Shadowing Practice: Make or Do? The One Question That Decides - Learn English Speaking with Video
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17 sentences
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1
Your friend bakes you a beautiful birthday cake!
2
You want to thank her, so you say, thanks for doing this cake.
3
She smiles... but it sounds a little strange.
4
Here's the reason.
5
Make is for creating something new.
6
Do is for tasks, jobs and activities.
7
Before the cake, there was no cake. So you make it!
8
Now, what about your homework?
9
Nothing new appears. It's just a job on your list.
10
So you do your homework, and you do the dishes.
11
Wait... make a mistake? Really?
12
Yes! A mistake is something new that you create.
13
Oops! Now there's a mistake that wasn't there before.
14
So next time, ask one quick question.
15
At the end, is there something new?
16
If yes, make. If no, do.
17
Now make a sentence, and do it out loud!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Make or Do? The One Question That Decides”. This video has 17 sentences and 133 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:58. The speaker talks at a steady 137 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 4 of its 17 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| homework noun | /ˈhoʊmˌwɝk/ | Exercises assigned by a teacher to a student which review concepts studied in class. |
| dish noun | /dɪʃ/ | A vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle. |
| bake verb | /beɪk/ | To cook (something) in an oven (for someone). |
| oops | /ups/ | Used to acknowledge a small mistake or accident. |
| cake noun | /keɪk/ | A rich, sweet dessert food, typically made of flour, sugar, and eggs and baked in an oven, and often covered in icing. |
| mistake noun | /mɪˈsteɪk/ | An error. |
| task noun | /tæsk/ | A piece of work done as part of one’s duties. |
| smile verb | /ˈsmaɪl/ | To have (a smile) on one's face. |
| strange adjective | /stɹeɪnd͡ʒ/ | Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary, often with a negative connotation. |
| sentence noun | /ˈsɛn.təns/ | The judicial order for a punishment to be imposed on a person convicted of a crime. |
| loud adjective | /ˈlaʊ̯d/ | Of great intensity. |
| quick adjective | /kwɪk/ | Moving with speed, rapidity or swiftness, or capable of doing so; rapid; fast. |
| activity noun | /ækˈtɪv.ɪ.ti/ | The state or quality of being active; activeness. |
| appear verb | /əˈpɪɹ/ | To come or be in sight; to be in view; to become visible. |
| birthday noun | /ˈbɜːθ.deɪ/ | The anniversary of the day on which someone is born. |
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like homework, dish, bake.
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.