Shadowing Practice: BE POSITIVE, BE LUCKY - English Listening Practice. - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hi everyone, and welcome back to English the Gab Lab.
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Have you ever felt like you just have bad luck?
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Or that everything seems to go wrong?
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Don't worry, we've all been there.
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But in this video, I'm going to give you the solution.
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Today, I'm going to tell you the story of Ann and Steve.
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They both opened the same kind of business in the same town, and they both served excellent coffee.
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But one of them became successful, while the other one failed.
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Why?
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In this video, you're going to learn about the power of mindset.
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You'll improve your English listening skills with a simple story, and you'll discover how to start attracting good things into your life today.
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Make sure to stay until the end because I have a special challenge for you.
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So get comfortable, relax, and pay close attention.
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Let's get started.
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This is a story about two people who wanted to open a coffee shop in the same town.
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Their names were Ann and Steve.
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They both opened their businesses at the same time.
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Both were very hard workers and both had excellent coffee.
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However, they had very different ways of looking at the world.
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Anne was a positive thinker.
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Every morning, when she woke up, she told herself, Today is going to be a great day.
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I am going to meet interesting people.
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Then she went to work with a smile.
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Steve, on the other hand, was a worry thinker.
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He usually had negative thoughts.
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Every morning, he thought, I hope I don't lose money today.
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Life is difficult, and people are stressed.
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When Anne opened her coffee shop, she smiled at every customer.
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It didn't matter how they felt, she always welcomed them with a smile.
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If a customer was in a bad mood or rude, Anne thought, Maybe they had a bad morning.
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I will give them some extra kindness.
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Because she was positive, she saw small opportunities.
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One day, a famous food critic entered her shop.
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Anne was so welcoming that they started to talk.
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The critic loved her energy and wrote a fantastic review about her coffee shop.
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In Steve's shop, things were very different.
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Steve was always worried about his bills.
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When a customer entered, he didn't smile much because he was thinking about his own problems.
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If a customer was rude, Steve got into a bad mood too.
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He thought to himself, business is very hard.
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One day, the same food critic visited Steve's shop.
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Steve was busy complaining about the price of milk.
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The critic felt uncomfortable and left quickly.
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He didn't write anything.
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Six months later, Anne's coffee shop was always full.
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Her employees were happy because her positive energy was contagious.
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People didn't go there only for the coffee.
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They went there to feel better.
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Anne often said, I am so lucky.
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But the truth was that her mindset created her luck.
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She was open to seeing the good things, so she found them.
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In contrast, Steve was struggling.
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He said, Anne is just lucky and I have bad luck.
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He didn't realize that his negative thoughts were like a wall.
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He was so focused on problems that he couldn't see solutions.
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He stopped trying new things because he was afraid of failing.
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One night, Steve and Anne met for dinner.
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Steve asked her, Anne, why do good things always happen to you?
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Ann smiled, and said, Steve, I don't wait for good things to happen, to be happy.
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First, I stay positive, and then the good things appear.
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When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
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Steve went home and thought about Anne's words.
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For the first time, he decided to change his internal dialogue.
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He realized that being positive is not about ignoring reality.
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It is about choosing where to put your attention.
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Slowly, his luck began to change.
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And finally, his business started to work.
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Perfect!
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Now that you've heard the story, let's review the most important phrases.
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This will help you remember the vocabulary and the lesson.
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Let's start.
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they had different ways of looking at the world one thinks positively
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and the other thinks negatively a positive person always sees the good in everything
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but a negative person only sees the problems without looking further
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so i have a question for you what about your mindset are you a positive or a negative thinker?
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Write it in the comments below.
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I want to read your answers.
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Let's continue with more key phrases from the story.
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She smiled at every customer.
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He was thinking about his own problems.
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Her positive energy was contagious.
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Then we have this powerful sentence.
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Her mindset created her luck.
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This means that thanks to her positive thinking, she actually created her own good luck.
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Great job!
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To finish our story, remember this.
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Anne was successful because she was open to seeing the good things.
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But Steve had a different experience.
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He was so focused on problems that he couldn't see solutions.
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As you can see, the secret isn't in the books.
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It's in your mind.
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Try to look on the bright side of things, little by little, and you will see how good things start to happen to you.
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Now, I have a small challenge for you.
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I prepared a short, three -question test to check your understanding.
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Don't forget to write your answers in the comments.
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If they are all correct, I will give you a heart.
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Let's get started.
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1. How did Anne start her day?
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A. Complaining B.
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With a smile C.
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Counting money 2.
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Why did the food critic like Anne's shop?
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A. Because of her energy B.
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Because of the price C.
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Because it was big 3.
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What was Steve's main problem?
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A. The coffee was bad B.
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He had no customers C.
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His negative mindset
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perfect you finished if you liked this video please give it a thumbs up
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and don't forget to subscribe to the channel
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so you don't miss our future lessons see you in the next video bye
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “BE POSITIVE, BE LUCKY - English Listening Practice”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Steve, Anne, positive, coffee, shop. This video has 112 sentences and 1016 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:00. The speaker talks at a steady 113 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 87% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| critic noun | /ˈkɹɪt.ɪk/ | A person who appraises the works of others. |
| mindset noun | /ˈmaɪn(d)ˌsɛt/ | A way of thinking; an attitude or opinion, especially a habitual one. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| mood noun | /muːd/ | A mental or emotional state, composure. |
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| rude adjective | /ɹuːd/ | Lacking in refinement or civility; bad-mannered; discourteous. |
| complain verb | /kəmˈpleɪn/ | To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment. |
| contagious adjective | /kənˈteɪ.d͡ʒəs/ | Easily transmitted to others. |
| ignore verb | /ɪɡˈnɔː/ | To deliberately not listen or pay attention to. |
| contrast noun | /kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/ | The degree of this difference. |
| worker noun | /ˈwɝ.kɚ/ | One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor. |
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| discover verb | /dɪˈskʌvə/ | To find or learn something for the first time. |
| dialogue noun | /ˈdaɪəˌlɑɡ/ | A conversation or other form of discourse between two or more individuals. |
| relax verb | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | To make something loose. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Have you ever felt like you just have bad luck?
- Don't worry, we've all been there.
- Let's continue with more key phrases from the story.
- Don't forget to write your answers in the comments.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was thinking · was struggling |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | start attracting · stopped trying |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | I'm going to give · I'm going to tell · you're going to learn |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | You'll improve · will give · will help |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 21 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, didn't, couldn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thumb /ˈθʌm/, thinker /ˈθɪŋ.kɚ/
- Long words — get the stress right: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, positively /ˈpɑ.zɪ.tɪv.li/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/
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 critic, mindset, lesson.
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.