Shadowing Practice: 3 Practical Tips to Enjoy Learning English - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creando lección...
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Do you think you need to live in an English-speaking country to get fluent?
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No, I have a friend who lives in England and she's still not fluent.
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Why is that?
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Before I answer, I have a challenge for you.
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There's a secret word on this card.
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Can you try to figure out what it is before the end of the video?
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If you can, you will understand one of the most important ideas for becoming fluent in English.
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So, shall we explore Kuala Lumpur?
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Everything around you is English, if you choose to see it that way.
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And the way I do it is simple.
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Name it, describe it.
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Two questions.
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What is it and how would I describe it in one sentence?
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For example, instead of just remembering vocabulary like digital billboard, you would name it and describe it.
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So, this is a digital billboard, and it's showing an advert for Malaysia.
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The advert is showing fish underwater.
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I actually have a little rule.
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A word isn't really yours until you can use it.
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So, let's do some more examples together now.
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Up there is a skyscraper and it's enormous.
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At the top of the skyscraper there are twinkling lights.
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This is a traffic jam.
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It's a busy Saturday night in Kuala Lumpur
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and there are many cars on the roads roads which is causing a traffic jam.
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This is a fountain.
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Water is spurting out every side of the fountain.
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These are mannequins.
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The mannequins are standing in the shop window staring into space.
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I wonder what they're thinking.
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So now guys, we are walking down the road, an area in Kuala Lumpur, famous for its beautiful streets,
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beautiful restaurants, and apparently a very nice view of the Patronus Twin Towers, which we're going to look for.
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But first, look at this.
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There's a cat asleep.
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The cat is sleeping on the floor.
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It looks dead.
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That's one way of describing it.
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Another way of describing it could be the cat has a spotty brown back.
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One more way of describing this could be I love cats
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because they remind me of my four black cats when I grew up as a kid.
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So there I described the cat in three ways, three different simple sentences.
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The first way was slightly humorous, I compared the cat being asleep to being dead.
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The second way was describing its physical characteristics, the brown spots on his back, and the third way
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that I described a cat was linking it to how I feel about cats
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and what I think about cats
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and that's a wonderful tip for any of you guys out there linking your English sentences to your thoughts
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and your feelings when you can do that then you can share your ideas when you can share your ideas then
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you're one step closer to fluency.
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So this is a shop and the shop is called Vitra.
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If I were to describe this scene in one simple sentence
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I would say there are many colorful lamps on display in the shop window.
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I could also say I want to buy that orange lamp because I think that would look wonderful in my My home.
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All right, let's keep going.
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Hey, look at that, Chang.
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We found it.
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What have we found?
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We have found the Patronus Twin Towers.
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These famous towers are one of the most popular landmarks in Malaysia.
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And Chang is getting a photo of me.
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No, she's not.
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Yes, she is.
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This is for next week's video, guys.
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I'm waving.
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Posing for a photo.
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She's taking a picture of my ugly mug.
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We've just left the busy area to come chill at this cafe to rest our little legs and get a drink.
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I hope by now that you have internalized this simple exercise of name it,
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describe it, and I would encourage you to use it.
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actually the idea behind the vocabulary feature on Sprouts.
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You are given a word and then you are encouraged to use it in a sentence.
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That is how a word becomes part of the way you speak.
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Now it's getting late so after we have these drinks we're gonna head back to the hotel
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because tomorrow is an exciting day.
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we're gonna go to the bookshop and there's something I want to show you.
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I love mornings like this.
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They slow everything down.
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They remind us that big changes are built slowly from small habits we make every day.
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Learning English is the same.
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One of the biggest myths is that you have to move abroad to become fluent.
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But I don't believe that's true.
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The secret is much simpler than that.
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Well guys, we've arrived in the largest bookshop in South East Asia.
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There are over one million books in this bookshop.
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That's a lot of books.
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Now let's break down the anatomy of a book.
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So just like the anatomy of the human body, a book has a spine.
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Just like the spine that we saw on the whale on the way into this bookshop.
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This part here is the spine.
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It has a front cover with an illustration on and a back cover.
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On the back cover, we have writing and that's called a blurb.
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The blurb is a small piece of writing that tells you about the book.
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So if you love to read, you really like reading, you can say I'm a bookworm.
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But not many people know the alternative to that, which is an avid reader.
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An avid reader is also somebody who loves books, but it's a lot more common in the UK.
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Are you an avid reader?
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So right now I am browsing these books, which means I'm looking at them and I'm trying to find one to buy.
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Now I'm browsing in the non-fiction section and non-fiction is books about facts and information,
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unlike fiction, which is story and imagination.
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Now within fiction and non-fiction, you have different genres.
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This comes from the French genre, and in non-fiction you have genres such as business and economics,
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you have psychology, biographies, and a personal favourite, self-help.
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In fiction, you have genres such as science fiction and fantasy, or crime, thriller, and mystery.
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For me, I prefer the non-fiction genre.
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Ah, nice.
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This is a book on curiosity, and I'm a very curious person.
