Shadowing Practice: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance | Angela Lee Duckworth | TED - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Transcriber: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast When I was 27 years old, I left a very demanding job in management consulting for a job that was even more demanding: teaching.
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Transcriber: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast When I was 27 years old, I left a very demanding job in management consulting for a job that was even more demanding: teaching.
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I went to teach seventh graders math in the New York City public schools.
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And like any teacher, I made quizzes and tests.
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I gave out homework assignments.
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When the work came back, I calculated grades.
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What struck me was that IQ was not the only difference between my best and my worst students.
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Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric IQ scores.
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Some of my smartest kids weren't doing so well.
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And that got me thinking.
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The kinds of things you need to learn in seventh grade math, sure, they're hard: ratios, decimals, the area of a parallelogram.
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But these concepts are not impossible, and I was firmly convinced that every one of my students could learn the material if they worked hard and long enough.
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After several more years of teaching, I came to the conclusion that what we need in education is a much better understanding of students and learning from a motivational perspective, from a psychological perspective.
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In education, the one thing we know how to measure best is IQ.
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But what if doing well in school and in life depends on much more than your ability to learn quickly and easily?
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So I left the classroom, and I went to graduate school to become a psychologist.
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I started studying kids and adults in all kinds of super challenging settings, and in every study my question was, who is successful here and why?
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My research team and I went to West Point Military Academy.
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We tried to predict which cadets would stay in military training and which would drop out.
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We went to the National Spelling Bee and tried to predict which children would advance farthest in competition.
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We studied rookie teachers working in really tough neighborhoods, asking which teachers are still going to be here in teaching by the end of the school year, and of those, who will be the most effective at improving learning outcomes for their students?
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We partnered with private companies, asking, which of these salespeople is going to keep their jobs?
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And who's going to earn the most money?
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In all those very different contexts, one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success.
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And it wasn't social intelligence.
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It wasn't good looks, physical health, and it wasn't IQ.
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It was grit.
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Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.
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Grit is having stamina.
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Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality.
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Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.
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A few years ago, I started studying grit in the Chicago public schools.
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I asked thousands of high school juniors to take grit questionnaires, and then waited around more than a year to see who would graduate.
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Turns out that grittier kids were significantly more likely to graduate, even when I matched them on every characteristic I could measure, things like family income, standardized achievement test scores, even how safe kids felt when they were at school.
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So it's not just at West Point or the National Spelling Bee that grit matters.
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It's also in school, especially for kids at risk for dropping out.
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To me, the most shocking thing about grit is how little we know, how little science knows, about building it.
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Every day, parents and teachers ask me, "How do I build grit in kids?
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What do I do to teach kids a solid work ethic?
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How do I keep them motivated for the long run?" The honest answer is, I don't know.
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(Laughter) What I do know is that talent doesn't make you gritty.
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Our data show very clearly that there are many talented individuals who simply do not follow through on their commitments.
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In fact, in our data, grit is usually unrelated or even inversely related to measures of talent.
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So far, the best idea I've heard about building grit in kids is something called "growth mindset." This is an idea developed at Stanford University by Carol Dweck, and it is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed, that it can change with your effort.
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Dr. Dweck has shown that when kids read and learn about the brain and how it changes and grows in response to challenge, they're much more likely to persevere when they fail, because they don't believe that failure is a permanent condition.
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So growth mindset is a great idea for building grit.
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But we need more.
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And that's where I'm going to end my remarks, because that's where we are.
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That's the work that stands before us.
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We need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions, and we need to test them.
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We need to measure whether we've been successful, and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned.
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In other words, we need to be gritty about getting our kids grittier.
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Thank you. (Applause)
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About This Lesson

Delve into the inspiring world of Angela Lee Duckworth's renowned TED Talk, "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance." In this powerful lesson, Duckworth shares her journey from a demanding teaching career to groundbreaking psychological research, exploring why some individuals succeed while others falter. She introduces the transformative concept of grit—defined as passion and perseverance for very long-term goals—and presents compelling evidence that it often outranks IQ and talent as a predictor of success in various challenging environments, from West Point to the National Spelling Bee.

