Shadowing Practice: Introduction to neural cell types | Organ Systems | MCAT | Khan Academy - Learn English Speaking with Video
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In this video, I want to introduce the different types of neural cells.
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The word neural, or the prefix neuro, just refers to the nervous system, so that neural cells are cells of the nervous system.
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Neural cells work with all the other cell types of the
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body to produce the amazing range of functions of the nervous system, including consciousness, social interactions, cognition,
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emotion, movement, sensory perception, and regulation of other functions such as circulation, respiration, and digestion.
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Neural cells are divided into two big categories.
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The first are neurons, which were traditionally called nerve cells.
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And the second are glia.
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Now these can also be called neuroglia or glial cells.
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That all means the same thing.
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Neurons are named from a Greek word for nerve, while glia are named from a Greek word for glue because they are once thought to do little except glue neurons together.
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The structure of the nervous system is divided into two main parts.
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The first part is mainly made up of the brain in the head and the spinal cord in the spine.
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And this part of the nervous system is called the central nervous system.
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The other part of the nervous system is called the peripheral nervous system.
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And that's made up mostly of nerves, these long stringy structures that come out of the brain and the spinal cord.
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And they go all over the body, like down into the arms and down into the legs and into every part of the body.
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And we'll cover a lot more detail about neuroanatomy in other videos, but I just need to bring up the central
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and peripheral nervous system because the neural cells are divided up differently amongst the different systems.
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Calling neurons nerve cells is a little problematic
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because these structures in the peripheral nervous system called nerves are made up of neurons, but they also contain glial cells,
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and they contain a number of other cells that aren't neural cells at all.
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However, you'll often hear people refer to neurons as nerve cells because that was the traditional name for them.
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Neurons are found both in the central nervous system, the brain and the spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system, in the nerves.
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But the different types of glial cells are found only in one or the other.
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Most neural cells are derived from populations of cells called neural stem cells or neural crest cells.
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And both of those cell types arise early in development in the part of the embryo called the ectoderm.
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Most neurons in glia found in the central nervous system are derived from neural stem cells,
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while most neurons in glia found in the peripheral nervous system are derived from neural crest cells.
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Now we'll go into a lot more detail about what neural stem cells are
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and neural crest cells in other videos when we cover development of the nervous system.
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Most types of both neurons and glia share some structural features of the way their cell is shaped.
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Most of them have a main part to their cell called the soma, or the cell body, that contains the nucleus and most of the organelles.
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Coming out of the soma, most of these cell types have processes, long, thin extensions that come out of the soma.
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And the processes of the different neural cells vary in number and in length and thickness and degree of branching, because some of them will be unbranched,
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and some of them will have processes that branch, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot.
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They will also vary a lot in the terminal structures at the end of their processes
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and the function of these structures and the processes.
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The function of neurons is to process and transmit information, and the function of glia is to support them in a variety of ways.
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There are many structural and functional types of both the neurons and the glia, And there are large numbers of these cells making up the nervous system.
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There are billions of neurons that form trillions of connections in the adult human nervous system.
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And there are even more glia than there are neurons.
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In subsequent videos, we'll go over the most common glia, which are astrocytes, microglia, ependymal cells, oligodendrocytes, and Schwann cells.
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There are also less common glia, such as satellite cells and olfactory and sheathing cells.
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But we'll just go over the most common types here.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 45 sentences and 742 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:10. The speaker talks at a natural 178 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 77% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| neural adjective | /ˈnʊɹəl/ | Of, or relating to the nerves, neurons or the nervous system. |
| nerve noun | /nɝv/ | A bundle of neurons with their connective tissue sheaths, blood vessels and lymphatics. |
| peripheral adjective | /pəˈɹɪf(ə)ɹ(ə)l/ | On the periphery or boundary. |
| stem noun | /stɛm/ | The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors. |
| divide verb | /dɪˈvaɪd/ | To split or separate (something) into two or more parts. |
| cord noun | /ˈkoɹd/ | A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fibre (a rope, for example). |
| spinal adjective | /spaɪ.nəl/ | Of or relating to the spine. |
| crest noun | /kɹɛst/ | The summit of a hill or mountain ridge. |
| derive verb | /dɪˈɹaɪv/ | To obtain or receive (something) from something else. |
| refer verb | /ɹɪˈfɜː/ | To direct the attention of (someone toward something). |
| vary verb | /ˈvɛəɹi/ | To change with time or a similar parameter. |
| structural adjective | /ˈstɹʌk(t͡)ʃəɹəl/ | Of, relating to, or having structure. |
| glue noun | /ɡlu/ | A hard gelatin made by boiling bones and hides, used in solution as an adhesive; or any sticky adhesive substance. |
| thin adjective | /ˈθɪn/ | Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite. |
| extension noun | /ɪkˈstɛnʃən/ | The act of extending; a stretching out; enlargement in length, breadth, or time; an increase. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go over verb | To look at carefully; to scrutinize; to analyze. | |
| make up verb | /ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/ | To constitute, to compose. |
| bring up verb | To mention. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as we'll, aren't, you'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thin /ˈθɪn/, thickness /ˈθɪknəs/, sheath /ʃiθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: structural /ˈstɹʌk(t͡)ʃəɹəl/, extension /ɪkˈstɛnʃən/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: peripheral /pəˈɹɪf(ə)ɹ(ə)l/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, traditionally /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nə.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 neural, nerve, peripheral.
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 | are divided · be called · are named |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | neurons, which were · glia, which are |
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.