Shadowing Practice: My Journey to a Zero-Waste Life (Intermediate B1-B2) - English Reading Practice - Learn English Speaking with Video
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38 sentences
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My name is Emma, and I live in a small town.
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Two years ago, I started my journey to a zero-waste life.
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This means I try to make no trash to protect the environment.
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It was hard at first, but now I love my new lifestyle and feel proud of my choices.
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Before, I used a lot of plastic every day.
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I bought plastic bottles for water, plastic bags for shopping, and food in plastic packages.
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One day, I watched a video about pollution.
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It showed how plastic hurts animals, pollutes rivers, and fills oceans.
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I felt sad and decided to change my habits to help the planet.
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First, I stopped using plastic bottles.
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Now, I carry a reusable water bottle made of metal.
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It's strong and I take it everywhere, to school, work, and the park.
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I also use cloth bags for shopping.
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They are washable and better than plastic.
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When I buy food, I go to local markets.
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There, I find fresh fruits and vegetables with no plastic packaging.
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I bring my own containers to carry food home.
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At home, I recycle everything I can, like paper, glass, and cans.
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I also compost food scraps, such as vegetable peels, fruit skins, and coffee grounds.
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Composting turns waste into rich soil for plants.
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Now my small garden grows delicious tomatoes, herbs, and even strawberries because of my compost.
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It's exciting to see my plants grow.
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I also make my own cleaning products.
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I use simple things like vinegar, lemon, and baking soda.
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They clean well, smell fresh, and don't harm the environment.
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Another change is repairing my clothes instead of buying new ones.
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For example, I fixed a hole in my favorite shirt with a needle and thread.
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It looks good again, and I feel happy to use it longer.
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Living a zero-waste life saves me money and makes my home cleaner.
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I feel good knowing I'm helping the planet.
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I share my ideas with my friends, and some have started their own zero-waste habits.
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For example, my friend Lisa now uses a reusable coffee cup, and my brother recycles his old school papers.
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It's not always perfect, but every small step makes a difference.
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I hope my story inspires others to try zero-waste living.
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It's a fun challenge, and it helps our world stay clean and healthy.
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If we all do a little, we can make a big change together.
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Your English gets better with every video.
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Like, subscribe, and let's keep learning together.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “My Journey to a Zero-Waste Life (Intermediate B1-B2) - English Reading Practice”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: plastic, waste, zero, bottle. This video has 38 sentences and 420 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:41. The speaker talks at a natural 156 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 77% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| compost noun | /ˈkɑm.poʊst/ | The decayed remains of organic matter that has rotted into a natural fertilizer. |
| recycle verb | /ɹəˈsaɪkəl/ | To break down and reuse component materials. |
| reusable adjective | Able to be used again; especially after salvaging or special treatment or processing | |
| vegetable noun | /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ | A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice… |
| cloth noun | /klɒθ/ | A fabric, usually made of woven, knitted, or felted fibres or filaments, such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use. Sometimes… |
| excite verb | /ɪkˈsaɪt/ | To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement. |
| pollute verb | /pəˈluːt/ | To make something harmful, especially by the addition of some unwanted product. |
| washable adjective | Capable of being washed without being damaged; especially by a specified method, for example machine-washable. | |
| vinegar noun | /ˈvɪnəɡɚ/ | A sour liquid formed by the fermentation of alcohol used as a condiment or preservative; a dilute solution of acetic acid. |
| strawberry noun | /ˈstɹɔˌbɛɹi/ | The sweet, usually red, edible accessory fruit of certain plants of the genus Fragaria. |
| herb noun | /hɜːb/ | A plant whose stem is not woody and does not persist beyond each growing season. |
| peel verb | /piːl/ | To remove the skin or outer covering of. |
| tomato noun | /təˈmeɪ.toʊ/ | A widely cultivated plant, Solanum lycopersicum, having edible fruit. |
| scrap noun | /ˈskɹæp/ | A (small) piece; a fragment; a detached, incomplete portion. |
| bake verb | /beɪk/ | To cook (something) in an oven (for someone). |
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like compost, recycle, reusable.
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.