Shadowing Practice: Chocolate Covered Crickets! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This A2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Chocolate Covered Crickets!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: crickets, taste, Aiden, mealworm, chocolate. This video has 31 sentences and 190 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:08. The speaker talks at a natural 169 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 76% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 8 of its 31 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
14 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| candy noun | /ˈkæn.di/ | Crystallized sugar formed by boiling down sugar syrup. |
| bean noun | /ˈbi(ː)n/ | Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods. |
| roast verb | /ɹoʊst/ | To cook food by heating in an oven or over a fire without covering, resulting in a crisp, possibly even slightly charred appearance. |
| herb noun | /hɜːb/ | A plant whose stem is not woody and does not persist beyond each growing season. |
| salsa noun | /ˈsɑl.sə/ | A spicy tomato sauce of Mexican origin, often including onions and hot peppers. |
| butter noun | /ˈbʌtɚ/ | A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk). |
| vegetable noun | /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ | A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice… |
| sour adjective | /ˈsaʊ.ə/ | Tasting of acidity. |
| beetle noun | /ˈbiːtəl/ | Any of numerous species of insect in the order Coleoptera characterized by a pair of hard, shell-like front wings which cover and protect a pair of rear wings… |
| crickets | /ˈkɹɪk.ɪts/ | Expressing mild annoyance or surprise. |
| mealworm noun | /ˈmiːlˌwɜː(ɹ)m/ | The larval stage of the mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor), a species of darkling beetle. |
| adventurous adjective | /ædˈvɛn.t͡ʃɚ.əs/ | Inclined to adventure; willing to take risks; prone to embark on hazardous enterprises; daring. |
| hysterical adjective | /hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/ | Of, or arising from hysteria. |
| insectarium noun | /ˌɪn.sɛkˈtɛɹi.əm/ | A type of live insect zoo, or a museum or exhibit of live insects and similar arthropods. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as I've, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: adventurous /ædˈvɛn.t͡ʃɚ.əs/, hysterical /hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/, insectarium /ˌɪn.sɛkˈtɛɹi.əm/
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 candy, bean, roast.
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.