Shadowing Practice: 10 Essential React Native Tips Every Developer Must Know - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.

184 sentences

If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.

You might have worked with React Native for quite some time, but do you really know all the ins and outs?

There are some really small nuggets of wisdom in the React Native docs

or from the day -to -day use that I want to share with you,

so here are 10 practical tips that you can use in your next

React Native project.

The first one is a real quick one about lists and something I shared before.

If you have an input here and you want to hide that keyboard, there's a simple thing that you can add to your list.

So I'm using a flat list here and you can now simply go ahead

and add the keyboard dismiss mode and set it to on drag.

As a result, I can drag the list and it will automatically close the hardware keyboard whenever I do the drag.

Additionally, by the way, you can also quickly make this a really cool animated list.

So I can add and remove things.

But let's just change this to an animated flat list from React Native Reanimated.

And then let's add the item layout animation and let's import the linear transition.

So now I should be able to have a smooth transition whenever I remove items

or add items with just two little changes to an animated flatlist

and the item layout animation and I can also on swipe close my keyboard.

The second tip is about the pressable component.

In most of my tutorials you're gonna see me use the touchable opacity which works great as a button replacement.

However if you are looking for a more extensive

and future -proof way to handle touch base input check out the pressable API

and if you go into the pressable you see

that there's a lot more fine -tuning

you can do like on press in on press out where

you can change the state of your components let's do a quick example i will just change these items

which are currently touchable opacity uh item to oppressable

and instead of just using styles item i can actually now use a function where i use the pressed state

and use that to set either the opacity

or for example the background color

and you can even use

this press state inside the child values here where I currently have the text of the pressable component.

As a result, I can now fine -tune exactly how the click event on

that button and how especially the press event works instead of just using a touchable opacity.

Tip number three is about dark modes and the appearance of our application.

Did you know that you can simply wrap your application using the theme provider from React Navigation

and then include the default theme

and the dark theme to automatically style the elements from react navigation

so in this case you're gonna see

that both the status bar uh the top area up here

and even the background here

because it's using the default background color are changing once i switch the colors here in the simulator this works

because we use the use color theme use color theme hook from react native

which then updates the color theme to either light or dark

and this is applied here in our check wrapped around our application.

You can then also drill this down on component level.

So whenever you want, you can simply import the color theme

and use it as a state to set different styles on your elements.

And if you manually want to toggle this, you can use the appearance API and the set color theme to manually save this.

This works nice in combination with something like async storage or MMKV.

So you can then manually on click toggle this.

However, in the simulator, this usually fails especially when I don't hit save

so now it should work and I can instantly and easily switch between light and dark mode in my app.

Tip number four is once again about colors this time it's about using platform

and the platform color API in the application

so here's a view with three different buttons and

if I go to

that same view on my Android emulator you're gonna see for some reason they look different

and the reason is

that you can use both platform select to switch between different platforms

you can actually not only have oh come on please stay open come on stay open

you can not only ah this is not possible not only switch between ios

and android but also windows mac os web or native

and then you can supply specific colors in your style sheet

and you can not only have fixed colors

but you can also see the platform color here

this is a bit more complicated to use especially figuring out the values for Android is somewhat hard

you have to get into the Android documentation but

if you're interested in this you can actually use the system colors of both iOS

and Android if you want a complete

and even more native feeling in your application tip 5 is about fonts

and especially Google fonts did you know that there's an expo package

that you can use that you can simply install

and then use all the fonts of google let's check

it out i've added the package for the frank rule libra uh font to my application to the layout

and i also use the use fonts hook to safely in

the beginning of my application load all the custom fonts

that i want to use i would usually use and use effect

and make sure fonts loaded is ready

but nonetheless i can now use them on my page inside of the font family

and as a result we see here the bold

and the medium one being applied

it has never been easier to use google fonts in your

react native application than this trust me tip number six is about images

when you use the image component

and you're loading something over the network for example a really big image like this it can sometimes take time

so if i go here it takes a millisecond

and there are sometimes images

that are even bigger now what you can do is you can actually specify a default source

and within that default source you basically set the image

that should be deployed a deployed should be displayed

while the first image is loading so

if I had it like this now I could go into the component

and you quickly saw that react native image

so I just used my local image because

that one should be instantly available you could also have like a simple loader in there as the default source

that would work as well and then you can use any kind of big image

and while it's loading just by default you display your default source in the image element.

