Shadowing Practice: 2021 Class Day Address: HMS Dean George Q. Daley - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine class of 2021, it's my pleasure to celebrate with you and your families and loved ones today, and my privilege to congratulate you on becoming Harvard's newest doctors and dentists.
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Like all of you, I wish we were celebrating together in person.
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I wish we could be gathered under the tent in the majestic Harvard Medical School quadrangle with friends, family, and colleagues.
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With a successful rollout of vaccinations, I think we can all see a future when we will indeed gather again together.
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But in the meantime, I hope that you, our graduates, are safe and surrounded by your family and friends enjoying a private celebration.
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Today marks the culmination of your years of hard work, your sacrifices, and your profound commitment to the calling of medicine.
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Today is the end of your many years as a student, and the beginning of your many years as a doctor, dedicated to serving and caring for others.
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In truth however, all of us in this noble profession-- you, your teachers, your attending physicians, your deans, all of us who have chosen medicine as our lives' calling will forever be students.
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Medicine is constantly evolving and always unpredictable.
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Whatever your chosen specialty or discipline, every day will bring new questions, new unknowns, and new events that will challenge your knowledge and confidence.
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Over the past year, this truth has never been more apparent.
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Class of 2021, you have witnessed an epic defining public health crisis.
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Decades from now, you'll think back on this past year and reflect on those experiences.
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I hope those reflections include a recognition of how what we have learned in this past year have placed all of you on a path to make the world a safer and more just place.
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COVID-19 has changed the world.
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But today, you stand as the newest foot soldiers in a war that is much more than a battle against a single virus.
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Over the past year, you have witnessed how the inadequacies and deep frailties of our health care system have been laid bare.
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If there was ever a notion that we as doctors, serve best when we diagnose and treat disease, we can safely put that quaint notion to rest.
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To truly care for our patients, we must be activists.
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We must be advocates.
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We must be agents for change, whether by encouraging adherence to public health measures, combating vaccine hesitancy, or fighting to repair a health care system riddled with deep disparities for people of color, a system that tolerates inequities, leaving millions unprotected or poorly protected from what should be every individual's fundamental right to health care.
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Medicine has always been a demanding profession.
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And today, it is as challenging a profession as perhaps it has ever been.
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But when I look at you, the class of 2021, I am inspired.
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And I am truly optimistic for our future.
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Over the past year, I've witnessed heroism in medicine, from physicians working tirelessly on the front lines, sometimes outside their areas of specialty, recalling skills from their earliest days of training, to nurses serving as intensely direct caregivers at personal risk, and serving as proxies for family members who weren't allowed to enter an ICU.
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From the support staff maintaining our medical facilities, to the scientists uniting to elevate the priorities of the pandemic over their individual goals.
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You, class of 2021-- you were right there with them.
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You helped found a nationwide movement to aid frontline health care workers.
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You formed rapid response teams to support and inform at-risk populations.
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You mobilized voters, promoted civic engagement.
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You developed new approaches to COVID-19 screening for the most vulnerable.
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And you created a COVID-19 curriculum that has been adopted at medical schools and by health care professionals in more than 100 countries on six continents.
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All the while, you excelled at your studies, you published research breakthroughs, you invented new technologies, and you fought for social justice, including for your DACA classmates, some of whom are graduating with you today.
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Above all, you never wavered.
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You wanted to be in the fray.
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Confronted by this once-a-century pandemic that altered every aspect of your education and personal lives, you demonstrated strength, empathy, resilience, and perseverance.
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You showed your profound compassion for your patients, your classmates, and your fellow human beings.
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You never let go of that thirst for knowledge and the desire to effect change that brought you to Harvard Medical School in the first place.
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As doctors, we will never possess all the knowledge and expertise we need.
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But what ultimately allows us to succeed, what allows our profession to carry the well-justified honor, respect, and trust of the communities we care for are the very traits you have so clearly demonstrated.
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If you care for your patience with compassion, sensitivity, and respect, if you embrace the truth that you are forever a student with an open mind, limitless curiosity, and relentless desire to use your skills and knowledge to alleviate suffering to improve people's lives and to make the world better, you will be great doctors, no matter the circumstance, no matter the events that transpire.
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I want to thank you for all that you have done and will do in service to Harvard Medical School and to the world.
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I am honored to now call you my colleagues.
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On behalf of your teachers, mentors, and the alumni community that you now join, I want to say again, congratulations.
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We can't wait to see what you accomplish next.

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What You'll Learn

This video helps you build two key speaking skills: formal address delivery (useful for presentations or speeches) and emotional emphasis (conveying inspiration and sincerity). You’ll also practice structuring complex ideas clearly, a must for professional communication. Use "shadow speak" to mimic the speaker’s flow—repeat phrases like "Today marks the culmination" immediately after hearing them to master pacing.

Listen For These Sounds

Notice connected speech in phrases like "it's my pleasure" (reduced to "it's m'pleasure") and "you and your" (linked as "you 'n your"). The speaker often reduces "and" to "'n" and shortens "I wish we could" to "I wish we could" (with a light "d" sound). Listen for how "medicine is constantly evolving" flows smoothly, with no pauses between words—this is key to natural English rhythm. Practice these links to sound more fluent.

Say It Like a Native

Mirror the speaker’s stress and rhythm by emphasizing key words: "hard work," "sacrifices," "commitment," and "change." Pause slightly before impactful statements like "But in the meantime" to build anticipation. Use "shadow speech" to copy the rising intonation in questions like "Whatever your chosen specialty or discipline?" and the falling tone in declaratives like "You will be great doctors." Focus on the speaker’s steady pace—avoid rushing, even in longer sentences. This will help you sound confident and authoritative, just like a native.

Learning English with YouTube videos like this one is a great way to practice real-world language. Use "shadowspeak" techniques daily—play a short clip, pause, and repeat it aloud, matching the tone and speed. Over time, you’ll notice your pronunciation and fluency improve, making you more comfortable in professional and personal settings.

Grammar in this video

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

StructureIn the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters nowhave chosen · has never been · have witnessed
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does itcould be gathered · have been laid · weren't allowed

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 →