Shadowing Practice: Cooking or Ordering In ｜English podcast for intermediate learners (B1-B2) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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English Time Podcast.
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Helping you speak English with confidence, naturally.
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Hello, my wonderful listeners.
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Welcome back to English Time Podcast, your cozy corner for English fluency, confidence, and connection.
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I'm Emma.
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And I'm Henry.
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So glad you're here.
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You're quiet today.
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Everything okay?
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Honestly, I feel a little heavy.
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Not sad, just heavy.
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I looked at myself in the mirror this morning and I thought, I look different.
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Not bad, just rounder.
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Rounder?
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Yeah.
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My sweatpants are getting tighter.
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My face is fuller.
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And I know exactly why.
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It's the delivery apps.
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How bad is it?
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Emma, the pizza guy knows my name.
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He said, hey Henry, the usual, last Tuesday.
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I'm a regular.
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I'm a delivery VIP.
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A delivery VIP.
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That's not the kind of VIP you want to be.
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No.
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And here's the thing.
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I didn't even notice it was happening.
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Every night, same routine.
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Get home, too tired to think, open the app, scroll, order, eat on the couch, repeat.
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And it adds up?
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It adds up.
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Not just the weight, the money, the plastic containers, the feeling of, I don't know.
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What feeling?
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Like I'm on autopilot.
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Like I stopped choosing and just started accepting whatever shows up at my door.
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Hmm.
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That's actually deeper than I expected.
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Yeah, me too.
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And that's actually what today's episode is about.
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The eternal question.
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Cooking at home or ordering in?
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But not just the practical side.
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We want to talk about what food actually means in our daily life, why we choose what we choose, and how to talk about it in natural English.
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Before we jump in, if you enjoy learning English like this, calm, real, a little bit personal, please like this episode and subscribe.
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It really helps more learners find us.
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And later, we'd love to hear from you in the comments.
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When you get home exhausted, what do you reach for, the phone or the frying pan?
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Tell us your story.
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All right, take a breath.
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Let's dive in.
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So, Emma, you're a cooking person, right?
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Most of the time, yeah.
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I prefer cooking to ordering in.
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I prefer sleeping than cooking.
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Wait, is that right?
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Almost.
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Prefer sleeping to cooking.
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Always to.
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I prefer coffee to tea.
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Right.
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To.
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English is weird.
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It really is.
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But yes, I cook most nights.
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For me, it's about control.
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I know exactly what goes into my food.
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The oil, the salt, the sugar.
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I decide.
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See, that's the thing.
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When you order delivery, you have no idea.
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It could be swimming in butter.
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You think you're eating a healthy salad, but it has more oil than a car engine.
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Yes, we call that a salt bomb.
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Looks innocent, but it's loaded.
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And it's not just the health part.
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There's the money.
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Oh, the money.
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When you order delivery, it's not just the food.
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It's the delivery fee, the service fee, the tip, the tax.
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A $15 meal becomes $25, and you do that five times a week?
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That's… A lot.
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It adds up.
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Small costs that combine into a big total, like a slow leak in your wallet.
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You don't feel each drop, but after a month, it's empty.
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So the pros of cooking—healthier, cheaper, you're in control.
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Sounds perfect.
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But… But… But there are cons.
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The biggest one?
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Time.
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You have to shop, prep, cook, and then… The dishes.
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The dishes.
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In my house, that's always my job.
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I washed a pan once and somehow it became my duty for life.
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That's how it works.
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You do it once, you do it for life.
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So I let them soak.
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Soak.
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Or procrastinate.
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Same thing in my kitchen.
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And honestly, that's why nine times out of ten, I'd rather order in than cook.
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Nine times out of ten.
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Almost always.
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Wait, so with prefer it's to, but with would rather it's then.
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That makes no sense.
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Welcome to English.
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Fair enough.
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So, besides avoiding dishes, why do you love ordering in so much?
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Honestly, it's easy.
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I press a button, food appears at my gore in 30 minutes.
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It feels like magic.
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Expensive magic.
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Magic with a service fee.
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True, but also the variety.
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We're spoiled for choice.
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Pizza, sushi, Thai, Mexican, Indian.
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It's all one tap away.
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Spoiled for choice.
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Like standing in front of a buffet with 200 dishes.
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Your eyes are full, but your hands are empty.
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You can't pick.
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Exactly.
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And sometimes I spend 20 minutes just scrolling through options.
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That's choice overload.
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Your brain sees too many doors and freezes.
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You can't walk through any of them.
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And then you end up ordering the same thing.
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Let me guess.
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Pizza.
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Pepperoni.
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Every single time.
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So both options have problems.
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Welcome to adulthood.
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But wait.
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You said you've been cooking more lately.
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What changed?
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Yeah.
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This is the part I didn't expect.
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So, a few months ago, it was a Sunday night.
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I I was tired, the apps were all showing 40-minute waits, and I just thought, fine, I'll make pasta myself.
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And?
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And something strange happened.
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I put on some music, I started chopping an onion, and I noticed my brain got quiet.
