Shadowing Practice: How I Practice English Speaking - Learn English Speaking with Video

Look at this tiny little paw.

This video is for English learners who want to practice their English speaking skills and become more fluent.

English is my second language and I also teach it, so whatever I recommend or suggest comes from either my experience or my students' experience.

This is from years of learning, practicing, living in English speaking societies, having a job in English,

and kind of going through the challenges that come with that.

So what I noticed a lot, comments that I get pretty much every day is that people think

that the only way to practice English is to find a native speaker

and talk to them and that's not entirely true that's not true at all

so I'm going to show you four ways you can practice

English speaking by yourself at home without needing a native speaker to help you with

that and I'm also going to explain why these methods work

your speaking through shadowing and

if you don't know what shadowing is I'm gonna try to explain it to you in very few simple words

so basically what shadowing means is you being someone's shadow

and repeat everything they say

and the way they say it the same tone the same melody the same speed the same connected speech

so I'm going to shadow a little bit of a TED talk called the Manitou Springs edition, I think.

So I'm just going to shadow her and there's two methods for doing this two shadowing methods.

So if you're just at the beginning, if you're just learning English now, the first method is you listen to one line, pause, repeat.

Listen, pause, repeat, right?

So you give yourself a little bit of space, a little bit more room.

The second method is simultaneous shadowing.

Basically, you just

press play and then repeat immediately after

that person you are a shadow for their voice

so first we're gonna do the first method

so then you can see how you can apply it

and then i'll show you how to do the second spend a lot of money on your phone

and your phone and your phone and your phone of quality time with your friends and your family.

Spend a lot of quality time with your friends and your family.

For me, this looks like weekly date nights with my husband, For me, this looks like weekly date nights with my husband,

playing with my daughters, playing with my daughters...

Every single day with my phone away, every single day with my phone away, and FaceTiming and calling my sisters multiple times a week.

and facetiming and calling my sisters multiple times a week.

So see how I imitated her.

I imitated her melody and her rhythm.

That doesn't necessarily mean that that's exactly how I would have said those words

if I read them off of a piece of paper, right?

Because if I'm a non -native speaker or I'm still learning, I don't really know how this melody goes, how the tone changes.

But when you do shadowing, it's very easy to understand, okay, You stop here, but you say all of these words faster.

You take a break here, but you group all these words together.

And that's how you learn this flow.

So for example, when she said, spend a lot of time with friends and family.

So she said a lot, right?

So that shows you that that's how you emphasize this quantity, a lot.

Because if she said, spend a lot of time with friends and family,

lot right so that's how your voice has to go a lot

and take it a little bit slower within those two words a lot

and then she says for me this looks like weekly date nights with my husband right

so this is where it gets a little bit tricky

because it's sort of a tongue twister you have to say weekly date nights with my husband really quickly

and that's where you can see that maybe you have troubles with

so you have to go again and repeat it until you can say it really quickly so first

and then she pauses right because We wanted to see what comes next.

First, she said that for me, in her opinion or for her life, for me, this looks like...

So for me, this is first part.

This looks like it's the second part and then the third part weekly date nights with my husband, right?

So that is one unit.

It's a group of words.

It's connected speech.

And that's how you learn how to connect little words into bigger groups.

Okay.

And now the second method is going to be the simultaneous shadowing, which is a little bit trickier, but it's not as hard as you might think.

It might sound a little weird, but I'm going to show you and you can be the judge of that.

But I promise you, you get used to it.

Spend a lot of quality time with your friends and your family.

for me for me this looks like weekly date nights with

my husband with my daughter playing with my daughter every single day every single day with my phone away

and facetiming and calling and face timing

and calling my sisters multiple times a week so

that just put my brain into hyper focus mode

and i had to keep up right i had to just follow the sounds

that she was making and repeating

that i i didn't have time to overthink i didn't have time to think about grammar i didn't have

I don't need to know all the words she's saying.

I don't need to understand everything she's saying.

This exercise is just for you to be able to practice

the way the mouth moves every time you are in connected speech mode, basically in real life speaking mode.

And that will also challenge you to become quicker, faster and more fluent.

And this can be done with a million different videos, different types of videos, people speak differently.

It's really good to practice with different speakers and not just one.

And it's really good to practice different accents as well, because then you get to actually understand "Oh, this is the difference.

This is how they say it.

This is how I say it." And then in time, you get used to different accents as well, especially the non -native speaking accents.

