Shadowing Practice: Waffles, Pancakes, or French Toast - Learn English Speaking with Video
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 719 sentences and 4194 words to shadow. The speech runs for 21:19. The speaker talks fast, about 197 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- toast /toʊst/ (noun) — Bread that has been toasted (cooked lightly by browning).
- taco /ˈtɑkoʊ/ (noun) — A Mexican snack food made of a small tortilla (soft- or hard-shelled) filled with ingredients such as meat, rice, beans, cheese, diced vegetables, and salsa.
- tender /ˈtɛn.dɚ/ (adjective) — Sensitive or painful to the touch.
- breast /bɹɛst/ (noun) — Either of the two organs on the front of a female human's chest, which contain the mammary glands; also the analogous organs in males.
- chip /t͡ʃɪp/ (noun) — A small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material.
- logical /ˈlɑd͡ʒɪkəl/ (adjective) — In agreement with the principles of logic.
- outta /ˈaʊtə/ — Out of.
- goodbye /ɡʊdˈbaɪ/ — Farewell; a formula used to another person or persons when the speaker, writer, or person addressed is departing.
- sauce /sɔːs/ (noun) — A liquid (often thickened) condiment or accompaniment to food.
- cookie /ˈkʊki/ (noun) — A small, flat, baked good which is either crisp or soft but firm.
- dot /dɑt/ (noun) — A small, round spot.
- whoa /woʊ/ — Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down.
- cheesy /ˈt͡ʃiːzi/ (adjective) — Of or relating to cheese.
- necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ (adverb) — Inevitably; of necessity.
- gross /ɡɹoʊs/ (adjective) — remarkably great, big, vast in an often unpleasant way; (of behaviour) Highly or conspicuously offensive.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
- get into (verb) — To move into (an object), such that one ends up inside it.
- call for (verb) — To shout out in order to summon (a person).
- do with (verb) — Only used in to do with
- go ahead /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ (verb) — To proceed with; to begin.
- go on /ˈɡoʊˌɒn/ (verb) — To continue in extent.
- look over (verb) — To check quickly; to make a brief or cursory visual inspection of.
- wait for (verb) — To wait until the specified event occurs.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 209 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: hypothetical /ˌhaɪpəˈθɛtɪkəl/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, breakthrough /ˈbɹeɪk.θɹuː/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shake /ˈʃeɪk/, shock /ʃɔk/, genre /ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/, hash /ˈhæʃ/, mash /mæʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, hypothetical /ˌhaɪpəˈθɛtɪkəl/, accidentally /ˌæk.sɪˈdɛnt(ə)li/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, infinity /ɪnˈfɪnɪti/
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 toast, taco, tender.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've been · You've never done · I've been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be done · be called · are closed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | someone who can · people who just · person who typed |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was sitting · was thinking · wasn't even looking |
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.