This video provides an exceptional opportunity for your English speaking practice, offering rich vocabulary and natural discourse on motivational psychology, education, and personal development. You'll gain valuable insights into discussing abstract concepts, sharing personal anecdotes, and presenting research findings—skills crucial for advanced learners and those preparing for exams like IELTS speaking. Practice expressing complex ideas with clarity and conviction, enhancing your overall English fluency.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Demanding job: A role that requires significant effort, time, and commitment. (e.g., "I left a very demanding job in management consulting.")
  • Stratospheric IQ scores: Exceptionally high intelligence scores. Often used metaphorically for something extremely high. (e.g., "Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric IQ scores.")
  • Drop out: To withdraw from a course, school, or competition before completion. (e.g., "We tried to predict which cadets would stay in military training and which would drop out.")
  • Grit: Passion and perseverance for very long-term goals; having stamina. A central theme of the talk. (e.g., "In all those very different contexts, one characteristic emerged... It was grit.")
  • Sticking with your future: Maintaining commitment and persistence towards your long-term aspirations. (e.g., "Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out...")
  • Marathon, not a sprint: A metaphor describing a long, arduous process requiring endurance, rather than a short, intense effort. (e.g., "Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.")
  • Growth mindset: The belief that one's abilities and intelligence can be developed and improved through effort and dedication, rather than being fixed. (e.g., "So far, the best idea I've heard about building grit in kids is something called 'growth mindset.'")
  • Follow through on commitments: To complete or fulfill promises, tasks, or obligations. (e.g., "Our data show very clearly that there are many talented individuals who simply do not follow through on their commitments.")

Practice Tips for This Video

To maximize your learning from this TED Talk, focus on these specific tips for your English speaking practice:

  • Mimic Pacing and Emphasis: Angela Lee Duckworth speaks at a clear, engaging pace, often varying her speed to emphasize key points or narrate personal stories. Pay close attention to her dynamic rhythm and attempt to replicate her intonation, stress, and pauses when practicing the shadowing technique. This will significantly boost your English fluency.
  • Master Academic Vocabulary: The video is rich with academic yet accessible vocabulary related to psychology, education, and personal development. As you practice, concentrate on the pronunciation practice of multi-syllable words and phrases like "perseverance," "stratospheric," "motivational perspective," and "growth mindset."
  • Replicate Conversational Flow: Notice how Duckworth smoothly transitions between personal anecdotes, statistical findings, and abstract definitions. Practicing these transitions can greatly improve your ability to construct coherent and engaging narratives, a vital skill for IELTS speaking and everyday conversations.
  • Focus on American Accent: The speaker has a clear American English accent. This video offers an excellent opportunity to fine-tune your ear and mouth for common American speech patterns, vowel sounds, and consonant pronunciations.
  • Discuss Abstract Concepts: After shadowing, try to summarize the main points in your own words or explain the concept of "grit" to a friend. This active recall and explanation will solidify both your understanding and your ability to articulate complex ideas in English.

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.

How to Practice Effectively on ShadowingEnglish

  1. Choose your video: Pick a YouTube video with clear, natural English speech. TED Talks, BBC News, movie scenes, podcasts, or IELTS sample answers all work great. Paste the URL into the search bar. Start with shorter videos (under 5 minutes) and content you find genuinely interesting — motivation matters.
  2. Listen first, understand the context: On your first pass, keep the speed at 1x and just listen. Don't try to repeat yet. Focus on understanding the meaning, picking up new vocabulary, and noticing how the speaker stresses words, links sounds, and uses pauses.
  3. Set up Shadowing mode:
    • Wait Mode: Choose +3s or +5s — after each sentence plays, the video pauses automatically so you have time to repeat it out loud. Choose Manual if you want full control and press Next yourself after each repetition.
    • Sub Sync: YouTube subtitles sometimes appear slightly ahead or behind the audio. Use ±100ms to align them perfectly so you can follow along accurately.
  4. Shadow out loud (the core practice): This is where the real work happens. As soon as a sentence plays — or during the pause — repeat it out loud, clearly and confidently. Don't just mouth the words: mirror the speaker's exact rhythm, stress, pitch, and connected speech. Aim to sound like a shadow of the speaker, not just a word-by-word recitation. Use the Repeat feature to drill the same sentence multiple times until it feels natural.
  5. Scale up the challenge: Once a passage feels comfortable, push your limits. Increase speed to <code>1.25x</code> or even <code>1.5x</code> to train high-speed language reflexes. Or set Wait Mode to <code>Off</code> for continuous shadowing — the most advanced and rewarding mode. Consistent daily practice of 15–30 minutes will produce noticeable results within weeks.

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