Shadowing Practice: Moon Phases Demonstration - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hi, my name is Emily Morgan and I'm the author of Next Time You See the Moon from NSTA Kids.

And I'd like to share a simple activity with you

that can help you understand why the moon looks different at different times throughout the month.

Why sometimes it looks like a banana, and other times it looks like half of a circle,

and other times it looks like a big round ball.

Well to do this activity you only need four simple things.

You need a lamp with a shade removed, a white foam ball, a pencil, and a dark room.

The darker the room the better.

Now in this model the lamp is going to represent the Sun

and of course the white foam ball is going to represent the moon and your head is going to represent the earth.

So let me show you how this works.

We know that the moon orbits the earth.

So in this model, I'm going to get the moon, the foam ball, to orbit the earth, my head.

Notice that no matter where the moon is in its orbit, half of it is always lit up by the sun.

But when the moon is in this position, I can't see any of the lighted side of the moon from Earth.

My head.

From this angle, you can see what I am seeing from Earth.

We call this new moon.

When it's new moon, we look up at the sky and we can't see the moon.

It's there, but the side that's reflecting sunlight is away from us.

Now as I slowly make the moon orbit to my left, I can begin to see a tiny sliver of that lighted side.

We call that a crescent moon.

As the moon keeps orbiting, we can see more and more of that lighted side.

We see half of the lighted half, which is a quarter moon.

In this case, a first quarter moon.

As we keep orbiting, we see almost the whole lighted side.

We call that a gibbous moon.

Then, when we can see the entire lighted half of the moon, that's a full moon.

As the moon continues in its orbit, we begin to see less and less of that lighted side.

We're back to a gibbous moon, but this time the light is on the opposite side.

Then another quarter moon, last quarter moon to be exact.

Another crescent.

And finally back to new moon.

And the cycle begins again.

So why does the moon appear in different shapes throughout the month?

Because of its orbit.

The shape or phase of the moon depends on where it is in its orbit around Earth.

It takes about a month for the moon to orbit the Earth.

So when you look up at the moon today, know that you'll see that same phase again about a month from now.

Thank you for watching and I hope you give this activity a try

and I hope that you have a sense of wonder next time you see the moon.

For a full description of this activity and other resources for teaching about moon phases,

go to www .nsta .org slash next time dash moon.

There are moon calendars and other science and reading activities there.

For more information about the Next Time You See book series, visit www .nexttimeuc .com.

Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Moon Phases Demonstration”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: moon, orbit, lighted, earth, quarter. This video has 46 sentences and 568 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:05. The speaker talks at a steady 139 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% 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
orbit noun	/ˈɔɹ.bɪt/	An elliptical movement of an object about a celestial object or Lagrange point, especially a periodic elliptical revolution.
foam noun	/ˈfɔʊ̯m/	A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially
lamp noun	/ˈlæ̝mp/	A device that generates light, heat, or other electromagnetic radiation. Especially an electric light bulb.
crescent noun	/ˈkɹɛs.ənt/	The figure of the moon as it appears between its first or last quarter and the new moon, with concave and convex edges terminating in points.
reflect verb	/ɹɪˈflɛkt/	To bend back (light, etc.) from a surface.
resource noun	/ɹɪˈzɔːs/	Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel.
angle noun	/ˈæŋ.ɡəl/	A figure formed by two rays which start from a common point (a plane angle) or by three planes that intersect (a solid angle).
calendar noun	/ˈkæl.ən.də/	Any system by which time is divided into days, weeks, months, and years.
depend verb	/dɪˈpɛnd/	To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition
shade noun	/ʃeɪd/	Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked.
banana noun	/bəˈnænə/	An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.
dash noun	/ˈdæʃ/	Any of the following symbols: ‒ (figure dash), – (en dash), — (em dash), or ― (horizontal bar).
pencil noun	/ˈpɛnsəl/	A writing utensil with a graphite (commonly referred to as lead) shaft, usually blended with clay, clad in wood, and sharpened to a taper.
sunlight noun	/ˈsʌnˌlaɪt/	All the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun; especially, that in the visible spectrum and that bathes the Earth.
gibbous adjective	/ˈɡɪbəs/	Curved or bulged outward.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form	keeps orbiting · keep orbiting
Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming	is going to represent · I'm going to get

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, I'm, I'd. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shade /ʃeɪd/, dash /ˈdæʃ/

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 orbit, foam, lamp.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Moon Phases Demonstration - Learn English Speaking with Video

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