Pratica di Shadowing: 30-Day English Shadowing Challenge – Day 1 | Speak English More Naturally - Impara a parlare inglese con i video
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Welcome back to The Learning Lab, another episode of the Learn English Easy podcast, where English is easy and enjoyable.
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I am Lily.
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And I am Ethan.
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Thanks for joining us today, everyone.
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Today is a big day, like a really, really big day.
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We are starting something huge, something that could actually change the way you speak English forever.
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It is a very big day.
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But first, if you are new here, please hit that subscribe button right now.
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Seriously, do it.
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Stop what you are doing, move your finger to that button and click it.
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It takes two seconds and it means the world to us.
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Exactly.
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Move that finger and click it.
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Okay, I am calm now.
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Lily, are you ready for this?
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I am ready, Ethan.
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But you know, you say every episode is a big day.
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Last week, you said learning the word nevertheless was a big day.
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It was a big day.
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That word is incredible.
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Nevertheless.
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Say it with me, listeners.
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Nevertheless.
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Okay, I know, I know.
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But Lily, come on.
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Today really is different.
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Tell them what we are doing for the next 30 days.
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Okay, everyone.
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For the next 30 days, we are going to practice something called shadowing.
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If you have never heard of shadowing before, do not worry.
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That is exactly why we are here today.
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We are going to explain everything from the very beginning, nice and slow, nice and simple.
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So just relax and let us learn together.
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Yes, and the best part is you do not need a classroom, you do not need a teacher sitting next to you, and you do not need expensive books or special tools.
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You just need your ears, your mouth, and a little bit of courage.
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That is it.
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Three things.
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Ears, mouth, courage.
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You already have all three.
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Well, maybe a phone or a computer, too, to actually hear the audio.
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Right, right, yes, okay, four things.
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Ears, mouth, courage, and a device.
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But you already have that, too, because you are watching this video, so you're already winning.
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Ethan has this amazing ability to make everything sound like you have already won a prize just by showing up.
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Because you have!
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Showing up is half the battle, Lily, half the battle.
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Okay, so let us get into it.
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Lily, what exactly is shadowing?
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Can you break it down for us? Of course.
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Shadowing is a language learning technique, and it has been around for a long time.
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It was first made popular by a language teacher named Alexander Arguez back in the 1990s.
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The idea is actually very simple.
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You listen to someone speaking in your target language, in our case English, and you repeat what they say at almost exactly the same time.
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Like an echo.
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Exactly.
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Like an echo or like a shadow.
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That is why it is called shadowing.
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You follow right behind the speaker, copying their voice, their rhythm, their pronunciation, everything.
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I love that.
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You are like their shadow.
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You know how when you walk in the sun and your shadow is right there behind you, copying every move you make?
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That is exactly what you are doing with the speaker's voice.
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You are the shadow of their English.
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And honestly, when I first heard about this technique, I was like, wait, that sounds too simple.
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It sounds almost like cheating.
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How can just copying someone's voice actually teach you a language?
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And that is a really great question, Ethan.
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I think a lot of people feel the same way at first.
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Because we're used to thinking that learning a language means studying grammar rules, memorizing vocabulary lists, and doing exercises in a workbook.
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All of those things have value.
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They really do.
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But shadowing works differently.
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It works more like the way a child learns to speak.
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Oh, I love this.
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Explain this because I think this is so important.
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Right.
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So think about a baby.
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A little baby learning to speak for the first time.
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Does that baby open a grammar book?
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Does the baby study the difference between I am and I was?
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No. The baby listens.
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All day, Every day, the baby is just listening to the people around them.
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And then slowly, the baby starts to copy the sounds.
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And they get it wrong at first.
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Yes, they get it wrong.
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They say things in a funny way.
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They mix up words.
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But nobody gives them a grade.
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Nobody tells them they failed.
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They just keep trying.
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And slowly, slowly, it clicks.
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And suddenly, the baby is talking.
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And this is basically what shadowing lets you do as an adult learner.
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It gives your mouth a chance to feel the language.
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Because here is something people do not always think about.
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Speaking a language is actually a physical skill.
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Your mouth, your tongue, your lips, they need to practice making new sounds.
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That is so true.
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If you only ever study English in your head, your mouth never gets that practice.
