Shadowing Practice: FREE English Listening Practice Seminar - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hey everybody, I'm Connor from Polyglossa .com.
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Welcome to this free listening practice seminar.
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At Polyglossa .com we have $1 seminars every week.
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We have seminars for listening, for pronunciation, and for other subjects, too.
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today you get to see a free listening practice seminar.
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So, Let's get started.
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At the beginning of every listening practice seminar,
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we always review the four essential elements of English listening comprehension.
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Those elements our stress, reduced speech, linking and phoneme distinction.
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So, If you want to improve your listening skills in English,
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you need to improve in these four areas.
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Okay?
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So let me show you an example of each one.
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Alright.
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I'm going to show you an example sentence.
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My parents make an effort.
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Okay, so first let's look at the stress in this sentence.
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In English, stress refers to how long and loud we say each syllable or word, right?
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So if a word or a syllable is stressed, We say it longer louder.
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So listen as I say this sentence, and try to identify the stress.
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You ready?
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My parents make an effort.
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My parents make an effort.
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Listen again and watch my hand.
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My parents make an effort.
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My parents make an effort.
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you hear the stress, We have stress in this word, "my parents." In this word,
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make, and in this word, effort.
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However, these two words do not receive stress.
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So we don't say them very loudly or we don't say them for a long time.
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Right?
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Listen again.
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My parents make an effort.
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So that is an example of stress.
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Reduced speech is what happens when the words that are unstressed become reduced.
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They become shorter. and faster.
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their pronunciation changes.
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We have one example of that in this sentence.
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This word right here is Ann is not pronounced an It's reduced.
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This word is unstressed.
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so it's reduced.
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It sounds kind of like this word. in. in.
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Listen again.
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My parents make an effort.
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Make an effort.
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"Make an effort." Do you hear that word?
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It sounds like "in," right?
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"Makin." Make an effort.
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I'm going to go.
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We don't say "make an effort".
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No native speaker says that.
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We say: Make an effort.
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"M -M," make an effort.
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Right?
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That's an example of reduced speech.
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You have to expect that when you're listening.
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Next, we have linking.
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Linking is what happens when we have a word that ends with a consonant sound, and the next word starts with a vowel sound.
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For example, Here we have a word that ends with a consonant sound.
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"K", right?
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"Make".
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The E is silent, right?
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Make.
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The next word starts with a vowel sound. in in.
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So what happens?
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The consonant.. from the end of this word goes to the vowel at the beginning of the next word.
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So, We don't say make in effort we say: kin effort.
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We carry the consonant to the next vowel.
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not make in May kin "Make an effort." Here we have the same thing.
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that N the consonant, goes to the next vowel.
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in effort The n goes to the next vowel.
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That is linking.
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Lastly, phoneme distinction.
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A phoneme is a sound.
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A sound is a phoneme.
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So when I say phoneme distinction, I mean that you need to be able to distinguish between different sounds.
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So, for example, in the word "parents," we have this sound Air.
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Right?
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Most students, when they're at a beginner level or maybe an intermediate level,
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they pronounce this word as "parents." Par.
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Right?
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Like the word hard They see "ar" and they say "ar".
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parents That's not correct.
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Native speakers do not say "parance." We say parents.
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air like this word air so
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if you're expecting to hear this sound par parents you're not gonna understand this word
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when we say it with the correct sound air parents right
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so that's an example of phoneme distinction so these are the four essential elements that you need to improve
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want to improve your listening skills.
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So now, we're going to look at a target paragraph.
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I'm going to write a paragraph here and we're going to analyze
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that paragraph for these four elements to see why it's difficult for you to understand the paragraph When you hear it, Okay?
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But before I write our paragraph on the board, I'm going to read it first and we'll see how much you can understand.
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You ready?
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Only adults enjoy espresso and other types of coffee.
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I'll see if we have any so that you can taste it, but you won't like it.
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I tasted it at the age of 4 and it was an utter disaster.
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Alright, how was that?
