Shadowing Practice: ENGLISH WITH SUZE PODCAST: EP02 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Well, hello there.

How are you?

Welcome to the second episode of English with Sue's podcast.

For today's episode, I have prepared something very fun, very personal, just overall different.

I don't think I've talked about this at all, like ever.

So it'll be fun.

Buckle up.

Pay attention to key vocab words.

Pay attention to how I am enunciating certain words.

Pay attention to how I conjugate the verbs and feel free to take some notes as well.

Let's start.

Today I wanted to make this episode a little bit more personal.

I'm going to be talking about some of the challenges I faced when I moved abroad to the States from Brazil.

And I don't think I've talked about this because I don't really like to expose my life too much on social media.

but I feel like a lot of my followers on TikTok either plan to move abroad

and that's why they're trying to learn English or they already live abroad

and they might be facing the same challenges that I myself faced

and I'll be honest sometimes I still face these challenges

so the first thing I wanted to talk about is first

of all is my microphone working hold on it is I can never tell

because it's like daytime so I can't really see the lights

but anyways going back to what I was saying um I think

that the first thing that was super hard for me was

because I was super young right

when I moved to the states I was 15 years old

and so I felt like at the same time

that I was super excited to start high school

and like make new friends and learn the language

and I don't know kind of like evolve as a human being I was also really scared

so I feel like the number one challenge we all collectively

face together is being scared of the unknown right this is super cliche

but I had to start with something

and I'm gonna start with what was obvious and what is obvious

which is fear you're scared right you're scared

if you're gonna make new friends you're scared

if you're going to adapt you're scared

if people are gonna look down on you you're scared

and you know being 15 you are extra scared

because you're young right you don't have the same maturity

that an adult might have and I think that it's not even about me being mature I think it's honestly,

because you might be experiencing fear or that kind of a fear for the first time.

So you don't know how to deal with it, right?

So that was the first thing that I faced.

I was very scared of isolation, maybe not making friends, maybe not getting used to it,

not adapting, and not knowing what could happen.

I didn't know if I could ever go back to Brazil.

I didn't really know

because all I knew was that that was my life and I had to make something out of it.

I had to make it work.

The one thing that I will say is that people think

that Americans are really cold people and they're not nice

because of the way they live their lives or just like it's just different and I've talked about this before.

Americans are not necessarily cold people.

It's just a language thing in my opinion the English language

um it's a very neutral language you know it's not very expressive

so it's kind of like quote-unquote almost impossible for an American person to be as expressive as like a Brazilian

because the English the the English oh my the English language

is not even like as expressive as the Portuguese language right so it doesn't really add up in the end.

So people tend to think that and I used to think the same thing.

But then when you really put yourself out there and you let that fear go away, you will find Americans super fun,

nice and talkative, you know, and I mean, it was kind of like my experience.

I've lived in three different states in America.

I've lived in Florida, California and Utah.

And I am telling you like, they're super nice you know and you're usually like super scared

because like I said like it's everything is new

and you don't know if you're going to adapt or whatever

but then once you let that fear go away

and you actually talk to people

and you try to make friends you will see how nice

they are like they're actually like really really nice they talk to you you know another fear

that I had was like I was scared

that Americans were going to make fun of my accent

or make fun of me because of my English but the thing

that I noticed and I'm going to be very honest with you is

that Americans are super super super used to foreign people right like America was built

because of not because of Americans honestly it was it was build because of like people that came from other places, right?

And that's the beauty of it. So

Americans are so used to it

that they will most likely not make fun of you because you make a mistake or hold that against you.

They're just going to correct you, you know?

So that was the first lesson that I learned was

that not only let your fear go because you'll see

that they're actually super nice and talkative and friendly

but also you'll see

that they're not going to make fun of you you know they're just going to help you

and correct you because they're used to foreigners okay it's working um anyway so

that that's kind of like the beginning of everything i'd say like the first year my first year over here

so my sophomore year of high school i think I did my freshman year in Brazil.

But anyways, another thing that was hard for me was, I think that like the food,

honestly, it's hard to explain it because when I, at least like, I don't know about you,

but when I was in Brazil, I used to eat a lot of like

things that people usually eat here but then

when I moved here I didn't like those things anymore

and I have no idea how to explain it to you

I feel like it's just a matter of how processed food

is here like it's actually bizarre like I can eat two burgers in Brazil

and I'm not going to be like super bloated

because of the way they process food there but then

when I eat like two like bites of a burger here I am 10 pounds heavier

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because of the way they process food here so I think

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that food the food situation here was really hard for me and it took me some time to

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get used to it

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and also find ways to kind of like finesse my way out of it

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because I was young you know like it's it's very rare

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that you meet like a 15 16 year old

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that likes to cook or knows about cooking so

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that was my thing but once I like as I got older I started prioritizing organic food

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or I don't know like shopping you know like growing grocery shopping um to different places

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that they have like better food less processed food

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because it's still processed but it's way less right so

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that was like the one challenge

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that was really hard for me it wasn't necessarily like the culinary here

