Shadowing Practice: 4 steps to learning a language with books - Learn English Speaking with Video

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The famous linguist Stephen Krashen published a book called Free Voluntary Reading, and he claims

that reading for pleasure in a foreign language may be one of the single most effective things

that you can do in that language to learn the language better.

But it's not going to be effective if you don't do it in the right way.

So in this video, I'm going to give you four steps

that will allow you to take books that you actually want to read, read them in your foreign language,

and make this an effective way to build vocabulary and learn your language.

This channel is all about helping you learn how to learn languages in a way that's fast, fun, and easy.

And I think that reading in foreign language is definitely going to make learning easier and way more fun.

So the first thing you need to do

if you're going to use books as an effective tool for

learning languages is you need to find the right book for you.

That means you're going to have to find books that are enjoyable to read.

Here I have the Game of Thrones in Spanish, which I read because I like a Game of Thrones.

Maybe you like nonfiction books, so I bought the 4 -hour workweek in Spanish.

We also need to find books that allow us to use comprehensible input,

which means that you should be able to understand about 75 to 80 percent of what you're reading,

but not everything, because if you already understand everything you're reading, it's not gonna help you learn that much.

If you're a brand, brand new beginner to your language, you might want to pick up some children's books because the vocabulary is super easy.

It's not difficult at all to understand that this says one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.

There's a gradient of children's books.

This is The Little Prince, which is originally in French, but you can get this in any language.

And I highly recommend it because even though it's for children and it uses very basic vocabulary,

it's actually really deep and adults can enjoy this a lot as well.

I also suggest graphic novels because

they give you pictures but you'll never be lost as long as you can follow the pictures

and it's a great way for being able to follow along and learn in a foreign language.

A few weeks ago I talked about using plays

or anything any kind of theater because they just use very short phrases

and you always know exactly who's speaking and so you can watch

that video that I posted a few weeks ago I'm not gonna go into detail here

but plays are a great way

and more than anything else the best kind of book

that you can read is books that you're already familiar with here I have

Harry Potter and French Greek and Spanish

because these are all languages that I'm learning

and I loved the Harry Potter books when I was growing up

so I already know what's going on and I can really understand from context

or just from memory what's happening even if I don't understand every single word

and that's a big help for comprehension and for building vocabulary.

And another important thing to remember is that shorter books are usually better.

You'll be more motivated when you see yourself progressing really quickly through the book.

And then you can go back and read it again or you can move on to the next one.

And this is a big motivating factor.

And the last step in finding the book that's right for you is where are you gonna get it?

I find eBay to be the best place for getting used books because they're really cheap.

I usually use

Wikipedia to find the name of that book in the foreign language.

Then I go to eBay and find the book.

And they can get shipped right to your door.

And you can't always just go to the bookstore and find the right book that you're looking for in a foreign language,

unless you live in that country.

But eBay, you can get pretty much any book in any language.

The second step in using books to learn a foreign language is you're just going to start reading purely for enjoyment.

Just because you like reading and because it's a story that's interesting to you.

Then you're going to get yourself a colored highlighter.

And every time you run into a word during the story that you don't understand, you're going to highlight that word.

Now it's very important that you do not stop to look up the meaning of that word.

All you're going to do is highlight it.

That way you can come back later and look up the definition,

but you're not going to stop and take the time to do it while you're reading.

You don't want to break the flow of your reading.

And this is a really important exercise

that's going to help you be comfortable with not understanding 100 % of what you read.

I mean you have to get comfortable with that because you're not always gonna understand everything.

Now try to just highlight one or two words per page maximum and preferably one every two to three pages.

You don't want to underline or highlight every single word that you don't understand.

It's gonna take too long and you're gonna get overwhelmed.

Once you finish reading through the book one time just for enjoyment,

we're gonna make a dictionary that is specific to you and to the book that you're reading.

You're going to get an index card

and then you're going to make a glossary

that you tape right to the front of the book so

that it's always there for you to reference every time you read the book from now on.