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Did you understand it?
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That's okay if you didn't.
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That's why we're here, to practice your listening.
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So, I'm going to say it one more time and this time you can read it.
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Ready?
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Only adults enjoy espresso and other types of coffee.
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I'll see if we have any so that you can taste it, but you won't like it.
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I tasted it at the age of four and it was an utter disaster.
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Okay, how was that?
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Was that a little bit easier?
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Maybe a little bit, right?
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Well, now we're going to analyze this paragraph for those four essential elements
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that we talked about to see why it's difficult for you to understand these sentences.
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when a native speaker says them.
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So let's get started looking at it phrase by phrase.
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So firstly, the first two words, only adults.
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Only adults.
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So, notice here in this second word where the stress is.
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Listen again.
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adults Adults.
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It's obviously in the second syllable.
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Right?
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adults.
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adults So this first syllable here,
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this A at the beginning, is not pronounced normally.
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It's reduced because it's unstressed.
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So, instead of saying adults we say, adults.
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this /ʌ / sound is what we call the schwa sound.
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This is the most important sound in English because it's the most common vowel sound.
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Listen again.
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B.
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- Yeah.
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- Ö.
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For example: when we have the word about about or the word occur.
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occur.
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Do you hear that schwa sound? about occur.
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adults This sound happens when a syllable is unstressed and reduced.
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It doesn't matter which vowel we have.
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A, O, E, I, U.
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It doesn't matter.
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Any vowel can become the schwa sound when it's unstressed.
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So you need to be careful when you're listening because many students of mine when I say this word adults
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They say to me, What's adults?
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"What does dolts mean?" And I say, "No, not dolts.
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adults That sound is said so fast that they can't hear it.
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They think I'm saying dolts.
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But I'm not.
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I'm saying "uh".
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adults.
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adults.
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That's why it's very important to identify this schwa sound when you're listening.
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So, only adults.
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only adults.
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We don't say adults, we say adults.
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Same thing with this next word here.
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With this word, Which syllable is stressed?
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Enjoy!
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Enjoy.
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The second syllable, right?
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The first syllable is unstressed, and it's reduced.
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We don't say enjoy.
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We say, "Enjoy." "I enjoyed it." It sounds more like "in," not "en." Right?
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"Enjoy." "Enjoy." It's very, very fast.
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It's reduced.
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Okay, so adults enjoy and the next word, espresso.
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We don't say ESPRESSO We say: Espresso uh, uh.
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that same schwa sound, right?
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Espresso.
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ESPRESSO because this syllable is unstressed and reduced right so All three of those words have the same pattern.
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Adults enjoy espresso.
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Only adults enjoy espresso.
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If you listen to a native speaker and you hear that phrase, you might only hear the second syllable.
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Enjoy espresso.
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So you have to be really careful and listen for that schwa sound.
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Okay?
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So next we have and other.
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Thank you.
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So, When a native speaker speaks English, they almost never stress this word.
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The word "and" is usually not stressed.
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right?
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It becomes unstressed and reduced.
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So we say it kind of like this.
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in right only adults enjoy espresso in other another another.
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We don't say "and other." because this word is not stressed.
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another.
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Another.
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So it becomes the schwa sound, reduced.
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/ɪn / /ɪ / /ɪn / another, another.
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We don't try to make this sound as native speakers.
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it comes out naturally because it helps us get the right stress on the next word.
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another If we say: and other you can't hear where the stress is.
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And in English, the stress is the most important element of the pronunciation system.
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So we always want to get the correct stress.
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That's why the schwa sound occurs so much because we reduce the unstressed syllables and unstressed words.
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Another You need to be careful because this sounds like this word.
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Another.
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It's pronounced the same way.
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Another.
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Another.
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So, if you're not aware of this, when I say this phrase, you might hear this word.
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Right?
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So, you've got to be careful.
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You have to remember that this word, and, is always reduced.
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another.
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another.
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Okay, so only adults Only adults enjoy espresso and other types of coffee.