Tip number seven is about the text element.

If you have a very long text in your application, there are different ways to improve this.

100

So the first way, if you're rendering really long text, is of course have this in a scroll view.

101

But sometimes you also want to limit the number of lines.

102

So you can do number of lines on the text element.

103

Let's set this to five.

104

And this will automatically render only five lines.

105

And at the end, you're going to have three dots.

106

So you don't need any logic if text length is bigger than 120, then render three dots or something.

107

No, you can just set the number of lines.

108

However, if you at the same time also want to still show all the things of your text, because now the text of girls truncated,

109

you could add a property called adjust font size to fit.

110

As a result, this looks quite interesting because in our example, well, eight lines is probably not enough.

111

But now we would be able to actually fit all of this in 20 lines of text

112

Remember this was our initial state

113

and now we would be able to render all of that using adjust font size to fit which will simply

114

Specify whether fun should be scaled down automatically to fit given style constraints

115

This is not always helpful, but it can be a nice fix in some of your applications

116

Tip number eight is about warnings in your application

117

So I recently came across a warning that was well not too interesting to me

118

Let's say you got this one

119

Which of course doesn't come up when I want to show it so encounter two children with the same name

120

Of course, that is something you definitely want to fix

121

However, sometimes there are things that you just want to ignore because they keep appearing

122

Especially if you maybe do a presentation for your customer what you can do is you can simply import lockbox

123

From react native we don't need these fences.

124

That looks interesting and now i could go ahead

125

and use lockbox uh and i got two um

126

or different ways i could ignore all locks

127

or i could ignore specific locks

128

so in my case what i want to ignore is probably encountered uh two children with the same key

129

i can now hit save and let's do a reload again

130

and i go into and boom no more locks

131

and of course the same would work

132

if i would use uh logbox .ignorealllocks that's probably a bit more dangerous uh

133

because it would hide anything that pops up in your application

134

so anyway treat this carefully but if you want some mind space some quiet applications

135

and nothing that pops up

136

while you work on your application simply use logbox to control the logs that appear in your react native app.

137

Tip number nine is about API usage and I was kinda shocked when I saw it.

138

So I was using a local API on localhost port 8080

139

and we see I have a simple block here where I fetch my data from API URL slash test

140

and it worked perfectly fine on iOS.

141

However on Android I get an error fetching data.

142

Why is that the case?

143

Well it turns out that localhost doesn't work on the Android emulator.

144

You gonna have a bad day.

145

What you can do as a result is you can add this little block at the top,

146

which is kinda ugly, but if you put all of your API calls, usually in one or two files,

147

into our custom hooks, that should be easy to treat.

148

So in my case, I grab the environment using the node environment to make sure we're actually running in development.

149

And if we're running in development and the platform is Android, I exchange and patch my API URL, which i usually got from my process environment

150

so instead of using localhost port 8080 i'm now using 10 .0 .2 .2 8080 let's hit save

151

and let's check out my emulator again so

152

if i now go into page 9 voila we have fixed this

153

and we can make api calls to localhost on both ios and android

154

Just as a quick addition to this, because this might be an ugly hack, here's something else that is recommended.

155

So you can also map your port using ADB or down here for ADB devices, you can map the port specifically for your emulator.

156

That's probably a tiny bit better than having additional code.

157

But if you just want to do a quick test, this one will get the job done.

158

Tip number 10 is for all of you who want to build a production application of your React Native application using Expo.

159

So usually you're gonna see you have your own custom defcline even if you do a pre -build

160

It only works when your live reload is up and running

161

But sometimes you just want to have the app installed and leave the room and show it to someone else

162

What you can do to build this kind of standalone application is once

163

you have created your pre -build with Expo Go into Xcode go up here hit edit scheme and under run configuration

164

Here for the build configuration you want to select release

165

Go ahead with that, build the application for your device and there's no more connection to a local server.

