Pratica di Shadowing: How I Improved My Listening and Speaking in English 🇺🇸 - Impara a parlare inglese con YouTube

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Hey you guys, welcome to this channel.
⏸ In Pausa
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Hey you guys, welcome to this channel.
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My name is Alba and I'm an English teacher.
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I've been teaching English for more than eight years now
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and today I just wanted to sit down and have a nice little chat with you.
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English is my second language.
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I learned it as an adult.
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So in today's video, I'm going to share with you some of the tips that have helped me improve my speaking,
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listening and just overall confidence.
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So here's the thing.
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Back in school, I was really good at English.
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At least that's what I thought.
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Well, English was my favorite subject.
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I absolutely loved it and my teachers were very happy with my performance.
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And later I went to college, studied business English there.
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Then something happened.
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I moved abroad and I started making friends who were native speakers as well as non-native speakers and I realized something.
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My vocabulary was so limited.
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I struggled to understand people,
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especially in fast casual conversations.
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And don't even get me started on speaking.
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I couldn't express myself.
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I was hesitating and just felt stuck all the time.
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And that's when it hit me.
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Even though I had studied English for years,
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I had almost no real practice.
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In school, we did a lot of grammar exercises like filling in the gaps,
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reading, and stuff like that.
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But we almost had no listening or speaking practice.
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At that time, I decided to do something with it.
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You know, I made a decision to start improving my speaking and listening.
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I started watching TV shows,
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movies, YouTube videos in English every single day.
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So sometimes I would just play it in the background,
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you know, while doing some chores and stuff.
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But most of the time I was really paying attention.
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And my goal was not to understand every single word or like translate every unfamiliar word.
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No, my goal was to help my ears and my brain get used to hearing English speech every day.
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And here's something that I've noticed,
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not just in myself, but also in my students.
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I can immediately tell when a student watches content in English.
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It's just so obvious.
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The ones who do, they sound more natural,
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they understand native speakers better,
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they're more comfortable with different accents,
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and most importantly, they have a better sense of the language.
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It's just like they can feel it, you know?
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So if you're not doing this already,
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seriously, pick a show or a YouTube channel you like and make it a daily habit.
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And also what I usually recommend to my students,
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do not try to understand every single word, you know?
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Don't pause every time you hear an unfamiliar word and look it up in the dictionary or translated.
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That's not the whole point of watching videos or TV shows.
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The point is to enjoy this process, right?
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Trick your brain into learning English in this easy, lazy way.
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If you start translating every word and writing the words down,
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this is not enjoyable.
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Yeah, this is a daunting task and your brain will not like it.
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So yeah, you can turn on the subtitles if you wish,
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but you don't have to understand every single word,
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especially if you are a beginner.
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Moving on to the next tip, let's talk about shadowing.
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Boy, do I love this method.
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I just wish I was more consistent with it.
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So shadowing is when you repeat what a native speaker says immediately and as accurately as possible,
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and you imitate, you try to copy their tone,
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their rhythm, their pronunciation, everything.
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However, a lot of people find this technique uncomfortable.
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They say that it just doesn't feel natural.
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They feel like they're pretending to be somebody else.
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And they say, what if I lose my voice?
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What if I lose my individuality?
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But shadowing is not about becoming a different person.
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It's about training your mouth and your muscles to produce the correct English sounds.
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Think about it.
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When you speak in your native language,
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you use a certain set of muscles, right?
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But for English, we need to use different ones.
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And if those muscles aren't trained,
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you simply cannot produce the sounds correctly.
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So when we shadow or imitate native speakers,
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our goal is not to copy their identity,
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but to build muscle memory to train those pronunciation skills and to become more comfortable and fluent.
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So how do you choose a native speaker that you would like to shadow or copy?
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I personally have a couple of girls,
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bloggers, YouTubers that I follow and I love their voice.
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I love how they express themselves.
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I love their accent, their pronunciation.
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I also noticed that it's not just about their voice but also about their personality.
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So if their personality matches my vibes,
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I'm more willing to practice shadowing with them.
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This technique changed the way I speak and it's done the same for many of my students.
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So highly, highly recommend you try it as well.
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Another thing that I absolutely love doing is reading out loud.
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I truly believe that people who read a lot express themselves better.
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They sound more sophisticated, more clear,
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their speech is well structured.
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So whether it's a book,
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an article, a magazine, a newspaper,
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or whatever you enjoy, just read it out loud.
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And the last tip, I just have to mention it.
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It's not going to surprise you because all the teachers talk about it all the time.
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Practice English with real people.
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The only way to get comfortable with speaking is to speak.
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And I'm talking about real people,
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not AI, not chatting online, which is also good.
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It can be useful, right?
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But nothing can replace real human communication because this is how we develop soft skills,
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how we build connections with the language and with the people,
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how we start using it as a tool, a communication tool.
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That's the whole point of learning a language, isn't it?
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And how do you do that?
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How do you find somebody you can practice with?
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Well, there are lots of different apps and platforms available where you can find teachers,
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tutors, language exchange partners.
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You just try them and see what's best for you.
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So that's pretty much it.
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I have a lot more to say but it's getting dark outside and I have to wrap it up.
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Anyway in the end I just wanted to mention that the key to learning a language in my opinion is consistency.
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Stay consistent, stay curious, and surround yourself with English every day.
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Let me know in the comments below what you think of these tips.
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If you find this video helpful,
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give it a like, subscribe,
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and share it with someone who's learning English too.
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Thanks so much for watching.
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I'll see you next time.
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Bye!