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or like the cuisine because you know when I lived in Brazil I loved eating burgers, pizza, like American breakfast, like American dishes,

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but it's just the way food is processed here, it's actually bizarre, like I have no idea,

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I had no idea how different it was till I got here, so that was another challenge that was a little bit different,

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and I don't know if people talk about it, but food, the food situation here is real, like it's actually crazy,

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um and then another thing that was really hard for me was maintaining friends

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so I feel like it's not hard to talk to people here

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and it's not hard to make friends

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but it's very hard to keep friends here um

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and I feel like in high school I really felt

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that you know

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so to give you a little bit of a background um

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I went to two different high schools I went to a high school in Florida

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and a high school in California both of those high schools were massive like gigantic especially the one

126

that I went in California

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so like there was like there were a lot of options

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you know don't get me wrong it wasn't like a small school

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but the thing was it wasn't hard to talk to people people would you know like they they'll find out

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that you're from a different country and you know they're like we're kids

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so they get excited and they want to talk to you

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and they're super nice and then you have like a whole two-hour conversation with

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that kid in high school and then you know a day goes by you see

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that kid like somewhere else in school and

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that kid won't talk to you because that's just how people work here

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and that was really bizarre to me you know

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because it's like dude we had like a two-hour conversation yesterday we were vibing

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and then I see you today

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and like you it's like you don't even know me

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and I experienced that multiple times especially in high school like crazy amount of times you know

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and with time I noticed that it's not just in high school

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but I feel like when you become an adult and you start working you have co-workers it's the same thing and

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so I feel like here in America at least it's really

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easy to talk to people like I said they're really nice

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to you they're very talkative you can hang out with them

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or whatever but it's very hard to keep

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that friendship you know I I think that

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and like I don't even know why I don't I wish I had an explanation for

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that but I'd say it took me a good like two years or three years to make

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friends and keep those friendships

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and don't get me wrong it wasn't like people would do something like shady

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or sketchy and that's why like I didn't like I didn't really like keep

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that friendship it's just that people work different here

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and I have no idea how to explain it to you

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and this might sound super confusing

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but it's just the truth like I wish I could explain it to you

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and I don't know

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if this happens only to you know like foreign people like me I don't know

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if it happens to Americans but that's how I kind of like felt

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and it's just really weird it's really bizarre

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and feel free to comment down below if you've also experienced

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that you know um because I I don't know like that's the best way

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that I can say it like it's really easy to talk to people

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and make friends but it's really hard to keep those friendships I have no idea how

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or why um anyways another challenge again I have to double check it's working um another challenge

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that I faced here was when I became an adult honestly

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so people say that Americans are extremely like workaholics

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and with time you'll find yourself becoming a workaholic as well the thing is whenever I go back to Brazil

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and I go hang out with my friends they have like

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they have the time to go to work they have the

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time to rest they have the time to be with their family

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and their friends and they manage their time

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and they work their way like around it

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and they're able to do it right at least from my experience

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but over here i feel like people just work you know

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there's no such thing as like i mean i will tell you like i had

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minimal wage jobs for like years

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and years of my life before I started working with social media

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and teaching English

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but I've worked at an acai shop I've worked in fast

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food I've worked with sales I've worked in a coffee shop um I've done like everything you know

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and people just like they just work and work and work

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and you do a double and then you do a triple and then

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it's Sunday and you ditch your family to go work

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and stuff and it's like and then in the beginning you kind of find

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that crazy but then you find yourself doing

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that you know you all you can do all you think

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about is work I don't know how to explain it to you

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and I know that for some people this sounds amazing

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because maybe they don't have a lot of like job opportunities where they live

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and all you want to do is work

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but I will say it gets to a point

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that you just live this like your life becomes this intense auto mode

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and whenever you're not working you feel guilty you feel useless

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you feel like you're not living your life you feel like your whole life is just about work.

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And I experienced that.

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And I still experience that.

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Even though I don't work, you know, like a nine to five, I don't go into an office, I work remote.

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It's really hard for me to disassociate myself from work.

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And I've talked to a lot of my American friends, my family, my dad, you know,

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my dad's American and all of them said the same thing you know whenever they go to Europe

202

or they go on vacation anywhere that's not in America

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and they see how people live their lives there they see how people have time to work

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but they have time for their family they have time for

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their friends they have time to rest whenever they see

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that they either think it's crazy or they're like wow I wish I could do

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that and I think that that's one of the main reasons why Americans retire super late it's

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because they can't imagine a life without working in my opinion

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i'll give you an example my dad he started working

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when he was 13 years old and he worked

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so much up until he was like 73 i think

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or 75 like the guy just didn't want to retire like it's crazy and one time i asked him I was like, why didn't you retire before?

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Like, it's not like you were, you know, like you needed to, like you needed to survive.

214

Like you, you know, you, you live pretty comfortable.

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And he said, because I just feel useless when I'm not working.

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And, and then like, whenever you go to like Walmart or like Target or anywhere here, you see these like really,

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really, really old people still working.