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Quiet?
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Yeah, like all day my brain had been buzzing.
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Emails, messages, deadlines, worries.
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But when I picked up the knife and started chopping, chop, chop, chop, the noise stopped.
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Then I dropped the garlic into the pan, that sizzle, that smell filling the whole kitchen.
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You're making me hungry.
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And I realized I wasn't just making food, I was doing something kind for myself.
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Something slow, something real.
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After weeks of just pressing buttons and eating from plastic boxes, I was actually taking care of myself.
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That's therapeutic.
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Not in the doctor way.
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More like your brain finally got permission to stop running.
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Exactly.
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It's like meditation, but you get dinner at the end.
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I love that.
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And you know what?
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I think that's the part people don't talk about.
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We always compare cooking and ordering by price or health or time, but nobody talks about how it makes you feel.
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Yeah, and here's the thing I realized.
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For a long time, I wasn't ordering delivery because I was busy.
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I was ordering because cooking for one person felt lonely.
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Like, why go through all that effort just for myself?
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Hmm, that's real.
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But that Sunday, standing in my kitchen with music playing, something shifted.
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It wasn't lunch for one lonely person.
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It was me taking care of me.
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And that felt… good.
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I think a lot of people feel that.
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The loneliness of eating alone.
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And delivery makes it easy to not think about it.
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You just tap, eat, scroll, sleep.
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Yeah.
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But cooking forced me to slow down, to be present.
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And I slept better that night than I had in weeks.
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So you're saying it's not just about the food?
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It was never about the food.
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So we've talked about the deeper side.
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Now let's talk about the words, because this conversation, what should we eat?
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it happens every day.
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And honestly, it can turn ugly fast.
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Oh, definitely.
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I want pizza.
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No, I want sushi.
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And suddenly, you're not hungry anymore.
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You're just angry.
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Right.
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And usually, the problem isn't the food.
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It's how we say it.
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What do you mean?
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Well, think about it.
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I want pizza, that sounds like a demand.
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But I'm in the mood for pizza, that's completely different.
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That's soft.
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That's sharing how you feel.
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Hmm.
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I'm in the mood for something spicy.
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Yeah, that doesn't feel like an order at all.
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It feels like an invitation.
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Exactly.
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And same thing with saying no.
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Just no feels cold.
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But I don't feel like cooking tonight.
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That's honest without being rude.
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I don't feel like cooking tonight.
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Yeah, nobody can argue with that.
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You're not attacking their idea, you're just saying how you feel.
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Hmm.
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And when you're kind of thinking about something but you're not sure, try, I'm leaning towards.
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I'm leaning towards ordering in, but I'm open to ideas.
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Oh, I like that.
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It invites the other person in.
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Right?
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Three tiny changes.
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In the mood for, don't feel like, leaning towards.
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They They don't sound like much, but they completely change the energy of the conversation.
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Okay, let me try them.
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Alright, let's do a little role play.
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We're roommates, Friday night, we're both exhausted.
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Easy to imagine.
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Okay.
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I'm starving.
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What should we do for dinner?
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Well, I don't feel like cooking.
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I had one of those days, you know, the kind where your brain just needs a break.
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Me neither.
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I could whip up some eggs, but honestly, I'm leaning towards ordering something.
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Hmm.
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I'm kind of in the mood for Thai food.
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You know, like a big warm bowl of Pad Thai.
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Ooh, that sounds amazing.
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But wait, I just checked the app.
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40 minute wait and like $15 in fees.
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Ugh, okay.
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What if we compromise?
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Thai tonight and tomorrow we cook together.
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I'll make that stir-fry you like.
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Deal.
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Let's just order.
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I'm too tired to negotiate further.
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And that's the magic phrase.
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Let's just.
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It means I'm done deciding.
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Let's take the easy path.
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Let's just order pizza.
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Let's just stay home.
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Short, but it says everything.
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That was easy.
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And we used all four phrases without even trying.
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They just came out naturally.
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Also, you agreed with me.
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That helped.
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It usually does.
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But you know what, Emma?
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There's one conversation that's even worse than, I want pizza.
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No, I want sushi.
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Oh no, you mean...
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The loop.
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The loop.
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What do you want for dinner?
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I don't know.
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What do you want?
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Anything.
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Okay, pizza?
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No, not pizza.
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Then what?
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I don't know.
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You pick.
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And it just goes in circles.
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Forever.
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Until someone gets hungry enough to get angry.
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I've been in that loop so many times.
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20 minutes of saying, I don't know, back and forth.
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And by the end, both people are annoyed and neither person has eaten.
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It's exhausting.
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You'd think choosing dinner would be the easiest part of the day.
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But there's actually a trick.
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We call it the two-option rule.
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Oh, I like this.
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Instead of asking the open question, what do you want, you give two choices, Thai or Mexican tonight.
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That's it.
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Two doors.
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So you remove the unlimited options.
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You narrow it down.
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Exactly.
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Because the problem isn't that people don't know what they want.
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The problem is that the question is too big.
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What do you want has a thousand possible answers.
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Thai or Mexican only has two.
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And if the other person doesn't like either?
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Then they suggest the third one.
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Actually, how about Italian?
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And now you're getting somewhere.
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The conversation has direction.
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That's really smart.
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Two options.
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Not zero, not fifty.
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Just two.
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Try it tonight.
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I promise it works.
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Okay.
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But here's the thing, Henry.
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Even when you do choose, even when you do order, sometimes there's this feeling after.
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What feeling?
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The guilt.
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You order delivery, you eat it, and then this voice in your head says, You should have cooked.
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That was too expensive.
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That wasn't healthy.
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You're lazy.
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Mmm, the guilt spiral.
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Yeah, and then you tell yourself, Okay, tomorrow I'll cook for real this time.
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But tomorrow comes, and you're tired again, and you order again, and the guilt gets louder.
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It's like a loop.
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Order.
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Guilt.
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Promise.
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Fail.
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Repeat.
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Exactly.
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And the weird thing is, the guilt doesn't make you cook more.
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It just makes the food taste worse.
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You're eating perfectly good pad thai, but you can't enjoy it because your brain is lecturing you.
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That's such a good point.
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The guilt doesn't change your behavior.
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It just steals the joy.
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Yeah.
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And I think that's the thing I want to say to anyone listening who feels that.
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If you ordered delivery tonight, that's okay.
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You fed yourself.
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That counts.
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It counts.
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You're not lazy.
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You're tired.
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There's a big difference.
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A huge difference.
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So Henry, the big question.
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What's the verdict?
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Honest answer?
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It depends.
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The classic answer.
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But it's true.
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Some nights I'm too exhausted to even open the fridge.
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And you know what?
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order Pad Thai, eat it on the couch, and I don't feel bad about it.
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Honestly, I think everyone does.
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Right.
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And actually, it's the same with learning English.
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How do you mean?
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Well, when your brain is fried, I mean completely empty, don't force yourself to study grammar textbooks.
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Just listen to something easy, a podcast, a movie, even just a song with lyrics.
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That's really good advice.
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It's like ordering in when you're too tired to cook.
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Sometimes the easy choice is the right choice.
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Exactly.
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No guilt.
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Whether it's dinner or English practice, just keep showing up.
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Just keep showing up.
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I like that.
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So the balance is this.
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Aim for cooking most nights, but give yourself permission to order in when you need to.
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No guilt, no shame, no report card.
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Whether you spent three hours making a meal from scratch or 30 seconds tapping a nap, just enjoy it.
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Because this is the sentence I want you to remember from today.
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What is it?
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The best meal is not the most expensive one, or the healthiest one, or the most Instagram-worthy one.
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The best meal is the one you enjoy without guilt.
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Say that again.
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The best meal is the one you enjoy without guilt.
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That's it.
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That's the whole episode right there.
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Before we go, a challenge for you.
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In the comments, tell us, what's your go-to meal when you're too tired to cook?
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Go-to, your automatic default choice, the thing you always reach for.
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Try to use a phrase from today, something like, I don't feel like cooking tonight, so I'll just whip up some eggs.
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Or, I'm craving Pad Thai, so I'm ordering in.
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Bonus points if you describe the food.
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Is it greasy, spicy, comforting?
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We want to hear everything.
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We read every single comment.
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Thanks for spending this time with us today.
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Eat well, choose kindly, and we'll see you next time.
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Bye everyone!
About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will engage in a critical conversation about the everyday dilemma of cooking at home versus ordering food in. Through this discussion, you will enhance your English speaking skills, focusing not only on vocabulary related to food choices but also on understanding the deeper implications of our dietary habits. This session will help you improve your English pronunciation and increase your confidence in discussing personal topics in English. You will explore enriching questions that prompt reflective thoughts about daily routines and lifestyle choices, enabling natural and fluent communication.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Delivery apps - Applications used to order food for delivery.
- VIP - Very Important Person; here, it humorously refers to becoming a regular customer.
- Autopilot - Acting without conscious thought, often due to routine.
- Routine - A set pattern of activities carried out regularly.
- Exhausted - Extremely tired or worn out.
- Frying pan - A cooking tool used for frying food.
- Scroll - The action of moving up and down on a digital screen to find options.
- Money adds up - A phrase indicating that expenses accumulate over time.
Practice Tips
To make the most of this lesson, try using the shadowing technique while listening to the podcast. This method involves repeating what you hear, mimicking not only the words but also the tonal variations and rhythm of the speakers. Given the conversational and warm tone of Emma and Henry, aim to match their pace to ensure natural fluency. Start by listening to short segments and repeating phrases immediately after you hear them; this will help improve your English pronunciation. Use shadowspeaks to practice specific words like “delivery apps” or “autopilot.” Incorporate pauses where needed to maintain an authentic conversational flow. Additionally, try recording your voice during a shadow speak session to identify areas for improvement. The more you practice this way, the more natural your English speaking will become, allowing you to express your thoughts about cooking or ordering food in an engaging manner.
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.