Shadowing Practice: Power – Rate of Work - Learn English Speaking with Video
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43 sentences
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Ever walked up a flight of stairs and wondered why running up feels so much harder?
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Think about what it takes to get up stairs.
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With every step, your muscles lift your body against gravity.
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If you ran up instead, you'd still have to lift your weight through the same height.
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That's where power comes in.
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Power tells us how quickly work is done.
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To find average power, divide the work by the time it takes.
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Work is measured in years, time in seconds, and power in watts.
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So, if you see a power rating of one watt, that means one gear of energy is transferred every second.
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Let's put some numbers to that.
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Imagine a climb that takes 1 ,200 years of work against gravity.
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If you take 12 seconds, your average power is 100 watts.
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What if you do that same climb in 6 seconds?
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Now you're doing 200 years of work each second.
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Half the time, twice the power.
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Imagine taking a ride in a sports car.
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The driver presses the accelerator and you feel yourself pressed back into the seat as the car picks up seats.
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The car is gaining kinetic energy.
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How quickly can its engine supply energy?
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Take a 400 kilowatt engine.
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At full power, it can deliver 400 ,000 joules of mechanical energy every second.
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Now picture a standard halfback on an everyday drive.
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It can reach motorway speed, too.
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Suppose this engine is rated at 60 kW.
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At full power, that's 60 ,000 wheels every second.
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If the two cars have similar mass, they need roughly the same gain in kinetic energy to go from rest to motorway speed.
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With similar grip and losses, the more powerful car can get there seen.
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Now let's look at the world's fastest landowner, the Cheetah.
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Imagine how quickly it has to gather speed when it chases its head.
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In just a quick drive, its muscles give its body a big increase in kinetic energy.
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That's a burst of high power.
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Compare that with a hard -working husky.
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Picture it pulling a light sled along a snowy trail.
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Once the sled is gliding at a steady speed, is the husky still doing work?
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It is.
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The snow resists the sled's motion, so the husky has to keep pulling.
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Its talent is disdaining that effort over a long distance.
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Next time you head upstairs, Think about two questions.
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How much work does it take to lift you to the top?
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And how quickly do you do it?
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The first tells you about the energy changes.
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Put that together with the time taken and you have your average path.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Power – Rate of Work”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: energy, speed, quickly, husky, kinetic. This video has 43 sentences and 431 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:26. The speaker talks at a steady 126 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| watt noun | /wɑt/ | In the International System of Units, the derived unit of power; the power of a system in which one joule of energy is transferred per second. |
| muscle noun | /ˈmʌs.əl/ | A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement. |
| climb verb | /ˈklaɪ̯m/ | To traverse a slope or contour, either upwards (ascending) or downwards (descending). |
| 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… |
| rat noun | /ɹæt/ | Any of the numerous members of several rodent families that usually have short limbs, a pointy snout, a long, hairless tail, and a body length greater than… |
| stairs noun | /ˈstɛɹz/ | A contiguous set of steps connecting two floors. |
| everyday adjective | /ˈɛvɹiˌdeɪ/ | Appropriate for ordinary use, rather than for special occasions. |
| gear noun | /ɡɪɚ/ | Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor. |
| compare verb | /kəmˈpɛɚ/ | To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it… |
| trail noun | /tɹeɪl/ | The track or indication marking the route followed by something that has passed, such as the footprints of animal on land or the contrail of an airplane in the… |
| chase verb | /t͡ʃeɪs/ | To follow at speed. |
| roughly adverb | /ˈɹʌf.li/ | In a rough manner; without kindness, softness, or gentleness. |
| mechanical adjective | /məˈkænəkəl/ | Related to mechanics (the branch of physics that deals with forces acting on matter). |
| steady adjective | /ˈstɪdi/ | Firm in standing or position; not tottering or shaking; fixed; firm. |
| gather verb | /ˈɡæðɚ/ | To collect normally separate things. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| run up verb | To run (towards someone or something); to hasten to a destination. |
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. |
Pronunciation to watch
- Long words — get the stress right: mechanical /məˈkænəkəl/, accelerator /əkˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪ.tɚ/
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 watt, muscle, climb.
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.