Shadowing Practice: Boomers vs Gen Z: Trying Childhood Dishes - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B2
Shadowing Controls
0% completed (0/271 sentences)
I wouldn't give it to a child.
⏸ Paused
Speed:
Repeat Count:
Wait Mode:
Sub Sync:0ms
All Sentences
271 sentences
1
I wouldn't give it to a child.
2
I think it would ruin their taste buds for life.
3
I'd struggle to give it to my cat.
4
I'm Andy Norman.
5
I am a boomer.
6
Priscata Meadleith.
7
I'm half Spanish, half Irish.
8
My name's Valerie Crossley.
9
I'm 77 years old.
10
I am most definitely a boomer.
11
My name is Fred.
12
I'm Gen Z.
13
And today we're trying childhood dishes.
14
Rationing was still on when I was born.
15
Well, it was always pretty basic, pretty much the same every week.
16
Have you been on the show before?
17
I have, yes, and thank you for inviting me back.
18
This is my third time.
19
I'm also slightly terrified to be back because Andy is in the competition and is a force to be reckoned with.
20
Wowie, look at that.
21
I'm hoping that the proof will be in the eating.
22
It doesn't look too bad.
23
It's bangers and mash, but it's a very glamorous version of, because we never had this.
24
We'd have had sausages with sauce on it.
25
I mean, our mums didn't have time, you know, to make an onion gravy.
26
I've made an onion gravy and there's also red wine in the gravy which is awfully chic.
27
I got up at five this morning to do this and the spuds, it's not all remash.
28
I left the skins on the spuds because that's the most nutritious part of the potato.
29
Ooh.
30
I can tell you straight away what this is.
31
Good old bangers and mash.
32
We've got some mash, we've got like an onion gravy and then we've got two sausages.
33
It looks good.
34
The mashed potato looks very homemade.
35
It was.
36
It's got to be pork sausages really, because back in the day, they didn't have the fancy mancy ones like chicken sausages and turkey sausages.
37
These are fancy mancy and they're chicken.
38
I can't get it out of the bowl.
39
Come on Fred, get it in your mouth.
40
That's it.
41
It's not the first time, is it?
42
Are they corn sausages?
43
I would never, darling.
44
It's chicken.
45
I think it's got some butter in there.
46
Yes.
47
I think the onion could be cooked a wee bit more.
48
Yeah, I think you're right actually, Briscoe.
49
Yeah.
50
It certainly is a dish that we had all the time when we were growing up, but that's very nice and he's done that beautifully.
51
Oh.
52
You can't smell this on camera, but this smells phenomenal.
53
Oh, Fred, I take back everything I said about you.
54
My only little thing.
55
The sausages in my mind, and this is a me problem, they are not meat, they are veggie.
56
We could be having another canned chilli incident where I accuse someone of using store-bought chilli.
57
That's chilli from a can.
58
Bullshit!
59
Is it chilli from a can?
60
It's not!
61
It's not!
62
I don't know now if this is meat or not.
63
I don't think it is.
64
I'm really embarrassed if it is meat.
65
I feel like I would have put a bit of milk or some sort of liquid into the mash so it was a bit creamier.
66
Yeah, I like the rougher texture you see.
67
Okay, I'll go 7.5.
68
A 7 out of 10.
69
It's really warming my cockles and making me feel happy.
70
Yeah, it's an eight for me.
71
Maybe an eight and a half, because it honestly smells so good.
72
Was it veggie?
73
No.
74
So this is chicken nuggets with spaghetti.
75
And I've made the spaghetti with just a bit of salt.
76
And I've just put quite a lot of butter in it and quite a lot of mozzarella cheese.
77
I think they're gonna like it, because it's nothing crazy.
78
Everybody's had plain spaghetti and chicken nuggets before.
79
My God, here we go.
80
All the way from Ireland via Spain.
81
Woof.
82
Oh la la.
83
It looks like a chef.
84
A mustache, doesn't it?
85
With a beard.
86
That's beautiful.
87
I have to say visually, this is not an appealing dish.
88
There's no colour to it at all.
89
This might be the definition of a childhood meal.
90
This is as beige as...
91
This is so easy on the stomach.
92
The stomach might not even know it's in there.
93
Mmm.
94
This makes a very pleasant taste.
95
And these gorgeous little things that look like little fishes.
96
Mmm.
97
Bland.
98
OK, she doesn't seem thrilled about it.
99
That just tastes like my youth.
100
And Prisca, correct me if I'm wrong.
101
Is there any ketchup or anything maybe that you used to have with this?
102
I actually never liked ketchup because it tasted too industrial and fake for me.
103
Now this looks like a chicken nugget.
104
I wouldn't eat a chicken nugget if it slapped me in the face.
