Shadowing Practice: Dealing with awkward situations at workplace & their escape routes - Interpersonal & Soft Skills - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hello, my name is Imelda and welcome to Skillopedia, a place to learn skills for the real world.

Life brings us many situations and some of them are so bad that they catch you in the wrong place.

You don't know what is the best way to react, even worse you don't react at all.

Am I correct?

So today we will be exploring such situations especially when you are in office and the escape routes.

So let's get started.

The first point I have for you is candid emails.

Yes we all agree we have friends in our office.

We share things, we share information, we don't want everyone to know, especially our bosses.

You know I'll tell you an example,

I had a situation, I had a project that was given to me and I was not really happy about it.

You know what I did?

I wrote a very nasty, very sarcastic email to my friends.

But unfortunately, I forgot to check who am I sending to and And that mail went straight to my boss.

Guess how awkward it would have been for me.

My boss as soon as he received the email, he called me into his office.

I was nervous, I was shaking in fear, don't know what to do.

He called me in, we talked, something very casual, he didn't say anything about it and I went out of the room.

But trust me, my legs were still shaking, I could not believe I did something like that.

So my advice for you is never write candid emails

when you are in office and especially even if you're writing an email,

always check the sender's information because those two things make a lot of difference

and it will help you avoid awkward situations regarding your emails.

The next situation I have for you is, to be caught distracted in a meeting.

I'm sure you would agree that all the meetings that you attend do not go the way you expected them to be.

You have a tendency and it's human to get distracted, you start thinking something else, anything except what is happening in the meeting.

Now imagine if somebody throws a question at you during the meeting and you don't know what are they talking about.

It will be the most awkward situation because now everyone will be looking at you.

My advice for you is, start taking notes, that will help you a lot.

Why?

Because notes or taking notes will help you focus and next time if somebody is asking you a question,

you know how to answer actively and the right thing.

Also if you have a doubt, if you think the meeting is not going in the right direction, you can stop them and let them know,

hey you know what, I think this point is more valid than that point.

This will help you improve the credibility in front of your supervisors as well as your colleagues.

So next time if you are entering a meeting room, please take a notepad and a pen.

The next but the most difficult situation I have for you is, telling someone about their body odour.

It is one of the most awkward situations that you can ever face.

Imagine this, John works with Clark, Sandy, Isabella and everybody else.

John's boss calls him and says, hey John, can you ask

Clark to smell differently?

I mean he's sweating, could you ask him to use a perfume or cologne?

It's making everybody feel uncomfortable.

Imagine how John would feel, why should he be the bad guy?

But yes, the boss has given you something and you've got to do it.

So what's the way you can do it?

Well, this is what John should do.

Clark, can you step aside?

We need to talk.

First step, ask him to step aside and let him know that you are going to talk to him.

Second, hmm, some of our colleagues have noticed that she smell a little differently when you're in office.

Tip number two, please

Please do not mention who complained about him.

It's not nice, it's not ethical.

Just say, just make it vague, just say, some of us have noticed. So...

Clark, some of us have noticed that you smell differently or you smell differently in office.

Step number three, offer a solution.

Perhaps you may want to use this perfume or this cologne, it's very new in the market and I'm sure you would love it.

So offer a solution.

Step number four, ask his thoughts.

What do you think about it Clark?

Now this entire conversation will help

Clark give some time to understand what is happening.

It will help him to be receptive rather defensive.

Imagine if I step aside or if I tell about this in front of everybody.

Clark you smell bad and I want you to change your perfume.

Imagine how awkward or how bad it is for Clark.

He will never face your colleagues again.

Am I correct? right?

So please be sensitive.

Let me recap, ask him to step aside, tell the situation in a polite and diplomatic way,

offer a solution and ask for his thought.

Okay, so next time you have an awkward situation for a body order, you know exactly what to do.

The next situation is quite common in a day -to -day office life.

We encounter such situations quite often.

What is it?

Uncomfortable topics.

You know and I know that there are some people who love to talk things with sexual references.

