Shadowing Practice: 5 Ways to Improve Your Listening Skills in English and Understand Native Speakers - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Hello everyone!
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Hello everyone!
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Today I would like to teach you some of the ways you can improve your listening English.
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Listening is a really important part of developing your fluency and understanding native speakers more.
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So now let's take a look at five easy steps to improve your listening.
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So my first tip is going to be practice listening while reading simultaneously.
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What it means is to just use subtitles and try to actually read them to you.
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One of the examples might be using subtitles on YouTube videos, for example, or using subtitles when you watch movies.
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I feel like a lot of people underestimate the value of subtitles.
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Subtitles are really important to understand the text.
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Even native speakers sometimes use subtitles when the speech is too unclear, if they want to make sure that they really remember everything.
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I know a lot of native English speakers who use subtitles when they watch TV shows or movies in English.
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If you like listening to podcasts,
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you can always download the transcripts if they are available to your podcast and listen while reading simultaneously.
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If you like reading books, you can also listen to audiobooks, again, simultaneously.
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You can read and listen.
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It's a really good practice.
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Reading while listening.
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And of course, if you're using textbooks in English,
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they also have a great variety of exercises for you with the reading practice as well as the listening.
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So they always include the listening practice as well.
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And when you actively try to improve your listening in English,
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there is a great system that I recommend using to everyone.
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This system will tremendously help you improve your listening in English and it can also actually help you improve your accent.
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So step number one is to listen to the audio without looking at anything.
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Just listen.
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The first step is just to try to understand how much you can grasp from just listening.
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Don't peek, don't look at anything, just listen.
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And during this first part, you're learning to understand the gist of the text.
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The most important part.
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You don't need to understand everything.
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Just the most important part.
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This is why the first step is really important.
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Step two is repeat.
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We do exactly the same.
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But just again.
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Again, you listen to the audio one more time without looking at anything.
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If you have a text, for example, just listen to it again.
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Don't peek.
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Here, try to listen to more words.
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Try to understand more words, more expressions, more critical points.
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Try to just listen one more time.
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Step three is to get reading.
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Now is the time to look at your text.
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Look at the text, relax, read it, just, you know, skip through it.
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try to understand the gist of the text again the most important parts
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and if there are some words
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that you don't know then it's the time to copy them down to your notebook
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or to just transfer them to your Anki app
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if you're using Anki like I do and
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if you're not familiar with Anki here is my video about this app it's a great app
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and I'm sure it will help you memorize the vocabulary in english faster step four is listening with the text
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so now you're already super familiar with the text you looked
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up all the words all the expressions you're not familiar with
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and now is the time to listen while you're looking at the text
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while you're reading along you can read out loud
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or it's not necessary to actually read out loud it just depends on you again just listen
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and read at the same time finally step number five is to listen again without looking at the text
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so this whole system is comprised of five steps
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and the final step is to just listen again
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and i'm sure by this time you're gonna understand the like 99 of the text is gonna be
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so familiar to you right now and you're just gonna feel
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so confident so happy that you understand so so much try this
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and then leave the comments in the description
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if this method helped you my tip number two is to
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listen to what you actually enjoy listening to it seems like an obvious tip
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but for me for a long time it wasn't
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that obvious you know a lot of people like listening to music for example
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but i personally don't really listen to music that much and when
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so many people advise you to listen to music to look
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at the lyrics of the songs i just don't like listening to music
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and i always felt like maybe i was missing out
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but actually you're not missing out
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if you're listening to something you like then amazing i personally like listening to podcasts
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and for me this is my listening practice i don't listen to music
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but it's okay my tip number three kind of contradicts my tip number four
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because it's about challenging yourself with something you're not quite familiar with for example i really like yoga for example
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and i like listening to everything about yoga you know like creating books about yoga things like that
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but one day i'm like hey i think i should listen
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to something about space you know about the planets about our planet earth it's completely different
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but again i am interested in this this is the most
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important thing it can be different you know usually you like listening something about cars
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or about technology or about money
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but just one day you decided to listen to something about
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food for example it's just a good challenge you know listen to something completely different from what you're used to
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and actually this is where coursera is going to help you
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a lot they have a lot of great courses about a
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lot of different topics they have subtitles they have transcripts
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and you can also listen and watch
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and it's just amazing i personally use their website to learn chinese
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and there are a lot of different courses for english learners
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as well i'm gonna link some of my favorites in the description to this video.
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My tip number four is gonna be about exposing yourself to various dialects
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and accents and this is something I kind of struggle with
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because I had a period of time
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when I just refused to listen to anything but American accent and this is not a good thinking.
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You should try to listen to as many accents, as many dialects as you can.
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And the most obvious example is just going to be to listen to TV shows in American accent,
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such as Friends, The Office, Grey's Anatomy, and also listen and watch TV shows in British English,
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like The Crown, Sherlock, Downton Abbey, things like that.
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So these TV shows are completely different.
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The storyline is different and the accents are different and they're going to help you improve your listening a ton.
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And here, if you just don't want to watch any TV shows or movies, you can also go on italki.
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There are a lot of great teachers from all over the world and their accents are different, their dialects are different.
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So you can just talk to them, you know, talk to different teachers from a lot of different countries
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and this is also going to help you improve your listening in English.
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And my last tip, the tip number five is going to be a pretty interesting one.
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It's kind of funny too.
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It's going to be about learning some filler words so that you can by yourself some time if you don't understand anything.
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You know, there are some moments when a person is talking to you and you feel like you're struggling.
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You know, you feel like you're not following the conversation at all.
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And this is a good way to learn some filler words.
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Or maybe you do understand something and you're just not sure you need some time to think.
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So you can use these filler words.
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You can use I mean, actually, basically, like, okay, so.
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So I think that's all for today's video.
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These are all my tips on how you can improve your listening skills in English.
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Again, check out Coursera, check out italki, check out Anki.
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All of these resources are just a great start
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and thanks for watching this video subscribe to my channel follow me on Instagram
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and check out my patreon page see you next time bye
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Context & Background
In the quest to master English, listening skills play a crucial role in fluency and effective communication. The speaker in the video emphasizes the significance of being able to understand native speakers, highlighting various intuitive methods to enhance these skills. By combining auditory and visual learning, English learners can dramatically improve their comprehension and retention abilities. This approach not only aids in grasping everyday conversations but also helps in adapting to various accents and speech speeds commonly encountered by native speakers.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- Practice listening while reading: Utilize subtitles in videos and movies to enhance understanding.
- Download transcripts: Listening to podcasts paired with transcripts is an effective way to follow along.
- Listen without looking: Focus solely on the audio to capture the main ideas of the dialogue.
- Repeat for clarity: By listening again, you can absorb more vocabulary and expressions.
- Utilize Anki for vocabulary: Writing down new words helps in retaining them and accelerating your learning process.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively tackle the listening challenges presented in the video, follow this step-by-step shadowing guide:
- First Listening Session: Begin by listening to the audio without any visual aid. Concentrate on acquiring the general gist of the dialogue. This method not only acclimates you to the rhythm and intonation of native speakers but also cultivates a sense of contextual understanding. Don't worry about catching every word; focus on the overall message.
- Second Listening Session: Replay the audio once more without looking. This time, pay close attention to additional words and phrases. As you listen, try to identify key expressions and nuances that convey the speaker's intent.
- Read Along: Now it’s time to engage with the text. Read the material while the audio plays in the background. This dual engagement promotes better understanding and aids in linking spoken language with written forms, a vital skill for anyone looking to learn English with YouTube or other resources.
- Take Notes: Write down any unfamiliar words or phrases. Incorporating them into your vocabulary through apps like Anki can facilitate effective recall and usage in future conversations.
By following this structured approach and integrating the practice of shadowspeak, you will enhance your ability to understand and communicate in English. Regular practice on a shadowing site or utilizing videos will ensure that you are always improving your listening skills and becoming more proficient in everyday interactions.
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.
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