Shadowing Practice: Learn Advanced English Words and Expressions from a News Article - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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You are truly fluent in English when you're able to understand the expressions that native speakers use.
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You are truly fluent in English when you're able to understand the expressions that native speakers use.
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Let's learn some very common expressions to take your English to the final level of fluency.
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For example, a non-native speaker might say, Let's leave or let's start driving.
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But a native speaker might say, Let's hit the road.
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They would use the expression, hit the road.
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A non-native speaker might say, this situation is typical or this situation is expected.
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But a native speaker might say, it's par for the course.
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A non-native speaker might say, I'm very busy.
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I don't have time to sit down and have breakfast.
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But a native speaker might say, I'm always on the run.
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I eat breakfast on the run.
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These are the idiomatic expressions that we will practice using, plus many more.
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And you will have a chance to practice your accent.
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These are the expressions that are used in a recent news article about the increase of fast food prices.
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The title of the article is, Fast food chains launch value menu war after cost complaints.
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Will it last?
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And this means that fast food restaurants such as McDonald's
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or Burger King and others are lowering their prices on some items and they are in a price war.
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And they're launching a value menu war, a pricing competition.
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They have reduced some of their prices after cost complaints, after customers started complaining about the cost of the food in fast food restaurants.
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Before we look at the paragraph, I want to make sure that you can pronounce launch correctly.
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Let's look at these two words.
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Let's learn the pronunciation difference.
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Some of my students confuse the pronunciation.
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Lunch, launch.
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Lunch, launch.
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The first one is an uh sound.
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The second one is an ah sound.
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Let's practice some other words with the same vowel sounds.
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But, bought, cut, caught, lung, long.
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Let's say it again.
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Launch.
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The rocket was launched.
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They launched a new business.
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The company launched a new product.
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So the fast food restaurants launched a new menu, a value menu.
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Okay, let's look at the first paragraph.
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I will read and you listen.
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And after I teach you the meanings of the words, I will read the paragraph again and I will pause to give you a chance to repeat.
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Millions of American families are hitting the road to start summer vacation
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and ordering food on the run tends to be par for the course.
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It couldn't come at a better time.
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Fast food joints are in the midst of a budget meal
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war offering promotions to lure customers back to their restaurants despite inflation woes
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and a minimum wage increase in California and other states.
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Let's look at the meaning of to hit the road.
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The article said millions of American families are hitting the road to start summer vacation.
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To hit the road means to leave or to start adjourning.
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For example, we can say we need to hit the road early to avoid the morning traffic.
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After saying goodbye to our friends, we hit the road.
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It's getting late.
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Let's hit the road before it gets dark.
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Let's listen to the way some other people used it.
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And then I started traveling.
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I hit the road.
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For a little bit before we hit the road and head on back to the Phoenix area.
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I'm about to hit the road.
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It's the next morning.
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Let's look at the meaning of on the run.
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The article said ordering food on the run tends to be par for the course.
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If you are on the run, you're very busy.
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You're constantly moving.
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For example, you can say, you're always on the run, slow down.
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Or she grabbed a quick bite to eat on the run between meetings.
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I don't have time to eat breakfast.
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I usually eat it on the run.
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Let's listen to how some other people used it.
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Why are we eating so many meals on the run or in the car or standing standing next to the counter.
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Namely, we eat on the run.
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Even a cucumber is easy to eat on the run.
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And picking up everything on the run.
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Do you know the meaning of this expression?
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Par for the course.
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The article said ordering food on the run tends to be par for the course.
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Par for the course means typical, what you would normally expect to happen.
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This expression comes from golf.
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This is a golf course and par is the predetermined number of strokes
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that a skilled golfer is expected to take to complete a hole or a course.
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And we can use par for the course this way.
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Bad weather in April is par for the course in this region.
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It's typical.
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It's to be expected.
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If you want to be a politician, criticism is par for the course.
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Getting a few rejections is par for the course when you're applying for jobs.
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Let's listen to the way some other people used it.
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When you have little kids, it's par for the course.
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They wake up all night long.
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Rejection is difficult to take, but it's par for the course.
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No, that's par for the course.
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It's not indication that you failed.
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Let's look at the meaning of the word joint.
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Joint has a lot of different meanings.
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And this article talks about a fast food joint.
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And that means a casual restaurant or bar, a simple place to eat.
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We often say a burger joint or a fast food joint.
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Let's have lunch at the new burger joint.
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Do you know the meaning of in the midst of?
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Let's pronounce it correctly first.
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These words belong together.
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They're part of a unit, so we must say them as one word.
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Don't pause.
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Repeat after me.
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In the midst of.
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In the midst of.
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And that F is pronounced as a V sound.
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That's the only time in English where the F is not pronounced as a F.