Now that as a female makes me feel very uncomfortable

And if you are such a person and if you are feeling uncomfortable with such topics, well this is what you should do.

Ask the person to step aside and let the person know how uncomfortable you feel

while he is talking something like that and ask him politely if he can avoid such topics.

If you do not tell him how you feel, he will never know and he will repeat the mistakes.

Also, that may make another lady feel uncomfortable.

So men, do not talk about anything with sexual references or religion in your office.

That may make a lot of people uncomfortable.

And ladies, if you are feeling uncomfortable, it's best to let the other person know, politely but assertively.

And the last one I have for you is, too close to be comfortable.

Very rare,

very seldom but it does happen that somebody may be standing very close to you and that makes you feel very uncomfortable.

Maybe because your definition of space is different than his or her definition of space.

And if someone is standing too close to you, which you think is not right, this is what you're supposed to do.

Let me give you an example.

I had my boss, or once I had my boss who was working on something

and he didn't realise he was standing right behind me.

So close that I could feel his breath on my neck.

I felt awkward, I felt a little shocked.

What did I do?

I turned around and faced him and started a casual conversation.

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Hey how are you doing?

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How was your day so far?

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How was the meeting?

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That conversation while looking at his eyes, looking at him, facing him made him realize the distance, lack of distance between us.

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He himself stepped aside and we continued with the conversation.

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Yes, it may not be possible and it may sound a little rude to tell the person of, dude step aside you're too close to me.

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Perhaps this may help you.

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So next time if you have someone way too close to you or standing way too close to you,

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step aside, turn around, look straight in his eyes and start a normal conversation.

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This will help the other person realise the lack of distance between both of you.

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So next time if you are caught in an awkward situation, I hope you know exactly what to do.

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I really hope you found these tips useful.

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I will be back with a new session, until then stay healthy, have fun,

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be good but more importantly subscribe to our channel Skillopedia, place to learn skills for the real world.

114

Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Dealing with awkward situations at workplace & their escape routes - Interpersonal & Soft Skills”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: situation, step, uncomfortable, awkward, Clark. This video has 16 sentences and 1382 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:19. The speaker talks at a steady 148 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. 19 of its 16 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
uncomfortable adjective	/ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/	Not comfortable; causing discomfort.
awkward adjective	/ˈɔk.wɚd/	Lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments.
differently adverb	/ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/	In a different way.
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
colleague noun	/ˈkɒliːɡ/	A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate, a workmate.
perfume noun	/ˈpɝfjuːm/	A pleasant smell; the scent, odor, or odoriferous particles emitted from a sweet-smelling substance; a pleasant odor.
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.
shake verb	/ˈʃeɪk/	To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.
casual adjective	/ˈkæʒ(u)əl/	Happening by chance.
react verb	/ɹiːˈækt/	To act in response.
distract verb	/dɪˈstɹækt/	To divert the attention of.
sensitive adjective	/ˈsɛn.sɪt.ɪv/	Having the faculty of sensation; pertaining to the senses.
shock noun	/ʃɔk/	A sudden, heavy impact.
defensive adjective	/dɪˈfɛn.sɪv/	Intended for defence; protective.
valid adjective	/ˈvælɪd/	Well-grounded or justifiable, pertinent.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
step aside verb	To move out of the way of somebody or something.
turn around verb	To physically rotate (usually around a vertical axis) for a half turn (180 degrees), a whole turn (360 degrees), or an indefinite amount.
go out verb	To leave, especially a building.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Even worse you don’t react at all.
You know what I did?
Guess how awkward it would have been for me?
Don’t know what to do?
How was your day so far?

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	has given · have noticed
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was given · be caught · are caught

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, ethical /ˈɛθɪkəl/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shake /ˈʃeɪk/, casual /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/, shock /ʃɔk/
Long words — get the stress right: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, diplomatic /ˌdɪpləˈmætɪk/, importantly /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt.li/, supervisor /ˈsupɚˌvaɪzɚ/

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 uncomfortable, awkward, differently.

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: Dealing with awkward situations at workplace & their escape routes - Interpersonal & Soft Skills - Learn English Speaking with Video

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