So to do this, you're just gonna flip through the book, you're gonna find every word that you've highlighted,

then you're gonna go to wordreference .com or whatever website or app it is that you prefer to use for translating words.

You're gonna look up the highlighted words and then you're just gonna write them on the index card along with their definition.

Then you tape it to the front of the book

and you'll always have this here as a reference every time you read through the book from now on.

And the final step for learning a new language with books is you're just gonna repeat steps two and three,

but this time you have a quick reference to go to every time you run into a word you're not familiar with.

And every time you get to a new word, you're gonna remember that this is a word you're trying to memorize.

Now, don't go immediately to the dictionary that you've taped to the cover of the book.

What you're gonna do is use this as a sort of mini quiz to test yourself

and see if you can remember that word.

These few seconds where you're actually exerting yourself trying to remember the meaning,

it's proven that this short period of time is actually very beneficial in helping you remember that word in the future.

So you're gonna take a minute try to remember the word

and if you absolutely can't then you flip to the beginning of the book and that's when you look at your dictionary.

And of course as you read through the second time you're gonna get yourself a different color highlighter

and when you're done with the book you're gonna make yourself a second dictionary that you'll also tape to the cover.

Read through this book three or four times

and you should be able to understand every single word in the entire book

and if you think about it this book took me several months to read

and there's a lot of words in here

and I'm just able to understand all of them now

because I've used this method so thanks a ton for watching my video

if you have any questions comments concerns

or any suggestions for the other language learners on this channel

100

please feel free to leave me a comment below otherwise be sure to like and subscribe

101

And thanks for watching my video.

102

We'll see you guys next Monday

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “4 steps to learning a language with books”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: language, word, reading, foreign, learn. This video has 102 sentences and 1406 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:46. The speaker talks fast, about 208 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 90% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

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

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
highlight verb	/ˈhaɪˌlaɪt/	To make prominent; emphasize.
tape noun	/teɪ̯p/	Flexible material in a roll with a sticky surface on one or both sides; adhesive tape.
dictionary noun	/ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/	A reference work listing words or names from one or more languages, usually ordered alphabetically, explaining each word's meanings or senses, oftentimes also…
vocabulary noun	/vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/	A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning.
flip verb	/flɪp/	To throw so as to turn over.
enjoyment noun	/ɪnˈd͡ʒɔɪ.mənt/	The condition of enjoying anything.
motivate verb	/ˈmoʊ.tɪ.veɪt/	To provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage; to actuate.
mini adjective	/ˈmɪn.i/	Miniature, tiny, small.
input noun	/ˈɪnpʊt/	The act or process of putting in; infusion.
theater noun	/ˈθi(ə)tɚ/	A place or building, consisting of a stage and seating, in which an audience gathers to watch plays, musical performances, public ceremonies, and so on.
phrase noun	/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/	A short written or spoken expression.
graphic adjective	/ˈɡɹæfɪk/	Drawn, pictorial.
suggestion noun	/səˈd͡ʒɛst.ʃən/	Something suggested (with subsequent adposition being for)
purely adverb	/ˈpjʊɹli/	Wholly; really, completely.
beneficial adjective	/ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/	Helpful or good to something or someone.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
read through verb		To thoroughly read something to check or proofread it.
look up verb	/ˌlʊk ˈʌp/	To have better prospects.
come back verb		To return to a place.
flip through verb		Synonym of thumb (“to turn the pages of (a book) in order to read it cursorily”).
follow along verb		To continue behind or beside an animal, person, vehicle or other object, especially as a companion.
go back verb		To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
grow up verb		To mature and become an adult.
pick up verb		To lift; to grasp and raise.

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've highlighted · you've taped · I've used
Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea	should be
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	may be · might want
Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group	the best

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 74 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, gonna, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dictionary /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/, suggestion /səˈd͡ʒɛst.ʃən/, beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, comprehension /ˌkɑmpɹɪˈhɛnʃn̩/
Long words — get the stress right: dictionary /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, comprehensible /kɒmpɹəˈhɛnsɪbəl/

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 highlight, tape, dictionary.

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: 4 steps to learning a language with books - Learn English Speaking with Video

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