Shadowing Practice: Emma Watson Introduces the new HeForShe - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Hi, I'm Ali Plum.
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Hi, I'm Ali Plum.
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I'm here to talk to Emma about HeForShe and the launch of the new HeForShe website.
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For those who don't know, what is HeForShe?
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HeForShe is a solidarity movement for gender equality, like in a nutshell.
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Big question here.
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Yeah.
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What is HeForShe trying to achieve?
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We're trying to achieve gender equality,
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but I think the really cool thing about HeForShe is that we aren't just,
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you know, an education or an awareness campaign.
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It's wonderful that people are talking about it and it's great that so many people are talking about it.
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But we're more than just an awareness campaign.
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We are mission focused.
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We're really trying to collect,
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register, be aware of people that are taking action for gender equality.
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And that's really our main focus.
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Where are we currently in the world with a state of gender equality?
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Well it's really interesting because there's this perceived notion that gender inequality was sort of a thing of the past,
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that we've sort of figured that one out
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and you know we're kind of where we need to be
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but when you start to look even just a little bit deeper beneath the surface you start to realise
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that actually we've got quite a long way to go.
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Why is it important to involve men like myself with this project?
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I think there's this perception that feminism or gender equality or like women's issues are to be talked about by women,
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that it's for women, and you know,
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women are like this separate thing,
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but of course women are human beings and these are human rights that we're talking about.
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So we kind of need everyone to be part of the conversation
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and that was really what He For She is about
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and how He For She was born was that we wanted to make sure that the conversation was
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inclusive and also we were talking to people that didn't agree with us and that was actually really important.
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We want to create change and
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so the conversation needs to be opened up to groups
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that perhaps traditionally hadn't been associated with engaging with feminism or gender equality.
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Could you give me some examples of stories from men who have become involved with HeForShe?
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I was on the university tour for HeForShe and there was a young man who we asked,
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you know, like, what would gender equality mean for you?
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And he was like, well,
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it would mean that I could drink my fizzy cider without my mates taking the piss out of me.
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I was like, well, this doesn't sound like a very compelling,
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compelling reason to achieve gender equality in the world.
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But actually, he sort of started to elaborate more.
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And he was just saying that he found the pressure
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to fit this male mould and to conform to this kind of lad culture of like this very heavy binge drinking,
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actually really kind of soul destroying.
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And that he was often really ashamed of how he acted
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when he was on these huge like binge drinking things with his mates
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and how he treated girls specifically when he was like that.
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And the dude just wanted to drink fizzy cider.
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You know what I'm saying?
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And it was just really sweet, actually.
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And I just found that something so simple.
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But guys just feel this incredible pressure to be...
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that in order to be a man,
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there are all of these ideas that they really have to live up to and conform to.
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And it's actually a bit suffocating.
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We're here to specifically discuss the he4she.org website.
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Yes.
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Why is that so important?
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Well, it's important because we want to be the first and largest crowdsourcing tool for solutions to gender equality.
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And the reason that is exciting is because we've had people sign up to The Commitment.
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And I've had lots of wonderful emails from men saying,
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all right, I'm on board.
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I get it.
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I'm into it.
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you know, great, but like,
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what do you want me to do?
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What do you actually want me to do about this now?
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I'm like, so this has been great,
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and we've received hundreds of emails like this,
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and so we've set up this website.
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But what's been really interesting is that we haven't wanted to prescribe to anyone how best within their specific country,
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town, school, community, whatever the best way to enact this change is.
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And actually when people have come up with their own solutions organically,
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there's been some amazing things that have happened.
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So a man in Zimbabwe started a husband's school for Hifashi, which was incredible.
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We've had one of our Hifashi champions,
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the president of Malawi, just annulled 300 child bride marriages and sent the girls back to school,
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which was unbelievable.
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We've had the University of Waterloo decided that they were going to give scholarships for girls for engineering specifically,
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which has been amazing.
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So we've kind of, we've realized that like you guys have the solutions
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and we just need to create the platform through which we can inspire you.
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So we've created this website and we think it's pretty awesome.
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It's got all of these new features.
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It's got a, it's called an impact map.
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And what it does is it shows you a map of the world.
