Shadowing Practice: This Book Changed How I Read - Learn English Speaking with Video

Right, so today we're going to talk about this book, How to Take Smart Notes.

So this is a new series on this channel where I go through distilling my favourite epistemology lessons, which is basically the study of knowledge from my favourite books.

So this video will be broken down into three parts.

Number one is setting up your environment for success.

Number two is how to structure your notes.

And number three is the actual note -taking technique itself.

So lesson number one talks about how thinking about and setting up the ideal environment for you to think, learn, and work in is actually far more important and willpower.

Basically this lesson that to succeed it really isn't about raw willpower

and discipline which is the opposite of what I used to think

when I was younger particularly when I was studying for my exams

and stuff like this because I thought

that anything basically worth achieving was meant to be hard

and it was meant to feel really difficult

and meant to be a slog and I somehow had it in my head

that you know having a lot of discipline

and being able to persist were good character traits

and they are don't get me wrong but it's not the most conducive environment your best work.

I'm basically thinking that it was supposed to feel hard, that if it felt too easy, I would almost feel guilty and I wasn't making enough progress or I was doing something wrong.

That was basically the mindset I used to have.

And this is basically the premise, the core of the philosophy that this book states.

Studies on highly successful people have proven again and again

that success is not the result of strong willpower and the ability to overcome resistance, in the first place.

And James Clear from Atomic Habits also mentioned this.

He's a big, big advocate of setting up the ideal environment, reducing friction, doing all of those things first before looking at doing raw willpower.

Because if you are slogging through it using willpower and discipline, it feels difficult.

It's a drain on yourself.

And a lot of the time you have to use external rewards to kind of trick yourself.

But when you do use external rewards, we do have to remember that basically we're admitting there's a conflict between what we want in the short term

and any conflict is just meant to be draining.

So following on from this, lesson two is about basically making the process of actually working and learning inherently fun and feel easy and natural.

So this means the act of doing the work itself should feel like play and should feel like fun, and that means you shouldn't have to rely on external rewards to keep doing the thing.

So for example, if I say I'm gonna do X number of hours of revision, or if I write Y number of pages of this report,

I'm gonna reward myself by playing, you know, video games.

That's really not ideal.

And basically what he's saying is that we shouldn't have to rely on an external system if we enjoy the process itself.

And what he's saying is that there's nothing more motivating than improving and getting better at something.

And the thing is the slipbox system is designed to feel like play.

And the more it grows, the better you become, the more it compounds, the more ideas you have to draw upon.

And the richer your thinking and your writing becomes.

Because at the end of the day, going back to my younger days, remembering doing those

and opening a document and it's just a blank page and then you have to do a lot of manual labor, a lot of lifting, there's a huge amount of inertia

and you just don't want to do it

and what would end up happening even if I would have a three or four week deadline or sometimes even longer, I would just leave it until the last week

or even the last couple of days because I'm dreading it so much and I don't know why, like even if I would start a lot earlier, I would just stall and then I

with the slip box is you're never actually starting from scratch because all of your ideas, all of your thinking, all of that stuff, all of the connections between the ideas have actually been pre -done.

So instead of starting with a blank page, all you're doing with a particular topic matter or a paper you're writing or whatever it is, you're just picking out the relevant ideas from your slip box

and all of the connections to those relevant ideas are also there and the thinking is inside of the notes.

So instead of starting with a blank page and you doing a lot of heavy lifting, it kind of arranging pieces and that process does feel like play and is inherently fun.

So I would kind of compare it to basically building Lego

but instead of with building blocks you're building with ideas

that you've already pre -done and it's the exact process I use to write my free newsletter.

So a quick little plug if you're interested in epistemology and other ideas like this make sure you sign up for that.

It's basically distillation of all of my ideas that I have in my slip box and finance.

So to sum up this entire mindset, I really like this quote from the preface of one of my favourite books called Black Swan, which is a multi -million bestseller and read by some of the top fund managers.

