Shadowing Practice: How Chicken Heads Stopped Rabies - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Chicken heads dropping from the sky.

What's that about?

Since the 1930s, a rabies epidemic had been sweeping across wildlife populations in Europe.

This was bad news, since rabies can spread to pets and then to humans.

It attacks the brain and leads to symptoms like confusion, aggression and paralysis.

Once you got it back then, the infection was 100 % deadly.

The epidemic had to be stopped.

The main carriers of the virus were red foxes, which were now hunted excessively either with rifles or by releasing poisonous gas into their burrows.

But it soon became clear that this was counterproductive.

Hunting caused the fox populations to migrate, spreading the virus even further.

Catching foxes alive and vaccinating them one by one proved too slow and expensive.

Finally, in 1978, a somewhat bonkers idea was tested.

Blisters filled with the vaccine were put into thousands of chicken heads that were left over from slaughterhouses.

They were then tossed onto pathways and roadsides and dropped from helicopters in areas that were more difficult to access.

The method worked.

Up until 1991, vaccinated chicken heads were distributed in Europe over a total area larger than 330 ,000 football fields.

And as chicken heads dropped, so did the numbers for rabies cases in Europe.

Since the early 90s, several countries have even been declared rabies -free.

The method is still use today.

In 2021, rabies vaccine baits intended for raccoons were dropped from helicopters over Cape Cod,

although nowadays, industrially manufactured baits are used instead of chicken heads, which works but is way less interesting than foxes munching on

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “How Chicken Heads Stopped Rabies”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: rabies, chicken, heads, foxes, dropped. This video has 21 sentences and 260 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:35. The speaker talks at a natural 164 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 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
virus noun	/ˈvaɪ.ɹəs/	A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and…
helicopter noun	/ˈheliːˌkɔptə(ɹ)/	An aircraft that is borne along by one or more sets of long rotating blades which allow it to hover, move in any direction including reverse, or land; and…
vaccine noun	/vækˈsin/	A substance given to stimulate a body's production of antibodies and provide immunity against a disease without causing the disease itself in the treatment…
bait noun	/beɪt/	Any substance, especially food, used in catching fish, or other animals, by alluring them to a hook, snare, trap, or net.
epidemic noun	/ˌɛpɪˈdɛmɪk/	A widespread disease that affects many humans in a population.
pet noun	/pɛt/	An animal kept as a companion or otherwise for pleasure, rather than for some practical benefit or use.
infection noun	/ɪnˈfɛkʃən/	The act or process of infecting.
wildlife noun	/ˈwaɪldlaɪf/	undomesticated animals, especially mammals, birds, and fish, which live in the wild.
carrier noun	/ˈkæɹi.ɚ/	A person or object that carries someone or something else.
confusion noun	/kənˈfjuːʒən/	A lack of clarity or order.
rifle noun	/ˈɹaɪfəl/	A firearm fired from the shoulder; improved range and accuracy is provided by a long, rifled barrel.
deadly adjective	/ˈdɛdli/	Causing death; lethal.
nowadays adverb	/ˈnaʊ.ə.deɪz/	At the present time; in the current era.
intend verb	/ɪnˈtɛnd/	To fix the mind upon (something, or something to be accomplished); be intent upon
declare verb	/dɪˈklɛɚ/	To assert or announce formally, officially, explicitly, or emphatically.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be stopped · were now hunted · was tested
Comparatives -er than / more … than — comparing two things	larger than · less interesting than

Pronunciation to watch

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: infection /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/, confusion /kənˈfjuːʒən/, aggression /əˈɡɹɛʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: helicopter /ˈheliːˌkɔptə(ɹ)/, epidemic /ˌɛpɪˈdɛmɪk/, counterproductive /ˌkaʊntəpɹəˈdʌktɪv/, excessively /ɪkˈsɛsɪvli/, industrially /ɪnˈdʌs.tɹɪ.ə.li/

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 virus, helicopter, vaccine.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: How Chicken Heads Stopped Rabies - Learn English Speaking with Video

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