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Types of coffee, other types of coffee.
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So when native speakers say this phrase at normal speed, They don't say types of coffee.
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right?
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The stress only on these two words.
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types of coffee.
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types of coffee.
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types of coffee.
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You hear that?
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This word is unstressed.
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right?
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And In certain phrases, when the word "of" is unstressed, it just becomes the schwa sound.
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It just becomes "uh" or kind of like the word 'a', right?
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Listen again types of coffee typesa We don't even say the F.
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types of coffee.
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Right?
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If we say this phrase, right here.
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This would be said cup of coffee.
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We don't say cup of coffee.
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We say "Capa" Cup of coffee.
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I want a cup of coffee.
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different types of coffee.
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You hear that?
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The word "of" becomes reduced to the schwa sound.
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Type that.
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kappa and notice our linking here right the ending s goes to the beginning vowel right typesa
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Type 'sa' So the "s" becomes,
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or the "s" goes to the next word and it becomes Saa typesa Ka -ba -ka -ba.
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We don't say cup a, Ka -ba.
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Thai Psa.
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Type 'sah' You hear that?
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That's linking.
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Alright?
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Okay, and other types of coffee.
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Let's go ahead with the next sentence.
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So next we have this contraction.
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All.
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This contraction is not pronounced I'll.
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No native speaker says this.
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Listen again as I say it.
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I'll see.
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I'll see.
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I'll see.
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It becomes this sound.
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All.
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All.
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I'll see.
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I'll go.
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I'll do.
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I'll try.
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You hear that?
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We don't say "I'll." we say all because these contractions are not stressed they're unstressed and reduced.
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Right?
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So we don't say "I'll see." we say "I'll see." I'll see you.
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I'll do, I'll try.
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It's unstressed, right?
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You need to be careful because when we say this word it sounds like this word So if you're not expecting that,
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you're gonna think that I'm saying this word.
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All.
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all like a -l -l, but no, I'm saying I'll, right?
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I don't say that at normal speed.
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I say "alt" I'll see.
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Okay?
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I'll see if we have any.
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I'll see if we have any.
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Let's look at this next part. if we have any.
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I'll see if we have any.
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First, let's look at the stress.
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I'll see if we have any.
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I'll see if we have any.
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So C have are stressed, right?
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So that means the other words are have the possibility to be unstressed and reduced.
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See if we.
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These words are pronounced relatively the same way you would think.
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I'll see if we, I'll see if we, see if we have any.
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But what happens with this word here?
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We don't pronounce it as any.
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right?
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It kind of becomes like this. In here.
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"imi".
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So listen again.
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Have an Ian.
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"Have any." I'll see if we have any.
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This "a" becomes reduced, right? "in -li".
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Not any, inni.
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The schwa sound: ø, ø, ø.
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"Any, have any." So sometimes when I say this phrase, My students think I'm saying this word, or this.
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contraction. Have it.
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I say, "Have any." They think I'm saying haven't.
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Listen to the difference.
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Haven't. Have any.
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You need to be careful because they sound similar except for this last "why".
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Right?
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Haven't Have any.
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you need to expect this word to be reduced.
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We don't say any day Say any day.
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I can go any day, any, any.
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It sounds much faster, right?
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So at the end of this word, it becomes even faster and we say "haveny, haveny".
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I'll see if we have any happening.
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You've got to be careful with that because it kind of sounds like this contraction.
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So I'll see if we have any so that you can taste it.
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So that you can taste it.
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So that you can, I'll write it here, taste it.
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Alright so that you can taste it.
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This phrase or this group of words is pronounced very fast, right?
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So let's look at why that happens.
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First, let's look at the stress.
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so that you can taste it, so that you can taste it, so that you can taste it.
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Right?
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We have a little stress here, and we have stress here, so that you can taste it, so that you can taste it.
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So the other words can become reduced, possibly.
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Right?
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This word is fine, so.
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But what happens with this word?
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We don't say that.
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so that it becomes reduced to the I know that I know that he's here.
