Shadowing Practice: Best HS Graduation Speech Ever! Weber High Graduation 2015 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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You know, I've never understood how, um, imagining the audience naked was supposed to make you less nervous.

Honestly I'm just uncomfortable right now.

Especially with Mr. Wardle.

Um, okay. To ensure clear communication with this "social media generation", hashtags and pop-culture references will be used.

#you'rewelcome.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Today is an exciting day: today I'm going to give you a speech.

Now, graduates, I don't know if you know me, but I'm Chase.

We went to High School together.

That was good times, follow me on Twitter.

And I want to give a big congratulations to everyone --including myself-- for being here today.

The world we live in is plagued with dangers: Ebola, ISIS, Global Warming, facial acne.

And despite all the odds, we still managed to graduate, so let's give us a big round of applause.

It was only three years ago that we came to the labyrinth known as Weber High.

As young, timid sophomores we found ourselves lost in its halls like they were the changing stair cases of Hogwarts.

We danced to lyrics we did not understand in the song "Gangnam Style".

We said "YOLO" and "cray-cray" as if we were supposed to.

Thank goodness we have "yeet" now.

We anticipated our cataclysmic doom at the end of 2012.

And back then, Weber High School had no windows.

Oh wait, it still doesn't.

Ooh. I know, I know, it was a cliché joke but it was still necessary, #sorrynotsorry.

Though nervous as sophomores, we started getting a hang of things, and Junior year for many of us brought experience, and for many more of us it meant Stage 1 Senioritis.

And now, here we are: done with High School!

As Charles Dickens put it, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." But now we are through with the stressful days of AP and ACT testing.

We have raised tens of thousands of dollars for Quarters & Cans, and inhaled hundreds of pounds of baby powder during football.

We have survived "WHS Screenshots".

And last but not least, we have realized that we are the most attractive class ever.

As our Student Body President, Mikah Meyer, has observed, quote, "One might say we've aged well." And now as seniors listening to me deliver this brilliant graduation speech, we are through, afflicted and overwhelmed with Senioritis.

Now at the end of our careers as students, we have an opportunity: now is our time to take on the world, and to find and pursue our passions; to quote unquote, "Leave a Legacy." William Shakespeare, and also Channing Tatum, once said, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." In life, we can't always count on being born great, or having greatness thrust upon us, but always, always remember that the opportunity to achieve greatness is within our grasp.

Keep in mind that many of our social and political leaders and heroes started their lives as an average person; as just one of you and me.

Despite the failures and mistakes we will make, and although me may be "average", we find that the average can achieve greatness, whether recognized by the world or just a few.

Greatness comes from our friends reaching out to us, those who go out of their way to be thoughtful; the "unsung heroes".

If there's anything you take from today, remember that to "leave a legacy" and to "achieve greatness" is not to get money and recognition, it's to leave those with whom you cross paths with a little more happiness and hope.

Our time here together as a senior class will not be remembered by grades, popularity, likes, or favorites, but by our relationships.

The kind of person you were.

These are legacies, the kind we must leave.

Class of 2015, it's been a #splendid 3 years with you, and from the bottom of my heart I wish you all the very, very, very best.

Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Best HS Graduation Speech Ever! Weber High Graduation 2015”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: greatness, achieve, average. This video has 39 sentences and 666 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:20. The speaker talks at a natural 153 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% 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

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
greatness noun	/ˈɡɹeɪtnəs/	The state, condition, or quality of being great
cray noun	/kɹæɪ/	A crayfish or lobster.
sophomore noun	/ˈsɑf.mɔɹ/	A second-year undergraduate student in a college or university, or a second-year student in a four-year secondary school or high school.
thrust verb	/θɹʌst/	To make advance with force.
afflict verb	/əˈflɪkt/	To cause (someone) pain, suffering or distress.
cataclysmic adjective	/ˌkætəˈklɪzmɪk/	Of or pertaining to a cataclysm; causing great destruction or upheaval; catastrophic.
excite verb	/ɪkˈsaɪt/	To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement.
inhale verb	/ɪnˈheɪl/	To draw air into the lungs, through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm.
labyrinth noun	/ˈlæb.ə.ɹɪnθ/	A complicated irregular network of passages or paths, especially underground or covered, in which it is difficult to find one's way.
overwhelm verb	/ˌoʊ.vɚˈwɛlm/	To engulf, surge over and submerge.
unquote		Used in speech to indicate the end of a quotation.
unsung adjective	/ˌʌnˈsʌŋ/	Which has not been lauded or appreciated.
acne noun	/ˈækni/	A skin condition, usually of the face, that is common in adolescents. It is characterised by red pimples, and is caused by the inflammation of sebaceous glands…
hashtag noun	/ˈhæʃˌtæɡ/	A metadata tag, signaled by a preceding hash sign (#), used to label content.
anticipate verb	/ænˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/	To act before (someone), especially to prevent an action.

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	I've never understood · have raised · have survived
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is plagued · are born · will not be remembered

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, can't, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thrust /θɹʌst/, labyrinth /ˈlæb.ə.ɹɪnθ/, thoughtful /ˈθɔːtfəl/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: hashtag /ˈhæʃˌtæɡ/, graduation /ˌɡɹæd͡ʒuˈeɪʃən/, facial /ˈfeɪ.ʃəl/
Long words — get the stress right: cataclysmic /ˌkætəˈklɪzmɪk/, anticipate /ænˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/, graduation /ˌɡɹæd͡ʒuˈeɪʃən/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/

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 greatness, cray, sophomore.

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: Best HS Graduation Speech Ever! Weber High Graduation 2015 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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