Shadowing Practice: Untangled: What's eating our planet? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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31 sentences
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Food.
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We can't survive without it.
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But the way we're producing it right now is pretty hard to live with too.
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You may not think of biodiversity loss, climate change and our food systems interlinked,
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but the way we produce food today is the number one cause of biodiversity loss globally
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and is responsible for nearly one third of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
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This means what we eat and how we produce it is having a major impact on our planet.
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But how come that's happening?
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Here's what's actually going on.
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Food production is driving biodiversity loss through overfishing and converting natural spaces to agricultural land.
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We're deforesting huge areas on a large scale to make space to produce food, which results in biodiversity loss.
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When we lose biodiversity, we lose species and spaces
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which are essential allies in our efforts to combat the climate crisis because intact natural spaces store carbon, provide oxygen and regulate temperatures.
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We see the impact of the climate crisis through erratic and unseasonal weather patterns, degraded soils and drought.
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This causes crops to fail, which makes food production even harder.
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And so the negative cycle continues.
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The good news is that people are waking up to the issue and taking matters into their own hands.
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From the booming plant-based food industry and more organic, local and sustainable options in shops and restaurants, to the increasing popularity of flexitarian,
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vegetarian and vegan diets, it's obvious that the way we think about and consume food is starting to change for the better.
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But to create long-lasting change, it's crucial for us to recognize that the food, biodiversity and climate crises are all intertwined.
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To tackle one, we need to see them as different slices of the same pie.
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Currently, we use more than enough land to feed the world a healthy, sustainable diet.
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If we adopt practices that are good for nature and biodiversity, we can eliminate the need to convert more natural spaces to agriculture.
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A global shift away from eating intensely raised livestock to eating more plants would use less land to produce food
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and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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This all helps to mitigate climate change, and a more stable climate then gives us more stability to grow crops.
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And so the positive cycle continues.
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There is hope, it's not too late yet.
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But individuals, governments and businesses all need to act now to bring the changes needed for an environmental revolution.
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The clock is ticking.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 31 sentences and 417 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:42. The speaker talks at a natural 154 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 83% 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
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- sustainable /səˈsteɪnəbəl/ (adjective) — Able to be sustained.
- crop /kɹɑp/ (noun) — A plant, grown for it, or its fruits or seeds, to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, or fuel or for any other economic purpose.
- convert /kənˈvɝt/ (verb) — To transform or change (something) into another form, substance, state, or product.
- greenhouse /ˈɡɹːnˌ(h)aʊs/ (noun) — A building used to grow plants, particularly one with large glass windows or plastic sheeting to trap heat from sunlight even in intemperate seasons or…
- emission /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/ (noun) — Something which is emitted or sent out; issue.
- stable /ˈsteɪ.bəl/ (noun) — A building, wing or dependency set apart and adapted for lodging and feeding (and training) ungulates, especially horses.
- clock /klɑk/ (noun) — A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day.
- soil /sɔɪl/ (noun) — A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.
- organic /ɔːˈɡænɪk/ (adjective) — Pertaining to or derived from living organisms.
- agriculture /ˈæɡ.ɹɪˌkʌl.t͡ʃɚ/ (noun) — The art or science of cultivating the ground, including the growing and harvesting of crops, and the rearing and management of livestock.
- boom /bum/ (verb) — To make a loud, hollow, resonant sound.
- stability /stəˈbɪlɪti/ (noun) — The condition of being stable or in equilibrium, and thus resistant to change.
- crucial /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/ (adjective) — Essential or decisive for determining the outcome or future of something; extremely important; vital.
- oxygen /ˈɑksɪd͡ʒən/ (noun) — The chemical element (symbol O) with an atomic number of 8 and relative atomic mass of 15.9994. It is a colorless and odorless gas. Sometimes called elemental…
- popularity /ˌpɑ.pjəˈlæɹ.ə.ti/ (noun) — The quality or state of being popular; especially, the state of being widely liked or in favor with the people at large.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- go on /ˈɡoʊˌɒn/ (verb) — To continue in extent.
- live with (verb) — To share an abode as an unmarried partner in a sexual relationship.
- think about /ˈθɪŋk əˌbaʊt/ (verb) — To ponder.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emission /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/, crucial /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: sustainable /səˈsteɪnəbəl/, agriculture /ˈæɡ.ɹɪˌkʌl.t͡ʃɚ/, stability /stəˈbɪlɪti/, popularity /ˌpɑ.pjəˈlæɹ.ə.ti/, eliminate /ɪˈlɪm.ɪ.neɪt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like sustainable, crop, convert.
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.