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I don't say, "I know that he's here." I know that I know that he's here.
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I know that you're mad.
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I know that you're mad.
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That.. that.. we don't stress this word in this structure.
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If you say that, you are indicating something.
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That light, that clock, that wall.
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But here we're not doing that.
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We're introducing other information.
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So this word is not stressed.
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We don't say, "So that you can." So the so that you can Notice here,
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that the word "can" is also not pronounced Can, right?
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It's pronounced /kən /, /kən /, right?
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This is very important because can and can't are pronounced very differently in our sentences.
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I don't say, "I can go." I say, "I can go." "Can" is not stressed in our sentences.
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We say "I can." I can.
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Icon.
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Hicken You can We can go, he can go, I can go.
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You hear that?
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However, this word right here, "can't," is stressed.
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So, I can't go.
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He can't go.
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We can't go.
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Big difference, right?
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I can go.
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I can't go.
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Big difference.
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So don't expect to hear native speakers say "can." We don't say that.
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We say "knknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknknkn he can, I can, you can, right?
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So that you can go.
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I forgot to mention this right here.
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What happens when a word ends with a T And the next words is you, your, your, yours.
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Listen again so that you so that you can go.
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so that you can do so that you can see.
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so that you can taste the chew I know what you did.
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What do we have?
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A CH sound.
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This is reduction.
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right?
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The "choo".
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so that you can The Chuken.
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We don't say that you can.
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The CHU the "chuken".
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This happens all the time in English, okay?
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I know the "chew", I know what "chew", what "chew", the "chew".
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Okay?
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So that you can taste it.
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Notice here that this combination of words might sound a little bit like this.
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for some students.
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taste it tasted The difference is that here we have a T sound and it's just /ɪt / it like this.
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There's no vocal cord activation.
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Here, There is d, d, d, d.
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Tasted d, d, d.
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I'm activating my vocal chords.
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Here, I'm not.
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So listen again.
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Taste it.
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Tasted.
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"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN because here later we're going to see the other word, "tasted." Okay, so that you can taste it.
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So that you can taste it.
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Let's go ahead with our next phrase here.
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but you won't like it. But you.
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We just saw this.
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When a word ends with a T and the next word is you, your, yours, you'll, etc. This becomes a CH.
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So it becomes like this.
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But you But you.
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We don't say but you.
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We say but you.
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but you won't like it But you'll have to wait.
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but you're not going to see it.
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Butchoo, Butcher, Butchol.
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So make sure you expect to hear that.
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Don't expect to hear that you, but you.
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Really notice when you listen to native speakers that we combine these letters to make a CH, but you.
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Really notice that when you're listening, okay?
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Alright, but you won't like it.
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You won't like it.
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This is fairly easy to understand, I think, but I just want to point out the linking.
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Like it.
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Like it.
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All right.
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So the K is the final sound here.
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It's a consonant like And the next word starts with a vowel.
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Right?
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Like it.
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Like it.
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So here we don't say like it, we say like it.
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So, some students, they might think I'm saying liked because they think that this word It's pronounced like -id.
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And they'll think like it, like it.
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No, this word is not pronounced like it.
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It's liked liked.
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This phrase is like it.
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Like it.
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You hear that?
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Alright.
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But you won't like it.
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Let's move on here.
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I tasted it.
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Remember I showed you
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that we don't we don't pronounce these two the same way even though it might sound like that for you.
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This is tasted and this is tasted it.
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No vocal cords there.
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It's silent.
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So taste it.
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Tasted.
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I tasted it.
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The next word, it.
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So the final consonant goes to the next vowel.
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Tasted it tasted, dit, dit, tasted it, tasted it, right?
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That might be a little weird for you to hear, but that's how we say it.
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Tasted it.
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Tasted it.
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I tasted it.
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I tasted it at the age of four.
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So here, this next word, is also reduced.
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I tasted it at the age of four.
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I tasted it at the age of four.
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So this word has stress.