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It is like reading about how to ride a bicycle.
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You can read every book about bicycles in the world, but until you actually get on the bike and start moving, you do not learn how to ride.
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That is a really good analogy, Ethan.
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Thank you.
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I'm proud of that one.
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The research on shadowing is actually really interesting.
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There have been several studies, especially in Japan and South Korea, where a lot of English learners have used this technique.
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These studies show that shadowing can significantly improve pronunciation, listening skills, and even speaking fluency in a relatively short time.
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And 30 days is a silent amount of time to start seeing real changes.
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30 days.
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Which is why we are doing this challenge.
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Every single day for 30 days, we are going to practice together.
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Each episode, just like today, is going to be a session you can actually follow along with.
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We will explain, we will model, and we will shadow together.
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By the end of 30 days, I genuinely believe your English is going to sound different, better more natural, more confident.
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And I want to be honest with you listeners.
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It is not magic.
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You do have to actually practice.
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Watching the video is not enough.
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You have to open your mouth.
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You have to make the sounds, even if it feels weird, even if it feels embarrassing,
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even if you are sitting alone in your room and you feel a little bit silly talking to your phone.
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That is totally normal, by the way.
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Oh, completely normal.
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I still feel silly sometimes, and English is my first language.
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Okay, so before we actually start our first shadowing practice today, I want to talk about how to shadow correctly,
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because there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it.
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Yes, there are a few key things to keep in mind.
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The first one, and this is really important, is that you need to shadow out loud.
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Not in your head, not in a whisper, out loud, full voice.
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The whole point is to train your mouth and your ears together.
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So give yourself permission to be loud.
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Close the door if you need to.
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Tell your family, I am practicing English.
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Please do not come in.
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Whatever you need to do, just get that voice out.
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Seriously, your neighbors might think something is happening in your house, but that is okay.
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You are learning English.
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That is more important.
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The second thing is do not worry about understanding every single word at first.
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This is really different from normal studying.
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When we read or listen to English, usually we try to understand the meaning of everything.
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But with shadowing, your first job is just to copy the sounds, the rhythm, and the melody of the sentence.
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Meaning comes later.
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Sound comes first.
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This one was hard for me to accept when I first started teaching shadowing because students always want to stop and ask, wait, what does that word mean?
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And I have to tell them, not yet.
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Keep going.
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Just let the sounds come out of your mouth.
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You can think about meaning after, but when you are shadowing, stay in the flow.
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Right.
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And the third thing is, start slow.
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Don't try to shadow fast, complicated native speech on day one.
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That would be like trying to run a marathon on the very first day of exercise.
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You would hurt yourself.
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So we always start simple, clear speech, normal speed, common vocabulary.
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Exactly what you are hearing right now, actually.
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Which is perfect because the way Ethan and I speak in this show, we do it on purpose.
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We speak clearly, we use simple words, and we do not rush.
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So this podcast is a great thing to practice shadowing with, which is the whole point of this series.
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Exactly.
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This whole 30-day series is designed so that you can shadow right along with us.
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Each episode is going to have practice sections where we slow things down even more
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and we give you time to repeat after us.
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It is not just listening.
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It is participating.
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You are part of the show.
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You are a star.
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Okay, let us talk about one more thing before we do our first actual practice, and that is the mindset.
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Mindset is honestly the most important part of any language learning journey.
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I want to say something to everyone listening right now, especially if you feel shy about your English, or if you have tried to improve before and it did not work,
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or if you have given up in the past.
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I want you to hear this clearly.
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It is okay.
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It is completely okay.
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Learning a language as an adult is genuinely hard.
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It is one of the hardest things a human brain can do.
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If you have struggled before, that does not mean you are bad at languages.
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It might just mean you have not found the right method yet.
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That is such an important point.
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A lot of adult learners carry around this feeling that they are just not good at English.
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Like it is something fixed about them, something they were born with or without.
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But that is not how the brain works.
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The brain is flexible.
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It can learn new things at any age.
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What matters most is consistency and the right kind of practice.
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And that is exactly what we are building here together over these 30 days.
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30 days of showing up.
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That is all we are asking.
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You do not have to be perfect.
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You do not have to get every sound right.
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You just have to show up every day and try.
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That is the deal.
