Shadowing Practice: Drew Barrymore on Finding Purpose When Life Takes an Unexpected Turn - Learn English Speaking with Video

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You all should know that

Barry Michaels has had a thriving therapy practice in Los Angeles for many years.

And one of his clients is Drew Barrymore, who joins us now.

Hi, Drew.

Great to see you as always.

I know you're taping today there in New York.

So thanks for making time for us.

You've called Barry one of your greatest influences.

Talk about how he has impacted your life and what this moment means.

It's so interesting to listen to everything you're saying.

I think that

Barry has given that directive and that inertia to certainly me as far as not hiding,

to embrace what you are going through as not a victim,

to look at your choices and see how they are affecting you.

And Barry has never been one to tell me at least what I should do

or when I should do it or how I should do it or who to do it with.

It's in his practice, and I think the succinct way that he explains the tools in this book.

I have studied certain tools with him for over 15 years.

And the way he writes them in this book is

so light bulb because the tools are so incredible and

so effective and I am so glad that he did not hold himself back

or close himself off as he would do in his home growing up

because that's exactly what he has done for all of his patients certainly me

I should stay in my own lane and speak for myself

and I think with this book

and certainly what I've experienced over the last three years since his diagnosis speaking to him on a weekly basis

is that he is opening more.

And thanks to this book, as you so perfectly put it,

we have this evidence of a choice that we can make when something comes in our path that is either

detrimental and the end or the beginning of something.

And so it's all in keeping with the Barry I know.

Well, I know you went through a difficult divorce in 2016, I think it was.

And do you believe, as Barry does, that challenges, crisis, difficulties show up to reveal a greater truth?

Did you find that?

Or was he helpful in allowing you to excavate that for yourself?

i think it's the perfect balance of accountability he helped me see what my choices

and patterns were because if something keeps presenting itself over and over what is your part in this yeah and

also that if this is continuing to present itself

and it is not of your doing it is there because you have not mastered it yet.

Yeah.

And there is tools and a roadmap to get there.

And it is looking at yourself and doing this very focused work that has a tangible guidance to it.

And I have hit rock bottom

the hardest in my life at that point

and i thought i had hit rock bottom at 13

and this was so much bigger than

that i know you stopped working with drew for a while

because of her drinking during that time and as as a therapist was

that difficult for you as a decision oh yeah yeah yeah it's always

i mean especially because i love drew i it was hard to say i'm not going to work I can't do this.

Yeah.

But I just felt like, I honestly, I felt like I owed it to her and to myself.

Like we just weren't making progress.

And I knew we wouldn't until she stopped.

Yeah.

And you took that seriously.

It was the best thing that could have happened to me.

I've never respected a human being more because it demonstrated something for me that I could not understand,

which is to have a level of self -respect to know you're not getting somewhere with someone

or anywhere and you will not until things change.

And it taught me a boundary.

that I just never knew growing up.

My life was boundaryless.

My job was boundaryless.

My behavior was boundaryless.

And it also, in not having parents or siblings,

for me, I think it is what I would think of as a familial way to care about someone,

which is I recognize this in you and I no longer will stand around and watch it.

Yeah.

So what have you learned watching

Barry move through this devastating illness?

I mean, as I was open to this conversation, is there anything worse we can hear than you're going to lose yourself?

Well, thanks to Barry, being on this journey with him, reading his book, speaking to him about it,

It gave me confidence and courage in our sessions to ask how he's doing.

And through being with him in the last few years,

he has helped me understand that we can make peace with things and our greatest devastations can become our greatest strengths.

We lack in control in this world and in this life.

And it just scares us into paralysis.

Yeah.

And this is the opposite of that.

So, I have to say, it's incredible what you've been able to actually learn from each other, right?

Yeah.

So, thank you, Drew Barrymore.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I know you've got to get back to work.

Thank you for having me always, anytime, anywhere.

Goodbye.

I love you, Barry.

Thank you so much.

Bye, Drew.

Bye.

So as we were speaking earlier, you're still seeing patients.

How has this journey changed you as a therapist?

You know, I'm much more open than I've ever been before, not just with my patients, but with my friends, really with everybody.

