Shadowing Practice: How can you tell if a mushroom is poisonous? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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101 sentences
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(phone ringing) - Hi, it's Doug!
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Have you ever found a mushroom growing in the wild?
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Well, this guy in the country of Zambia found what might be one of the biggest mushrooms in the world.
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And best of all, it's one that's not poisonous.
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He could eat it.
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Someone named Isaiah has a question about mushrooms.
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Let's give him a call now.
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(phone ringing) - Hi, Doug. - Hey, Isaiah.
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- I have a question for you.
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How do you know if a mushroom is poisonous or not?
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- Ooo, that is a great question.
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Mushrooms aren't just something you can find at the grocery store.
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They grow in the wild too.
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And if you pay attention to the world around you, sometimes you can find some really interesting ones.
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Like one time, I remember walking out into the yard behind my house.
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I was going to mow the grass like I did every week when suddenly, I noticed something that looked just like this.
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It was one of the weirdest mushrooms I've ever seen.
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You can see, it's not a single mushroom at all.
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It's an entire ring of mushrooms.
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There were dozens of them.
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This ring of mushrooms had popped up overnight in my back yard.
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It was so interesting that I couldn't bring myself to mow it down.
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I let the grass stay long that week.
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I learned it's what's called a fairy ring.
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In ancient times, some people believed that this ring of mushrooms marked the spot where a fairy had been dancing in the night.
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Today, scientists have a different reason for thinking why they grow like this.
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We know it has to do with a circle-shaped pattern of the part of these mushrooms growing under the ground.
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But I love that we still call them fairy rings.
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Or here's another one of my favorites.
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I remember in about fifth grade, I was walking along the edge of a field behind my school when I saw what looked like this weird deflated soccer ball sitting there in the grass.
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When I went to kick it, it gave off like a cloud of smoke.
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Or so I thought.
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I found out later that this deflated soccer ball thing was actually a type of mushroom called a puffball.
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And by the way, that cloud of smoke was actually millions of microscopic particles called spores.
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They're the seeds of the mushrooms.
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By kicking a puffball, you're actually helping it to spread its seeds into the wind.
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Fairy rings and puffballs are just two fun examples of interesting mushrooms you can find growing in the wild.
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But are these mushrooms you could eat?
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You might've heard that certain wild mushrooms are poisonous, even deadly.
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Is it true?
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And if it is, is there any way you can tell?
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What do you think?
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Before I say anything more, now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss.
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Okay, you ready?
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Well, I wish I could tell you there was an easy way to tell whether a mushroom is poisonous or not.
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Like, if only the poisonous mushrooms were always a certain color.
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Or if they always had a certain shape or something.
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Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that at all.
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In fact, one of the deadliest mushrooms in North America looks like this.
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By comparison, here's the kind of mushroom that we put on pizza.
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You can hardly tell these apart.
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The mushroom on the left is called a Destroying Angel.
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A single bite of Destroying Angel is enough to kill a human being.
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But now check this out.
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Here's a mushroom that looks really weird.
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You might think, oh, this one's gotta be poisonous.
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But guess what, this one is called a Morel.
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And not only is it not poisonous, lots of people consider it to be one of the best tasting mushrooms in the world.
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One pound of these mushrooms sells for as much as $40 or $50.
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But even Morel mushrooms aren't always easy to tell from poisonous ones.
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You see this one here?
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It looks like a Morel, but it's not quite the same.
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It's what's called a False Morel or a brain mushroom.
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And it will make you really sick if you eat one.
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So how can anyone ever tell a poisonous mushroom from the kinds of mushrooms that we can eat?
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The answer: you have to become a mushroom expert.
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Mushroom experts are people who get really good at identifying mushrooms, knowing what each of the different kinds of mushrooms look like.
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They learn that each kind of mushroom has its own special traits, which can help tell it apart from other mushrooms.
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For example, there are a few mushrooms that actually turn blue when you cut them.
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Isn't that weird?
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Some of these are poisonous and will make you sick.
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Others are safe to eat.
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So knowing if it turns blue isn't enough.