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It's pronounced as a V. Of. Of.
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Let's say that again.
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In the midst of.
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In the midst of.
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The article says fast food joints are in the midst of a budget meal war.
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In the midst of means in the middle of something or during something.
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For example, we can say, I was in the midst of a meeting when you called.
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We are in the midst of a major project at work.
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Let's listen to how some other people used it.
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Either I'm in the midst of learning that language or it's a language that I learned before.
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Your life is a beautiful story no matter what difficulties you're in the midst of, no matter what you've been through.
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And cultivate what you want to see grow even in the midst of crisis.
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Do you know the meaning of this word?
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Lure.
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Lure.
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lure is both a noun and a verb.
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The article said offering promotions to lure customers back to their restaurants.
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To lure is to attract or to tempt someone to do something.
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To persuade someone to do something by making it seem attractive or exciting.
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This is the lure.
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And in this case it's a noun.
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It's a fishing lure.
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But lure is also a verb.
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So we can say the lure lures fish.
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It attracts fish.
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But we can also lure people.
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For example, we can say, I was lured into the store by the huge sales sign.
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Or they lured him to the new company by offering a higher salary.
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The brightly colored flowers lured the bees to the garden.
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Let's listen to how some other people used it.
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You lured me here.
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You used the word lure.
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I mean, luring overall is a bad thing.
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That lured me into a career I could have never imagined possible.
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Let's look at the meaning of woe.
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Woe is a noun.
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The article said offering promotions to lure customers back to their restaurants despite inflation woes.
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If you have woes, you have problems or trouble, great sorrow or distress.
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For example, we can say, Financial woes forced them to sell their house.
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She shared her woes with a close friend.
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Let's listen to how some other people used it.
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When all your woe is behind you, and you have only bliss to look forward to.
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Everybody had their own woes and their own problems.
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Finally, in 2017, after decades of financial woe, Becker was declared bankrupt.
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And now, let's read the paragraph again.
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I will pause to give you a chance to repeat.
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Pay attention to how I'm linking words, how I'm connecting them, and you follow and do the same thing.
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Repeat after me.
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Millions of American families are hitting the road to start summer vacation.
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And ordering food on the run tends to be par for the course.
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It couldn't come at a better time.
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Fast food joints are in the midst of a budget meal war,
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offering promotions to lure customers back to their restaurants,
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despite inflation woes and the minimum wage increase,
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in California and other states.
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Let's look at another paragraph from the article and let's learn three more words and expressions.
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Starting June 25th, McDonald's will offer a month-long deal featuring a combo meal, either a McChicken, a McDouble,
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or four-piece chicken nuggets, small fries and a small drink for $5.
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After McDonald's announcement last month, other fast food restaurants followed suit.
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Wendy's announced its $3 limited time breakfast combo meal,
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and Burger King trumpeted that it planned to bring back its $5 your way meal.
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Let's look at the expression month long.
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The article said McDonald's will offer a month long deal.
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Month-long means lasting the entire month.
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Throughout the month, we can say, the store is having a month-long sale or I took a month-long vacation.
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But we can also say year-long.
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I'm taking a year-long course.
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And that means the course will last for the entire year.
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It was a year-long wait.
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And that means I had to wait for a whole year.
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And we can also say week-long.
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I attended a week-long conference.
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Do you know the meaning of the expression to follow suit?
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The article said, after McDonald's announcement last month, other fast food restaurants followed suit.
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To follow suit means to do the same thing as someone else.
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So, other fast food restaurants followed suit means that other restaurants did the same thing.
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They changed their prices also and we can use to follow suit this way.
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The first company raised its prices and others soon followed suit.
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When he decided to start jogging every morning, his friends followed suit.
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Let's listen to the way some other people used it.
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Nestle followed suit with a 2FL formula of its own.
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American Airlines and most other carriers followed suit.
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Adele followed suit in 2015.
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Let's look at the meaning of the verb to trumpet.
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The article said Burger King trumpeted that it planned to bring back its $5 your way meal.
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This is a trumpet.
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It's a musical instrument, but it's also a verb to trumpet.
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And it means to announce something loudly and forcefully, to tell someone about something that you are proud of, and sometimes in an annoying way.
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For example, we can say he trumpeted his achievements to anyone who would listen
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or the government trumpeted the success of its new policies the
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company trumpeted its new product with a huge marketing campaign let's
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look at a grammar rule have you been speaking correctly i
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hear a lot of mistakes with this one let's make sure
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that you're using it correctly notice
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that i said five dollar not five dollars burger king trumpeted
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that it plans to bring back it's five dollar your value
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meal also three dollar not three dollars three dollar limited time breakfast combo meal
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but the earlier part said four five dollars four piece chicken nuggets small fries
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and a small drink for five dollars
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so why do we sometimes have an s
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and sometimes no s let's Let's look at another example and I think you'll understand.