105
That is pretty disgusting.
106
Disgusting!
107
I wouldn't give it to a child.
108
I think it would ruin their taste buds for life.
109
What?
110
I'm sorry, but this seems a bit extreme.
111
And I wouldn't serve it with a pasta, I'm sorry, but I'd struggle to give it to my cat.
112
That's a bit extreme in my opinion.
113
This is really good.
114
The cheesy spaghetti!
115
Irish grandma was popping off, you know what I'm saying?
116
This is exactly what a childhood meal, I think, is.
117
What can I say?
118
What more do you want?
119
Plain and simple, that's what I'd like to say.
120
I'd give it eight.
121
Eight?
122
Okay.
123
Can't believe I'm doing this, but Prisca, I'm going to give you a 10.
124
Because I think you've smashed this brief out of the park.
125
Oh my God, I'm flattered.
126
Well, I hate to do this.
127
I don't know who's prepared this.
128
And I really don't want to offend anyone.
129
So let's go for three.
130
I'm a bit shocked.
131
The point is most of you aren't subscribed.
132
So please, please go ahead and subscribe.
133
This is an absolute classic from when I was growing up.
134
And this is a mashed potato, a sausage and some garden peas.
135
And then to garnish it, we have chambrere.
136
I asked the crew if they could not reheat my dish because I cooked it this morning.
137
And my theory is the gravy is going to warm it up enough.
138
So I need to stop talking because every minute I waste, my dish is getting colder and my points are dropping.
139
Okay, come on Val.
140
Bangers a mash.
141
Ooh, okay.
142
So similar to, there's gravy and everything.
143
Oh yeah.
144
Oh look at that.
145
Oh my God, and the gravy as well.
146
Is this your jug or did the person, did the chef bring it?
147
I wouldn't mind nicking that.
148
I'm gonna pour some of the gravy on to the mash.
149
Oh, just, mm!
150
Plain old bangers and mash, look at that.
151
Mm, blimey, the spuds are good.
152
Better than mine, you see, because I tried to be posh.
153
This looks normal, I have to say.
154
Mash looks normal.
155
I would say it Milo, on the fact that that is a proper pork sausage.
156
Yeah, it's fine.
157
This is great news for the second place goal of mine.
158
This mash is definitely creamier than the other one.
159
I prefer the consistency of it.
160
I don't know if he must have made it himself or if he bought a powder.
161
The other ones seem to be more homemade, but maybe because they weren't mashed.
162
I peeled those potatoes.
163
All the peas are lovely.
164
Butter.
165
Bloody lovely.
166
See, I'm so pretentious.
167
This is much better than mine.
168
You're not, Andy, you're a diamond.
169
It's freezing cold, by the way.
170
Why is that?
171
Did he now?
172
I'm going to have to mark him down because of that.
173
No!
174
I actually wouldn't change anything.
175
Maybe I would replace the peas with something else.
176
Beans.
177
I nearly did beans.
178
Do you compare it to the other bags of the mash dish?
179
Oh, much nicer.
180
I'm sorry, but much nicer because it actually tastes like proper sausage.
181
Do you hear that, Andy?
182
Yeah, definitely a boomer dish because, you know, we grew up with bangers because they were cheap.
183
If that was served up hot from the frying pan and out of the oven, that's definitely got to be a 9 out of 10.
184
I would give this a solid 8.5.
185
I'd like to give it 10 out of 10.
186
It was a mistake to serve it cold.
187
I will give it 9 out of 10 because it's bloody lovely.
188
It's unpretentious.
189
Come on!
190
That's absolutely made my day.
191
Now this is a real favourite of everybody who grew up who's a boomer will know that liver and bacon featured firmly on the recipe menu every week.
192
So we have on the plate here some liver and bacon, lamb's liver, just a bit of mashed potato, plain old mashed potato, good old Brussels.
193
And this little delight here is a heart, a lamb's heart that used to be stuffed and roasted.
194
I certainly don't think that the Gen Z people would be enamored to eat a heart.
195
I don't think they like offal very much.
196
I feel like Val's put a heart and soul into this.
197
Okay, this looks like a well-balanced meal.
198
Oh, wow.
199
Oh, no.
200
That is major.
201
But it's liver and bacon, which is classic.
202
What is it?
203
It smells phenomenal.
204
I don't think many children would actually like Brussels sprouts.
205
We weren't given the choice.
206
I want to say it's lamb.
207
This looks like more lamb, but it looks different to this lamb.
208
This almost looks like bread.
209
Do you know what?
210
We've got to taste it.
211
Appearance wise, I would give that 10 out of 10 straight away.
212
Oh, thank you.
213
I hope you like it.
214
The bacon is perfectly cooked.
215
Look at that liver.