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I like to ask questions, both to myself and to other people.
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Speaking of asking questions, a wonderful small talk question
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that you can use with other people to have engaging conversations is ask them what is your favourite genre?
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Now you can use this for books, films or music.
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What's your favourite genre of book?
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What's your favourite genre of movie?
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What's your favourite genre of music?
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I think I'll get this.
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One thing that you might not know about me is that I love to write and illustrate picture books.
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So it's my dream in the future to publish my very own children's books.
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What is your dream?
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Being in a place like this always makes me think about what to read.
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And people ask me that a lot.
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What should I read in English?
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My answer is always the same.
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Read because you enjoy the topic, not because you're learning English.
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I love self-improvement books because they challenge the way that I see myself.
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One book that really changed my life was the book called Breaking the Habits of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza.
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And I read that book when I was living in Spain.
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I actually read that book in Spanish.
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It's about how your personality isn't fixed.
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It's not rigid.
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you can actually rewire who you are through changing the way you think, how you feel and how you act.
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Now I didn't read that book to improve my Spanish, I read it because I enjoyed the topic.
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I loved the topic of neuroscience and that's what I was fascinated in at the time.
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When I was reading that book, I felt like I became someone new.
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If your English isn't ready for something like that yet, then you can take a smaller step.
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You can start with something shorter, more simple, and something that you already enjoy.
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So you could read articles about things you're interested in, or simple short stories if you enjoy fiction books.
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As your English grows, you work your way up the ladder.
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You become better through reading what you enjoy.
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If you're just starting out, I would recommend The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstone.
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That's a great book.
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I'd also recommend the author Roald Dahl.
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Now, a lot of people think Roald Dahl is a children's book, author, but actually a lot of adults enjoy his books too.
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The humour is slightly dark, pretty clever, and there's always something underneath the story,
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some hidden message or hidden meaning.
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My mum's favourite book is The SEO Trot,
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which is a book by Roald Dahl about a who wins a woman's love through making her tortoise bigger.
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My mum always laughs when I mention that book and when we talk about it.
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OK, guys, the food has just arrived.
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So we're about to dig in.
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We're about to begin eating.
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Let's go.
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We have arrived at the Batu Caves, which are 400 million year old limestone mountains.
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And behind me, there are rainbow steps, around 272 rainbow steps, which we are going to climb.
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But before we do, I want to share the last simple speaking habits
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that you can adopt to bring English into your everyday life.
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And that habit is to speak with the five senses.
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Ask yourself, what can I see?
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What can I hear?
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What can I smell?
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What can I taste?
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and what can I feel?
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I can see a flock of pigeons on the ground
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and I can hear their wings flapping as the tourist runs through them, waving her arms.
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Before we go up there,
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we're gonna hydrate it's very hot very thirsty how do you feel do you feel ready to go those stairs
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that pause tells me no right ready
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here we go so guys a word here this is very steep these stairs are very steep
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and there are monkeys feeding on the stairs.
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Look at that, there's a tiny baby monkey on the handrail at the side.
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Very cute.
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In front of me there's a monkey sitting in a funny position with its hands flopping in front of it.
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I can hear it chewing on something.
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Maybe it's nuts, maybe it's fruit, maybe it's chocolate.
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I can feel my legs burning as I walk up the steps.
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Nice skirts.
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Almost there.
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Nearly at the top.
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Alright, a few more to go.
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Slightly out of breath.
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Out of breath means I'm panting, like a dog. But...
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Ah, made it.
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Feeling accomplished.
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So, we just arrived to the top, and I want to hit the next few senses.
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So, first of all, I can feel a drop of water on my shoulder.
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It's wet.
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I can...
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Mmm.
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Taste this dairy milk ice cream.
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I can taste the smooth chocolate,
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the crunchy hazelnuts and it is spot on.
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Spot on is a very British phrase for it tastes really good.
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I can smell the dampness of the cave.
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Let's go inside.
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I can hear the silence of the cave.
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Here I can see the little girl trying to blow out the candle, and the parent ushered her away.
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Right, now we're heading into the main cave, and this is unreal.
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So guys, with the five senses method, you can do this anywhere.
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You can do it while you're out and about, like me, or you can wait till you get back home
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and describe your day using the five senses method or if you prefer to speak with someone
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i'm out of breath you can talk to j.i and simply describe what you see hear and feel around you
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he will listen ask you questions and give you feedback afterwards
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At the beginning of this video, I said that you don't need to live in an English-speaking country to get fluent.
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You just need to recreate that environment yourself.
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And that environment has a name.
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The name is immersion.
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Immersion means to be completely absorbed in something.
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And that is what you have been doing today.
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Walking around the city, reading books that you enjoy, and describing the world through your five senses.
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That's also why Chang's friends moved to England and still isn't fluent.
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Location doesn't create immersion.
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You do.
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Fluency isn't about where you live.
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It's about how much of your life you choose to live in English.
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So, what will you choose?

Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Este vídeo tiene 211 frases y 2133 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 19:31. El hablante habla despacio, unas 109 palabras por minuto, así que hay tiempo para imitar cada sonido. El 82 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

15 palabras menos comunes del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

  • fiction /ˈfɪkʃən/ (sustantivo) — ficción. Literary type using invented or imaginative writing, instead of real facts, usually written as prose.
  • genre /ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/ (sustantivo) — género. A kind; a stylistic category or sort, especially of literature or other artworks.
  • fluent /ˈfluənt/ (adjetivo) — fluyente, fluente. That flows; flowing, liquid.
  • arrive /əˈɹaɪv/ (verbo) — llegar, arribar. To reach; to get to a certain place.
  • habit /ˈhæb.ɪt/ (sustantivo) — costumbre, hábito. An action performed on a regular basis.
  • topic /ˈtɑpɪk/ (sustantivo) — tema, tópico. A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
  • reader /ˈɹi.dɚ/ (sustantivo) — lector, lectora. A person who reads.
  • breathe /bɹiːð/ (verbo) — respirar. To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases.
  • cave /keɪv/ (sustantivo) — cueva, gruta. A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.
  • stairs /ˈstɛɹz/ (sustantivo) — escalera, gradas. A contiguous set of steps connecting two floors.
  • monkey /ˈmʌŋki/ (sustantivo) — mono, chango. A member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails…
  • spine /spaɪn/ (sustantivo) — columna vertebral, espinazo. A series of bones situated at the back from the head to the pelvis of a human, or from the head to the tail of an animal, enclosing the spinal cord and…
  • avid /ˈæv.ɪd/ (adjetivo) — ávido, fiebrudo. Enthusiastic; keen; eager; showing great interest in something or desire to do something.
  • encourage /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ (verbo) — alentar, arengar. To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.
  • remind /ɹəˈmaɪnd/ (verbo) — (hacer) recordar/arrecordar, hacer acordar/arrecordar (se de). To cause one to experience a memory (of someone or something); to bring to the notice or consideration (of a person).

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

  • look at (verbo) — mirar, funar. To observe or watch.
  • think about /ˈθɪŋk əˌbaʊt/ (verbo) — pensar en, ocurrírsele. To ponder.
  • blow out (verbo) — apagar. To extinguish something, especially a flame, especially by means of a strong current of air or another gas.
  • break down (verbo) — descomponerse, averiarse. To stop functioning.
  • come from (verbo) — ser de. To have as one's origin, birthplace or nationality.
  • dig in (verbo) — ponerse a yantar. To begin eating.
  • figure out (verbo) — averiguar, captar. To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
  • get back (verbo) — regresar. Return to where one came from.

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 37 contracciones y formas reducidas, como I'm, we're, isn't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

  • Los sonidos de “th”: breathe /bɹiːð/, smooth /smuːð/, myth /mɪθ/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, thriller /ˈθɹɪ.lə/
  • Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: fiction /ˈfɪkʃən/, genre /ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/, imagination /ɪˌmæd͡ʒəˈneɪʃən/, publish /ˈpʌblɪʃ/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/
  • Palabras largas — cuida el acento: anatomy /əˈnætəmi/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, economics /ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪks/, psychology /saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, imagination /ɪˌmæd͡ʒəˈneɪʃən/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

  1. Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
  2. Haz shadowing frase por frase a velocidad normal, repitiendo cada una hasta que tu ritmo coincida con el del hablante.
  3. Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como fiction, genre, fluent.

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

EstructuraEn el vídeo
Oraciones condicionales if + oración, will/would + verbo — una condición y su resultadoIf you can, you will understand · If you're just starting out, I would recommend
Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosafriend who lives · roads which is · that, which is
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahorahave found · We've just left · have internalized
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo haceis called · are given · are built

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →