Shadowing Practice: 4 Ways I Document my life (for my grandkids) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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so ever since i started renting this studio i can't help
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but wonder how i'm going to remember this crazy part of my life
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and this isn't my first studio either the last one played such a pivotal part in my growth as a creative.
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And I think about those days all the time.
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They were the good old days.
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And that felt like it was yesterday.
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So it makes me wonder, am I in the good old days right now?
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Now, this might sound really weird, so just bear with me,
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but I fantasize the day when my grandkids are going through a box of my old stuff.
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And when they open that box, they can live my good old days because it's documented.
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it.
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Moments, time, ideas, all these things are so fleeting and that's all we're left with once the moment is gone.
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We're left with the documentation of it and the memory.
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So a couple of years ago,
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I picked up the camera again and that's when I swore the oath that I I would document my life. For me.
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You smiled so lovely.
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Oh, really?
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You have to be on the back of the bed.
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I don't know if there's a problem.
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I want to have experiences and memories documented to look back on and cringe.
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That view is incomprehensible.
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It just doesn't even look real.
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It's not real.
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Maybe I'm not real. Is life real?
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I think I'm in a dream.
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for me, but also for my grandkids.
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And this whole process has evolved and I have four different ways of documenting my life.
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And the fourth is the best one.
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It's the secret sauce.
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Okay, let's start with...
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But this camera you're watching it on is a hefty investment.
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It's like five grand.
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So just taking photos and videos on your phone is a great place to start documenting your life intentionally.
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Everyone's doing the same thing.
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Don't just do the same old, same old.
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Find new settings, find cool lighting, find interesting compositions.
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I will say that if you put that much money into a camera,
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you're bound to use it and you're also bound to get a good quality image.
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All the technical stuff like this.
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I didn't know any of that stuff.
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I just learned it.
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The only reason I picked up that camera again was to document my life
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so that I could look back one day and I don't know, maybe make a video about it.
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Maybe just look at it, but also incorporating old cameras, new cameras, and things like action cameras.
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This gives you like a different range of feelings and emotions you can carry when you document your life.
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People tend to skip this part when they are documenting their life and that is the appropriate storage system.
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So these are hard drives of all of my footage and first of all I don't recommend doing this.
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If I lose any of these I lose all of these clips for good and that haunts me in my dream.
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Just having one of these to sort and organize your clips.
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I usually work project by project.
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So I save all of the clips to a required project.
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And then there's folders in folders in folders to organize.
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I kid you not, I literally just bought a new hard drive and this thing corrupted.
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This has never happened to me.
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I think I just jinxed myself.
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incredibly bad.
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I am so excited.
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If you have seen my last video, I lost my hat.
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It almost felt like I lost a child or, you know, what that might feel like.
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And I was devastated.
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I mean, I love that hat and it had so many memories.
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I ran a goddamn ultra marathon in that hat.
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They discontinued my hat.
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We're back.
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Thank you, Hills Hats, for sending me out the freebie.
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I love your product.
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I just want to say hi to my grandkids.
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And yes, I was dressing like a grandpa in my 20s, dude.
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Like, what's your problem?
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Hey, you got a goddamn problem with me?
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I've been journaling for basically my entire life just in different types of formats you can see that I have
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Dom's mega scrapbook full of awesome stuff and uh I don't know
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when this was Mario Luigi and Yoshi
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but then I transitioned on to let's just say stoner scrapbooking holy moly
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but now I've decided I only need two books ever for the rest of my life
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I like it the way I move.
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I like it the way I move.
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I like it the way I move.
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I like it the way I do.
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I like it.
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Journaling is a big part of my daily routine, how I document my life and how I document my channel.
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This two book system has been a refinement of years
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and years of using different notebooks
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and this is the best way I have found to document my life for my creativity
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and my grandkids later on in the future.
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So this book is strictly for chaos ideas, throwing it around, and it is quite a robust design due to the leather.
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By the way, these are both my products and I am not in any
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Anyway, making you buy these, I'm just showing why they fit so nicely into my daily routine.
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This book is basically where all of the juice gets squeezed.
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Having keepsakes and collages that work alongside the journal entries makes the book come alive in my opinion.
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So how I do this is actually really simple.
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I just go throughout my week collecting anything 2D out of magazines, books, you cut and you paster me.
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For the written journal entries, I like to use a date stamp.
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That'll go on the left side of the page.
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Then you write the exact time and your location on the right side of the page.
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From there, I just freestyle, you know, what I'm feeling, what I'm excited about.
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And this actually gives me a lot to talk about inside my videos because it's what I'm thinking about.
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You know, you're documenting your life well when your book doesn't even close properly anymore.
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Lastly, a monthly habit tracking spread.
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By the way, this takes 10 minutes every single day, less.
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If you're just tracking your habits, it's like two minutes.
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If you're journaling as well, it's max 10, 15 minutes.
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So I do this month by month every single day, or at least I try to.
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I do miss days and then I have to go back in, fill them out.
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But this has been really, really nice to look back on as a piece of documentation.
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Probably one of the most satisfying things out there.
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So you might be watching this thinking it's pretty complex, but actually it's very simple.
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There's two months here from September to October.
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And in between, this is all the days of September.
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That's how I divide my months.
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Once you wrap your head around it, it becomes super simple.
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On the spread, it does look complex.
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Please don't be intimidated.
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it's a really fun way of documenting your life.
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Okay, so far video, photo, journaling, hat collection.
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But something that I document yearly is a letter to myself.
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Don't open until you're actually mature.
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I'd say I'm pretty mature.
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There's actually a story behind this one.
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I was made to do this in year nine by my teachers.
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They gave us like the most boring school prompts you could think of.
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Like what subjects will you be interested in 12 months time?
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Like no one cares about that stuff.
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So I wrote myself a personal letter.
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Look, mate, you're probably like 21 or something.
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I don't know, but I'm sure you're cringing at this already.
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My teacher wants us to speak about this camp in this letter, but I'm like...
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that lol and I kid you not I wrote down a team
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and a player for the AFL
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which is like the big sport of Australia from inside the center square boys kick the goal
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it would probably be the same as NFL the winner of
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that year's grand final and I also wrote down the brown low medalist which is like the MVP.
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I literally on the nose guessed them and since that day I've written a letter to myself every year since.
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If you're completely stuck on what to put inside this letter I'm going to share a list of prompts
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that I use when I am writing my letter to myself.
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So you want to start your letter with the date, time and where you are.
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I want you to then describe where you are through the smell, sounds, what you can see.
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Then talk about how you feel and what's on your mind.
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Where do you see yourself in 12 months?
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What's your scariest goal?
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What are you avoiding?
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What's your biggest fear?
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What are three wishes that you would want granted?
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And then if you want, you can put in your sports team and predict the winners.
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Good luck making your letter to yourself.
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Okay, but now it's time for the absolute secret sauce.
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So this is my wall of achievements.
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Each of these photo frames tells a different story about a different chapter of my life.
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I think this is one of my favorite ways of documenting.
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There's a few things on this wall that have already been touched on in this video,
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which is funny, you might be able to spot them painting of the sanctuary by my girlfriend Ella.
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We have the letter of resignation from when I ran an ultra marathon in my hat.
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And up the top there, I did a three week yoga retreat.
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So I'm a certified yoga teacher.
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The more you know about me.
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Now, if I was to pick my favorite achievement of all time, it would have to be my pen license.
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For me to still have this and have it framed in like the most outstanding gold frame of all time.
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I think this just takes the cake as my favorite.
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But guys, there's a spot right here that would be perfect for a plaque of some kind.
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If you could just press the subscribe button to help me get there, that would be much appreciated.
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Hungry, never be hung up,
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hung up like my enemy I used to be, oh, oh, oh
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “4 Ways I Document my life”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: letter, document, hat, camera. This video has 162 sentences and 1751 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:44. The speaker talks at a steady 138 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| clip noun | /klɪp/ | Something which clips or grasps; a device for attaching one object to another. |
| folder noun | /ˈfoʊldɚ/ | An organizer that papers are kept in, usually with an index tab, to be stored as a single unit in a filing cabinet. |
| routine noun | /ɹuˈtin/ | A course of action to be followed regularly; a standard procedure. |
| achievement noun | /əˈt͡ʃiːv.mənt/ | The act of achieving or performing; a successful performance; accomplishment. |
| mature adjective | /məˈt͡ʃʊ(ə)ɹ/ | Fully developed; grown up in terms of physical appearance, behaviour or thinking; ripe. |
| habit noun | /ˈhæb.ɪt/ | An action performed on a regular basis. |
| ultra noun | /ˈʌltɹə/ | A political extremist, in particular |
| yoga noun | /ˈjoʊ.ɡə/ | Any of several Hindu or Buddhist disciplines aimed at training the consciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquillity; especially a system… |
| marathon noun | /ˈmæɹəθən/ | A 42.195-kilometre (26-mile-385-yard) road race. |
| organize verb | /ˈɔɹɡənaɪz/ | To arrange in working order. |
| documentation noun | /ˌdɑkjəmɛnˈteɪʃən/ | A documentary. |
| prompt verb | /pɹɑmpt/ | To lead (someone) toward what they should say or do. |
| bind verb | /ˈbaɪ̯nd/ | To tie; to confine by any ligature. |
| format noun | /ˈfɔːɹ.mæt/ | The layout of a publication or document. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| look back verb | To think of (past events) in retrospect (in hindsight). |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I don't know if there's a problem.
- Hey, you got a goddamn problem with me?
- What's your scariest goal?
- What's your biggest fear?
- What are three wishes that you would want granted?
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 | has evolved · has never happened · have seen |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be intimidated · was made · been touched |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the best · the most satisfying · the most boring |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might sound · might feel · might be |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 43 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: marathon /ˈmæɹəθən/, leather /ˈlɛðɚ/, oath /ˈoʊθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: documentation /ˌdɑkjəmɛnˈteɪʃən/, transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/, composition /ˌkɑm.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, resignation /ˌɹɛz.ɪɡˈneɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: documentation /ˌdɑkjəmɛnˈteɪʃən/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, composition /ˌkɑm.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/, resignation /ˌɹɛz.ɪɡˈneɪ.ʃən/, creativity /kri.eɪˈtɪv.ᵻ.ti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like litter, clip, folder.
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.