Shadowing Practice: What Happened After the DEADLIEST Asteroid Hit Earth? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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66 million years ago, an asteroid as big as Mount Everest was headed on a deadly collision course with Earth.
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The impact was so devastating that it wiped out the most gigantic, deadliest reptiles to ever roam our planet.
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But the dinosaurs didn't just die from one big boom.
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No. they faced a slow, agonizing end.
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How did this extinction event cause the largest tsunami Earth has ever seen?
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And what exactly happened after the big reptiles were gone?
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Hold on tight.
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We're taking you on the most epic and deadly trip of your life.
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This dinosaur-ending asteroid is terrifying.
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Not only was it about 10 km in diameter, but it also traveled incredibly fast,
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between 10 and 30 km per second.
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At this point, it was a blazing fireball.
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As it hurtled down to Earth, the air in front of it was compressing and heating up to unimaginably hot temperatures.
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Just before the impact, the asteroid could have been as hot as the surface of the Sun.
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Once it entered our atmosphere,
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it only took this massive space rock a few seconds to reach Earth's surface and alter the course of life forever.
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As the asteroid slammed into Earth off the coast of where Mexico is now, it sent huge amounts of debris up into the air.
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The shocking blast wave killed everything in its way.
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And from here, it was only getting worse.
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Yeah, 66 million years ago, Earth was going through some rough times.
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Now, right now, our planet's not facing a giant asteroid, but we are facing increasingly severe environmental crises.
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If you think it's time to fix our planet, stick around for a fantastic video recommendation from our friends at Planet Wild.
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You don't want to miss it.
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This powerful blast ejected bits of the Earth's surface into the atmosphere.
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And minutes later, scorching hot pieces of glass and rock rained back down.
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Some of the debris reacted with the atmosphere, causing acid rain that would last for years.
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The land was burning.
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The fires caused by this devastating impact spread across the continent like literal wildfire,
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killing more and more life along the way.
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And then, just when you thought the apocalyptic scenario couldn't get any more intense, well, it did.
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The impact of the asteroid hitting Earth was so powerful that it sent shockwaves through the planet.
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And all that energy had to go somewhere.
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Cue the megatsunami.
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A wall of water over 10 meters high raced across the ocean.
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This wasn't your regular tsunami.
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It was a staggering 30,000 times more powerful than anything you see today.
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As this monstrous wave spread across the North Atlantic and South Pacific, coastlines didn't stand a chance.
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The wave hit with such force that it destroyed and reshaped the continent.
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If you were there to witness this apocalyptic destruction, you wouldn't survive any of it.
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But some dinosaurs did.
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The ones further away from Ground Zero weren't immediately obliterated by the impact.
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They weren't incinerated by the resulting infernos, and they managed to avoid being swept away by the mega-tsunami.
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But still, their fate was sealed.
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As the dust began to settle, it was the start of a nuclear winter.
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Even though it wasn't nuclear weapons that caused it, the effect was the same.
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The massive amount of debris in the air blocked the sunlight for months, maybe even years.
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Earth suddenly became a cold, dark place, and the dinos weren't ready for it.
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As temperatures plummeted and fires released enormous amounts of greenhouse gases, the climate changed dramatically.
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Plants weren't able to perform photosynthesis, and most of them started to die out.
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This disrupted the food chain and starved many of the animals that survived the impact.
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And remember the acid rain?
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It lasted for several years, causing more devastation to the ecosystems.
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The oceans became too acidic for marine life.
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Most ocean species didn't have the time to adapt to such a drastic change.
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These prolonged harsh conditions, together with the initial blast, pushed about 75% of Earth's life to extinction.
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The good news is that this included the horrifying T-Rex.
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Yeah, as much as I feel bad for this guy, I'm happy he's not running around today.
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When the last of the dinosaurs breathed their last breath,
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Earth became an empty, devastated place, cold and acidic.
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So when did things get back to normal?
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Yeah, well, here's the thing.
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They didn't.
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Not dinosaur-era normal, anyway.
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Earth didn't rebuild after that.
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It reinvented itself.
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1,000 years later, the planet was recovering from the post-apocalyptic winter.
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It was still cold, and food was still scarce, but life was ready to make a comeback.
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In this new wild world, a few furry little critters were sprinting around.