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and then if you click on your country it'll show you the issue
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which is which you think
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or you voted is the most important with regards to gender equality
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so it might be political representation it might be education it
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might be health it might be identity you know there's all of these different ones
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that you can sort of like click on and you can vote
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and what's great is that we're going to be able to collect
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that data and we're gonna be able to take that to governments,
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to companies, businesses, universities, individuals and say this is the issue
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that the people of your country think is the one
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which most needs to be worked on and changed and when we can use that to leverage resources,
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funds you know we can really we can really push behind whatever
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that is and the coolest thing is that it's kind of essentially voted for by the public.
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It's essentially the reason I'm the most excited about the website is
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because it's sort of like a manifestation of an online grassroots movement in
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that it's really driven by people and their involvement with it.
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What are your plans for the future of the website?
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Where next?
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I gave the speech last September about he for she
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and about what it was about and I talked about how gender wasn't a binary
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so it wasn't kind of men over here in this corner and women over here in this corner.
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I was trying to express this idea that gender works on this spectrum
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and that people fall in all sorts of different places on the spectrum.
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And then we realised that the website didn't really reflect that and so HeForShe actually changed it which is pretty cool.
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So today I get to be the first woman who can sign up to the HeForShe commitment which is awesome.
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The other thing that we did is made it so
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that you didn't have to sign the website as a man or a woman.
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You could actually choose how you identified yourself,
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what pronoun you wanted to use.
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So whether you're trans, non-gender conforming,
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whatever you want to call yourself,
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you can register and identify yourself in that way.
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We wanted to make sure that the website was really inclusive and really empowering for the people that were taking the commitment.
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And that they could identify themselves as they wanted.
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So that's really exciting.
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So the Secretary General is the first man to sign up.
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I'm going to be the first woman.
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And we hope that lots and lots and lots of people will continue to sign up,
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which is awesome.
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The other cool thing that we're measuring is not just the number of people taking the commitment,
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but the number of gender equality actions.
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So people actually doing something for he for she,
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for gender equality, whether that be a marathon being run for he for she,
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or whether it be a husband's school that gets started in Zimbabwe,
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or whatever the action is,
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we want to measure it,
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we want to know that it's important to us,
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we want to share the story of that happening.
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and we want that visual on the website so that's really exciting too.
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In other words, if you're watching this and you haven't already signed up, sign up.
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Yes, if you're watching this and you haven't signed up yet,
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whoever you are, wherever you are, please, please do.
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It's a really fun and interesting website and I think it's going to turn into what we hope is an amazing resource,
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toolkit, solutions kit that will make your commitment to these ideas actionable.
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And we want to empower you to support and we need and we want that support.
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Could you tell me a bit more about how the website works?
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Yes, so I don't know anything about websites,
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so it was all a little bit confusing for me at first.
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But the website's been designed so that it's sort of mobile friendly
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and iPad friendly and it sort of works in all these different mediums.
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So it's got what I'm told in the tech world is called a hamburger in the top left hand corner,
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which is like these three lines which functions as your navigation
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which means that you can use it on your mobile
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and it sort of takes you to these three sort of key you know ideas
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or principles of the website which is that your voice matters
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and and your actions make it real
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and your stories are really important to us too so the website is kind of collecting this data archiving these stories,
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collecting all of these solutions and tools and ideas about how we can make gender equality a reality and actionable.
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And yeah, it's kind of,
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it's very simple and clean and hopefully easy to use.
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That's the idea.
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So you're watching this on your mobile?
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Yeah.
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You could go and sign up right now.
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Yeah.
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So that's, yeah, that's the idea is that you can access it on your mobile.
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super easy to use on your phone.
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Yeah, you could just sign up right now.
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You could just now, you could just pause this video and be like,
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I know what I'm gonna do.
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I'm gonna go and sign the HeForShe commitment.
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This pin here, as you can see.
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Tell me about the logo for HeForShe.
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So the HeForShe logo is actually kind of an amalgamation of the symbol for women and the symbol for men.
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We really wanted a symbol or a logo that kind of encapsulated the idea of these two genders coming together in solidarity.
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And so it's a combined symbol.
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And is there anywhere that other people who aren't already lucky enough to have a pin?
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Like yourself?
