Shadowing Practice: How Humans Change the Environment: Impact, Pollution, and Solutions - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
You've discovered that living things can cause both positive and negative changes in their surroundings.
2
Usually these changes are small and happen over a very long time.
3
However, humans can make big changes quickly.
4
How?
5
They use machines that create massive changes in the environment.
6
Imagine a river flowing through a desert habitat.
7
What would happen if a dam was built across the river?
8
A lake would form behind the dam, and many creatures would be unable to survive.
9
The water would be used to water crops, turning some of the desert into farmland.
10
Consider how a forest changes when a farm takes its place.
11
What are some of these changes?
12
People have learned to adapt their environment to survive and make life more comfortable.
13
For instance, they cut down trees to get wood for houses.
14
Red roads are made through forests to speed up traffic.
15
Coal is dug up from the ground for heating, leaving big holes behind.
16
Most of these changes can hurt the environment.
17
People create many toxic substances when they manufacture items in factories.
18
These chemicals can harm or even kill animals and plants.
19
Dangerous materials like these are known as pollutants.
20
When we add pollutants to the environment, it causes pollution.
21
There are various types of pollutants.
22
For instance, car exhaust contributes to air pollution, and oil spills in the ocean lead to water pollution.
23
A pie chart is a circular diagram that displays the portions that make up a whole.
24
The pie chart demonstrates how different pollution sources can affect a single city.
25
Many changes humans make to the environment can harm or even wipe out living creatures.
26
these organisms may be at risk of disappearing entirely and are called endangered species.
27
Can you think of ways to help them?
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “How Humans Change the Environment: Impact, Pollution, and Solutions”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: changes, environment, pollution, pollutants. This video has 27 sentences and 296 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:56. The speaker talks at a natural 153 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| pollution noun | /pəˈluʃən/ | Physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc. |
| pollutant noun | /pəˈl(j)uːtənt/ | A foreign substance that makes something dirty, or impure, especially waste from human activities. |
| farmland noun | /ˈfɑːɹmlænd/ | Land that is suitable for farming and agricultural production. |
| organism noun | /ˈɔɹ.ɡəˌnɪz.əm/ | A discrete and complete living thing, such as animal, plant, fungus or microorganism. |
| surroundings noun | /səˈɹaʊndɪŋz/ | The area surrounding someone or something, together with the objects and circumstances in the vicinity; the environment or ambiance. |
| exhaust verb | /ɪɡˈzɔst/ | To draw or let out wholly; to drain completely. |
| spill verb | /spɪl/ | To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour. |
| diagram noun | /ˈdaɪ.ə.ɡɹæm/ | A plan, drawing, sketch or outline to show the function or operation of something, or to show the relationships between the parts of a whole. |
| endangered adjective | /ɪnˈdeɪn.d͡ʒɚd/ | in danger, at risk, said of something where there is a strong possibility something bad will happen to it (for example, a species in danger of going extinct) |
| circular adjective | /ˈsɜɹ.kjə.ləɹ/ | Of or relating to a circle. |
| habitat noun | /ˈhæb.ɪ.tæt/ | Conditions suitable for an organism or population of organisms to live. |
| adapt verb | /əˈdæpt/ | To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit. |
| wipe verb | /waɪp/ | To move an object over, maintaining contact, with the intention of removing some substance from the surface. (Compare rub.) |
| disappear verb | /dɪsəˈpɪɹ/ | To vanish. |
| crop noun | /kɹɑp/ | A plant, grown for it, or its fruits or seeds, to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, or fuel or for any other economic purpose. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| cut down verb | To cut downward. | |
| make up verb | /ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/ | To constitute, to compose. |
| speed up verb | /spiːdˈʌp/ | To accelerate; to increase speed. |
| wipe out verb | To destroy (especially, a large number or complete set of people or things); to obliterate. |
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 | was built · are made · is dug |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | You've discovered · have learned |
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 pollution, pollutant, farmland.
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.