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All right.
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Are we ready to do our first practice?
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I am so ready.
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Okay, everyone, here is what we are going to do.
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I am going to say some simple sentences.
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Nice and clear.
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Nice and slow.
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And I want you, yes you, to say them out loud right after me.
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Don't wait.
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Don't think too much.
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Just listen and repeat.
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Ready?
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Let us start.
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I will say each sentence two times.
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You say it after me.
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I am learning English every day.
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I am learning English every day.
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Good.
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Now you say it.
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Say it out loud.
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Don't be shy.
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My English is getting better and better.
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My English is getting better and better.
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Oh, I love that one.
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Say it like you mean it, because it is true.
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It is getting better.
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Keep going.
Contesto e Sfondo
Nel primo giorno della nostra sfida di 30 giorni dedicata allo shadowing, i presentatori Lily ed Ethan ci introducono a questa potente tecnica di apprendimento. L'atmosfera è amichevole e incoraggiante, rendendo chiaro che l'obiettivo principale è migliorare la fluency e la naturalezza nel parlare inglese. Ancora meglio, non è necessario alcun materiale costoso o un insegnante: basta avere voglia di imparare e dedicarsi alla pratica. Questa semplicità è quello che rende l'approccio accessibile a tutti coloro che desiderano imparare l'inglese con youtube.
Le 5 Frasi Principali per la Comunicazione Quotidiana
- "Welcome back to The Learning Lab!" - Un saluto caloroso che invita gli ascoltatori a sentirsi a casa.
- "Today is a big day." - Una frase per sottolineare l'importanza del momento e creare attesa.
- "You just need your ears, your mouth, and a little bit of courage." - Ricorda ai praticanti che gli strumenti necessari sono a portata di mano.
- "Let us learn together." - Un invito alla collaborazione, importante per lo spirito di apprendimento.
- "What exactly is shadowing?" - Una domanda che incoraggia la curiosità e la ricerca di chiarimenti.
Guida Passo-passo allo Shadowing
Cominciare con lo shadowing può sembrare intimidatorio, ma seguendo alcuni semplici passaggi, potrai migliorare la pronuncia inglese e la tua capacità di parlare con naturalezza:
- Ascolta attentamente: Trova un video su YouTube che utilizzi la tecnica di shadowing. È importante scegliere un contenuto che ti interessi.
- Ripeti ad alta voce: Dopo aver ascoltato una frase, prova a ripeterla immediatamente. Questo ti aiuterà a sincronizzare la tua pronuncia con quella del parlante.
- Fai attenzione al ritmo e alla intonazione: Presta attenzione a come vengono enfatizzate le parole. I dettagli sono fondamentali per apprendere shadowing in inglese.
- Registra te stesso: Ascoltare le tue registrazioni ti permetterà di notare aree di miglioramento e di sviluppo nel tuo speech.
- Pratica quotidiana: Dedica almeno 10-15 minuti al giorno per praticare: la costanza è la chiave per dominare questa tecnica.
Utilizzando queste strategie, non solo potrai migliorare la tua pronuncia, ma anche ampliare il tuo vocabolario e rendere il tuo inglese più fluido. Ricorda, con il shadow speech, stai investendo in una competenza che arricchirà la tua comunicazione quotidiana e ti darà fiducia nel parlare. Buona fortuna con la tua pratica quotidiana!
Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?
Shadowing è una tecnica di apprendimento delle lingue supportata da studi scientifici, originariamente sviluppata per la formazione dei traduttori professionisti e resa popolare dal poliglotta Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Il metodo è semplice ma potente: ascolti un audio in inglese di madrelingua e lo ripeti immediatamente ad alta voce — come un'ombra che segue il parlante con un ritardo di solo 1–2 secondi. A differenza dell'ascolto passivo o degli esercizi di grammatica, lo shadowing costringe il tuo cervello e i muscoli della bocca a elaborare e riprodurre simultaneamente i modelli di discorso reale. La ricerca dimostra che migliora significativamente la precisione della pronuncia, l'intonazione, il ritmo, il discorso connesso, la comprensione dell'ascolto e la fluidità del parlato — rendendolo uno dei metodi più efficaci per la preparazione alla prova di speaking dell'IELTS e per la comunicazione reale in inglese.