Shadowing Practice: SE-Ed: Why Do We Hiccup? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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43 sentences
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1
You're having lunch with friends, and everything is fine.
2
Then, suddenly, your whole body jumps!
3
A strange little sound comes out of your mouth,
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and it happens again, and again, and again.
5
You've got the hiccups!
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But why does your body do this?
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Under your lungs, there's a large, flat muscle.
8
It's called the diaphragm.
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It moves down, and air rushes into your lungs.
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This happens every time you breathe in.
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A hiccup happens when this muscle suddenly jumps by itself.
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You breathe in sharply, but you can't control it!
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Then, a tiny moment later, something else happens.
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Your vocal cords close very quickly,
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and the air suddenly stops.
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That's why you hear that funny little sound.
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It all takes less than a second.
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So what makes the diaphragm jump?
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Eating too fast is a common reason.
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Fizzy drinks and big meals can do it too,
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because they stretch your stomach.
22
Laughing hard can start them, and so can feeling nervous.
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Usually, they stop on their own after a few minutes.
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That isn't always true, though!
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In 1922, an American farmer named Charles Osborne was lifting a pig,
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when he suddenly started hiccupping.
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He didn't stop for sixty-eight years!
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He still got married and had eight children,
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but he hiccupped all the way through.
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His hiccups finally stopped in 1990, about a year before he died.
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Babies even hiccup before they're born!
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Doctors can see it on ultrasound scans.
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Some scientists think that hiccups are a leftover from our distant past.
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Tadpoles breathe with gills, and they use a very similar movement.
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A 2019 study suggests another reason.
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Each hiccup sends a signal to a newborn baby's brain,
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and this may help it learn to control its breathing.
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So how can you stop hiccups?
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People have tried everything, from sugar to scary surprises.
40
You can hold your breath, or you can sip cold water.
41
These tricks might help, but there isn't much science behind them.
42
The good news is that hiccups almost always go away.
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And if they don't, at least you'll have a great story!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “SE-Ed: Why Do We Hiccup?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: hiccup, suddenly, happens, breathe, jump. This video has 43 sentences and 344 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:52. The speaker talks at a steady 120 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hiccup noun | /ˈhɪkʌp/ | A spasm of the diaphragm, or the resulting sound. |
| breathe verb | /bɹiːð/ | To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases. |
| diaphragm noun | /ˈdaɪəˌfɹæm/ | In mammals, a sheet of muscle separating the thorax from the abdomen, contracted and relaxed in respiration to draw air into and expel air from the lungs. |
| lung noun | /ˈlʌŋ/ | A biological organ of vertebrates that controls breathing and oxygenates the blood. |
| leftover adjective | Remaining; left behind; extra; odd; in reserve. | |
| tadpole noun | /ˈtædpoʊl/ | A young toad or frog in its larval stage of development that lives in water, has a tail and no legs, and, like a fish, breathes through gills. |
| ultrasound noun | /ʌl.tɹə.saʊnd/ | Sound with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing, which is approximately 20 kilohertz. |
| gill noun | /ɡɪl/ | A breathing organ of fish and other aquatic animals. |
| newborn noun | A recently born baby. | |
| sharply adverb | /ˈʃɑɹpli/ | So as to terminate in a sharp point or edge. |
| sixty noun | /ˈsɪksti/ | A commercial lasting 60 seconds. |
| cord noun | /ˈkoɹd/ | A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fibre (a rope, for example). |
| scan verb | /skæn/ | To examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely. |
| farmer noun | /ˈfɑɹ.mɚ/ | A person who works the land and/or who keeps livestock; anyone engaged in agriculture on a farm. |
| vocal adjective | /ˈvoʊ̯.kəl/ | Of, pertaining to, or resembling the human voice or speech. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go away verb | To depart or leave a place. |
| move down verb | To demote |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You're having lunch with friends, and everything is fine.
- Under your lungs, there's a large, flat muscle.
- You breathe in sharply, but you can't control it!
- That's why you hear that funny little sound.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 9 contractions and reduced forms, such as isn't, can't, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
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 hiccup, breathe, diaphragm.
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.