Shadowing Practice: How do I Remember the English Words| Tips to Learn better - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hello everyone and welcome back to the podcast.
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I'm Sahar and today I want to talk about something that people ask me about all the time.
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How do I remember English words?
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And especially, how do I learn new vocabulary?
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Now that I'm an English teacher,
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you might think that Because I'm a teacher, I know every English word,
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and I never forget anything.
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But honestly, that's not true.
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I forget words too.
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There are words that I have known for years, and there are also words that I sometimes forget.
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And actually, learning vocabulary has been one of the most interesting parts of my English journey.
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Because the way I learn vocabulary today is completely different from the way I used to learn it.
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When I was younger and I was learning English, I thought vocabulary meant memorizing.
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I thought if I wanted to improve my English, I had to learn as many words as possible.
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So I would take a notebook and write down a long list of English words and their Persian meanings.
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You know, my mother tongue is Persian.
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I could sometimes learn 20, 30 or even more words in one day.
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And when I finished, I felt really proud.
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I thought, wow, I learned 30 new words today.
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But there was a problem.
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I didn't really learn those words.
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I only remembered them for a short time.
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Maybe that evening, I could remember most of them.
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Maybe the next day, I could still remember some of them.
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But a week later, when I saw the same words again, many of them looked completely unfamiliar.
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And that was incredibly frustrating.
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I remember looking at my vocabulary notebook and thinking, I started this word before.
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How can I forget it?
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At that time, I thought there was something wrong with my memory.
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I thought maybe I wasn't good at memorizing
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but as I became more experienced as a learner
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and later as a teacher I realized
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that my memory wasn't the problem my method was the problem
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I was trying to memorize words instead of learning them I was collecting words instead of building a relationship with them.
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And that sounds like a small difference.
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But it completely changed the way I learn English today.
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One of the first thing I changed was the number of words I tried to learn.
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Before I continue, I want you to write for me in the comments that how many words do you memorize a day?
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Tell me please.
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okay one of the first things I changed was the number
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of words I tried to learn I stopped trying to learn huge lists I realized
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that knowing 10 words really well was much more valuable than knowing 50 words for two days
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so instead of asking myself how many words did I learn
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today I started asking how many words can actually remember and use
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that question changed my learning completely I also stopped learning words
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completely by themselves this was a very important change before I
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would see a word write the translation next to it
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and move on but now when I meet a new word I want to see how
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that word behaves I want to know what words usually come before it what words usually come after it
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and how people actually use it in real in real conversation for me a word becomes much easier to remember
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when it has a story around it for example if I learn a word
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while reading an interesting story I remembered where I cite I remember the situation I remember the sentence
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and sometimes I even remember what I was thinking when I cite
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that is very different from memorizing a random translation from a vocabulary list
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and this is one of the biggest lessons I learned I
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don't try to force my brain to remember every new world
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instead I try to give my brain enough opportunities to meet the world again this is something i didn't understand
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when i was a beginner i thought
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if i studied a word once i should remember it forever
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but that's not how memory works you can learn something today and forget it tomorrow
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that doesn't mean you failed it it means your brain needs to meet
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that information again so i started reviewing vocabulary differently i didn't sit down every day
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and try to memorize my entire vocabulary notebook instead i let old words come back naturally i would see them
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while reading i would hear them in podcasts i would notice them in videos
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and sometimes i would use them when i was speaking
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or teaching and every time every time
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and every time i met the word again it became a
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little more familiar after some time i noticed something really interesting
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i didn't have to translate the word anymore i just understood it
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that was a huge moment for me because
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when you are a beginner you often see an english word and immediately search for the
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mother tongue mother tongue meaning but eventually you want to move you want to move away from that
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you want the english word to have a meaning directly in your mind you don't want to go through
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your mother tongue every time and for me reading and listening were two of the biggest reasons
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this started happening i spent a lot of time around english i listened to english even
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when i wasn't actively studying i watched videos i listened to conversations i read things
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that were interesting to me and because of
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that i kept meeting the same vocabulary again
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and again sometimes i would learn a word on monday
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and completely forget it by wednesday then i would hear it again on friday
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and suddenly i would think oh i remember this word then maybe two weeks later i would see it again
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and this time it felt even more familiar that's how vocabulary
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slowly become permanent for me not by sitting for hours
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and repeating the same word not by trying to memorize hundreds of words in one night in one night
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but by allowing the same vocabulary to come back into my life again
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and there was another thing
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that helped me a lot I started paying attention to the
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words I actually wanted to use this might sound obvious
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but it's extremely important there are thousands
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and thousands of English words you don't need all of them you need the words
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that are useful for your life your work your interests
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and the kind of English you want to speak
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when I was learning English I used to think every word was equally important But now I know that's not true.
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Some words are extremely useful.
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Some words are much less common.
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And some words are simply not necessary for your current level.
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So I became much more selective.
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And that made learning vocabulary feel much easier.
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I wasn't trying to carry the entire English dictionary in my head.
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I was building my own personal vocabulary.
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And honestly, that made me much more confident.
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Because instead of constantly thinking about everything I didn't know,
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I started noticing everything I did know and
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that changed my relationship with english i stopped thinking i don't
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know enough words i started thinking i know a lot
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and i can keep adding to it and
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that small change in mindset made a huge difference but there was still one problem i was still forgetting some words
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so in the second part I'm going to tell you what
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I did then I want you to pay attention to my
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tips to my experiences I'm here to help you to speak English
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and just I want you to support me
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and my channel by liking by subscribing and by writing small
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and short comments thank you so much if you have any question about memorizing.
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If you have any question about memorizing, you can write for me in the comments.
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You know that I answer all of the comments.
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Thank you guys.
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Good luck and have a very good journey in learning English.
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See you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “How do I Remember the English Words”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: word, english, learn, vocabulary, learning. This video has 118 sentences and 1360 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:25. The speaker talks at a steady 119 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
| memorize verb | /ˈmɛm.əˌɹaɪ̯z/ | To fully learn so as to have entirely available to the memory; to learn by heart, commit to memory. |
| notebook noun | /ˈnoʊtˌbʊk/ | A book (physical or digital) in which notes or memoranda are written. |
| beginner noun | /bəˈɡɪnɚ/ | Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started. |
| cite verb | /saɪt/ | To quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another. |
| 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… |
| frustrate verb | /ˈfɹʌsˌtɹeɪt/ | To disappoint or defeat; to vex by depriving of something expected or desired. |
| learner noun | /ˈlɜɹnəɹ/ | One who is learning; one receiving instruction. |
| unfamiliar adjective | /ˌʌnfəˈmɪli.ə(ɹ)/ | Strange, not familiar. |
| mindset noun | /ˈmaɪn(d)ˌsɛt/ | A way of thinking; an attitude or opinion, especially a habitual one. |
| selective adjective | /səˈlɛktɪv/ | Of or relating to the process of selection. |
| translate verb | /tɹænzˈleɪt/ | To change spoken words or written text (of a book, document, movie, etc.) from one language to another. |
| behave verb | /bɪˈheɪv/ | To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform. |
| subscribe verb | /səbˈskɹaɪb/ | To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name). |
| dictionary noun | /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/ | A reference work listing words or names from one or more languages, usually ordered alphabetically, explaining each word's meanings or senses, oftentimes also… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come back verb | To return to a place. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. |
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 learn · used to think |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have known · has been |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | stopped trying · started asking · stopped learning |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was learning · was trying · was thinking |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 19 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, unfamiliar /ˌʌnfəˈmɪli.ə(ɹ)/, dictionary /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.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 vocabulary, memorize, notebook.
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.