Shadowing Practice: Mindset For IELTS 1 track 68 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Track 68 Good morning, everyone.
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In today's lecture, I want to talk to you about a very unpopular animal here in Britain.
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In fact, you could say that it's one of our least loved animals.
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It's called the American bullfrog, and yes, it does in fact come from America, the east of America to be exact.
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And it was brought to Britain in the early 19th century, so you could say that it's been here for quite a long time.
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It wasn't brought here on purpose.
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It actually arrived in a big container of aquatic plants.
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In other words, it was accidentally introduced into Britain.
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Now, I'll tell you a little about its appearance.
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The American bullfrog is a very large and ugly species of frog.
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And when I say it's large, I mean large.
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Interestingly, female American bullfrogs are usually much larger than the males.
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In fact, they can weigh up to 750 grams, whereas the males only go up to about 600 grams.
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Take a look at its head.
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It's really broad and flat, isn't it?
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And you can see its mouth just here.
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That's quite large too.
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Now, both the male and the female American bullfrogs have green
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or brown bodies and have dark spots on the top but there's one important difference between them.
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The male's throat is yellow but the female has a white one instead.
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And the other difference is their eardrums, here just behind their eyes.
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Those of the male are much larger than the female's.
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So let's move on to why we so dislike the American bullfrog.
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Well, this is because it has threatened our own native species of frogs.
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Firstly, it breeds very quickly indeed.
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For example, female bullfrogs can lay up to 25 ,000 eggs every single season.
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And secondly, the American bullfrog is very greedy.
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In fact, they eat just about anything they can put into their mouths.
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As well as other frogs, they eat insects, fish, and have even been known to eat birds and snakes.
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So, in other words, they eat the food sources of our own native species.
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Thirdly, they carry a disease that is dangerous to other frogs.
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And finally, they don't just damage our natural world, they cause financial damage too.
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Around £100 ,000 has been spent monitoring the American bullfrog in the wild.
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So, as scientists, we can learn a lesson from this about the dangers of introducing any living species into a new environment.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Mindset For IELTS 1 track 68”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: bullfrog, frog, species, male, female. This video has 34 sentences and 405 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:49. The speaker talks at a steady 144 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| introduce verb | /ˌɪntɹəˈdus/ | To cause (someone) to be acquainted (with someone else). |
| gram noun | /ˈɡɹæm/ | A unit of mass equal to one-thousandth of a kilogram. Symbol: g. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| egg noun | /ɛɡ/ | An approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body produced by birds, insects, reptiles, and other animals, often housing an embryo within a membrane or shell… |
| ugly adjective | /ˈʌɡli/ | Displeasing to the eye; aesthetically unpleasing. |
| whereas | /(h)wɛɹˈæz/ | In contrast; whilst on the contrary; although. |
| arrive verb | /əˈɹaɪv/ | To reach; to get to a certain place. |
| monitor noun | /ˈmɑ.nɪ.tɚ/ | Someone who watches over something; a person in charge of something or someone. |
| throat noun | /ˈθɹoʊt/ | The front part of the neck. |
| snake noun | /sneɪk/ | Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptiles with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues. |
| accidentally adverb | /ˌæk.sɪˈdɛnt(ə)li/ | In an accidental manner; by chance, unexpectedly. |
| scientist noun | /ˈsaɪəntəst/ | One whose activities make use of the scientific method to answer questions regarding the measurable universe. A scientist may be involved in original research… |
| lecture noun | /ˈlɛk.t͡ʃə/ | A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group. |
| breed verb | /ˈbɹiːd/ | To give birth to; to be the native place of. |
| container noun | /kənˈteɪ.nəɹ/ | An item in which objects, materials or data can be stored or transported. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | it's been · has threatened · have even been known |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was brought · wasn't brought · been known |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 4 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'll, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: throat /ˈθɹoʊt/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/, thirdly /ˈθɚdli/
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 introduce, gram, lesson.
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.