Shadowing Practice: For These Tiny Spiders, It's Sing or Get Served | Deep Look - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
40 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
Behold a very small and rather cute spider.
2
This is Clypietus, a jumping spider.
3
He doesn't spin webs.
4
Instead, he uses silk as a lifeline, reeling it out as he hops from place to place.
5
But right now, he's looking for a mate, the thread of a female spider that he can trace back to its source.
6
Problem is, she may have other priorities.
7
While he'll jump on pretty much anything that moves, she only mates once.
8
She's picky.
9
So he's going to make his case on the dance floor.
10
Male jumping spiders perform courtship displays that would make
11
Bob Fosse proud.
12
Jazz hands.
13
legs, leg lifts, they even shimmy their pedipelps,
14
but he needs a soundtrack.
15
So by beating together the front and back halves of his body, he creates vibrations that travel through the ground.
16
This is what her ears look like.
17
Tiny membranes stretched across slits in her legs.
18
To study these jumping spider pulses, researchers at the University of California,
19
Berkeley, use a sophisticated laser vibrometer developed for quality testing cars and airplanes.
20
It turns those vibrations into something we can hear. And guess what?
21
It's a song.
22
The first verse sounds like this, a fast heartbeat, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.
23
Then, more thumping, followed by something new, a boom.
24
This is verse two, that pattern over and over again.
25
For verse 3, he adds a third element.
26
Almost like he's casting a spell, right?
27
From species to species, and there are thousands of different jumping spiders, the songs vary.
28
But one thing never changes.
29
Male jumping spiders sing like their lives depend on it, because they do.
30
She may mate with him, she might refuse, but she might just eat him instead.
31
When the Berkeley scientists prevented the males from singing while they danced, the Females were three times as likely to hunt them as prey.
32
So he needs to go big.
33
The closer he gets to her, the more danger he's in.
34
The dance and the song get more and more urgent.
35
But even with all that, she's still calling the shots.
36
Hi, it's Amy.
37
If the female spiders are picky, with the males, the bar is so, so low.
38
He'll do this cording song and dance with pretty much anything.
39
In the lab, scientists use frozen specimens like this one — a dead female spider
40
and he still tries to mate with her.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
C11
You're Not Hallucinating. That's Just Squid Skin. | Deep Look
Daily ConversationUniversity Students
B28
This Fly Torpedoes a Bindweed Bee’s Nest | Deep Look
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B26
How Lice Turn Your Hair Into Their Jungle Gym | Deep Look
University Students
B2This is NOT a Dandelion. | Deep Look
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C1These Solar-Powered Carnivorous Flatworms Divide and Conquer | Deep Look
Daily ConversationUniversity Students
B2Pick Your Player: Dragonfly vs Damselfly | Deep Look
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
C11
20 sentences
02-4New Concept English e02 Spare that spider
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
28 sentences
Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B1151
35 sentences
SE-Ed: Why Do We Get Goosebumps?
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
44 sentences
Microscopic Life In A Drop Of Water
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
152 sentences
The BIGGEST CATCHES! (Part 1) | COMPILATION | River Monsters
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
10 sentences
This Spider-Man has the moves
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
![[MSU] Secret Spice - Full](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aCXoCfZvl1A/mqdefault.jpg)
B21
919 sentences
[MSU] Secret Spice - Full
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
548 sentences
WORLDS BIGGEST FLEXES
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
201 sentences
Easy Ways To Keep Spiders Out Of Your House This Autumn! | This Morning
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
108 sentences
100 Day Apocalypse Simulation
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
335 sentences
Animal Facts YOU Didn’t Know!
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “For These Tiny Spiders, It's Sing or Get Served”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: spider, thump, jumping, mate, Male. This video has 48 sentences and 408 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:54. The speaker talks slowly, about 105 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 75% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| spider noun | /ˈspaɪ̯dɚ/ | Any of various eight-legged, predatory arthropods, of the order Araneae, most of which spin webs to catch prey. |
| verse noun | /ˈvɝs/ | A poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme. |
| scientist noun | /ˈsaɪəntəst/ | One whose activities make use of the scientific method to answer questions regarding the measurable universe. A scientist may be involved in original research… |
| vibration noun | /vaɪˈbɹeɪʃən/ | The act of vibrating or the condition of being vibrated. |
| element noun | /ˈɛləmənt/ | One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based. |
| thread noun | /ˈθɹɛd/ | A cord formed by spinning or twisting together textile fibers or filaments into one or more continuous strands, typically used in needlework. |
| ear noun | /ˈɪə̯/ | The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea. |
| priority noun | /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/ | An item's relative importance. |
| hop noun | /hɒp/ | A plant of species Humulus lupulus, native to northern Europe, female flowers of which are used to flavour many types of beer during brewing. |
| refuse verb | /ɹɪˈfjuːz/ | To decline (a request or demand). |
| spin verb | /spɪn/ | To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction. |
| spell noun | /spɛl/ | Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers. |
| stretch verb | /stɹɛt͡ʃ/ | To lengthen by pulling. |
| jazz noun | /d͡ʒæz/ | A musical art form rooted in West African cultural and musical expression and in the African American blues tradition, with diverse influences over time… |
| vary verb | /ˈvɛəɹi/ | To change with time or a similar parameter. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 4 contractions and reduced forms, such as he'll, doesn't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thread /ˈθɹɛd/, thump /θʌmp/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: vibration /vaɪˈbɹeɪʃən/, courtship /ˈkɔɹt.ʃɪp/, shimmy /ˈʃɪ.mi/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like spider, verse, scientist.
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.