I think it's also strangely

And maybe paradoxically, it's made me trust my instincts more,

possibly because I can't really rely on my intellect as faithfully as I used to.

So in the absence of that,

100

I have to sort of close my eyes and listen and hear what's coming up inside of me and say that.

101

Isn't that a good thing?

102

It's a great thing, actually.

103

I mean, I don't always trust that something's going to come up.

104

You know, sometimes I'm just sitting there waiting, like, what's going to happen here?

105

But, you know, more often than not, something does come up.

106

And I love those insights.

107

They're much better than the ones that I come up with.

108

How has it changed the way you see every day?

109

Has it changed the way you look at life?

110

You know, it's a really good question.

111

I'm not sure.

112

I'm not sure it's changed the way I look at life.

113

And I appreciate life so much more than I used to.

114

Okay, so it's changed the way you appreciate life.

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Yes, yes.

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It just feels so precious to me, so much more so than it used to.

117

And the diagnosis is what?

118

That says you have how many years before you?

119

Five to seven.

120

And you're the third.

121

Yeah, although that's Lewy buddy dementia.

122

Mixed dementia, I think, might be shorter than that.

123

I'm not sure.

124

Sure.

125

Honestly, I try not to look at that.

126

Not to think about it.

127

Yeah.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Drew Barrymore on Finding Purpose When Life Takes an Unexpected Turn”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Barry, drew, changed. This video has 127 sentences and 1213 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:50. The speaker talks at a steady 137 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% 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 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
diagnosis noun	/daɪəɡˈnəʊsɪs/	The process of, or an instance of, identification of the nature and cause of a medical condition or illness.
therapist noun	/ˈθɛɹəpɪst/	Someone who provides therapy, usually professionally.
dementia noun	/dɪˈmɛnʃə/	A progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Areas particularly affected…
tape noun	/teɪ̯p/	Flexible material in a roll with a sticky surface on one or both sides; adhesive tape.
helpful adjective	/ˈhɛlp.fl̩/	Furnishing help; giving aid; useful.
reveal verb	/ɹɪˈviːl/	To uncover; to show and display that which was hidden.
illness noun	/ˈɪl.nəs/	An instance (episode) of a disease or poor health.
buddy	/ˈbʌdi/	A person far removed from the conversation.
divorce noun	/dɪˈvɔːs/	The legal dissolution of a marriage.
absence noun	/ˈæb.s(ə)n̩s/	A state of being away or withdrawn from a place or from companionship
difficulty noun	/ˈdɪfɪkəlti/	The state of being difficult, or hard to do.
guidance noun	/ˈɡaɪdəns/	The act or process of guiding.
courage noun	/ˈkʌ.ɹɪd͡ʒ/	The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate.
goodbye	/ɡʊdˈbaɪ/	Farewell; a formula used to another person or persons when the speaker, writer, or person addressed is departing.
rely verb	/ɹɪˈlaɪ/	To trust; to have confidence in; to depend.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
come up verb	To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
grow up verb	To mature and become an adult.
come up with verb	To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
get back to verb	Return to (an activity)
stand around verb	To stand without doing anything; to do nothing productive; to waste time.

Sentences worth repeating

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

It's so interesting to listen to everything you're saying.
Did you find that?
How has this journey changed you as a therapist?
Has it changed the way you look at life?
That says you have how many years before you?

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 25 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: therapist /ˈθɛɹəpɪst/, thrive /θɹajv/, faithfully /ˈfeɪθfəli/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dementia /dɪˈmɛnʃə/, devastation /ˌdɛ.vəˈsteɪ.ʃən/, inertia /ɪnˈɝ.ʃə/
Long words — get the stress right: difficulty /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/, accountability /əˌkaʊn.təˈbɪl.ə.ti/, detrimental /ˌdɛtɹɪˈmɛntəl/, devastation /ˌdɛ.vəˈsteɪ.ʃən/, paradoxically /ˌpɛɹəˈdɑksɪkli/

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 diagnosis, therapist, dementia.

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: Drew Barrymore on Finding Purpose When Life Takes an Unexpected Turn - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?