So the shadowing method helps you realize

and helps you see how real people talk and how they connect the words to each other when they speak.

And shadowing is pretty easy because you don't have to produce your own thoughts yet.

You just have to repeat after someone else.

And our brain naturally imitates what it sees and what it hears.

So that's why the shadowing method is really good to improve your fluency, your pronunciation, and your melody and tone.

And because you have to

that person like immediately your brain doesn't have time to overthink you just repeat the sounds

and that's what we need this method is supposed to improve your pronunciation

and fluency it's not supposed to focus on grammar vocabulary

or any other structures so no overthinking just repeating

and teaching your mouth how to move quickly and how to sound natural so shadowing is basically a speak really quickly.

So it's a circle that has to go on like high rotation.

And the more you mimic, the more you imitate other people, the more confident you become because you know that what you are repeating is not only correct,

but it also sounds good, fluent and natural.

100

So you can pick an audiobook, a TED talk, a speech a show,

101

a movie, some interviews, I do recommend to focus a lot on maybe street interviews or vloggers,

102

YouTube vloggers, even TikTok, people like normal people who talk in a normal rhythm.

103

Because if you only shadow audiobooks or TV shows or movies, those are scripted things.

104

People right?

105

So it's not really natural, natural.

106

And also their articulation, their diction is a lot better because they have to be understood.

107

But with vloggers, they talk like normal, real people, even though they probably also try to be a little bit more clear, but at least it's a normal flow.

108

Okay, method number two is to practice your passive vocabulary.

109

And a lot of my students, - Thank you.

110

they don't really understand the difference between passive vocabulary and active vocabulary and they think that everything you learn

111

should be active vocabulary the difference is that

112

if you have a lot of passive vocabulary it means

113

that you understand a lot of things

114

but you cannot produce those things you cannot speak the same way active vocabulary means

115

that you are able to use the words that are in your active vocabulary and the expressions

116

immediately when you need them

117

and you don't you don't hesitate you just have them available to you

118

so the reason why you understand everything i'm saying

119

or you understand what everybody else is saying

120

but you can't speak the same way is

121

because you do have a lot of passive vocabulary

122

and you haven't practiced it enough so for example

123

if you're watching somebody vlogging

124

or showing you you know this is what this is called

125

this is what i'm doing this is what this action is called and

126

words and this is cool right you're watching somebody talk and you're learning but that is only 50

127

of your learning right you are absorbing that information but

128

that doesn't mean that you are able to use it

129

so let's say i feel myself making breakfast

130

and i'm narrating everything i'm doing right i'm flipping pancakes

131

and i'm whisking eggs and all of that

132

and you're like oh i didn't know that that is a whisk and i didn't know that it's flipping pancakes, right?

133

So you think, oh, I learned something new today.

134

And yes, you did learn it for like 10 minutes.

135

But tomorrow, you might not remember what you learned.

136

And that kind of goes into your passive vocabulary, if you're lucky, like next time, if you hear the word whisk,

137

and you automatically can remember where you heard it and what it means, that's great.

138

But most of the time you don't even retain that word.

139

You just understand it in the moment and you think you learned it.

140

Like, it's more of an illusion.

141

So what you want to do is you see me using a whisk, you see me flip a pancake, you think, oh, I learned that.

142

Now what you're going to do is, You go and whisk some eggs and then you say, I am whisking eggs.

143

This is a whisk, right?

144

You introduce it into your speech.

145

You tell your mouth, what it's supposed to sound like what is this word supposed

146

to sound like you uh tell your ear okay this is

147

a whisk associate this sound with this object with this action you basically have to do more with the words

148

that you are consuming the words that you are absorbing the words

149

that you are understanding because the first step you're getting familiar with them

150

and then the second part is when you actually introduce them into your speech

151

so they stay there so they can be available few activities you can do to practice your passive vocabulary,

152

and I have a lot of these on my TikTok channel actually, is number one, your house should be your English zone, everything that you do in your house,

153

everything that you see in your house, you should be able to say that in English, if you're cleaning your house, narrate what you're doing in as much detail as possible.

154

If you are cooking, narrate what you're doing.

155

If you are doing laundry, if you are painting, if you're doing anything, if you're going even to the gym, narrate what you're doing.

156

You're going to be surprised by how many simple words you don't actually know

157

that you see every day and you do every day.