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Among the first plants to reappear after the impact were ferns.
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They really hit it off well after the disaster.
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100,000 years later, Earth began to get a little more lively.
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Creatures about the size of raccoons were repopulating the continents.
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And the oceans were once again teeming with life.
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Fast forward about 10 million years, and Earth had finally restored its biodiversity.
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Only it wasn't the same Earth as it used to be.
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Now it was the age of mammals.
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Yeah, after the dinosaurs checked out, mammals were on fire.
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Not literally, of course.
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Mammals, together with birds and flowering plants, were rocking the planet.
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Yeah, Earth never got back to its old self.
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After the last dinosaur died, it took our planet millions of years to bounce back in a new way.
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But don't get me wrong, this world was still pretty terrifying.
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It had beasts like Paraceratherium roaming the land and megalodons raining terror in the oceans.
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Yeah, it's really for the best that most of these creatures aren't around these days.
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You wouldn't want to face a Meg when you're out there swimming in the ocean.
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Even without bloodthirsty Megs sneaking around the oceans, today's Earth and its natural environments face a lot of problems.
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But it's not game over for our planet just yet.
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check out this new YouTube channel, Planet Wild.
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These guys are like real-life Avengers going out there to protect our planet.
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Only instead of fighting otherworldly threats, they stay on this planet and get their hands dirty, rewilding it and fixing the damage we've done to our home.
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Every month they release a video.
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In these ones here, they clean up the ocean from deep-sea waste or transform a dying forest into a beautiful, strong ecosystem.
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It's an absolutely inspiring journey, one that'll make you feel like you want to change the world.
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Big shout out to Planet Wild for doing amazing work and for encouraging all of us to do better.
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Don't wait, check them out.
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Let's save the planet and not go extinct like the dinosaurs.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 96 sentences and 1135 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:41. The speaker talks at a steady 131 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
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| dinosaur noun | /ˈdaɪnəsoɹ/ | Those animals of the clade Dinosauria that existed during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and are now extinct. |
| asteroid noun | /ˈæst(ə)ɹɔɪd/ | A naturally occurring solid object, which is smaller than a planet and a dwarf planet, larger than a meteoroid and not a comet, that orbits a star and often… |
| atmosphere noun | /ˈætməsˌfɪɹ/ | The gases surrounding the Earth or any astronomical body. |
| blast noun | /blæst/ | A violent gust of wind (in windy weather) or apparent wind (around a moving vehicle). |
| continent noun | /ˈkɑntɪnənt/ | One of the main contiguous landmasses, separated by water or geological features, on the surface of a planet, sometimes including its continental shelves and… |
| debris noun | /ˈdɛbɹi/ | Rubble, wreckage, scattered remains of something destroyed. |
| tsunami noun | /(t)suːˈnɑːmi/ | A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption; often a… |
| acid noun | /ˈæsɪd/ | A sour substance. |
| breathe verb | /bɹiːð/ | To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases. |
| deadly adjective | /ˈdɛdli/ | Causing death; lethal. |
| ecosystem noun | /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/ | A system formed by an ecological community and its environment that functions as a unit. |
| extinction noun | /ɪkˈstɪŋkʃən/ | The action of making or becoming extinct; annihilation. |
| shock noun | /ʃɔk/ | A sudden, heavy impact. |
| encourage verb | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit. |
| flower noun | /ˈfloʊɚ/ | A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) |
| back down verb | To take a less aggressive position in a conflict than one previously had, or has planned to have. |
| clean up verb | To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy. |
| die out verb | To become extinct. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| run around verb | To be very busy doing many different things. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 24 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, weren't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, bloodthirsty /ˈblʌdˌθɚsti/, otherworldly /ˌʌðəɹˈwɜɹl(d)li/, photosynthesis /ˌfoʊ.toʊˈsɪn.θə.sɪs/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: extinction /ɪkˈstɪŋkʃən/, shock /ʃɔk/, destruction /dɪsˈtɹʌkʃən/, harsh /ˈhɑɹʃ/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: ecosystem /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, diameter /daɪˈæmɪdɚ/, devastated /ˈdɛv.əˌsteɪ.təd/
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 dinosaur, asteroid, atmosphere.
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 | was headed · weren't incinerated · was sealed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has ever seen · we've done |
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.