Shadowing Practice: Restaurant English #restaurantenglish - Learn English Speaking with Video

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7 sentences
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1
Last night, I went to a restaurant with my friend after work.
2
A waiter welcomed us at the door and showed us a table near the window.
3
We looked at the menu for a few minutes because there were many good choices.
4
I ordered soup and pasta, and my friend asked for chicken with extra sauce.
5
During the meal, the waiter came to ask if everything was okay.
6
After dinner, I asked for the bill and paid by card.
7
The food was delicious and we left the restaurant feeling happy.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This A2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Restaurant English”. This video has 7 sentences and 90 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:37. The speaker talks at a steady 148 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing.

Key vocabulary in this video

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

WordPronunciationMeaning
waiter noun/ˈweɪ̯təː/A male or female attendant who serves customers at their tables in a restaurant, café or similar.
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.
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…
pasta noun/ˈpɑ.stə/Dough made from wheat and water and sometimes mixed with egg and formed into various shapes; often sold in dried form and typically boiled for eating.
restaurant noun/ˈɹɛst(ə)ˌɹɑnt/An eating establishment in which diners are served food, usually by waiters at their tables but sometimes (as in a fast food restaurant) at a counter.
welcome/ˈwɛl.kəm/Greeting given upon someone's arrival.
extra adjective/ˈɛkstɹə/Beyond what is due, usual, expected, or necessary; extraneous; additional; supernumerary.
window noun/ˈwɪndoʊ/An opening, usually covered by one or more panes of clear glass, to allow light and air from outside to enter a building or vehicle.
dinner noun/ˈdɪnɚ/The main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like waiter, meal, delicious.

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 →