun | /hoɹs/ | A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work. |
| tree noun | /tɹiː/ | A perennial woody plant taller and larger than a shrub with a wooden trunk and, at some distance from the ground, having leaves and branches. |
| ride verb | /ɹaɪd/ | To transport oneself by sitting on and directing a horse, later also a bicycle etc. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| reach out verb | To extend one's hand(s) forward; to reach for something. |
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 farmer, soup, barn.
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.