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Like myself, could get their own?
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Yes, so they've actually been sold out,
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which is wonderful, but there are more that are coming next week,
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there are more of the pins and the bans and they're on the website too.
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Who are the big supporters you have for the website?
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When you log onto the website,
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what you'll see first of all is you'll see these kind portraits of women and men and they've been paired up,
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so there's only half a face.
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And so the idea behind that was that,
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you know, we are, the idea that we are one,
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that what connects us is actually more significant than what divides us.
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We kind of hope that these portraits will build
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and we're also hoping
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that we can tell the stories of all of the different faces on the website
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and why they care about gender equality and why it's important to them.
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So we have NATO is one of our he for she champions, pretty amazing.
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The whole of the European Commission,
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the UN Secretary General, President Obama,
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Prince Harry has signed up.
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We've had some pretty amazing support really.
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It's really been amazing.
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Finally, what is next for you, Emma? be continuing the he for she university tour hopefully
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and uh we we've only done it in europe so far
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but we hope that it's going to spread spread everywhere so
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that will be great i'm going to be at davos next
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week at the world economic forum with our 10 he for she impact champions
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who are going to release some very interesting data on on gender parity within their own companies
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and the representation of women within their institutions which will be amazing.
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So yeah, lots happening and then today obviously focusing on the website launch.
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Tell me about your book club,
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I hear you have one.
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I do have a book club.
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It's called Our Shared Shelf and it's on Goodreads and the idea is that we pick a new book every month.
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This month's book is My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem,
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which is her new memoir.
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I'm about two-thirds of the way through, I would say, now.
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And it's been amazing.
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There's tons and tons and tons of discussion topics.
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I think we have 80,000 members now, which is unbelievable.
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It's really fun, and I'm going to be trying to organize conversations with the authors
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or other thinkers on the topic to discuss with readers, too.
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So it's a really cool, fun project.
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My shared shelf.
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Our shared shelf.
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Because it's not mine.
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It's ours.
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Do you see?
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She'd have worked that one out, shouldn't I?
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Do you see that?
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It's ours.
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It's everybody's.
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Thank you so much for talking to me, Emma.
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Thank you for talking to me.
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I now know a lot more than I used to.
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Yay!
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Genuinely.
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That's great.
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And I got a pin.
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And you got a he-for-she band.
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This is the wrong way around.
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You're going to take them off when you leave the room, aren't you?
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He's upside down.
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Heaps you.
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I should have put it the wrong way around.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will practice your English speaking skills through a discussion on the HeForShe movement, introduced by Emma Watson. By engaging with a real-world conversation about gender equality, you will not only enhance your vocabulary but also improve your fluency and comprehension. The lesson focuses on understanding the importance of including everyone in discussions about equality and how personal stories can emphasize this point. You will have the opportunity to replicate the phrases and sentence structures used in the video, aiding your IELTS speaking practice and overall communication ability.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Solidarity movement - A group effort aimed at supporting a common cause.
- Gender equality - The state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender.
- Awareness campaign - An initiative to raise public knowledge or concern about a specific issue.
- Inclusive conversation - A dialogue that welcomes people from various backgrounds and perspectives.
- Lad culture - A social environment characterized by excessive drinking and bravado traditionally ascribed to young men.
- Pressure to fit in - The feeling of needing to conform to social norms or peer expectations.
- Compelling reason - A strong argument or justification that motivates action.
- Soul destroying - Something that negatively impacts one's spirit or sense of life fulfillment.
Practice Tips
To maximize your learning experience using the transcript, consider using shadow speech techniques through a shadowing app or website. Since Emma Watson's speech is articulate and well-paced, it is an excellent exercise for shadowing practice. First, listen to a short segment of the conversation and try to repeat it immediately. Focus on mimicking the intonation and rhythm of her speech, which will help you to match the natural flow of conversation.
To reinforce your understanding, pause after key phrases or sentences, listen again, and repeat them. This practice will not only improve your pronunciation but will also enhance your ability to engage in discussions about complex topics like gender equality. Using a shadowing site for structured exercises can make this process more effective. Aim to practice consistently, as daily sessions will significantly aid in your IELTS speaking practice and help you feel more confident in expressive conversations.
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.
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