So the author writes, I derived an unexpected amount of enjoyment writing this book.

In fact, it just wrote itself.

And I hope that the reader will experience the same.

I confess that I got hooked on this withdrawal into pure ideas after the constraints of an active and transactional life.

So imagine getting to an effortless level of flow state where a book feels like it just writes itself.

That's kind of cool, right?

And I feel like that's something where we all want to aspire to getting to

that level of enjoyment and it feeling natural and things just flowing.

If we want to do our best work.

So lesson three about this system is that it provides an external framework for us to think in.

built behind is that our brains inherently have limitations.

And the three very limited resources in our brains that we're trying to compensate for is attention, short -term memory and willpower.

So with the willpower point we solved that by prioritizing having fun.

With the attention point we'll come back to that in part three.

In this lesson we're going to talk about the short term memory.

So the thing is with short term memory, an interesting point he makes in the book is

that psychologists seem to agree on a very specific number of how many things we can hold in our short term memory.

And that number is seven things.

plus or minus one or two, but for the vast, vast majority of people, that's pretty much it.

So if you've got a lot of things on your mind, so it could be tasks or different ideas or stuff you just don't write down,

that occupies very, very valuable resources from your short -term memory.

So one example I read in another book that I really liked is that basically our memories, think of our memories as this vast, vast library.

In terms of our long -term memory, people kind of With the short -term memory,

think of that as like a very small desk within that vast library.

But there's only a very limited amount of things we can kind of pay attention to

and keep in our short -term memory and work on.

in any one time from our vast memory reserves.

So we clutter that up and we don't have a mechanism to offload some of that into an external thinking framework.

It means that it takes a valuable resource and we're not able to use that short -term memory to think about ideas, to find links between things,

to process things and that really impedes our understanding.

And another really interesting point is that our memories, the way we retrieve things,

is not like a hard drive where everything every time we remember something, every time we retrieve something,

we're actually actively rewriting it, which is kind of crazy.

But it makes sense because our worldview and our opinions and a lot of these things will update.

So it means that the lens we view ideas changes every time we remember something.

And the brain is very good at maintaining our existing worldview to make us feel comfortable.

So what that basically boils down to is if we don't write down our ideas, and we rely on our kind of unreliable short -term and long -term memory.

When we remember something, we have a tendency to distort facts, basically to twist things.

It basically is the brain's way of making sense of itself.

but that could lead to huge, huge errors.

Okay, so now part two, we're going to talk about the overarching philosophy of the system.

And he says that basically, in the old system, the question is, under which topic do I store this note?

In the new system, the question is, in which context will I want to stumble upon it again?

And this is basically the crux of the whole system.

Basically, in the old system, what the author calls the archivist, which is basically what I used to do for most of my life.

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What an archivist means is that you're overly concerned with where things go, with organization.

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For example, when I would read a book in the past, I would take very, very detailed notes of it, and then I would go ahead and meticulously put it in the right category, in the right knowledge areas,

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the right tags, all of that stuff, and then I'd feel really productive at the end of it.

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But the only issue is, even though I've done all of that, and I know exactly where it is, and I know all the tags and all of that stuff, I would never actually come back to it.

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And that's basically the crux of it.

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With an archivist, your major concern is basically where things go.

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And then you have what he calls the writer /expert.

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And here it's the opposite way around.

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Instead of a top -down system, which is what the archivist is saying, you're dictating what categories your notes go in.

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With an expert writer, it's bottom -up.

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You allow the notes to form organic connections between different ideas, regardless of what topic they came in, regardless of what the original context is.

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They just form their connections and then you organically see where clusters naturally grow.

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With this way you're far more likely to be able to make connections between things

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that you didn't even notice before and for surprising connections to just pop up.

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But wait I hear you say isn't

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that just going to be a huge mess

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if you don't have a category and

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if all of your notes sit there how are you going to find anything at all?

