Shadowing Practice: National Geographic Reading Explorer 2 Unit 1 Space Food - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Since the start of human spaceflight, NASA has worked to improve the quality and variety of food for its astronauts.
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NASA food scientists design special menus that provide astronauts with the food they need to live in space for long durations.
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Eating on Earth is very different from eating in space.
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Space food needs to be easy to hold and eat in zero gravity.
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It also needs to be healthy and taste good.
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This is NASA's Space Food Systems Laboratory.
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Here, NASA's space food scientists work to improve the astronauts' food.
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It's important that the astronauts get a balanced diet.
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A lot of the food the astronauts eat is freeze-dried.
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When food is freeze-dried, most of the water is removed from inside it, so the food becomes much lighter.
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Also, freeze-dried food can be kept for a long time without needing to be stored in a fridge.
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Astronauts rarely get the chance to make their own food, but it does happen on special occasions.
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These astronauts are enjoying a pizza party.
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When Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli mentioned to his team on Earth how much he missed his favorite food,
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NASA sent a variety of ingredients on the next supply ship.
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This included pre-cooked pizza bases,
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tomato sauce, cheese wedges, and various topping options including olives and pepperoni.
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The astronauts used scissors to slice the floating pizzas,
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but only after letting them spin around in microgravity for fun.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “National Geographic Reading Explorer 2 Unit 1 Space Food”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: astronaut, space, dried, freeze, Nasa. This video has 19 sentences and 241 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:30. The speaker talks slowly, about 96 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 76% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| astronaut noun | /ˈæstɹəˌnɔt/ | A member of the crew of a spaceship or other spacecraft that travels beyond Earth's atmosphere, or someone trained to serve that purpose. |
| freeze verb | /ˈfɹiːz/ | Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature. |
| 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… |
| microgravity noun | A state of very low acceleration between two free floating objects, as found in sustained freefall, in orbit, or in interstellar space. | |
| pepperoni noun | /pɛpəˈɹoʊni/ | A spicy salami-style Italian-American sausage made from cured pork and beef seasoned with pepper. |
| scissors noun | /ˈsɪzəz/ | A tool used for cutting thin material, consisting of two crossing blades attached at a pivot point in such a way that the blades slide across each other when… |
| wedge noun | /wɛd͡ʒ/ | One of the simple machines; a piece of material, such as metal or wood, thick at one edge and tapered to a thin edge at the other for insertion in a narrow… |
| ingredient noun | /ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/ | One of the substances present in a mixture, especially food. |
| tomato noun | /təˈmeɪ.toʊ/ | A widely cultivated plant, Solanum lycopersicum, having edible fruit. |
| float verb | /fləʊt/ | To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object). |
| slice noun | /slaɪs/ | That which is thin and broad. |
| olive noun | /ˈɑ.lɪv/ | A tree of species Olea europaea cultivated since ancient times in the Mediterranean for its fruit and the oil obtained from it. |
| duration noun | /dʒʊˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ | An amount of time or a particular time interval. |
| gravity noun | /ˈɡɹævɪti/ | Of an activity such as a ceremony, a person's conduct, etc.: the quality of being deeply serious and solemn, especially in a dignified manner; seriousness… |
| menu noun | /ˈmɛn.juː/ | The details of the food to be served at a banquet; a bill of fare. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is removed · can be kept |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has worked |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | need to live · needs to be |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | are enjoying |
Pronunciation to watch
- Long words — get the stress right: pepperoni /pɛpəˈɹoʊni/, ingredient /ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/
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 astronaut, freeze, scientist.
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.