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This word has stress and this word has stress.
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but the other words don't have that same stress so they can be reduced.
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This is a good example of that.
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This word is pronounced exactly like this word.
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So I tasted it.
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It the age.
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Eat the age.
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If I say this phrase right here, I don't say at the mall, I say at the mall.
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I'm at the mall.
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He's at the mall.
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it the A becomes reduced, right?
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because of the schwa sound, right? at the mall.
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I tasted it at the age.
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Tasted it.
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It.
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It.. it...
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Same thing practically, right?
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"It the mall." at the age.
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So this word is stressed, this word is not, right?
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At the mall, at the age.
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I tasted it at the age of four, the age of four.
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So let's look at this next.
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phrase here, the age of four.
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So notice that here we have the number, right?
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Four, the age of four.
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However, when it comes to this word right here, We do not stress this word.
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So some students they might get confused with the difference between four and four There should be no confusion.
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because this word is stressed four I have four brothers.
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have four dogs.
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This word is not stressed.
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So this, let me write this phrase, this is Oops, wrong word.
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This is for you.
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I don't say this is for you.
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Nope.
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We don't say for.
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This is for For...
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This is for you.
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This is for me.
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This is for him.
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It's pronounced like this: for.
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first.
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It's reduced.
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It's said very fast.
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So you need to identify the difference in those sounds.
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four, right?
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Four versus Fur.
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four Fer.
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I'm four years old.
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This is for you.
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So you should never get confused between those words.
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Okay?
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They're different phonemes.
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Alright?
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So I tasted at the age of four.
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at the age of four.
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And it was an utter disaster.
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So here we have, and it was.
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Thank you.
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Remember with the word "and" did we see that?
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Yeah, up here.
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the word "and" becomes reduced, right?
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Mm.
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and And it was.. and it was...
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We don't say "and it was." And it And it.. and it was.
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We have linking here.
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The "n" goes to the next vowel.
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We don't say in it In it. In it.
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So it sounds like we're saying this phrase, right?
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"in it." Be careful because you shouldn't interpret it as this phrase if we say this phrase: "in it was."
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We're not saying "in it," we're saying "and it." And it was an utter disaster.
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was in Notice here we also reduce the word "an" to "in".
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And it was in It was -in.
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And we have linking, right?
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The final consonant goes to the beginning vowel. Was -in. Was -in.
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And it was -in. Was -in.
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So this word sorry, this word,
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this word, and this word are all pronounced the same in English in, in, in Same.
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Right?
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And it was in It wasn't and it wasn't and it was an utter disaster.
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So we're almost done here.
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Let me just show you this last phrase.
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"an utter disaster." So, "an utter disaster." "Utter" just means complete.
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It was a complete disaster, a total disaster.
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So here I want to point out first the linking.
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The final N with the beginning vowel.
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another, another, right?
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And notice that this word might be misinterpreted And you might think I'm saying this word.
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Another.
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and utter another.
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Many students might think I'm saying another disaster, but I'm not.
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Listen again an utter disaster.
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What's the difference?
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We have a different phoneme here.
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Okay?
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This is "duh" A D sound, utter, water, bottle, utter, d, d.
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This is that voiced TH sound, th, th the vibrated th /ð / like the,
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these, this, right?
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Be careful because if you're a speaker of a certain language,
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maybe you don't have both of these sounds in your language and you hear them the same way.
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But they're not the same sound.
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Utter Other.
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Notice my tongue.
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Utter.
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Other.
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There.
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A different phoneme.
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An utter disaster.
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An utter disaster.
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Okay, so we finished analyzing our target paragraph here.
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So just to review, let's say it one more time
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and let's see if it sounds a little bit easier for you to understand.
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You ready?
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Only adults enjoy espresso and other types of coffee.
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I'll see if we have any so that you can taste it, but you won't like it.
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I tasted it at the age of four and it was an utter disaster.
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Thank you.
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How was that?
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Was that a little bit easier this time?
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it might still be hard for you and that's okay.