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Well this is actually the beauty of the system

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because in the old way it relies on you remembering exactly what notes you want,

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exactly what topic areas you want and it's almost library with a list of exactly what you want.

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But the Slipbox method does the opposite.

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It doesn't rely on you remembering anything at all or knowing upfront what relevant notes are there to your topic.

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Because the thing is, you don't a lot of the time.

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And because you already have done the pre -thinking and the connections, because when you look up specific certain notes and you see the connections that come off of those notes,

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there may be relevant notes to your topic that you completely didn't even consider.

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And this is where really the exciting things happen, because formed and new perspectives to your writing,

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to your thinking can emerge from the whole thing.

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All you really need through this system are entry points.

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So basically these are like overview notes

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that give you an entry point to a certain idea

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and then you can just follow the connections along and collect all of the relevant notes.

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Okay so now we move on to part three

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which is the actual mechanics of the note -taking system and this lesson is about elaboration.

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So what elaboration means is just that taking notes and writing them in your own words.

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This is really important because what collect a collection of quotes or copy things.

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By elaborating and writing it in your own words, it basically forces you to really process the ideas and think about it and understand the idea.

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And then once we've done this, we would put this into our reference system, which is ready for the next stage before we think about putting it in the slip box.

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So the only main nuance here is that the inventor of this system, Dr. Luman in the 1960s, wrote this on small pieces of A6 cards,

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per card without allowing himself to extend.

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So this way it means

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that it really forces you to distill the idea to its most core principles

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and being very concise with it and not waffling.

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So I use a digital system but I also impose this restriction upon myself.

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I don't allow myself to waffle ages just to keep every idea very concise.

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So now we move on to the lesson of moving our ideas from our reference system to the slip box

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and this is where the system really So once we've elaborated on our notes and it's in our reference system,

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we go through this process of trying, taking those ideas and trying to find connections within our existing slip box.

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So that means going through an entire vetting process.

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So we're not really nearly putting things into our slip box.

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We're asking ourselves how these notes contribute to the entire system.

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Does it answer any questions?

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Does it contradict anything?

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What does it really contribute?

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What does it really add?

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Does it combine with a different idea to form new ideas?

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Basically, any idea

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that we consider putting in the slip box has to really contribute a lot to the existing conversation that's already going on.

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And the emphasis really is about forming and strengthening existing connections.

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So basically, it's really about changing our philosophy.

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It's not about just archiving things really neatly and letting it gather dust.

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Our focus is on stumbling upon the relevant notes

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at the exact right moment we need them and the exact right moment

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that it can benefit us and is relevant to us.

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Going back to the three limited resources of the human brain, One of them was attention.

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And this is exactly what it does.

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It directs your attention exactly when you need it and when it's most relevant and important to you.

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Even things that were completely outside the realms of what you thought was relevant at this stage.

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And this is hyper -focusing your attention, which is very limited.

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And this is another really cool thing compared to the old system where basically you would tab things

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and put it in categories and sorting it into, you know, whatever subject areas it was.

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Because that process I find, and I've done that process quite a lot in because every time you come out with a note, I have to think to myself,

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okay, where does this go?

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Does this go in philosophy?

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Does this go in economics?

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There's a bit of a mix, and then your notes just pile up, and there is a lot of decision fatigue in doing this.

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But with the Slipbox Method, that exact process of moving into the Slipbox is one and the same as you understanding the note on a deeper level.

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So basically, you're doing your understanding, and you're doing the Slipbox organization in one.

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Because at the end of the day, if we really break down what learning, what understanding is, is asking ourselves how an idea fits into the overall picture.

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And through this process, we're not only compounding our entire knowledge area.

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Every time we do this, we're actually reinforcing old ideas because we have to think about how they connect, which is just absolutely genius.

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Compared to the old system where I would spend hours and hours, write a bunch of notes about a book I've read and then just never go back to it.

