Shadowing Practice: Too Much Butter... - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
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Everyone knows if you cook chicken for too long it can be dry.
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That's where butter comes in.
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I got my chicken and I got a lot of butter.
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How much butter is too much butter whenever you're cooking chicken?
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Well, I guess that's exactly what we're about to find out.
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Because I ended up adding 5 pounds of butter into one chicken.
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I'm going to see if I can somehow add 10 pounds.
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And I'm even going to make the chicken a butter blanket.
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I added some potato underneath it.
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Oh, that's a really good idea.
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But it needed more butter.
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You know what?
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I couldn't agree more.
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As I was cooking this chicken, I kept basting it to infuse even more butter.
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What's funny is that I still feel like we don't have quite enough butter.
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Is there such thing as too much butter?
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I think that's what we're all here to find out.
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Look at how juicy that is.
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I can't believe this.
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9 out of 10.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 20 sentences and 166 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:40. The speaker talks fast, about 250 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

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

WordPronunciationMeaning
butter noun/ˈbʌtɚ/A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk).
pound noun/ˈpaʊ̯nd/A unit of weight in various measurement systems.
potato noun/pəˈteɪ.təʊ/The edible starchy tuber of the plant species Solanum tuberosum.
underneath adverb/ˌʌndɚˈniθ/Below; in a place beneath.
blanket noun/ˈblæŋ.kɪt/A heavy, loosely woven fabric, usually large and woollen, used for warmth while sleeping or resting.
juicy adjective/ˈd͡ʒuːsi/Having lots of juice.
baste verb/beɪst/To sew with long or loose stitches, as for temporary use, or in preparation for gathering the fabric.
infuse verb/ɪnˈfjuz/To cause to become an element of something; to insert or fill.
cook verb/kʊk/To prepare food for eating, typically by heating it, combining it with other ingredients, seasoning it, preparing it for serving, etc.
whenever/wəˈnɛvɚ/At any time that.
somehow adverb/ˈsʌmhaʊ/In one way or another; in a way not yet known or explained; by some means
agree verb/əˈɡɹi/To be in harmony about an opinion, statement, or action; to have a consistent idea between two or more people.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

WordMeaning
find out verbTo discover, as by asking or investigating.
end up verbTo bring to a conclusion.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, we're, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like butter, pound, potato.

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 →