Shadowing Practice: Australian Wildlife | Learn Australian English 🦘 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Liz, have you noticed that whenever you tell someone you're from Australia, they don't ask about the beaches or cities first?
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No. They immediately ask, is everything there trying to kill you?
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Exactly.
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Australia has this reputation for dangerous animals.
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But the truth is, most of our wildlife is just incredibly unique and fascinating.
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And this is a perfect topic for learning English, because animal names, locations and descriptions come up all the time in conversation about Australia.
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By the end of this episode, you'll not only know the animals, but also where they live across Australia.
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Let's start with the animal on the Australian coat of arms, the kangaroo.
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Kangaroos live across most of Australia.
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You'll find them in grasslands, bush areas, farms, and even golf courses near cities.
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There are actually different types of kangaroos, like the red kangaroo, which lives in the dry central outback, and the eastern grey kangaroo,
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which you often see near cities on the east coast.
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And their smaller relatives are called wallabies, which live in forests and rocky areas.
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A baby kangaroo is called a joey, and it lives in the mother's pouch for months.
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You'll often see road signs in Australia warning drivers about kangaroos, because they jump onto roads at dusk.
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Koalas are found along the east coast of Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
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They live in eucalyptus trees and eat only eucalyptus leaves.
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They sleep up to 20 hours a day because the leaves don't give them much energy.
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Koalas don't drink much water.
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They get most of it from the leaves.
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are short, strong animals found in Tasmania, Victoria and parts of New South Wales.
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They dig large burrows underground and are mostly active at night.
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They look slow, but they can run surprisingly fast.
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And yes, they are famous for producing cube-shaped droppings.
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Australia has monotremes, egg-laying mammals.
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An example is the platypus.
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It might as well be the strangest animal in the world.
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It lays eggs, has a duck-like bill and lives in rivers in eastern Australia and Tasmania.
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The echidna is also an egg-laying mammal, covered in spikes and found almost everywhere across the country.
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Dingoes are wild dogs mostly found in central Australia and on Kagari, also known as Fraser Island.
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They don't bark like domestic dogs.
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They howl and are very cautious around humans.
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The emu is a tall, flightless bird found across mainland Australia.
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The kookaburra is famous for its laugh-like call you hear in the bush.
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Magpies are famous for swooping at people during nesting season.
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Cockatoos, gullas and rainbow lorikeets are colourful parrots found in cities and bushland.
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Australia has penguins too, the little penguins, and they are the smallest penguin species in the world.
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They live along the southern coasts of Victoria and Tasmania and come ashore at night.
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In the far north, Northern Territory and North Queensland, you find saltwater and freshwater crocodiles.
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Saltwater crocodiles are enormous and very dangerous.
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Freshwater crocodiles are smaller but still respected.
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Along the southern and western coasts, especially South Australia, you find great white sharks.
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Warmer waters in Queensland have tiger sharks and bull sharks.
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Australia has many venomous snakes, like the inland taipan in central deserts and the eastern brown snake near cities.
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Most snakes avoid humans and only bite if threatened.
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The Sydney funnel web spider lives around Sydney.
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The redback spider is common in gardens, sheds and outdoor furniture.
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Don't forget about the huntsman spiders.
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That's right.
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They can get really big, as big as a dinner plate, and can be found crawling around people's homes.
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Not great if you have arachnophobia.
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The Tasmanian devil only lives in Tasmania and is known for its loud screech.
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The quokka lives on Rottenist Island in Western Australia and is called the happiest animal in the world.
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You often see people taking selfies with a smiling quokka.
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Off the coast of Queensland is the Great Barrier Reef.
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You'll find sea turtles, clownfish, reef sharks and colourful coral.
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So just a recap on some of Australian unique animals.
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If you go east coast, you can see koalas and kangaroos.
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South coast has penguins and sharks.
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North has crocodiles.
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Tasmania has wombats and devils.
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Australia has quokkas.
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Here are some sentences you can practice speaking.
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Kangaroos live in the outback.
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Koalas live in eucalyptus trees on the east coast.
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Crocodiles live in the north of Australia.
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Quokkas live in Western Australia.
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Australian wildlife is strange, unique and unforgettable.
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And now you know a little bit more about them.
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Make sure to like and subscribe for more podcasts and to learn Australian English.
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See you next time.
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Bye everyone!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Australian Wildlife”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Australia, kangaroo, animal, coast, crocodiles. This video has 72 sentences and 780 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:10. The speaker talks at a steady 127 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 77% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| kangaroo noun | /ˌkæŋ.ɡəˈɹu/ | A member of the Macropodidae family of large marsupials with strong hind legs for hopping, native to Australia and New Guinea. |
| crocodile noun | /ˈkɹɑkədaɪl/ | Any of the predatory amphibious reptiles of the family Crocodylidae; (loosely) a crocodilian, any species of the order Crocodilia, which also includes the… |
| koala noun | /koʊˈɑː.lə/ | A tree-dwelling marsupial, Phascolarctos cinereus, that resembles a small bear with a broad head, large ears and sharp claws, mainly found in eastern Australia. |
| quokka noun | /ˈkwɒkə/ | A cat-sized wallaby, Setonix brachyurus, of southwestern Australia. |
| penguin noun | /ˈpɛŋ.ɡwɪn/ | Any of several flightless sea birds, of the family Spheniscidae within the order Sphenisciformes, found in the Southern Hemisphere, marked by their usual… |
| eucalyptus noun | /ˌjuː.kəˈlɪp.təs/ | Any of many trees, of genus Eucalyptus, native mainly to Australia. |
| leaf noun | /lif/ | The usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants. |
| snake noun | /sneɪk/ | Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptiles with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues. |
| spider noun | /ˈspaɪ̯dɚ/ | Any of various eight-legged, predatory arthropods, of the order Araneae, most of which spin webs to catch prey. |
| mammal noun | /ˈmæməl/ | A vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia, characterized by being warm-blooded, having fur or hair and producing milk with which to feed their young. |
| outback noun | /ˈaʊtbæk/ | The most remote and desolate areas of Australia; the desert and areas too arid for growing crops. |
| freshwater adjective | /ˈfɹɛʃˌwɔːtə(ɹ)/ | Living in fresh water. |
| colourful adjective | British standard spelling of colorful. | |
| reef noun | /ɹiːf/ | A chain or range of rocks, sand, or coral lying at or near the surface of the water. |
| devil noun | /ˈdɛvəl/ | An evil creature, the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are called · is called · are found |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the strangest · the smallest · the happiest |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | you'll not only know · You'll find · You'll often see |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 10 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you'll, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: freshwater /ˈfɹɛʃˌwɔːtə(ɹ)/, clownfish /ˈklaʊnˌfɪʃ/, ashore /əˈʃɔɹ/, cautious /ˈkɔːʃəs/
- Long words — get the stress right: eucalyptus /ˌjuː.kəˈlɪp.təs/, arachnophobia /æˌɹæk.nəˈfəʊ.bɪ.ə/, kookaburra /ˈkʊkəˌbʌɹə/, unforgettable /ˌʌnfə(ɹ)ˈɡɛtəbəl/, surprisingly /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/
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 kangaroo, crocodile, koala.
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.