216
This is really good cooking, folks.
217
It's so sweet.
218
That's definitely lamb again.
219
Or it looks like lamb.
220
Maybe I'm just booting out.
221
wow it'll amy in there i don't exactly know the name of it and i think it's lamb with more lamb and i mean like different cuts but i don't know what or where so what is what is it
222
i thought you knew because when you sat down yeah just put a heart and soul into this Oh my god.
223
Is this...
224
Is it heart?
225
Let's cut a piece off and try it.
226
Mmm.
227
It's lamb.
228
What part of the lamb is this?
229
Where is a stuffed lamb's heart?
230
A stuffed lamb's heart?
231
Okay.
232
Not sure how I feel about eating lamb's heart, but if I'm honest, it was tasty.
233
That is delicious.
234
It's like soft is the only way I can describe it.
235
Like really tender, really flavorful.
236
I'm actually not going to touch the heart.
237
You must.
238
If it was the ball, I'd eat them.
239
Okay, I'm gonna try this.
240
Well, that's only bacon, sweetheart.
241
Everyone eats bacon.
242
I have yet to try the liver, which I'm quite nervous about.
243
I don't think this would be a popular childhood meal.
244
It's liver and bacon wouldn't be served in schools.
245
Okay, I'll give it a go.
246
Maybe if I didn't know that it was liver, I wouldn't be so hesitant to eat it.
247
It's genuinely really made me smile.
248
I didn't think I'd like it as much as I do.
249
I'm going to give it a nine.
250
One!
251
Wonderful gravy.
252
I've got to give this full marks.
253
Aw.
254
Thank you.
255
A six.
256
Low score.
257
Understandably.
258
I think I've done too well.
259
No.
260
No.
261
Why not?
262
That liver and bacon was fantastic.
263
Really?
264
You liked it?
265
Yeah.
266
Did you not like it?
267
Aren't you supposed to say yabba dabba dish?
268
Yabba dabba doo!
269
Good for him.
270
Yes, yeah.
271
Oh good, I'm so good.
4.9/5 on App Store & Google Play
Shadowing English
On Mobile
Learn English anytime, anywhere with the Shadowing English app. Improve your communication skills today!
Track your learning progress
AI grading and error correction
Rich video library
Why practice speaking with this video?
Engaging with the YouTube video titled "Boomers vs Gen Z: Trying Childhood Dishes" offers a fantastic opportunity for English learners to practice speaking in a dynamic context. The discussion between different generations presents various speaking styles, tones, and vocabulary. This interaction allows learners to immerse themselves in real-life conversations while acquiring phrases and expressions used by native speakers.
By imitating the way speakers express their opinions about childhood dishes, learners can enhance their speaking skills and confidence. Using the shadowing technique, learners can echo the dialogue's rhythms and intonations, thereby improving their fluency and comprehension. This form of practice not only develops speaking abilities but also aids in improving English pronunciation by focusing on how words are articulated in spontaneous conversations.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Throughout the dialogue, several key structures and expressions provide valuable insights into conversational English:
- Using Comparatives: The phrase "it's a very glamorous version of..." highlights how to compare two different styles using adjectives. Understanding comparatives can help learners express contrasts in various contexts.
- Descriptive Language: Sentences like "the mashed potato looks very homemade" illustrate the use of descriptive words to convey feelings about food. This skill is crucial in everyday conversations, particularly in descriptions.
- Expressing Opinions: Phrases such as "I think it would ruin their taste buds for life" showcase how to offer personal opinions emphatically. Practicing such expressions can be particularly useful for preparing for the IELTS speaking test.
- Conditional Statements: The phrase "if I made this for my cat," depicts a common way to discuss hypotheticals, which can be essential for articulating potential situations in dialogues.
Common Pronunciation Traps
While watching the video, English learners may encounter specific pronunciation challenges, particularly related to the accents and dialects of the speakers. Here are a few tricky words and expressions to note:
- Bangers: This colloquial term for sausages requires attention to its pronunciation, especially for learners from non-English speaking backgrounds who might find it difficult to articulate the "g" sound clearly.
- Mashed: The word often becomes "mash" in rapid speech. Focusing on its correct pronunciation, particularly the ending sound, can help learners avoid falling into the trap of simplifying words.
- Gravy: The vowel sound in "gravy" can be tricky due to regional accents. It is essential for learners to recognize these variations and practice mimicking the sounds to enhance their fluency.
By utilizing the insights gained from this video, English learners can significantly bolster their IELTS speaking practice and overall communication skills. Engaging in shadow speech practices will surely enhance their speaking fluency and confidence.
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.
☕ Buy us a coffee
ShadowingEnglish remains 100% free thanks to your support. Server and AI costs are high — your coffee keeps us going! 🙏