Shadowing Practice: Course Introduction | AZ-104 | Episode 1 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Imagine this, it's your first day as an Azure admin and suddenly, ding, alerts everywhere.
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People can't log in, no one can find their apps, and oh great, the boss wants answers.
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No pressure, right?
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Where do you even begin?
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Well, that's what this AZ -104 Microsoft Azure Administrator course is all about.
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We're going to walk through the real stuff that you'll face on the job, setting up identities, trying to remember all the governance rules,
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working with the admin tools that sometimes feel like they need their own admins, plus keeping networks, compute, and storage behaving like they're supposed to.
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By the end, you'll be able to monitor, protect, and keep your Azure environment running smoothly.
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And when things don't go as planned, because let's be honest, things don't always go as planned, you'll be able to handle them with a smile.
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Maybe a nervous smile, but still a smile.
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I'm Bob Tickleman and for three decades I've mastered the bottom left hand part of that slide.
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Staying relevant on a wide variety of technologies and roles.
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I've been a global black belt, I've been a premier field engineer, but throughout my career I've been a Microsoft technical trainer.
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I'm excited to be your guide through this journey.
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Microsoft Cloud Services has been evolving over the last 16 years of the time of this recording.
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Azure has certain core features that while it evolves every single day, these core services have remained fundamentally the same.
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We're going to cover this in an Azure Administrator course, these core services of Azure.
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This is traditionally a five -day class.
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Now, we're going to follow these modules in a recording process, but each module is going to be made available to you individually
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so you can take them in whatever order that you want.
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We have several core concepts of Azure administration as specifically Microsoft identity
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that we're going to be covering in a series of modules.
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We're then going to move into networking, a core service in Azure
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and for most people it's how you're going to get to Azure itself
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and so we'll take a look at its connectivity to traditional networking services.
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We'll then take a look at storage and the broad range of storage capabilities
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that are available to you
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and we're going to take what I think is one of the most exciting pieces is the compute services
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that are available through Azure and covering the IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service components, PaaS Platform as a Service, and the SaaS Software as a Service.
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All this will be explained as we get into those individual modules.
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We'll then take a look at data protection services
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and as always you want to be able to monitor the health of your services both on -premises and in the cloud.
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The actual pattern that we're going to be following, this is a course AZ -104 at the time of this recording.
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And I think that even as it evolves, the course numbers may change.
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These services are going to fundamentally remain the same.
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If you want to follow along in the course material, it's available to you on Microsoft Learn.
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All of our learning materials for all of our products are available to you for free on the Microsoft Learn platform.
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And I encourage you to go there, create a profile, and create your own learning journey where we've actually added some several new features for an AI -generated learning path.
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So if you want to have a topic that you want to describe to you, you can build your own learning path using our AI -powered services on Microsoft Learn.
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Specifically, the Microsoft Learn course for this that we're going to be following, if you want to follow along, is at aka .ms forward slash the word course,
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and then az -104, the course name and number.
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Az is an Azure service, as opposed to SC for security.
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We've got AI.
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We've got DP for data platform.
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So that's kind of a secret key that if you want to check any of our courses, aka .ms forward slash course,
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and then the information for the course title and number that you're working with.
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Now, going to the actual portal and taking a look at this, I'm at the location.
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If you put in that aka .ms forward slash course az -104, and you'll see that it is the Azure Administrator course.
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It is broken up into a number of those learning paths that I talked about.
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So there's some prerequisites.
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There's the Microsoft identities.
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And you'll see that there's a series of modules in each one of these.
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I'm going to go down to the compute one.
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And you'll see that we've got a series of individual modules.
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Each one of these modules will be a separate recording unto itself.
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Again, you can take them in whatever order that you want.
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You can retake them to meet your own learning requirements.
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Inside of each of the modules, there'll be a sequence of activities.
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The vast amount of the information I can be showing on the screens is going to be replicated.
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The pictures, the imageries, the words are going to come directly from this course content.
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So if you're following along, you'll see a lot of that similarities.
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You're not going to have to take screenshots to get that information.
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They'll typically be an introduction we're going to go through.
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Now, there is some exercises and what I'm going to refer to as labs as we go through here.
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My style is I'll be talking to you a bit.