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Which sentence is correct?
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That's a $2 million house or that's a $2 million house.
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The noun house follows the number, the amount.
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So dollar must not have an S.
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We can say the house costs two million dollars.
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In that case, we would add an S to dollars.
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Let's look at some more examples.
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I paid five dollars.
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I bought a five dollar meal.
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Because we have meal, we have the noun after the amount, we take away the S, from dollars.
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A five dollar meal.
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And this is a five dollar bill.
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I gave him five dollars or I gave him a five dollar bill.
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This is 25 cents or this is a 25 cent coin.
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No S.
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My house has three bedrooms.
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I have a...
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You finish it.
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I have a three bedroom house.
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Okay, let's read the paragraph again so that you can practice your accent.
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Pay attention to which words I'm stressing and which words I'm reducing
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and make sure that you link the words the same way that I'm doing it.
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Repeat after me.
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Starting June 25th, McDonald's will offer a month-long deal featuring a combo meal.
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Either a McChicken, a McDouble, or four-piece chicken nuggets.
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Small fries and a small drink for $5.
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After McDonald's announcement last month, other fast food restaurants followed suit.
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Wendy's announced it's $3.00 Limited time breakfast combo meal.
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And Burger King trumpeted that it planned to bring back its $5 your way meal.
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Let's look at the next sentence.
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In addition, fast food mobile apps continue to offer deep discounts.
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Let's learn how to pronounce mobile app with the perfect American accent.
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How do we pronounce this word?
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Is it mobile or mobile?
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How do you say it?
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The first one is a British accent and the second one is an American accent.
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So in British English, it's mobile, but in American English, it's mobile.
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I use my mobile phone.
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And here are some other words that follow this pattern.
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How do we pronounce this word?
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In British English, it's missile.
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In American English, it's missile.
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And how about this word?
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In British English, it's versatile.
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In American English, it's versatile.
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Versatile.
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And now you already know the pronunciation of this word, right?
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British English, fertile.
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American English, fertile.
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Fertile.
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And let's look at the word app.
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Make sure that the vowel sound is big and open.
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Don't say up app.
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App.
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Repeat after me.
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Mobile app.
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Mobile app.
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Fast food mobile app.
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To keep working on your English fluency, I suggest that you read on a wide variety of subjects.
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Read about different topics.
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That way, your English will be well-rounded.
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And when you see a new word, make sure you look it up.
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And keep a list of the new words.
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And from time to time, check to see if you remember the meaning And, of course, it's very important that you create your own sentences using the new words.
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And say the sentences out loud.
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That way, you're much more likely to remember them and use them when you speak English.
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Thanks for watching and keep practicing.
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Take your English to the final level of fluency with my online courses.
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The American Accent course, the 400 Advanced Words You Must Know for Fluent English course,
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the phrasal verbs for fluent English course.
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Go to AccurateEnglish.com.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will enhance your English fluency by practicing advanced vocabulary and expressions commonly used by native speakers. We will explore idiomatic phrases that appear in a recent news article about the fast food industry, helping you understand and use these expressions effectively in everyday conversation. You’ll also have the opportunity to improve your pronunciation and accent through targeted shadow speech exercises.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Hit the road - To leave or start a journey.
- On the run - Busy or unable to stop, often used to describe eating or doing something quickly.
- Par for the course - An expected or typical situation.
- Launch - To start or introduce something new, like a product or initiative.
- Budget meal war - A situation where restaurants compete by offering affordable meal options to attract customers.
- Inflation woes - Financial concerns regarding rising prices over time.
- Promotions - Special offers or deals designed to encourage customers to purchase.
- Joint - Informal term for a restaurant or establishment.
Practice Tips
To make the most of this lesson and improve your shadowing technique, it’s essential to focus on the speed and tone of the native speaker in the video. Start by listening carefully to the phrases being pronounced. Shadow speech involves repeating what you hear as closely as possible to the original, including the rhythm, intonation, and expression. This is a powerful exercise for language acquisition and will help you sound more natural in your speech.
Feel free to pause the video frequently to practice your pronunciation of key vocabulary such as "launch" and "hit the road." Mimicking the speaker's tone will help you internalize the language. Remember, the goal of using the shadowing technique is not just to repeat but to genuinely imitate the flow and emotion of the sentences. As you progress, you’ll find that your English speaking abilities improve significantly, making conversations feel more effortless and engaging.
Whether you are looking to learn English with YouTube or practice advanced phrases, using shadowspeak in your study routine can accelerate your language learning journey. Consistently applying these strategies will lead to remarkable improvements in your fluency and confidence.
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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