Shadowing Practice: Reading Explorer Foundation, Unit-8 Amazing Narwhals - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Swimming in the icy water of the Arctic are some very strange creatures.
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Narwhals are a kind of whale with one very special feature.
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They're tusks.
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A narwhal's tusk is actually one very long tooth.
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This tooth, which comes out of the narwhal's head, can grow to three meters in length.
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For many years, people sold narwhal tusks, telling buyers that they were unicorn horns.
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Today, we know more about these amazing animals, though scientists are still not certain about the main purpose of their tusks.
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The tusk is very sensitive, so some scientists think the narwhals may use it to find their way around around.
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Another idea is that narwhals might use their tusks when hunting food.
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In 2017, some researchers saw narwhals doing just this.
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The animals were seen hitting fish with their tusks and then eating them whole.
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Both of these ideas are possible, but they don't tell the whole story.
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Most female narwhals do not have tusks, and they survive just fine without them.
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So, it's likely the tusk is something that is most useful to males.
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Male narwhals have been seen using their tusks to fight.
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Scientists also believe that the tusk is used to attract females.
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Researchers continue to study narwhals and hope to learn more about this very special creature.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This A2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Reading Explorer Foundation, Unit-8 Amazing Narwhals”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tusk, narwhal, scientists. This video has 17 sentences and 216 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:55. The speaker talks at a steady 112 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 80% 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
13 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 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… |
| tooth noun | /tuθ/ | A hard, calcareous structure present in the mouth of many vertebrate animals, generally used for biting and chewing food. |
| researcher noun | /ˈɹiˌsɝ.t͡ʃɚ/ | One who researches. |
| sensitive adjective | /ˈsɛn.sɪt.ɪv/ | Having the faculty of sensation; pertaining to the senses. |
| swim verb | /swɪm/ | To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means. |
| attract verb | /əˈtɹækt/ | To pull toward without touching. |
| horn noun | /hɔɹn/ | A hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired. |
| meter noun | /ˈmitəɹ/ | A device that measures things. |
| buyer noun | /ˈbaɪ.əɹ/ | A person who makes one or more purchases. |
| whale noun | /ˈweɪl/ | Any large cetacean, usually with the exclusion of dolphins and porpoises. |
| unicorn noun | /ˈju.nɪ.kɔɹn/ | A mythical, horselike creature with a horn on its forehead, supposed to be very rare and to be drawn to virgins and other chaste maidens. |
| tusk noun | /ˈtʌsk/ | One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth (either cuspids or incisors) that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild boar, and… |
| narwhal noun | /ˈnɑɹʍəl/ | An Arctic toothed whale (Monodon monoceros) that grows to about 20 feet (6 meters) long, the male having a single horn-like tusk, a twisted, pointed cuspid… |
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 | were seen · have been seen |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have been seen |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | may use · might use |
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 scientist, tooth, researcher.
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.