Shadowing Practice: Communicating with Your Child - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Positive communication with our children helps them develop in a healthy way and strengthens our bond with them.

Parents can really kind of tune in to what their kids are saying to kind of build those communication skills, help their children build language skills, and by saying, you know, what are -- what did you say, and repeating back what the kids said and reflecting on that emotion that kids are expressing.

There are four steps for communicating positively with your child.

Step One, praise.

Use praise to help your child know what you'd like them to do.

Be clear and specific with your praise.

Instead of good job, say good job putting away your toys.

Great job putting your toys away, Jenny.

It's very, very important as a parent to be conscious as much as possible of what your kids are doing; that you're checking in on them enough; that there's opportunities to acknowledge what they're doing that it's good.

Step Two, imitation.

You can copy or imitate the things your child is doing that you want them to keep doing.

This shows your child that you are paying attention to them and interested in what they are doing.

When copying and imitating, make sure you do the things the way your child does.

Do not try to do things better or faster than your child.

Then they see that you've recognized that they're doing something that you're also doing.

Wow. Mommy likes that.

Mommy likes to play with my dolls too.

So that must be something good that I'm doing.

I'm going to do that again in the future.

Step Three, description.

Describing or talking about what your child is doing while they play shows your child you are noticing their good behavior.

You can act like a sportscaster who is telling people what is happening in a game.

You are putting the red block on the green block and making a tall tower.

Step Four, active listening.

Giving your child your full attention when you are playing and talking with them can help build your relationship.

At least once a day try to really focus on being with your child.

Try to decrease distractions, like cell phones, so you can give her your full attention.

One way to actively listen is to talk about what your child is doing or to repeat what your child says.

You can also add more detail to encourage them to talk to you more.

For example, your child may say I colored it, but with active listening you may add to that and say yes, you colored her dress blue and red.

Active listening can also help children name their feelings.

For example, if your child is crying and says she's not happy, you may say you seem unhappy and sad.

Playtime is a great time to practice praise, imitation, description and active listening.

You can also use these skills any time you are with your child; at dinner, in the car, and when giving a bath.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 34 sentences and 505 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:06. The speaker talks at a natural 163 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 90% 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
praise verb	/pɹeɪz/	To give praise to; to commend, glorify, or worship.
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.
toy noun	/tɔɪ/	Something to play with, especially as intended for use by a child.
encourage verb	/ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/	To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.
bath noun	/bɑːθ/	A tub or pool which is used for bathing: bathtub.
reflect verb	/ɹɪˈflɛkt/	To bend back (light, etc.) from a surface.
tune noun	/tjuːn/	A melody.
actively adverb	/ˈæktɪvli/	In an active manner.
communicate verb	/kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/	To impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell.
emotion noun	/ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/	A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data.
acknowledge verb	/əkˈnɑ.lɪd͡ʒ/	To admit the knowledge of; to recognize as a fact or truth; to declare one's belief in.
conscious adjective	/ˈkɑn.ʃəs/	Alert, awake; with one's mental faculties active.
decrease verb	/dɪˈkɹiːs/	Of a quantity, to become smaller.
doll noun	/dɑl/	A small figure resembling a human being that is used as a toy.
unhappy adjective	/ʌnˈhæpi/	Not happy; sad.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
check in on verb	To pay a visit in order to monitor the health, security or safety of (someone or something).
put away verb	To put (something) in its usual storage place; to place out of the way, clean up.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, they're, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: bath /bɑːθ/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, conscious /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/, distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/, imitation /ɪmɪˈteɪ̯ʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, positively /ˈpɑ.zɪ.tɪv.li/, imitation /ɪmɪˈteɪ̯ʃən/

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 praise, skill, toy.

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: Communicating with Your Child - Learn English Speaking with Video

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