Shadowing Practice: Phoebe's Secret Cookie Recipe | Friends - Learn English Speaking with Video
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94 sentences
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1
Hey, I know what I want.
2
What we want, honey.
3
No, no, you don't want this.
4
Now, I want to have your grandmother's cookie recipe.
5
You mean the chocolate chip cookie recipe?
6
Uh-huh, yeah.
7
You mean the one that my grandmother made me swear on her deathbed that I would never let out of our family?
8
Dying people say the craziest things.
9
I've wanted it for years.
10
I'm just gonna make cookies for my children.
11
Break my heart.
12
Oh, all right.
13
Okay, I don't have the recipe, but...
14
Here, I wish you health and happiness.
15
An old cookie?
16
This is what happens when you don't register for gifts.
17
You know, I made a batch and I froze it, and this is the only one left.
18
We can't accept this.
19
Why not?
20
Because it's gross.
21
No, wait, I think I can figure out the recipe from this cookie.
22
I do stuff like this at work all the time.
23
Really?
24
Yeah, I think I can do it.
25
Oh, yay!
26
All right, I definitely taste nutmeg.
27
You do?
28
You don't?
29
Well, that's the difference between a professional and a layman. That and arrogance.
30
Hey.
31
Hey.
32
How was sailing?
33
I don't want to talk about it.
34
You know, you could have at least saved me a whole cookie.
35
No, no, no, no!
36
Women are mean!
37
I can't believe that.
38
Now the only thing that's left of my grandmother's legacy is this crumb.
39
I wish you a long and happy marriage.
40
Here's batch 22.
41
Maybe these will taste like your grandmother's.
42
This has a little bit of orange peel, but no nutmeg.
43
Let's give it a shot.
44
I've not made this many cookies since I was in the ninth grade.
45
What was that for, like a bake sale?
46
No, just a Friday night.
47
Mm.
48
These are pretty good.
49
Yeah, but not as good as batch 17.
50
Which one was that?
51
The ones we had right after you almost threw up.
52
Oh, yeah, batch 17 was good.
53
I did not like batch 16.
54
I'm okay.
55
Are there any more from the good batch?
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Because we could just work off of those.
57
Yeah, well, yeah, I think there's one from batch 17 left.
58
Batch 16, 16 people, get out of the way!
59
I would actually make my grandma really happy to know that we're trying to figure out her recipe.
60
I bet she's looking up at us and smiling right now.
61
Looking up?
62
Oh, yeah.
63
No, she was really nice to me, but she's in hell for sure.
64
Well, I've tried everything.
65
I give up.
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I guess I'm not gonna be the mom who makes the world's best chocolate chip cookies.
67
I do make the best duck confit with broccoli rave.
68
Kids love that, right?
69
Oh, Phoebe, come on.
70
Isn't there any relative that would have the recipe?
71
What about your sister?
72
Oh, no, no. No. I made a promise to myself
73
that the next time I would talk to Ursula is over my dead body.
74
And that's not happening until October 15, 2032.
75
That's the day you're going to die?
76
See?
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Darn it.
78
I've got shuffleboard that day.
79
That's what you think.
80
Well, I mean, what about friends of your grandmother's?
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Wouldn't they have the recipe?
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Well, you know, I may have relatives in France who would know.
83
My grandmother said she got the recipe from her grandmother, Nestlé Toulouse.
84
What was her name?
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Nestlé Toulouse.
86
Nestle Toll House?
87
You Americans always butcher the French language.
88
Phoebe, is this the recipe?
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Yes!
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Oh.
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I cannot believe that I just spent the last two days trying to figure out
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that recipe to figure out that recipe and it was my cupboard the whole time.
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I know!
94
You see, it is stuff like this, which is why you're burning it out!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 94 sentences and 625 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:43. The speaker talks at a steady 132 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| recipe noun | /ˈɹɛs.ɪ.pi/ | Any set of instructions for preparing a mixture of ingredients. |
| cookie noun | /ˈkʊki/ | A small, flat, baked good which is either crisp or soft but firm. |
| batch noun | /bæt͡ʃ/ | The quantity of bread or other baked goods baked at one time. |
| grandmother noun | /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/ | A mother of someone's parent. |
| relative noun | /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/ | Someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family. |
| chip noun | /t͡ʃɪp/ | A small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material. |
| gross adjective | /ɡɹoʊs/ | remarkably great, big, vast in an often unpleasant way; (of behaviour) Highly or conspicuously offensive. |
| happiness noun | /ˈhæpinɪs/ | The emotion of being happy; joy; elation. |
| honey noun | /ˈhʌni/ | A sweet, viscous, gold-colored fluid produced from plant nectar by bees, and often consumed by humans. |
| legacy noun | /ˈlɛɡəsi/ | Money or property bequeathed to someone in a will. |
| duck noun | /dʌk/ | Any of certain aquatic birds of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet, distinguished from swans and geese by generally being smaller and… |
| freeze verb | /ˈfɹiːz/ | Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature. |
| grandma noun | /ˈɡɹænmɑː/ | Grandmother. |
| ninth adjective | /naɪnθ/ | The ordinal form of the number nine. |
| sail noun | /seɪl/ | A piece of fabric attached to a boat and arranged such that it causes the wind to drive the boat along. The sail may be attached to the boat via a combination… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). | |
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
| throw up verb | To vomit. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 21 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I've, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: grandmother /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/, ninth /naɪnθ/, deathbed /ˈdɛθˌbɛd/
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 recipe, cookie, batch.
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 | I've wanted · I've not made · I've tried |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the craziest · the best |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | gonna make · gonna be · you're going to die |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | we're trying · you're burning |
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.