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Perché praticare la conversazione con questo video?

In questo video, Alba condivide la sua esperienza personale su come ha migliorato le sue abilità di ascolto e di espressione in inglese. Praticare la conversazione in inglese mediante contenuti autentici, come video o serie TV, offre numerosi vantaggi. Innanzitutto, aiuta a familiarizzare con la lingua e a sviluppare una maggiore sicurezza nel parlare. La comprensione di accenti diversi e un vocabolario più ampio sono solo alcuni dei benefici che si possono ottenere. Adottare l'abitudine di shadow speak—ripetere ciò che si ascolta—può notevolmente migliorare le proprie capacità di espressione e ascolto.

Grammatica ed espressioni nel contesto

Nel video, Alba utilizza diverse strutture grammaticali e espressioni chiave che possono essere utili per gli studenti di inglese:

  • I realized something: Questa espressione indica un momento di consapevolezza e può essere utilizzata per sottolineare un cambiamento di prospettiva.
  • Even though I had studied English for years: Qui, Alba usa la struttura "even though" per contrapporre le aspettative alla realtà, utile per esprimere concessioni.
  • My goal was not to understand every single word: Questa frase evidenzia l'importanza di avere obiettivi chiari e realistici nell'apprendimento, piuttosto che cercare la perfezione.
  • Help my ears and my brain get used to hearing English speech: Un ottimo esempio di come l'input linguistico continui a sviluppare le capacità di ascolto.

Trappole comuni nella pronuncia

Il video presenta alcuni termini e frasi che possono rivelarsi difficili per chi studia l'inglese. Alcuni punti da tenere a mente includono:

  • Native speakers: La pronuncia di questa espressione può variare notevolmente e può risultare complicata per gli studenti. La “t” finale può essere pronunciata in modo più o meno enfatizzato a seconda della regione.
  • Casual conversations: Qui il suono delle vocali può risultare sfuggente per chi non è abituato. È importante prestare attenzione al contesto e all'intonazione.
  • Understanding people: L'accento e la velocità del discorso possono influenzare la capacità di comprendere questa e altre frasi simili.

Utilizzando tecniche di shadowing in inglese, si può non solo migliorare nella comprensione e nella pronuncia, ma anche sviluppare una connessione più profonda con la lingua. La pratica di conversazione in inglese deve diventare parte della routine quotidiana per ottenere il massimo dai propri sforzi di apprendimento.

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.

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