Shadowing Practice: Cooking a Fresh Meal - Learn English Speaking with Video

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6 sentences
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1
I cook a homemade dinner with fresh ingredients almost every evening after work.
2
I chop fresh vegetables, season the pan with aromatic spices, and listen to the relaxing sizzle of the food.
3
Cooking allows me to be creative while taking a break from staring at computer screens.
4
Even when I am tired, eating a warm meal made by my own hands feels rewarding.
5
Cooking is truly an act of self -care.
6
What is your specialty dish?

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Cooking a Fresh Meal”. This video has 6 sentences and 76 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:36.

Key vocabulary in this video

13 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
meal noun/ˈmiːl/Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.
reward noun/ɹɪˈwɔɹd/Something of value given in return for an act.
relax verb/ɹɪˈlæks/To make something loose.
dish noun/dɪʃ/A vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle.
spice noun/spaɪs/Aromatic or pungent plant matter (usually dried) used to season or flavor food.
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…
stare verb/stɛɚ/To look fixedly (at something).
specialty noun/ˈspɛʃ.əl.ti/That in which one specializes; a chosen expertise or talent; bailiwick.
homemade adjectiveMade at home.
chop verb/t͡ʃɑp/To cut into pieces with short, vigorous cutting motions.
ingredient noun/ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/One of the substances present in a mixture, especially food.
aromatic adjective/ˌɛɹ.əˈmæt.ɪk/Fragrant or spicy.
sizzle verb/ˈsɪzəl/To make the sound of water boiling on a hot surface.

Pronunciation to watch

  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dish /dɪʃ/, specialty /ˈspɛʃ.əl.ti/
  • Long words — get the stress right: ingredient /ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/, aromatic /ˌɛɹ.əˈmæt.ɪk/

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 meal, reward, relax.

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 →