Shadowing Practice: How I Go to Bed Without My Phone - Learn English Speaking with Video
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27 sentences
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1
One hour before bed, which for me is 9 o'clock, I turn off all of my digital devices.
2
iPhone, computer, TV, they all get shut off.
3
The blue light from screens can keep you up at night and strain your eyes.
4
From 9 to 10 I have a cup of tea and right.
5
My mind is at its sharpest at night so I'm usually writing a video but sometimes it's a letter. so Once
6
9.45 hits or around that time, I'll take the last steps before hitting the hay.
7
Brush teeth, bathroom, multivitamins.
8
At 10 o'clock I turn off my bank lamp and then turn on my Edison bulb on the bed.
9
Purely incandescent, no LEDs for the final hour. So Then
10
I read.
11
I read until I get tired or until 1030.
12
I try to read fiction before I fall asleep,
13
but this happens to be nonfiction. And that's it.
14
I've been leaving my phone out of my bed for the past six years and I haven't looked back.
15
I used to need a phone or screen to fall asleep and now I don't need anything.
16
I don't even really need a book, it's just something I like to do.
17
In fact, half of the time I just hit the bed and fall asleep before I even think about grabbing a book.
18
But I think this is what sleep and our lives in general are supposed to be like.
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We've grown too dependent on our devices and cheap entertainment
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that stripping it away from ourselves feels like a breath of fresh air.
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Sleep is much more important than we think, and we cut ourselves short once we bring our mobile boredom killer in bed.
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Shoving a constant feed of information down our minds throat is
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the opposite of a break for our brain at a time we need it the most.
24
One of the benefits of joining the Patreon is that I hand type a letter to you, a thank you letter to you, right after you join.
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It's one of my favorite things to do, and also, joining the Patreon engages you in a real community of other people.
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The link is right here.
27
Thank you for watching.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “How I Go to Bed Without My Phone”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: bed, asleep, letter, fall. This video has 27 sentences and 364 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:45. The speaker talks slowly, about 77 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 14 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| boredom noun | /ˈbɔɹ.dəm/ | The state of being bored. |
| incandescent adjective | /ˌɪn.kænˈdɛs.ənt/ | Emitting light as a result of being heated. |
| multivitamin adjective | Containing or relating to multiple vitamins. | |
| nonfiction noun | Written works intended to give facts, or true accounts of real things and events. Often used attributively. | |
| shove verb | /ʃʌv/ | To push, especially roughly or with force. |
| bulb noun | /ˈbʌlb/ | The bulb-shaped underground portion of a plant such as a tulip, consisting of a shortened stem and many fleshy scale leaves, from which the rest of the plant… |
| lamp noun | /ˈlæ̝mp/ | A device that generates light, heat, or other electromagnetic radiation. Especially an electric light bulb. |
| purely adverb | /ˈpjʊɹli/ | Wholly; really, completely. |
| strain noun | /stɹeɪn/ | A particular variety of a microbe, virus, or other organism, usually a taxonomically infraspecific one. |
| brush noun | /bɹʌʃ/ | An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including… |
| breathe verb | /bɹiːð/ | To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases. |
| dependent adjective | /dɪˈpɛndənt/ | Relying upon; depending upon. |
| throat noun | /ˈθɹoʊt/ | The front part of the neck. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| turn off verb | To power down, to switch off, to put out of operation, to deactivate (an appliance, light, mechanism, functionality etc.). |
| look back verb | To think of (past events) in retrospect (in hindsight). |
| shut off verb | To stop or turn off by closing something, such as a valve. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, haven't, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, throat /ˈθɹoʊt/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shove /ʃʌv/, brush /bɹʌʃ/
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 litter, boredom, incandescent.
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.