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The point of these seminars is not for you to understand the paragraph perfectly.
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I'm trying to help you identify those four essential elements: the stress, the reduced speech, the linking,
559
and the phoneme distinction, when you're listening.
560
So, I want you to take those elements those patterns and apply them to your own listening practice.
561
Really listen for the stress, listen for the reduced speech, for the linking and the different phonemes, right?
562
For example, When you hear this word now, You shouldn't expect to hear "and." You should expect 'in'.
563
Same with this one.
564
N in orange an apple.
565
You should expect to hear that correct reduced sound.
566
So that's just one example.
567
You can take many examples from this paragraph.
568
So if you liked this seminar,
569
please consider joining our $1 listening practice seminars at polyglossa .com.
570
We have seminars every week and each one is only We practice.
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just like we practice in this free seminar.
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So I hope you'll join us for our next one dollar listening practice seminar at polyglasa .com.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “FREE English Listening Practice Seminar”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: word, sound, reduced, tasted, adults. This video has 571 sentences and 4040 words to shadow. The speech runs for 34:59. The speaker talks at a steady 115 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 87 of its 571 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| distress noun | /dɪˈstɹɛs/ | Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature. |
| pronounce verb | /pɹəˈnaʊns/ | To declare formally, officially or ceremoniously. |
| utter verb | /ˈʌtəɹ/ | Sometimes preceded by forth, out, etc.: to produce (a cry, speech, or other sounds) with the voice. |
| unstressed adjective | /ʌnˈstɹɛst/ | Not stressed or accentuated. |
| vowel noun | /ˈvaʊ.əl/ | A sound produced by the vocal cords with relatively little restriction of the oral cavity, forming the prominent sound of a syllable. |
| espresso noun | /ɛˈspɹɛsoʊ/ | A concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing hot water under high pressure through finely ground coffee. |
| schwa noun | /ʃwɑ/ | An indeterminate central vowel sound as the "a" in "about", represented as /ə/ in IPA. |
| phoneme noun | /ˈfoʊ.nim/ | An indivisible unit of sound in a given language. A phoneme is an abstraction of the physical speech sounds (phones) and may encompass several different phones. |
| syllable noun | /ˈsɪl.ə.bəl/ | A unit of human speech which often forms words corresponding to one opening of the mouth; a vowel and its surrounding consonants. |
| seminar noun | /ˈsɛmɪnɑɹ/ | A class held for advanced studies in which students meet regularly to discuss original research, under the guidance of a professor. |
| paragraph noun | /ˈpæɹəɡɹæf/ | A passage in text that starts on a new line, the first line sometimes being indented, and usually marks a change of topic. |
| consonant noun | /ˈkɑn.sə.nənt/ | A sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity; any sound that is not the dominant sound of a syllable, the dominant… |
| contraction noun | /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/ | An act of incurring debt; also (generally), an act of acquiring something (generally negative). |
| chew verb | /tʃuː/ | To crush with the teeth by repeated closing and opening of the jaws; done to food to soften it and break it down by the action of saliva before it is swallowed. |
| distinction noun | /dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/ | That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go ahead with verb | To resume something previously cancelled or delayed; to continue something despite known concerns. | |
| point out verb | To identify among a group of similar subjects, or in a scene where the subject might not be readily seen or noticed, with a gesture of the body. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'm going to show you an example sentence.
- We don't say "make an effort".
- You have to expect that when you're listening.
- Do you hear that schwa sound?
- Remember with the word "and" did we see that?
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 154 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'll, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: schwa /ʃwɑ/, contraction /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/, distinction /dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, comprehension /ˌkɑmpɹɪˈhɛnʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, misinterpret /ˌmɪs.ɪnˈtɜː.pɹɪt/, activation /ˌæktəˈveɪʃən/, intermediate /ɪn.tə(ɹ)ˈmi.di.ət/, practically /ˈpɹæk.tɪ.k(ə.)li/
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 distress, pronounce, utter.
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.