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But using this trait helps a mushroom expert narrow down the list of possible kinds of mushrooms it might be.
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Or here's another amazing trait.
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There are some mushrooms that actually glow in the dark.
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Here in North America where I live, one of the more common ones is this, called the Jack O'Lantern.
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Jack O'Lantern mushrooms are poisonous, so the fact that it glows in the dark can help a mushroom expert know what it is.
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Or check out this kind of mushroom.
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It's called Chicken of the Woods.
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These are always bright yellow-orange and they grow in this unusual clump of one on top of another.
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Chicken of the Woods is a good example of a wild mushroom that's not poisonous.
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And it doesn't have any poisonous lookalikes.
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But some people do get sick if they eat it raw, so mushroom collectors always cook it really well before eating.
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As for that funny sounding name, that's because they say once you do cook it, it tastes like chicken.
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So in summary, there's no one way to tell whether a mushroom is poisonous or not.
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There are thousands of different kinds of mushrooms.
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So if you wanna eat a wild mushroom, you need to get the help of a mushroom expert.
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But if you're interested, you can learn to become one.
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There are mushroom hunting clubs, where you can meet some of these experts and lots of books about all the different kinds of mushrooms.
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That's all for this week's question.
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Thanks, Isaiah, for asking it.
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Now, for the next episode, I reached into my question jar and picked out three questions submitted to me that I'm thinking about answering.
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When this video's done playing, you'll get to vote on one.
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You can choose from: How does a car measure the gas in its tank?
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Where do minerals come from?
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Or, why isn't Pluto a planet anymore?
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So submit your vote when the video's over.
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I wanna hear from all of you watching.
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There are mysteries all around us.
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Stay curious, and see you next week.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 101 sentences and 1166 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:20. The speaker talks at a natural 159 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 81% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| mushroom noun | /ˈmʌʃˌɹuːm/ | Any of the fleshy fruiting bodies of fungi typically produced above ground on soil or on their food sources (such as decaying wood). |
| poisonous adjective | /ˈpɔɪzənəs/ | Containing sufficient poison to be dangerous to touch or ingest. |
| grass noun | /ɡɹɑːs/ | Any plant of the family Poaceae, characterized by leaves that arise from nodes in the stem and leaf bases that wrap around the stem, especially those grown as… |
| trait noun | /tɹeɪt/ | An identifying characteristic, habit or trend. |
| soccer noun | /ˈsɑk.ɚ/ | Association football. |
| cloud noun | /ˈklaʊ̯d/ | A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air. |
| seed noun | /siːd/ | Any propagative portion of a plant which may be sown, such as true seeds, seed-like fruits, tubers, or bulbs. |
| submit verb | /səbˈmɪt/ | To yield or give way to another. |
| glow verb | /ɡloʊ/ | To emit heat and light without a flame. |
| curious adjective | /ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/ | Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying. |
| mystery noun | /ˈmɪs.t(ə.)ɹi/ | Something secret or unexplainable; an unknown. |
| unusual adjective | /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/ | Not usual, out of the ordinary. |
| pizza noun | /ˈpi.tsə/ | A baked Italian dish of a thinly rolled bread crust typically topped before baking with tomato sauce, cheese, and other ingredients such as meat or vegetables. |
| narrow adjective | /ˈnæɹəʊ/ | Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth. |
| summary noun | /ˈsʌm.ə.ɹi/ | An abstract or a condensed presentation of the substance of a body of material. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| give off verb | /ɡɪv ɒf/ | To emit; to produce and send forth; to come across in some manner. |
| pick out verb | To remove by picking. | |
| pop up verb | To come up with a "pop" sound. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 18 contractions and reduced forms, such as isn't, aren't, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: mushroom /ˈmʌʃˌɹuːm/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/
- Long words — get the stress right: unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/, microscopic /ˌmaɪ.kɹəˈskɑ.pɪk/
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 mushroom, poisonous, grass.
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 | Have you ever found · I've ever seen |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is called |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who get · traits, which can |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the biggest · the weirdest · the deadliest |
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.