Shadowing Practice: GOING THROUGH TOUGH TIMES - Powerful Motivational Speech - Learn English Speaking with Video
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46 sentences
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For somebody going through tough times, for somebody struggling just to keep your head above wall,
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you're trying but things don't seem to be quite working out the way you planned.
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You thought you'd be in a different place at this season in your life, but you're still suffering.
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You have no say -so in what happens to you, but you have a say -so in what you do about it.
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You have a determining voice into where your life can go.
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See, life is 10 % what happens to you.
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It's 90 % what you do about it.
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You get a setback.
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You get thrown off course.
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You lost your mama.
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That's dirt.
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But show me something that has grown into something beautiful that didn't have no dirt on it.
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You need dirt on you to develop because dirt ain't just dirt.
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Dirt is fertilizer.
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Dirt is nutrient.
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Dirt gives you the strip for your seed to push through.
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You got to have dirt on you to push through something.
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Everything you see that's beautiful starts out as a seed but that seed got to get dirt on it.
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You got to have dirt on you to grow into what life got for you.
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The only thing I want from you is that every single day when uncertainty creeps in,
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I need you to get up and I need you to go heavy on it.
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In the midst of opposition, in the midst of challenges, in the midst of adversity,
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when you taste a little bit of blood and something happens that you didn't expect to happen, I need you to go heavy on it.
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You got to be willing to go after your stuff.
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You gotta be willing to go after whatever has got your name on it
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Sometimes you gotta fight your way over Sometimes you gotta fight
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your way through Sometimes you gotta look in the mirror and say
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Listen, I ain't got nobody else to encourage us right now
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It's just me and you
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But I'm telling you that you're the head and not the tail
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And I'm fighting for me or my house or my children or my brothers
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Or my sisters or my husband or my vision
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or my dream I will stand right here and I ain't giving up my children.
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I'm not giving up my money.
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No, I'm standing.
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You can't keep quitting your whole life.
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You can't keep backing up and you can't keep fainting.
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Taking two steps forward and three steps back.
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After a while, there ought to be something in our lives that we stand through.
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Sicknesses that you stood through.
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Struggles that you stood through.
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Weaknesses that you stood through.
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Crisises that you stood through.
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Pressures that you stood through, that is where character is developed.
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That's what defines our destiny when you are in the middle of transition.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “GOING THROUGH TOUGH TIMES - Powerful Motivational Speech”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: dirt, stood, happen, midst, seed. This video has 46 sentences and 480 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:20. The speaker talks at a steady 144 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| dirt noun | /dɝt/ | Soil or earth. |
| amidst | /aˈmɪdst/ | In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. |
| mirror noun | /ˈmiɹɚ/ | A smooth surface, usually made of glass with reflective material painted on the underside, that reflects light so as to give an image of what is in front of it. |
| transition noun | /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/ | The process of change from one form, state, style or place to another. |
| encourage verb | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit. |
| suffer verb | /ˈsʌfɚ/ | To undergo hardship. |
| strip verb | /ˈstɹɪp/ | To remove or take away, often in strips or stripes. |
| tail noun | /ˈteɪ̯l/ | An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails; a strand of material hanging from something. |
| define verb | /dɪˈfaɪn/ | To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly. |
| mama noun | /ˈmɑmə/ | Synonym of mother (“a female parent”). |
| destiny noun | /ˈdɛs.tɪ.ni/ | That to which any person or thing is destined; a predetermined state; a condition predestined by the Divine or by human will. |
| weakness noun | /ˈwik.nɪs/ | The condition of being weak. |
| uncertainty noun | /ʌnˈsɜːtənti/ | Doubt; the condition of being uncertain or without conviction. |
| creep verb | /kɹiːp/ | To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground. |
| sickness noun | /ˈsɪknɪs/ | The quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; an illness. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). | |
| push through verb | To force (legislation or a plan) to be passed or agreed to or a decision to be reached. | |
| back up verb | To move backwards, especially for a vehicle to do so. | |
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| start out verb | To emerge suddenly; to jump out. | |
| step back verb | /stɛp ˈbæk/ | To stop what one is doing and evaluate the current situation. |
| step forward verb | to take one or more steps forward, especially in response to a request for identification |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 21 contractions and reduced forms, such as gotta, I'm, ain't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: uncertainty /ʌnˈsɜːtənti/, adversity /ædˈvɜː.sɪ.ti/
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 dirt, amidst, mirror.
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.