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I mean, like 80, 90 years old.

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Like it's crazy, like super old.

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You see them still working

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and you kind of feel bad because you're like wow like this is

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so messed up you know like these people should be enjoying their retirement why are they working

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and then one time I actually ask I actually asked um this um elder you know this like older guy

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that was um checking my receipt to get out of Walmart

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and I asked him I was like sir like you we had a conversation before like it wasn't like weird

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or anything you know I wasn't like prying but I asked him I was like sir like

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with all due respect like why are you still working you

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know like you you seem you know like maybe like rest

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a little bit you know like be with your family

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and your friends and like this sounds like really weird how I'm talking

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but I didn't say it like this it's just

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that this was a long time ago

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and I don't remember how I said it

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but I worded it very nicely and he told me like yeah I'm actually retired

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but I still want to work because I feel like I need to work

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because that's how I'm wired and I just think that's crazy you know

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and that was a challenge for me in the beginning mainly

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because of like family things you know I my dad

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because he was so workaholic you know he was rarely home

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and so that was a challenge

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and then also you know like you're expected to work like a slave

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when you're starting out working in minimal wage here

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and in the beginning that's a challenge

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because they're like dude like no I can't like do a

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double on a Sunday like I need to like I need to have one day off

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and you know they they make it seem like you're the

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worst person ever asking for a day off on a Sunday um

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but then with time I actually became that person

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and I feel like a lot of people become that you know they start getting wired in that

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in that way because that's just how life works here

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and that's how you're used to it and

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when you spend a lot of time here most likely you'll become

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that so that was also a really tricky challenge um

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that I not only adapted to it but I also kind of like became

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that and I feel like a lot of people struggle with

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that and then they just find themselves doing the same thing um

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but anyways guys um that's it for today for our podcast

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like I said I can't really upload super super long videos here

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because I don't have enough subscribers YouTube won't allow you to

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um upload anything past 27 minutes I don't know um

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because you need to have like a certain amount of subscribers

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and stuff so I can't really upload like a super crazy long video right but anyways that was today's podcast episode.

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I hope you enjoyed.

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I will see you next week.

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And if you have any ideas for future episodes, please comment down below.

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And don't forget to follow me on all of my social media.

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And yeah, I hope to see you guys next week.

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Have a great week.

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And I'll see you next week.

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Bye.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “ENGLISH WITH SUZE PODCAST: EP02”. This video has 270 sentences and 3151 words to shadow. The speech runs for 19:10. The speaker talks at a natural 164 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
scare verb	/skɛɚ/	To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way.
anyways adverb	/ˈɛn.iˌweɪz/	Anyway, anyhow, in any case.
adapt verb	/əˈdæpt/	To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit.
bizarre adjective	/bɪˈzɑː(ɹ)/	Strangely unconventional; highly unusual and different from common experience, often in an extravagant, fantastic, and/or conspicuous way.
retire verb	/ɹəˈtaɪɹ/	To stop working on a permanent basis, usually because of old age or illness.
expressive adjective	/ɪkˈspɹɛsɪv/	Effectively conveying thought or feeling.
talkative adjective	/ˈtɔ.kə.ɾɪv/	Tending to talk a lot.
workaholic noun		A person who feels compelled to work excessively, including while at home.
upload verb	/ˈʌpˌloʊd/	To transfer data to a computer on a network, especially to a server on the Internet.
burger noun	/ˈbɝ.ɡɚ/	A hamburger.
podcast noun	/ˈpɑdˌkæst/	A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on…
subscriber noun	/səbˈskɹaɪbɚ/	A person who subscribes to a publication or a service.
minimal adjective	/ˈmɪn.ə.məl/	The smallest possible amount, quantity, or degree.
cliché noun	/kliˈʃeɪ/	Something, most often a phrase or expression, that is overused or used outside its original context, so that its original impact and meaning are lost. A trite…
conjugate verb	/ˈkɒn.d͡ʒə.ɡeɪt/	To inflect (a verb) for each person, in order, for one or more tenses; to list or recite its principal parts.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
go back to verb	To stem from; to originate in.
go away verb	To depart or leave a place.
find out verb	To discover, as by asking or investigating.
get out of verb	To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
look down on verb	To regard or treat as inferior.
mess up verb	To make a mess of; to untidy, disorder, soil, or muss.
start out verb	To emerge suddenly; to jump out.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to think · used to foreign · used to it
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have prepared · I've talked · I've lived
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was built · is processed
Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form	started prioritizing · loved eating · start working

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 117 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: cliché /kliˈʃeɪ/, disassociate /dɪsəˈsəʊʃieɪt/, shady /ˈʃeɪdi/, freshman /ˈfɹɛʃ.mən/, isolation /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: disassociate /dɪsəˈsəʊʃieɪt/, enunciate /ɪˈnʌnsiˌeɪt/, prioritize /pɹaɪˈɒɹ.ə.taɪz/, culinary /ˈkʌlɪˌnɛɹi/, maturity /məˈtjʊəɹɪti/

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 scare, anyways, adapt.

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 →