Shadowing Practice: Bài 8 - Giảm Cân Không Cần Cố! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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This is 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com.
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Hello, I'm Rob.
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And I'm Finn.
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And this is 6 Minute English.
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In today's programme, we're talking about slimming.
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In other words, doing something to lose weight and get thinner.
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Not a problem for you, Finn, eh?
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Well, actually, Rob, I do have a small tyre of fat that's growing around my middle.
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So, even I don't have a perfect body.
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Well, it doesn't show and maybe you are what we call toffee, OK?
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That's thin on the outside and fat on the inside.
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Toffee, OK, right.
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But for people who perceive or think they may be fat on the outside, there could be some good news.
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Mm-hmm, and this is to do with research about the temperature of your house.
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We'll explain more soon and we will look at some related vocabulary.
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But first, Rob, have you got a question for me?
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Of course I have, a big fat question for you.
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Very good.
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This is about calories.
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These are the units that measure how much energy you get from food.
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People who want to lose weight try to eat food with fewer calories in them.
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But what is the recommended number of calories an average man needs each day to maintain a healthy weight?
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Is it a 2,000 calories, b 2,500 calories, or c 3,000 calories?
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Oh no, I should know this.
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I think it's c 3,000 calories.
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Wow.
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Okay.
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That sounds a lot, doesn't it?
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It does.
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We'll find out if you're right later on.
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Thank you.
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Let's talk more now about a possible new way to slim or lose weight.
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New research has found that heating your house too much could make you fat.
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Mmm, and turning the central heating down could make you lose the pounds.
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This is the claim from Dr. Wouter van Markenlichtenbelt, who is a biologist at Maastricht University Medical Centre.
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Yes, that's right.
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He got some brave volunteers to spend six hours every day for ten days indoors,
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in temperatures of just 15 to 16 degrees Celsius, whilst just wearing T-shirts and shorts.
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Now, that's not something I would normally do.
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But these guinea pigs, now that's a name for people who are used in experiments, became accustomed to, or used to, the cold.
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And their metabolism worked faster.
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Yes, metabolism is an important thing.
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This is the chemical process in your body that causes you to burn food and turn it into energy.
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So in this research, living in cooler conditions made people's bodies burn food faster.
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Yes, so they burnt off the calories and that means they lost weight.
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It sounds like a simple and easy diet, doesn't it, Rob?
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I like the sound of this.
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It doesn't really involve too much effort.
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It doesn't mean, though, you can just be a couch potato.
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You still need to do some exercise.
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But living in a cooler temperature could help to some extent, and this is because of brown fat.
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Mmm, brown fat, huh?
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Now let's find out more about this from Dr. Wouter van Markenlichtenbelt,
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who's been speaking to the BBC's Health Check programme.
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What happens to brown fat when it is activated?
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Brown fat cell is really not filled with fat but with other particles that can increase energy metabolism a lot.
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So as brown fat gets activated, it produces heat, so it warms up the body.
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Ah, so he says brown fat isn't actually fat.
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It has particles that help to increase your metabolism.
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When it's activated, or when it starts working, it makes heat and that warms up the body.
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Yes, it's interesting stuff.
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And brown fat actually increases after living in cold conditions.
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It's particularly found in animals that hibernate, the ones that sleep during the winter.
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A similar experiment took place in Japan, which led to people losing weight.
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But I find if the temperature is colder, I want to eat more to warm up.
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particularly unhealthy food, or what we call comfort food.
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Oh yes, me too.
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But the doctor says we mustn't, and he explains that losing weight this way also depends on other lifestyle factors,
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so other ways we lead our life, such as exercise and what we eat.
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But he does feel understanding environmental conditions – that's where we live and work – could be useful in the future.
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He thinks a factor like temperature has been neglected, or not thought important.
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And he believes it should be thought about when designing heating and cooling systems for homes and offices.
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Now, what does this mean?
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Does it mean I'm going to be shivering like that when I'm at work?
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Well, it will mean you'll be producing extra brown fat instead of that other fat you've got.
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Yes, only a little.
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But seriously, the doctor is just talking about turning the temperature down a few degrees, not turning the room into a freezer.
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It would certainly help reduce electricity and gas bills, wouldn't it?
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Well, it's time now to reveal the answer to the question I set you earlier.
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I asked you, what is the recommended number of calories an average man needs each day to maintain a healthy weight?
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I said C, 3,000 calories.
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That's a lot of calories.
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The answer is actually 2,500 calories.
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2,500 calories.
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500 too many.
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The recommended number of calories for an average woman is 2,000 calories per day.
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OK.
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Well, that brings us to the end of today's Six Minute English.
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Please join us again soon.
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Bye-bye.
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Bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Bài 8 - Giảm Cân Không Cần Cố!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: fat, calories, brown, weight, temperature. This video has 91 sentences and 910 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:02. The speaker talks at a natural 151 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| calorie noun | /ˈkæləɹi/ | A non-SI unit of energy, equivalent to 4.184 kilojoules, that can raise the temperature of a kilogram of water by one degree Celsius. This is the unit normally… |
| metabolism noun | /məˈtæb.əˌlɪz.əm/ | The chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life. |
| activate verb | /ˈæktɪˌveɪt/ | To encourage development or induce increased activity; to stimulate. |
| toffee noun | /ˈtɔfi/ | A type of chewy confectionery made by boiling sugar (or treacle, etc) with butter or milk, then cooling the mixture so that it becomes hard. |
| particle noun | /ˈpɑɹtək(ə)l/ | A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something. |
| biologist noun | /baɪˈɒləd͡ʒɪst/ | A student or professor of biology; one versed in the science of biology. |
| hibernate verb | /ˈhaɪbəɹˌneɪt/ | To spend the winter in a dormant or inactive state of minimal activity, low body temperature, slow breathing and heart rate, and low metabolic rate; to go… |
| shiver verb | /ˈʃɪvɚ/ | To tremble or shake, especially when cold or frightened. |
| tyre noun | /taɪə(ɹ)/ | The ring-shaped protective covering around a wheel which is usually made of rubber or plastic composite and is either pneumatic or solid. |
| indoors adverb | /ɪnˈdɔɹz/ | Inside, into, or within a building. |
| accustomed adjective | /əˈkʌs.təmd/ | Familiar with something through repeated experience; adapted to existing conditions. (of a person) |
| freezer noun | /ˈfɹizɚ/ | An appliance or room used to store food or other perishable items at temperatures below 0° Celsius (32° Fahrenheit). |
| unhealthy adjective | /ʌnˈhɛl.θi/ | Characterized by, or conducive to poor health. |
| perceive verb | /pɚˈsiv/ | To become aware of, through the physical senses, to see; to understand. |
| neglect verb | /nɪˈɡlɛkt/ | To fail to care for or attend to something. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| warm up verb | /ˌwɔː(ɹ)m ˈʌp/ | To become warmer. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- In today's programme, we're talking about slimming.
- That sounds a lot, doesn't it?
- We'll find out if you're right later on.
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 used · is activated · is really not filled |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who perceive · People who want · people who are |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has found · has been neglected |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | We'll explain · We'll find · will mean |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 19 contractions and reduced forms, such as doesn't, I'm, we'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: metabolism /məˈtæb.əˌlɪz.əm/, biologist /baɪˈɒləd͡ʒɪst/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/
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 calorie, metabolism, activate.
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.