Shadowing Practice: Everyday English: At the restaurant - Learn English Speaking with Video
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73 sentences
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1
Today we're going to talk about food.
2
That's why we've come to a restaurant.
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Hi guys, here's some menus.
4
Oh, thank you.
5
Lovely.
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Well, we should probably start by talking about the main meals of the day.
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What time is it, Jan?
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It's 10am.
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Good, it's still time for breakfast.
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Breakfast is the morning meal.
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Lunch is the meal we eat in the middle of the day.
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And dinner is the evening meal and for many of us, the last meal we eat before we go to bed.
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But there are a few others, like brunch.
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The word brunch is a combination of breakfast and lunch.
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It's a meal you could have in the mid -morning.
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Then there's afternoon tea, which is a small meal you might have in the afternoon before dinner.
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In this case, we're not talking about tea, the drink.
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Oh, thank you.
19
In Australia, tea is also sometimes used to describe dinner.
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You might also hear people say brekkie, which is slang for breakfast, or avo, which is slang for afternoon.
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In between our meals, we can have a snack, which is a small amount of food.
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And lots of people like to take a tea break or a coffee break at work.
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That means you stop working and have a cup of tea or a coffee.
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So, what are you going to order, Jack?
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Well, it's nearly lunchtime and I'm pretty hungry, so I might get a big meal, maybe a burger?
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Now, if you look at a menu, you'll often see different courses, like an entree or a starter.
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That's a smaller dish that you eat first.
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The main meals, or mains, are the bigger dishes.
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And then there's dessert, a sweet dish that you eat at the end of the meal.
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When you're ordering at a restaurant, the first thing your waiter will usually ask is, would you like a drink?
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Now, would you like, followed by a noun, or what would you like, is a polite and really common way of offering something in English.
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Sarah, would you like a serviette?
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No, thanks.
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You might also hear what can I get you, or can I take your order?
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Are you guys ready to order?
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Oh, yes.
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I'll have the halloumi burger.
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Sure.
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And I'll have a croissant, please.
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And would you like another drink?
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Yeah, I might get one more cup of tea.
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When you're making your order, it's polite to say, ''I'd like'' followed by a noun.
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Or you can phrase it as a question,
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like, ''Can I please have a cup of tea?'' Some and ''any'' are important words to know when you're talking about food.
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They're determinants which describe how much or how many of something.
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Some usually suggests an indefinite number or amount.
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It's not specific and we use it when it isn't important to say exactly how much or how many we mean.
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For example, I'd like some milk.
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Some is usually used in affirmative statements, like there's some salt and pepper on the table.
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We also use some in questions.
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Would you like some milk, Sarah?
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Yes, please.
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But if you're making a negative statement, you're more likely to use any.
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For example, I don't have any milk.
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If the word any is stressed, it tells us that we're talking about an unrestricted quantity or unlimited choice.
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For example, I don't like any dish that contains tofu.
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And if you stress some, it means a restricted or a limited amount.
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So I like some Chinese food, but not spicy dishes.
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Here's the burger and the croissant.
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Would you like any salt and pepper?
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Oh, no, we don't need any.
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Thank you.
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How's the meal, Jack?
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Not bad.
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I wish it had some beetroot on it.
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Do you like veggie burgers?
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I like most veggie burgers, but like I said, I don't like any with tofu on them.
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How's yours?
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I actually wish I'd ordered more now.
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Well, on that note, we're going to finish our meals.
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Have a think about what you like to order at restaurants and what your favourite meal of the day is.
72
See you next time.
73
See you later.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Everyday English: At the restaurant”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: meal, tea, burger, breakfast, eat. This video has 73 sentences and 697 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:03. The speaker talks at a natural 172 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 13 of its 73 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| meal noun | /ˈmiːl/ | Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity. |
| dish noun | /dɪʃ/ | A vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle. |
| burger noun | /ˈbɝ.ɡɚ/ | A hamburger. |
| menu noun | /ˈmɛn.juː/ | The details of the food to be served at a banquet; a bill of fare. |
| pepper noun | /ˈpɛp.ə/ | A plant of the family Piperaceae. |
| polite adjective | /pəˈlaɪt/ | Well-mannered, civilized. |
| noun noun | /naʊn/ | A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as person, animal, place, word, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea… |
| hungry adjective | /ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/ | Affected by hunger; having the physical need for food. |
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| unlimited adjective | /ʌnˈlɪm.ɪ.tɪd/ | Limitless or without bounds; unrestricted. |
| quantity noun | /ˈkwɑn(t)ɪti/ | 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… |
| starter noun | /ˈstɑɹ.tɚ/ | Someone who starts, or who starts something. |
| distress noun | /dɪˈstɹɛs/ | Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature. |
| snack noun | /snæk/ | A light meal. |
| dessert noun | /dɪˈzɝt/ | The last course of a meal, consisting of fruit, sweet confections etc. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Today we're going to talk about food.
- Sarah, would you like a serviette?
- Are you guys ready to order?
- Would you like any salt and pepper?
- Do you like veggie burgers?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | tea, which is · brekkie, which is · snack, which is |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might have · might also hear · might get |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | we're not talking · you're ordering · you're making |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | you'll often see · will usually ask · I'll have |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 23 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: unlimited /ʌnˈlɪm.ɪ.tɪd/, affirmative /əˈfɝməɾɪv/, determinant /dɪˈtɜːmɪnənt/, indefinite /ɪnˈdɛfɪnɪt/
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 meal, dish, burger.
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.