Shadowing Practice: 2 Tips For Improving Your *Listening* Skills - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
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How can you improve your listening?
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Let's talk about it.
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In today's video, I want to give you two tips for improving your listening skills.
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This is going to help you feel more comfortable when you hear native speakers talking,
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and it's also going to help your speaking because when you can understand other people, you You can imitate their style of speaking.
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Let's start with the first tip.
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My first tip is to listen to something that you can also read at the same time.
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So a lot of YouTube videos, a lot of podcasts, a lot of movies have a transcript or subtitle options.
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And this is a great tool that you can use when you're learning English.
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I think a lot of English learners feel negatively about using a transcript or using subtitles, but if you really want to improve your listening skills,
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don't be ashamed to use it.
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I don't mean that you should use it all the time, but you can listen to something without the subtitles first,
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without the transcript, just to test your ears.
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Then use the transcript or use the subtitles to pick up any other words that you didn't get.
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And even if you feel like you understood the video or the podcast or the movie pretty well,
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I bet that there are plenty of new expressions that you didn't completely hear or listen to the first time,
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but now you can get it because you're reading at the same time.
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And this is going to help you to pick up all of the expressions that native speakers say when they're talking.
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So I recommend reading at the same time when you are listening to something.
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You can do it without reading first and then read, but this is going to help you to pick up every
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little expression my second tip is to listen to the material at least two times
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if you're watching this youtube video for example
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if you're watching this youtube video once that's great
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but the second time you're gonna pick up more you're gonna hear some natural expressions you're gonna hear some pronunciation
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that you you didn't hear the first time, and it's going to refine.
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It's going to make your skills even better.
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It's going to refine those skills so that you can really hear each expression.
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It's great to get the expressions in context, but if you want to be able to use them yourself,
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and if you want to be able to get jokes or humor or sarcasm, you're going to need to pick up each of those expressions.
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So I recommend listening to the same material at least twice.
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I want to give you as well something that you can use to start with these two tips today.
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So in the comments below this video, in the description, I'm going to give you a link to one of my videos that has a full transcript.
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The full transcript that you can follow
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and you can listen to as you're reading and you can listen to it at least twice.
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Today you have no excuse.
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You can follow these two tips.
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Just click the link below this video.
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It's going to take you to that video with the full transcript to improve your listening skills today.
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I hope you have a wonderful day.
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Enjoy the rest of it and I'll see you later.
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Goodbye.
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If you enjoyed this video, be sure to download my free ebook where you can learn five steps to becoming a confident English speaker.
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You can share it on Facebook, upgrade the listening audio version, and don't forget to check your email to get the free ebook.
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Let's see what it is.
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right here is the free ebook.
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You can download yours today.
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Just click on the link and it will be in your email within a few seconds.
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Thanks so much for learning with me.
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Bye!
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About This Lesson
You're practicing English with "2 Tips For Improving Your *Listening* Skills" using the Shadowing technique — a method originally developed for professional interpreter training.
Focus on sounding like the speaker — not just repeating words. With 15–30 minutes of daily practice, you'll build real-world speaking confidence.
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.