Shadowing Practice: Diavian Walters on...find her community at The Moth - Learn English Speaking with Video
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25 sentences
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1
You know, a wise man said, find your others.
2
And I found my others here at the Moth.
3
And I'm able to feel comfort in that community.
4
When I was telling my hair story, I found a group of black girls in the back of the row.
5
And I would go into detail about detangling my hair and how it felt and they were hyping me up.
6
I'm Diavion Walters and I joined the Moth as a high school student back at Twills Brooklyn
7
and I went on to intern and then become an instructor.
8
And so now storytelling lets me know that there are people that share my experiences and that we can bond in that.
9
People want to hear our stories, that people want to hear us high schoolers talk about our experiences.
10
I feel my heart drumming in my chest.
11
Okay, so when I was younger, my mom was the only one to touch my hair, and I had partial alopecia,
12
meaning that I had these bald spots that doctors told me I would never be able to grow my hair back, I'd never be able to braid my hair,
13
and I felt really insecure here being a child because I love my hair.
14
So, but with some mom magic, it grew back.
15
It grew back really healthy and I was so happy.
16
I didn't have bald spots anymore.
17
I told my friends often, you know, I cut my hair and this is how I felt about it.
18
But after going through the process of crafting the story, I realized the different perspective that gave me and the different emotions
19
that I had that I didn't want to admit to my friends
20
or family that felt so much easier to share with the crowd.
21
I was so nervous, but I really felt their energy when I was on stage.
22
By the end of the story, I felt so much better, and I was just like, that wasn't as bad as I thought it was.
23
I even had a bald guy walk up to me and say I can't necessarily relate fully,
24
but that he felt impacted by my story and he could relate to wanting to feel accepted by other people.
25
People need this, that people need a space to be able to share their experiences in a way that feels non -judgmental and supported.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Diavian Walters on...find her community at The Moth”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: hair, felt, bald, experiences, share. This video has 25 sentences and 398 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:30. The speaker talks at a natural 159 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bald adjective | /bɔːld/ | Having little or no hair, fur, or feathers. |
| relate verb | /ɹɪˈleɪt/ | To tell in a descriptive way. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| comfort noun | /ˈkʌm.fət/ | Contentment, ease. |
| craft noun | /ˈkɹæft/ | Ability, skillfulness, especially skill in making plans and carrying them into execution; dexterity in managing affairs, adroitness, practical cunning… |
| 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. |
| partial adjective | /ˈpɑɹʃəl/ | Existing as a part or portion; incomplete. |
| drum noun | /ˈdɹʌm/ | A percussive musical instrument spanned with a thin covering on at least one end for striking, forming an acoustic chamber; a membranophone. |
| hype noun | /haɪp/ | Promotion or propaganda, especially exaggerated claims. |
| instructor noun | /ɪnˈstɹʌktɚ/ | One who instructs; a teacher. |
| insecure adjective | /ɪnsəˈkjʊɹ/ | Not secure. |
| intern noun | /ˈɪntɝn/ | A student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field. |
| storytelling noun | The act and skills of presenting stories and tales. | |
| alopecia noun | /æloʊˈpiː.ʃ(i)ə/ | Baldness. |
| braid noun | /bɹeɪd/ | A weave of three or more strands of fibers, ribbons, cords or hair often for decoration. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, I'm, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, partial /ˈpɑɹʃəl/, alopecia /æloʊˈpiː.ʃ(i)ə/
- Long words — get the stress right: necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, alopecia /æloʊˈpiː.ʃ(i)ə/
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 bald, relate, necessarily.
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.