Shadowing Practice: Is breakfast the most important meal of the day? ⏲️ 6 Minute English - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
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Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
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I'm Georgie.
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And I'm Phil.
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Did you have any breakfast today, Georgie?
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Or did you skip it?
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I did have some breakfast.
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On the way to the office I got myself a pastry and a coffee.
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What about you?
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I had a big bowl of porridge but it was at 6 o'clock this morning so I'm hungry again now.
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And you might soon be hungry as well,
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because we're going to talk about breakfast.
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How important is it?
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Let's start by hearing from Professor Alexandra Johnston,
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a nutrition scientist who spoke to Ruth Alexander,
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host of BBC World Service programme The Food Chain.
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I am supporting the meme,
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breakfast like a king and dine like a pauper.
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For you then, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
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I agree.
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So, it's really important, particularly for people who are trying to maintain a healthy
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weight and people who are trying to lose weight.
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Alexandra says that you should breakfast like a king and dine like a pauper.
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Pauper is an old-fashioned word for a very poor person.
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The expression means have a big breakfast and a small dinner.
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We're going to find out some of the reasons that Alexandra and other experts recommend doing this.
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And as usual, we'll learn some useful new words and phrases.
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And remember, you'll find all the vocabulary and a quiz on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.
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OK, but first I have a question for you, Phil.
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According to a recent survey,
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which of the following is the most popular breakfast in the UK?
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Is it a eggs, b toast or c cereal?
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Well, I think people like to keep it simple,
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also I'm going to say toast.
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OK, well, we'll find out the answer later in the programme.
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Let's hear some reasons for why we should breakfast like a king or queen.
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Courtney Peterson, who researches eating behaviours,
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explains how the time of day affects how our bodies process food on BBC World's service programme The Food Chain.
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And so if you can eat a large breakfast in the morning
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and or I would even say a large lunch in the morning your body's going to be better at metabolizing
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that food and what
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that means is your body's going to actually your blood sugar
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levels won't spike as high you'll you might burn slightly more
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fat you might burn slightly more calories from eating earlier in the day
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whereas if you had
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if you eat most of your food later in the day your metabolism is actually slower later in the day
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so for instance
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if you ate the same i don't know bowl of ice
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cream in the morning the afternoon in the evening your blood
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sugar levels will spike significantly higher in the the afternoon and the evening.
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We heard the noun metabolism.
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This is a word that refers to the chemical processes in your body,
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and we most often use it to talk about those that convert food into energy.
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And we also heard the verb form, metabolise.
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Courtney talked about blood sugar levels spiking.
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A spike is a sharp, pointed shape.
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If you see it on a line graph,
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it means that something has increased very rapidly.
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We often use the noun spike to mean a sudden increase in a value that is being measured.
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The verb spike means to suddenly increase.
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We've heard that eating earlier in the day can be healthier for us.
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Now, people often don't eat breakfast,
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sometimes because they don't have time,
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sometimes because they're trying to save money.
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Let's hear again from Professor Alexandra Johnston talking to BBC World Service's The Food Chain.
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Now, breakfast skipping is interesting because my own work would tend to suggest,
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and that sort of observational large-scale epidemiological studies would also support this,
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that people who
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have a regular breakfast are actually leaner
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and my own work would tend to suggest
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that having your largest meal of the day in the morning period gives you a much better appetite control
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which then means it's much easier control food intake later in the day.
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Alexandra starts by mentioning breakfast skipping.
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If you skip something, then you don't do it.
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Bad students might skip lessons,
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they don't go to them.
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If you skip a meal,
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it means that you don't eat it.
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We also heard that people who have a regular breakfast are leaner.
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If someone is lean, then they're not fat.
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And one of the reasons given why people might be leaner is that they have better appetite control.
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Appetite control is where your brain decides how much you should eat.
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Thanks, Georgie.
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Now, I think it's time that we heard the answer to your question.
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Yes, it is.
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OK, I asked, According to a recent survey,
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what is the most popular breakfast in the UK?
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And I said toast.
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Which was the most popular in London,
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but the most popular in the country as a whole was cereal.
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And that's according to a survey by a cereal manufacturer.
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So I'm afraid you got it wrong.
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OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned starting with pauper,
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which is an old-fashioned word for a very poor person.
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When we're talking about data,
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it spikes when it increases suddenly.
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Metabolism refers to the chemical processes inside your body,
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especially those which process food.
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If you skip something, you miss it.
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You don't do it.
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If someone is lean, then they are not fat.
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And finally, appetite control is how your brain decides how much you should eat.
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Once again, our six minutes are up,
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but why not head over to our website,
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bbclearningenglish.com, to try the quiz and worksheet for this episode.
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See you again soon.
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Goodbye.
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Bye.

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Why practice speaking with this video?

This engaging episode of 6 Minute English from the BBC offers a practical speaking context centered around the topic of breakfast, a subject familiar to most English learners. It provides an excellent opportunity to practice the shadowing technique, where you can listen to native speakers and mimic their intonation, accent, and rhythm. Engaging with this video not only enhances vocabulary but also helps learners develop fluency in expressing opinions and discussing health-related topics, making it an invaluable resource for IELTS speaking practice. By incorporating this exercise into your routine, you can significantly improve your conversational skills and confidence when speaking about everyday topics.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Throughout the video, several grammatical structures and expressions stand out:

  • Conditional Statements: Phrases like "If you can eat a large breakfast..." showcase the conditional tense, which is essential for expressing possibilities and making suggestions.
  • Imperatives: The expression "breakfast like a king" uses imperatives to give commands and advice, a common feature in persuasive speech.
  • Comparatives: The use of comparison in phrases such as "better at metabolizing" illustrates how comparative adjectives can be used effectively in discussions, especially regarding health.
  • Nouns and Adjectives: The terms "pauper" and "king" exemplify the use of vivid imagery to emphasize points in conversation, making them handy in creative speaking exercises.

These structures not only foster understanding of English grammar but also enable learners to construct their sentences more effectively during discussions and shadowspeak exercises.

Common Pronunciation Traps

As with any spoken material, certain words and phrases can be tricky to pronounce. Here are a few that may pose challenges:

  • Metabolism: This word can be challenging due to its syllable stress; practice placing emphasis on the second syllable, "tab." Consider repeating the word in your shadow speaking sessions to improve clarity.
  • Pauper: The historical context may make it less familiar, but ensuring the vowel sounds are precise will enhance your pronunciation.
  • Breakfast: A frequently used word, it can sometimes be mispronounced with the wrong stress pattern—focus on stressing the first syllable.

Engage in shadowspeaks of these words to cultivate your pronunciation skills further. By regularly practicing these challenging terms alongside the engaging content of the video, you'll gain the confidence needed to discuss various subjects fluently.

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.

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