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So anyway, I hope that was somewhat useful to you.

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I actually have videos on those too, about the O system as an overall, and actually a specific video about creating your own Obsidian Slipbox setup.

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “This Book Changed How I Read”. Las palabras que más se repiten: note, term, process, connections, memory. Este vídeo tiene 183 frases y 2862 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 14:08. El hablante habla rápido, unas 203 palabras por minuto, así que espera sonidos enlazados y reducidos. El 87 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés, por lo que el vocabulario es fácil de seguir.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
willpower sustantivo	/ˈwɪlˌpaʊɚ/	fuerza de voluntad, fuerza volitiva
archivist sustantivo	/ˈɑː(ɹ)kɪvɪst/	archivista, archivero
inherently adverbio	/ɪnˈhɛɹəntli/	inherentemente
concise adjetivo	/kənˈsaɪs/	conciso, breve
crux sustantivo	/kɹʌks/	punto crucial, asunto esencial
distil verbo	/dəˈstɪl/	destilar, alambicar
elaboration sustantivo		elaboración
epistemology sustantivo	/ɪˌpɪstəˈmɑləd͡ʒi/	gnoseología, epistemología
slog verbo	/slɑɡ/	pencar
stumble verbo	/ˈstʌmbəl/	tropezar, trompezar
waffle sustantivo	/ˈwɑf.əl/	waffle, wafle
worldview sustantivo		visión del mundo, forma/manera de ver el mundo
retrieve verbo	/ɹɪˈtɹiːv/	recobrar
enjoyment sustantivo	/ɪnˈd͡ʒɔɪ.mənt/	disfrute, gozo
mindset sustantivo	/ˈmaɪn(d)ˌsɛt/	mentalidad, actitud

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
go through verbo		atravesar
write down verbo		apuntar, anotar
break down verbo		descomponerse, averiarse
end up verbo		terminar, ir a parar
go ahead verbo	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	venga, adelante
look up verbo	/ˌlʊk ˈʌp/	mejorar
pile up verbo		arrumar, apilar
pop up verbo		aparecerse

Gramática en este vídeo

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

Estructura	En el vídeo
“Used to” used to + verbo — un hábito o estado pasado que ya no es cierto	used to think · used to have · used to do
Oraciones condicionales if + oración, will/would + verbo — una condición y su resultado	if it felt too easy, I would almost
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	have proven · have actually been · I've done
Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa	lessons, which is · discipline which is · Swan, which is

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 54 contracciones y formas reducidas, como we're, you're, don't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “th”: strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/, withdrawal /wɪðˈdɹɔ(ə)l/
Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: distillation /dɪstɪˈleɪʃən/, inertia /ɪnˈɝ.ʃə/, transactional /trænˈzækʃ(ə)nəl/, limitation /lɪmɪˈteɪʃən/, friction /ˈfɹɪkʃən/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: inherently /ɪnˈhɛɹəntli/, epistemology /ɪˌpɪstəˈmɑləd͡ʒi/, elaborate /ɪˈlæb.ə.ɹeɪt/, distillation /dɪstɪˈleɪʃən/, organically /ɔːˈɡænɪkli/

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: slog /slɑɡ/, stumble /ˈstʌmbəl/, stall /stɔːl/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/, scratch /skɹæt͡ʃ/
/v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: archivist /ˈɑː(ɹ)kɪvɪst/, retrieve /ɹɪˈtɹiːv/, conducive /kənˈdjuːsɪv/, overarching /ˌoʊvəɹˈɑɹt͡ʃɪŋ/, derive /dɪˈɹaɪv/
/z/ — sonora, no /s/: prioritize /pɹaɪˈɒɹ.ə.taɪz/, transactional /trænˈzækʃ(ə)nəl/, newsletter /ˈn(j)uzˌlɛtɚ/, lens /lɛnz/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como willpower, archivist, inherently.

¿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.

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Gramática en este vídeo

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?