Shadowing Practice: Study finds obesity risks can exist even with normal BMI - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Study finds obesity risks can exist even with normal BMI”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: pediatric, flavors, obesity, vaccine, researchers. This video has 13 sentences and 186 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:19. The speaker talks at a steady 141 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 75% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| flavor noun | /ˈfleɪvə/ | The quality produced by the sensation of taste or, especially, of taste and smell in combined effect. |
| vaccine noun | /vækˈsin/ | A substance given to stimulate a body's production of antibodies and provide immunity against a disease without causing the disease itself in the treatment… |
| researcher noun | /ˈɹiˌsɝ.t͡ʃɚ/ | One who researches. |
| obesity noun | /ə(ʊ)ˈbiːsɪti/ | The state of being obese. |
| gene noun | /d͡ʒiːn/ | A theoretical unit of heredity of living organisms which may take several values and (in principle) predetermines a precise trait of an organism's form… |
| pediatric adjective | /ˌpiːdiːˈætrɪk/ | Of or pertaining to pediatrics, the branch of medicine dealing with the care and treatment of children and adolescents. |
| stomach noun | /ˈstʌmək/ | An organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion. |
| fewer | /ˈfjuː.ɚ/ | Less; a smaller amount of something non-integral commonly expressed as an integer |
| emphasis noun | /ˈɛmfəsɪs/ | Special weight or forcefulness given to something considered important. |
| cigarette noun | /ˈsɪɡəɹɛt/ | A small cigar consisting of tobacco or another substance, wrapped up in a thin roll with paper, intended for smoking. |
| mint noun | /mɪnt/ | Any plant in the genus Mentha in the family Lamiaceae, typically aromatic with square stems. |
| obese adjective | /oʊˈbis/ | Extremely overweight, especially: weighing more than 20% (for men) or 25% (for women) over their conventionally ideal weight determined by height and build… |
| influenza noun | /ˌɪn.fluˈɛn.zə/ | An acute contagious disease of the upper airways and lungs, caused by a virus, which rapidly spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics. |
| vape verb | /veɪp/ | To inhale the vapor produced by a non-combustible cigarette, most commonly an electronic cigarette. |
| complication noun | /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/ | The act or process of complicating. |
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 | aren't considered · were linked · were also linked |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | People who aren · people who vape |
Pronunciation to watch
- Long words — get the stress right: obesity /ə(ʊ)ˈbiːsɪti/, pediatric /ˌpiːdiːˈætrɪk/, influenza /ˌɪn.fluˈɛn.zə/, complication /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/, criterion /kɹaɪˈtɪɹ.i.ən/
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 flavor, vaccine, 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.