158

And what's cool about in other areas.

159

For example, if you flip a pancake, you can also flip a burger.

160

you can also flip the page so basically anything

161

that you can quickly turn over

162

or turn on the other side that's flipping you can do a what's in my bag video pretend

163

that you're a celebrity you can do a day in my

164

life video pretend you're a vlogger you can describe objects for example

165

if I have this pillow and I want to describe it, I can be very very descriptive with it in terms of physical appearance, right?

166

I can talk about the shape, I can talk about the fabric, I can talk about the colors, the print, what I use it for, what I need it for, and so on.

167

Hey, don't.. not very graceful.

168

Ballerina Cappuccino.

169

And because you rotate these words, you say them all the time, you pronounce them, you say them out loud, your brain is going to get so used to them.

170

So next time you need them outside your house, you're going to be able to produce them right away.

171

Okay, third method is converting your thoughts into an English zone.

172

So first the house, then your thoughts.

173

How many times have you replayed a dialogue that you thought, you know, oh, I should have said that, I could have said that instead, right?

174

You replay that in your head a lot. that in English.

175

If you have some opinions about something that happened at work, something that happened with a friend, some news that you saw.

176

Try to share and express your opinions in English.

177

It doesn't have to be to anybody, just to yourself out loud when you're by yourself.

178

If you want to ask your boss for some time off or a raise and you're kind of imagining

179

what would that conversation look like?

180

What would I say?

181

What would I say if he says that?

182

What would I say back if he said that?

183

So try to do that.

184

But in English, this is going to help you

185

convert your own thoughts into english and not just someone else's right

186

when you do shadowing for example you are repeating someone else's

187

thoughts you have your own style you have your own humor

188

you have your own way of speaking about different things

189

and this is also going to show you that these are the words

190

that you need right now and these are the words

191

that you think you knew

192

but you don't really have them as part of your active vocabulary i used to do that a lot when i

193

imagine all these

194

missed opportunities that I had in different conversations

195

and dialogues I have with my mom or with my dad

196

or with my brother with my friends or with my teacher, right?

197

I, I used to imagine how I would like talk back and what would I say back to them, you know?

198

And of course my English was terrible at the beginning.

199

I didn't have a lot of the vocabulary that I needed, but I tried to explain that, you know?

200

So I try to use whatever words or imagine whatever words I needed, but if I didn't know the word,

201

I just tried to deconstruct it and explain it.

202

And I was imagining all of these dialogues while

203

how they were so expressive when they would say something like

204

if they asked you know what are you doing here

205

or what do you think about that or why did you do

206

that or whatever you know all of these questions sentences expressions

207

that they would use would have a different melody than they

208

would in my language you know for the equivalent of those expressions

209

so to me that was interesting to explore and I was practicing

210

that in my mind so this way I started converting my thoughts into I caught myself Thinking in English,

211

you know, some of these situations would happen a lot.

212

So I would rotate them in my mental dialogues a lot.

213

So the next time I would have to say that same expression, it would just come naturally.

214

I wouldn't have to think too much about it.

215

And I also started to look at English as a communication tool, not just a set of vocabulary words and grammar rules that I was learning in school.

216

So I would watch these people on TV using this melody, the fluctuation in their voices, the pauses, the connected speech,

217

the group of the words and all of these things.

218

tool now, not just a subject in school.

219

And that brings me to my next point and my last fourth method.

220

Develop your social skills.

221

At the end of the day, English, just like any other language, just like your native language, requires having some personal and social skills.

222

It's not just knowledge and pronunciation.

223

It's a human being connecting with another human being

224

and english is just another language

225

that has to be used in a certain way in order

226

for it to work the right way you need to learn

227

how to be an active listener you need to learn how

228

to be empathetic you need to learn how to be aware

229

of your body language your facial expressions your eye contact your

230

tone of voice you have to learn how to read the

231

room how to adapt to the atmosphere in the room you need to know how to be respectful

232

and polite in english you need to learn how to provide

233

feedback in english you need to learn how to regulate your

234

emotions you need to learn how to be a little bit more open -minded

235

or a lot more open -minded

236

because you will be interacting with people from all over the world both native speakers

237

and non -native speakers that come from different backgrounds so

238

very quickly and yes that includes practicing talking to real people

239

and I know this goes against my first thing

240

that I've said at the beginning of the video

241

that you don't need a native speaker to practice English

242

and I said that is not the only way right to practice English

243

and the reason I add this point is

244

because it is 2025 we have so many more resources right now so many different skills with real people.

