Shadowing Practice: Ordering at the restaurant – A1 English Listening Test - Learn English Speaking with Video

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43 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
Hello, are you ready to order?
2
I am. Are you?
3
Yes, I think so.
4
What is the soup of the day, please?
5
It's spicy carrot soup.
6
Hmm, no, I don't want that.
7
I'll start with the mushrooms, please.
8
And after that, can I have the chicken?
9
Sure.
10
And would you like potatoes, chips or rice with your chicken?
11
I'll have rice, please.
12
Potatoes and chips are too heavy.
13
Fine.
14
And you, sir?
15
Hmm, I'd like the tomato and bean salad to start, please.
16
Sure, and for your main course?
17
Er, the bacon burger, please.
18
Can I have it without cheese?
19
No cheese, sure.
20
And what would you like to drink?
21
A beer for me, please.
22
Really?
23
You usually have wine.
24
That's true, but I don't want that today.
25
Hmm, I'll have a beer too.
26
And could we have some water too?
27
Sure, I'll bring your drinks in a moment.
28
How was your meal?
29
Delicious, thank you.
30
Would you like dessert?
31
The menu is on the wall over there.
32
Yes, I'd love one, but, hmm, I can't decide.
33
The white chocolate cake or the orange cheesecake?
34
Well, I know what I want.
35
Apple pie?
36
Sure.
37
With cream or ice cream?
38
Ice cream, please.
39
No problem.
40
And have you decided?
41
Well, I had orange cheesecake last time I was here, so I'll have the white chocolate cake this time.
42
Great.
43
I'll bring them for you soon.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Ordering at the restaurant – A1 English Listening Test”. This video has 43 sentences and 234 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:28. The speaker talks at a natural 159 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding. 17 of its 43 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
chip noun/t͡ʃɪp/A small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material.
soup noun/sup/Any of various dishes commonly made by combining liquids, such as water or stock, with other ingredients, such as meat and vegetables, that contribute the food…
potato noun/pəˈteɪ.təʊ/The edible starchy tuber of the plant species Solanum tuberosum.
meal noun/ˈmiːl/Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.
delicious adjective/dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/Pleasing to the sense of taste; tasty.
menu noun/ˈmɛn.juː/The details of the food to be served at a banquet; a bill of fare.
bacon noun/ˈbeɪ.kən/Cured meat from the sides, belly, or back of a pig.
salad noun/ˈsæl.əd/A food consisting principally of raw vegetables (especially greens, e.g. lettuce), other savoury ingredients (typically cooked), fruit, or confectionary; often…
burger noun/ˈbɝ.ɡɚ/A hamburger.
bean noun/ˈbi(ː)n/Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods.
tomato noun/təˈmeɪ.toʊ/A widely cultivated plant, Solanum lycopersicum, having edible fruit.
dessert noun/dɪˈzɝt/The last course of a meal, consisting of fruit, sweet confections etc.
spicy adjective/ˈspaɪsi/Of, pertaining to, or containing spice.
mushroom noun/ˈmʌʃˌɹuːm/Any of the fleshy fruiting bodies of fungi typically produced above ground on soil or on their food sources (such as decaying wood).
carrot noun/ˈkæɹət/A vegetable with a nutritious, juicy, sweet root that is often orange in colour, Daucus carota, family Apiaceae, especially the subspecies sativus.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

  • Hmm, no, I don't want that.
  • I'll start with the mushrooms, please.
  • Sure, and for your main course?
  • Can I have it without cheese?
  • That's true, but I don't want that today.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 11 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'll, don't, I'd. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/, mushroom /ˈmʌʃˌɹuːm/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like chip, soup, potato.

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 →