Shadowing Practice: Buying Grocery - English Conversation #shorts - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
1
Good morning!
2
May I help you?
3
Hi!
4
I would like some eggs, bread, and milk.
5
Quantity?
6
Two dozen of eggs, two loaves of bread, and two cartons of milk, please.
7
Okay.
8
Is there anything else that you need?
9
Um, how much is this chocolate box?
10
It's $40.
11
Forty dollars!
12
Well, that's expensive!

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 12 sentences and 51 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:26. The speaker talks at a steady 117 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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

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

  • 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…
  • forty /ˈfoɹti/ (adjective) — Resembling or characteristic of a fort.
  • quantity /ˈkwɑn(t)ɪti/ (noun) — A fundamental, generic term used when referring to the measurement (count, amount) of a scalar, vector, number of items or to some other way of denominating…
  • carton /ˈkɑɹtn̩/ (noun) — An inexpensive, disposable box-like container fashioned from either paper, paper with wax-covering (wax paper), or other lightweight material.
  • loaf /loʊf/ (noun) — A block of bread after baking.
  • milk /mɪlk/ (verb) — To express milk from (a mammal, especially a cow).
  • bread /brɛd/ (noun) — A foodstuff made by baking dough made from cereals.
  • dollar /ˈdɑ.lɚ/ (noun) — Official designation for currency in some parts of the world, including Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and elsewhere…
  • chocolate /ˈtʃɔk.(ə.)lɪt/ (noun) — A food made from ground roasted cocoa beans.
  • expensive /ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/ (adjective) — Having a high price or cost.

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 egg, forty, quantity.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →