Shadowing Practice: English Listening Practice | Mona's dinner party | A2-B1 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hey there, English learners.
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Join us today as we uncover the fun and challenges of planning a dinner party.
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See how the host in our story chooses a menu, shops for food, and cooks a delicious meal for friends.
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To boost your listening skills, follow these three steps.
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First, listen to the story with subtitles.
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Next, explore useful vocabulary and expressions we highlight.
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Finally, challenge yourself by listening to the story again without any text.
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Ready to learn English with us?
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Let's get started!
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The weekend is approaching and I've invited my closest friends over for dinner.
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But what can I cook that everyone will enjoy?
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Maybe I'll find some inspiration in my favorite cookbook.
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I'd like to prepare an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert.
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Ah, I've got it!
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For the main course, I'll make salmon, oven-roasted potatoes, and plenty of delicious vegetables.
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For starters, I'll serve a creamy mushroom soup that I've tried before and know is delicious.
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I think everyone will love chocolate pudding with whipped cream for dessert, especially my friend Emil, who's crazy about chocolate sprinkles.
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I'll have to make a large portion for him.
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Now I need to focus so I don't forget anything important.
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My shopping list has become fairly long.
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After writing down all the ingredients, I head to the supermarket, hoping to find all the fresh produce I need.
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Now it's time to cook.
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My guests will arrive in about four hours.
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First, I'll prepare the mushroom soup.
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I chop the mushrooms, onions, and chives on the cutting board.
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Then I salt the onions in a pot and add the mushrooms.
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That was quick!
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The soup is simmering away.
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While the soup is cooking, I can start on the main course.
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I peel the potatoes and boil them in salt water.
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Next, I prepare the vegetables, garlic, zucchini, and bell peppers, which I salt in a pan.
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Wow, it smells amazing!
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I season the salmon with my special spice mix and put it in the oven until it's done.
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Now I have time to take care of the pudding.
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I mix the powder and let it become creamy.
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Ah, my friends are already here!
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I serve them immediately, as some of them look hungry.
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My friend Ella suggested baking a cheesecake after dinner.
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Although the meal was quite filling, everyone was enthusiastic about the idea.
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The evening is still young, so I crack some eggs into a bowl and prepare the dough,
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then bake the cake in the oven.
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While my guests chat in the living room, I brew a pot of black tea for them.
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The evening turned out wonderful, filled with lively conversations and lots of laughter.
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After my friends left, I cleaned up the kitchen
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and thought about how long it had been since I'd had such a lovely evening.
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Did you enjoy the story?
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Please let us know what you'd like to hear about next.
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Useful Vocabulary and Expressions The Appetizer A small dish served before the main meal.
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He made a simple soup as an appetizer.
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I'd like to prepare an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert.
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The main course.
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The main part of the meal, usually the largest dish.
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He prepared pasta as the main course for his family dinner.
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For the main course, I'll make salmon, oven-roasted potatoes, and plenty of delicious vegetables.
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The dessert A sweet dish served at the end of the meal.
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They had ice cream as a dessert after dinner.
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I think everyone will love chocolate pudding with whipped cream for dessert.
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Salmon A type of fish often cooked for meals.
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She grilled salmon fillets for dinner.
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For the main course, I'll make salmon, oven-roasted potatoes, and plenty of delicious vegetables.
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Oven roasted.
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Cooked in the oven until browned and crispy.
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They served oven-roasted chicken with herbs.
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For the main course, I'll make salmon, oven-roasted potatoes, and plenty of delicious vegetables.
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Ingredients The items used to make a dish or recipe.
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He bought all the ingredients for the cake.
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After writing down all the ingredients, I head to the supermarket, hoping to find all the fresh produce I need.
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The produce – fresh fruits and vegetables sold at the store.
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She picked out fresh produce at the farmer's market.
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After writing down all the ingredients, I head to the supermarket, hoping to find all the fresh produce I need.
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To chop, to cut something into smaller pieces with a knife.
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He chopped nuts to add to the salad.
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I chopped the mushrooms, onions, and chives on the cutting board.
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To saut, to cook food quickly in a small amount of oil or butter over high heat.
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They I sotted shrimp for a quick dinner.
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Then I sot the onions in a pot and add the mushrooms. To simmer away.
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To cook something gently at a low heat for a long time.
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She let the stew simmer away on the stove.
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The soup is simmering away. To peel.
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To remove the outer skin of fruits or vegetables.
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She peeled the oranges to make fresh juice.
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I peeled the potatoes and boiled them in salt water. To season.
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To add salt, pepper, or other spices to food.
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She likes to season her pasta with garlic and olive oil.
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I season the salmon with my special spice mix and put it in the oven until it's done. To bake.
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To cook food in the oven using dry heat.
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Examples.
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He baked a loaf of bread for breakfast.
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My friend Ella suggested baking a cheesecake after dinner.
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To crack eggs into it.
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to break eggs and let their contents fall into a bowl.
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They cracked eggs into a pan to make an omelet.
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So I crack some eggs into a bowl and prepare the dough, then bake the cake in the oven.
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The weekend is approaching, and I've invited my closest friends over for dinner.
95
But what can I cook that everyone will enjoy?
96
Maybe I'll find some inspiration in my favorite cookbook.
97
I'd like to prepare an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert.
98
Ah, I've got it!
99
For the main course, I'll make salmon, oven-roasted potatoes, and plenty of delicious vegetables.
100
For starters, I'll serve a creamy mushroom soup that I've tried before and know is delicious.
101
I think everyone will love chocolate pudding with whipped cream for dessert.
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Especially my friend Emil, who's crazy about chocolate sprinkles.
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I'll have to make a large portion for him.
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Now I need to focus so I don't forget anything important.
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My shopping list has become fairly long.
106
After writing down all the ingredients, I head to the supermarket, hoping to find all the fresh produce I need.
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Now it's time to cook.
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My guests will arrive in about four hours.
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First, I'll prepare the mushroom soup.
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I chop the mushrooms, onions, and chives on the cutting board.
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Then I salt the onions in a pot and add the mushrooms.
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That was quick!
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The soup is simmering away.
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While the soup is cooking, I can start on the main course.
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I peel the potatoes and boil them in salt water.
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Next, I prepare the vegetables, garlic, zucchini, and bell peppers, which I saut in a pan.
117
Wow, it smells amazing!
118
I season the salmon with my special spice mix and put it in the oven until it's done.
119
Now I have time to take care of the pudding.
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I mix the powder and let it become creamy.
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Ah, my friends are already here!
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I serve them immediately, as some of them look hungry.
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My friend Ella suggested baking a cheesecake after dinner.
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Although the meal was quite filling, everyone was enthusiastic about the idea.
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The evening is still young, so I crack some eggs into a bowl and prepare the dough, then bake the cake in the oven.
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While my guests chat in the living room, I brew a pot of black tea for them.
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The evening turned out wonderful, filled with lively conversations and lots of laughter.
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After my friends left, I cleaned up the kitchen
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and thought about how long it had been since I'd had such a lovely evening.
130
Did you enjoy the story?
131
Please let us know what you'd like to hear about next.
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Why Practice Speaking with This Dinner Party Video?
This video offers a perfect real-life context for English learners: planning a meal, shopping, and hosting friends. These daily activities are rich with conversational phrases you’ll use again and again, making it easy to shadow (repeat aloud) and internalize natural speech patterns. By mimicking the host’s tone and rhythm, you’ll build confidence in describing tasks, expressing preferences, and reacting to guests—skills that transfer directly to your own social interactions. Pair this with a shadowing app to record and compare your pronunciation, and you’ll see rapid progress in fluency.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
The dialogue uses practical structures that bridge A2 and B1 levels. Here are key takeaways:
- "I'd like to prepare...": A polite way to state intentions, essential for ordering food or planning events. Practice replacing "prepare" with "make" or "cook" to expand your range.
- "While the soup is cooking, I can start...": Using "while" to connect simultaneous actions helps describe multitasking. Try "While I brew tea, my guests chat" to mimic this structure.
- "Although the meal was filling, everyone was enthusiastic...": "Although" introduces a contrast, useful for balancing opinions. For example: "Although it rained, we had fun."
Common Pronunciation Traps
Watch out for these tricky words in the video:
- "Salmon": The "l" is silent—pronounce it "SAM-un," not "SAL-mon." A shadow speak exercise can help you master this subtlety.
- "Simmering": Emphasize the first syllable ("SIM-mer-ing") to avoid blending it into "simming."
- "Whipped cream": The "wh" sound is soft—practice saying "whip" with a gentle breath, not a harsh "h."
Tools like shadowspeaks can slow down the audio, letting you focus on these nuances. Remember: clear pronunciation makes you easier to understand, so don’t skip these drills!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've invited · I've tried · has become |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | my closest · the largest |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | will enjoy · I'll find · I'll make |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | is approaching · is simmering · is cooking |
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.