166

Additionally you can of course do the same for Android, so open your project up with Android Studio

167

and then at the bottom left you're gonna really small find something called build variants.

168

Inside of build variants you see that everything here is set to debug.

169

And of course for our app I can now change this to release, it would change all of these to release

170

and then I can go up here

171

and deploy the app to either my simulator

172

or of course any kind of connected android device all right

173

that brings us to the end of this quick video

174

I hope you enjoyed this quick run through of 10 different things

175

that I picked up over the years I took note of them

176

I probably will do another video once I reach more than five

177

or ten nodes again in the future

178

but let me know in the comments what is something that you figured out after years of using

179

React Native or you were like, why didn't I know that earlier?

180

Download App

Everything you need to speak fluently

AI PronunciationScore every sentence

IPA PracticeMaster every sound

VocabularyBuild your word bank

Vocab GameLearn while playing

Scan QR

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Same Channel

Recommend Video

558 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “10 Essential React Native Tips Every Developer Must Know”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: application, color, react, native, android. This video has 184 sentences and 2332 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:00. The speaker talks fast, about 194 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
react verb	/ɹiːˈækt/	To act in response.
android noun	/ˈænˌdɹɔɪd/	A robot that is designed to look and act like a human being (not necessarily a male one).
font noun	/fɑnt/	In metal typesetting, a set of type sorts in one size.
default noun	/dɪˈfɔlt/	The condition of failing to meet an obligation.
component noun	/kəmˈpoʊ.nənt/	A smaller, self-contained part of a larger entity. Often refers to a manufactured object that is part of a larger device.
element noun	/ˈɛləmənt/	One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
ignore verb	/ɪɡˈnɔː/	To deliberately not listen or pay attention to.
keyboard noun	/ˈki.bɔɹd/	A set of keys laid out in a gridlike pattern, used for typing on a typewriter, computer, etc.
render verb	/ˈɹɛn.dɚ/	To cause to become.
expo noun		An exposition (type of public exhibition).
custom noun	/ˈkʌstəm/	Frequent repetition of the same behavior; way of behavior common to many; ordinary manner; habitual practice; method of doing, living or behaving.
dragon noun	/ˈdɹæɡən/	In European mythologies, a gigantic beast, typically reptilian with leathery bat-like wings, lion-like claws, scaly skin and a lizard-like body, often a…
hook noun	/hʊk/	A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
import noun	/ˈɪm.pɔɹt/	Something brought in from an exterior source, especially for sale or trade.
layout noun	/ˈleɪ.aʊt/	A structured arrangement of items within certain limits.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
figure out verb		To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
go up verb		To move upwards.
come across verb		To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition.
come up verb		To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
go ahead with verb		To resume something previously cancelled or delayed; to continue something despite known concerns.
pop up verb		To come up with a "pop" sound.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is applied · being applied · should be deployed
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have fixed · i've added · has never been

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 29 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, gonna, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: smooth /smuːð/, nonetheless /ˌnʌnðəˈlɛs/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/, animation /ˌæn.ɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/, navigation /nævɪˈɡeɪʃən/, configuration /kənˌfɪɡ.əˈɹeɪ̯.ʃən/, shock /ʃɔk/
Long words — get the stress right: manually /ˈmænj(u)əliː/, simulator /ˈsɪmjəˌleɪtɚ/, animation /ˌæn.ɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/, navigation /nævɪˈɡeɪʃən/, configuration /kənˌfɪɡ.əˈɹeɪ̯.ʃən/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like react, android, font.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: 10 Essential React Native Tips Every Developer Must Know - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Download App

Tools I use to make MY APPS

React Conf 2025 React Native Keynote

Use these CSS features instead of JavaScript

The future unfolds! How to optimize Android apps for adaptive layouts

GitHub Copilot now controls your command line...

Video

Is React Native Dead? Shopify Is Leaving

How I deploy serverless containers for free

Video

How To Land Your First Junior Dev Role

My 4.9-Star iOS App Is Actually a Website: Here’s How I Built It

Why React Native apps make all the money

Prompt Engineering - Guidelines