245

I didn't have a smartphone when I was learning English

246

and I didn't have a lot of opportunities to interact with real people.

247

And from my experience when I went to the US and the cultural shock I got,

248

you know, from how you should behave, how you should talk to people, how you should adjust your tone of voice,

249

your facial expressions, that was something that I - Okay.

250

Every single time you said something and a native speaker would interpret it differently, He'd be like,

251

what did i say wrong what was wrong with the words i said yeah

252

but the thing is your words were perfectly fine your grammar was perfectly fine your vocabulary is perfectly fine

253

but the tone of voice or the moment when you said that

254

didn't really fit the situation and while it's really good to practice with ai apps or to chat

255

through text with different people that doesn't really expose you to these social skills

256

that you need to learn

257

and for example in speaking clubs you get to interact with different people

258

and you can also observe how other people interact with you

259

and other people in the club

260

so you can learn from their mistakes you can learn from the reactions from others and that's how you become

261

confident in your own speaking and social skills and

262

that makes you a little bit more motivated and encourages you to do it more.

263

Because remember, English, just like any other language, just like your native language, comes with a cultural aspect as well.

264

It's not just vocabulary words and grammar rules.

265

It's human behavior, perception, expectations, social norms,

266

clubs the next one is on July 13th you can find it in the link in the description 90 minutes of

267

me interacting with you guys having little debates you get separated

268

into groups I also offer some support with maybe some pronunciation

269

or some vocabulary grammar whatever it is

270

that in the moment would be helpful I'm there to support you with

271

that but I provide the topics of the speaking clubs

272

and you get to interact with people from all over the world because my audience is very

273

control over your English speaking practice than you think.

274

And saying that you don't have someone to talk to is just an excuse.

275

Thank you so much for watching, I hope this gives you a bit of a different perspective around

276

practicing your English speaking skills and I can't wait to hear or see your thoughts in the comments.

277

Okay, bye!

📺 Zelfde Kanaal

I understand ♥️

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

English rules should be consumed in moderation 🤓 #english #englishteacher #speakenglish

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Improving your English accent is easy if you let go of your “native language mouth” 🤓 #english

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

Connected speech in English 🔗 #english #connectedspeech

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

How to Expand Your English Vocabulary - Part 3 - Word Families #englishvocabulary

Business EnglishHigh School StudentsUniversity Students

I Finally Got a New Vlogging Camera | DJI Osmo Action 6

Travel EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

How to Expand Your English Vocabulary - Part 2 - Replacing the Word Good #englishvocabulary

Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students

How to Expand Your English Vocabulary - Part 1 - Using Synonyms #english #englishvocabulary

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

✨ Aanbevolen Video

349 zinnen

You’ll Start Thinking in English After This Shadowing Practice | Day 6 Challenge

Interview EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

136 zinnen

5 things to practice every day to improve your English speaking skills

Interview EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

320 zinnen

The Secret to Becoming an Excellent Speaker

Interview EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

159 zinnen

15 Minutes of Shadowing a Day Changed My English Speaking

Interview EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

79 zinnen

Speaking Practice For B1 (intermediate) | English Imitation Lessons

Interview EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

$Improve Your English Speaking Fluency \ Level "Hard"$ B2

193 zinnen

Improve Your English Speaking Fluency \ Level "Hard"

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

123 zinnen

English Speaking Course | Improve Your English Communication Skills w/ Shadowing

Business EnglishInterview EnglishDaily Conversation

205 zinnen

Improve English Speaking English by Shadowing Polite Questions & Answers in English

Business EnglishInterview EnglishDaily Conversation

150 zinnen

Speak English with me | English Speaking Practice with Listen and Answer Method

Interview EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

Master English Speaking Using Shadowing Technique #english

9,785

13 zinnen

Master English Speaking Using Shadowing Technique #english

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

97 zinnen

How I Learned English (didn’t speak it until I was 18)

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les

Deze video bevat 277 zinnen en 3539 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 21:11. De spreker praat in een natuurlijk tempo van ongeveer 167 woorden per minuut, dicht bij een alledaags gesprek. 87% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden, dus de woordenschat is goed te volgen.

