Shadowing Practice: CET-4 Listening Practice: Writing Down Your Worries - Learn English Speaking with Video
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It's the week before final exams, and the library is full every night.
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You sit down to study, but your mind keeps going back to the same worries.
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What if I forget everything and fail the exam?
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Sound familiar? Today, I want to share a simple idea that may help.
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The idea is this: before you study, write your worries down on paper.
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It sounds almost too simple to work, right?
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But there's good scientific evidence behind it.
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In the nineteen eighties, an American psychologist called James Pennebaker ran a series of studies.
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He asked university students to write for about fifteen minutes a day, four days in a row.
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One group wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings.
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Another group wrote about everyday topics, such as their room or their plans for the day.
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Months later, the first group had visited the campus health center less often!
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But can writing also help on the day of an exam?
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In twenty eleven, researchers at the University of Chicago tested exactly that.
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Before a difficult math test, some students wrote about their worries for ten minutes.
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Other students simply sat quietly and waited for the test to begin.
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The students who wrote down their worries got better scores!
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The effect was strongest for students who usually feel very nervous about tests.
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So why does putting worries on paper actually work?
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Worry takes up space in your mind, the same space you need for thinking.
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When you write your worries down, you free up that space for the test.
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Here's how to try it. Take a piece of paper and set a timer for ten minutes.
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Write honestly about what worries you, and don't stop to fix your spelling.
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Nobody else needs to read it, so you can throw it away afterwards.
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This exam season, why not give it a try before your next test?
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Ten minutes of writing might be the most useful ten minutes of your revision!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “CET-4 Listening Practice: Writing Down Your Worries”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: worries, test, students, exam, write. This video has 26 sentences and 327 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:05. The speaker talks at a natural 157 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 6 of its 26 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 14 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| examination noun | /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/ | The act of examining. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| everyday adjective | /ˈɛvɹiˌdeɪ/ | Appropriate for ordinary use, rather than for special occasions. |
| afterwards adverb | /ˈæf.tɚ.wɚdz/ | At a later or succeeding time; after that; |
| exam verb | /ɪɡˈzæm/ | Shortened form of examine |
| mathematics noun | /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/ | An abstract representational system studying numbers, shapes, structures, quantitative change and relationships between them. |
| quietly adverb | /ˈkwaɪ.ɪt.li/ | Producing little or no noise. |
| fifteen noun | /ˈfɪf.tiːn/ | An Irish traybake made with crushed digestive biscuits, marshmallows and glacé cherries combined with condensed milk and desiccated coconut. |
| eleven noun | /əˈlɛv.ən/ | A cricket team of eleven players. Hence first eleven - the team of best cricket players (at a school), second eleven - the "B" team, etc. |
| spelling noun | /ˈspɛl.ɪŋ/ | The act, practice, ability, or subject of forming words with letters, or of reading the letters of words; orthography. |
| researcher noun | /ˈɹiˌsɝ.t͡ʃɚ/ | One who researches. |
| revision noun | /ɹəˈvɪʒ.ən/ | The action or process of reviewing, editing and amending. |
| psychologist noun | /ˌsaɪˈkɑl.ə.d͡ʒɪst/ | An expert in the field of psychology. |
| timer noun | /ˈtaɪmɚ/ | A device used to measure amounts of time. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. |
| take up verb | To pick up. |
| worry down verb | To swallow (something) with a strong effort. |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | students who wrote · students who usually |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | may help · might be |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | their deepest · the most useful |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, revision /ɹəˈvɪʒ.ən/
- Long words — get the stress right: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, psychologist /ˌsaɪˈkɑl.ə.d͡ʒɪst/
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 examination, topic, everyday.
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.