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I'm going to show some slides.
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I'm actually going to go in and demonstrate the product in the portal.
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And I'll be doing some whiteboarding.
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And every once in a while, we'll actually break out and perform an actual lab.
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I want to show you that there's two types that are identified as exercises in the course content.
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For example, in this introduction to Azure Virtual Machines, there's an exercise here that if you click on,
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it will bring you to an exercise that usually has a video that introduces what it's going to be.
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And it guides you through some step that if you have access to your own Azure tenant and the resources, you could perform this lab on your own.
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The actual labs that I'm going to be performed are actually pre -built labs by Microsoft
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that are made available through our lab partners.
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And I'll be doing that and replicating those labs.
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So you'll have a recording of those.
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These ones I won't be doing, but they will very much mirror the demos that I'll be doing in the live recording.
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This is backed by a Microsoft certification.
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These certifications, I believe, have great value for your career, being able to go in and take them, and they take potentially several hours.
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You'll see that this is broken up into what are called learning objectives.
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And across the Microsoft exam process, you're going to get several different experiences of questions and answers,
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a case study possibly, you're going to possibly get a lab that simulates some activities you're going to be asked to perform, and what are called scenario -based questions.
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Now, I would get myself fired pretty quickly if I were to give you questions and answers from the exam, but it'd also be unfair because just because I've passed the exam,
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I had maybe 60 questions from a pool of over 600, so it wouldn't be fair.
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But I'll be identifying throughout the course types of material
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that you may want to pay particular attention to as you go through because I don't know what the question might be, but there might be some kind of question as you get to
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that type of content to pay attention to so that you have a better chance of maybe going through the exam.
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But you'll see a weighted value as we go through here, and I'll be giving some eye -winking moments as we talk about that type of content as we get to it.
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So with that as a course introduction, I welcome you to AZ -104, and I look forward to seeing you all the recordings that make up this scores.
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Let's get into this.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 91 sentences and 1386 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:17. The speaker talks fast, about 190 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% 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
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- module /ˈmɑd͡ʒul/ (noun) — A self-contained component of a system, often interchangeable, which has a well-defined interface to the other components.
- lab /læːb/ (noun) — A Labrador retriever.
- examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/ (noun) — The act of examining.
- admin /ˈædˌmɪn/ (noun) — Administration, or administrative work.
- evolve /ɪˈvɑlv/ (verb) — To move (something) in regular procession through a system.
- cloud /ˈklaʊ̯d/ (noun) — A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.
- monitor /ˈmɑ.nɪ.tɚ/ (noun) — Someone who watches over something; a person in charge of something or someone.
- slide /ˈslaɪ̯d/ (noun) — An item of play equipment that children can climb up and then slide down again.
- portal /ˈpɔːɹtl̩/ (noun) — An entrance, entry point, or means of entry.
- certification /ˌsɜː.tɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/ (noun) — The act of certifying.
- fundamentally (adverb) — In a fundamental or basic sense; reaching the very core of the matter.
- replicate /ˈɹɛplɪkeɪt/ (verb) — To make a copy (replica) of.
- topic /ˈtɑpɪk/ (noun) — A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
- vast /væst/ (adjective) — Very large or wide (literally or figuratively).
- mirror /ˈmiɹɚ/ (noun) — A smooth surface, usually made of glass with reflective material painted on the underside, that reflects light so as to give an image of what is in front of it.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- go through (verb) — To travel from one end of something to the other.
- look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
- get into (verb) — To move into (an object), such that one ends up inside it.
- go in (verb) — To become obscured by clouds.
- break out (verb) — To escape, especially forcefully or defiantly.
- do in (verb) — To kill or end; to defeat.
- follow along (verb) — To continue behind or beside an animal, person, vehicle or other object, especially as a companion.
- following along — Keeping up with; understanding.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 63 contractions and reduced forms, such as you'll, we're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, certification /ˌsɜː.tɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, traditionally /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nə.li/, screenshot /ˈskriːn.ʃɑt/
- Long words — get the stress right: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, certification /ˌsɜː.tɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, capability /ˌkeɪ.pəˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/, traditionally /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nə.li/
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 module, lab, examination.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be made · will be explained · is broken |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've mastered · I've been · have remained |
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.