Belangrijke woorden in deze video

15 woorden uit de video die het leren waard zijn, met uitspraak en betekenis:

Woord	Uitspraak	Betekenis
shadow zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈʃædəʊ̯/	schaduw
vocabulary zelfstandig naamwoord	/vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/	woordenschat, vocabulaire
skill zelfstandig naamwoord	/skɪl/	bekwaamheid, vaardigheid
connect werkwoord	/kəˈnɛkt/	verbinden
tone zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈtəʊn/	toon, noot
grammar zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/	spraakkunst, grammatica
interact werkwoord	/ɪn.təˈɹækt/	interageren, elkaar beïnvloeden
passive bijvoeglijk naamwoord	/ˈpæs.ɪv/	passief
melody zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈmɛl.ə.di/	melodie
dialogue zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈdaɪəˌlɑɡ/	dialoog, gesprek
pause zelfstandig naamwoord	/pɔːz/	pauze
pronunciation zelfstandig naamwoord	/pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/	uitspraak
egg zelfstandig naamwoord	/ɛɡ/	ei
accent zelfstandig naamwoord	/ækˈsɛnt/	accent, klemtoon
fluent bijvoeglijk naamwoord	/ˈfluənt/	vloeiend

Phrasal verbs die je zult horen

Woord	Betekenis
keep up werkwoord	bijblijven

Uitspraak om op te letten

De spreker gebruikt 75 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals you're, I'm, don't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.

De “th”-klanken: rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/, empathetic /ˌɛmpəˈθɛtɪk/
De klanken “sh” en “zh”: shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, facial /ˈfeɪ.ʃəl/, shock /ʃɔk/, associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/
Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, simultaneous /ˌsaɪ̯.məlˈteɪ̯.ni.əs/

Zo oefen je met deze video

Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
Begin op 0,75× snelheid, spreek zin voor zin na en ga terug naar normale snelheid zodra het makkelijk gaat.
Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als shadow, vocabulary, skill.

Grammatica in deze video

De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:

Structuur	In de video
“Used to” used to + werkwoord — een vroegere gewoonte of toestand die niet meer klopt	used to them · used to do · used to imagine
Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet	can be done · are scripted · be understood
Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt	haven't practiced · I've said
Betrekkelijke bijzinnen who / which + zin — extra informatie over een persoon of ding	shadowing, which is · people who talk

Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?

Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.

Shadowing-techniek: lees de volledige stap-voor-stap-gids →

Shadowing Practice: How I Practice English Speaking - Learn English Speaking with Video

I understand ♥️

English rules should be consumed in moderation 🤓 #english #englishteacher #speakenglish

Improving your English accent is easy if you let go of your “native language mouth” 🤓 #english

Connected speech in English 🔗 #english #connectedspeech

How to Expand Your English Vocabulary - Part 3 - Word Families #englishvocabulary

I Finally Got a New Vlogging Camera | DJI Osmo Action 6

How to Expand Your English Vocabulary - Part 2 - Replacing the Word Good #englishvocabulary

How to Expand Your English Vocabulary - Part 1 - Using Synonyms #english #englishvocabulary

How to Overcome Accent Anxiety & the Fear of Speaking English

Why I did the English routine #speakenglish #englishspeaking

How I Learned English Vocabulary

How to Learn English Vocabulary

Your House = Your English Zone | Practice English at Home (Ep.1)

How I Became More Confident! (level - EASY)

Improve Your Accent in English with 10 Tongue Twisters

How I Learned English with Movies and TV-Shows

How I Would Learn English Today

4 Best Ways to Improve Your English Pronunciation

How to Study English by Yourself

How to Practice English by Yourself (Vlog)

You’ll Start Thinking in English After This Shadowing Practice | Day 6 Challenge

5 things to practice every day to improve your English speaking skills

The Secret to Becoming an Excellent Speaker

15 Minutes of Shadowing a Day Changed My English Speaking

Speaking Practice For B1 (intermediate) | English Imitation Lessons

Improve Your English Speaking Fluency \ Level "Hard"

English Speaking Course | Improve Your English Communication Skills w/ Shadowing

Improve English Speaking English by Shadowing Polite Questions & Answers in English

Speak English with me | English Speaking Practice with Listen and Answer Method

Master English Speaking Using Shadowing Technique #english

How I Learned English (didn’t speak it until I was 18)

Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les

Belangrijke woorden in deze video

Phrasal verbs die je zult horen

Uitspraak om op te letten

Zo oefen je met deze video

Grammatica in deze video

Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?