Shadowing Practice: How I Learned English Vocabulary - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
If you're trying to improve your English vocabulary but you feel like you can't really remember everything you're learning, this video is for you.
2
Today I'm going to share with you the methods I applied when I was learning English.
3
And these are the same methods I apply with my students and they work.
4
I recommend taking some notes while you go through this video
5
so then you have something to look at when the video is done.
6
Of course you can watch it again
7
but it's always nice to write things down because you retain information a little bit better.
8
So first let's talk about something really important and that's the methods
9
that you are currently applying or the methods that are taught to us in schools.
10
So the traditional ways of teaching vocabulary in schools is pretty much you write down the word,
11
you write the translation into your native language, maybe you repeat that word 10 times and hope for the best.
12
Some of us may have long vocabulary lists, like trying to learn 10 to 15 words a day.
13
We have color-coordinated notebooks.
14
We have stickers on our fridges.
15
And all of this is great, but it doesn't really do the job.
16
These methods make you feel productive.
17
They give you this illusion that you are learning.
18
But a few days or a week later, these words and expressions are gone.
19
And at some point in the future, you see that word or expression, you recognize it, but you can't really put your finger on it and you can't really use it yourself.
20
So what's really wrong with these methods and why don't they work?
21
Well, it's because these old school methods are based on passive memorization and not active use.
22
They teach you to recognize the words, but not to own them.
23
So let me explain.
24
When you write down a word or an expression and you just write it in your notebook, you translate it and maybe say it a few times but without real context,
25
you are creating this false idea of learning.
26
You're creating a temporary memory and you're not building any confidence to use this word in real life.
27
And that's not your fault.
28
Most schools still teach vocabulary this way, but we have been shown by studies that our brain doesn't learn a language like that,
29
doesn't retain information through these methods.
30
So what is real learning?
31
How do you actually learn?
32
So a lot of you might think that if you write something down
33
or if you watch a video about something or
34
if you hear a teacher explaining something to you and you understand that, that's learning.
35
But that's only the beginning.
36
That's the first step.
37
You are only getting familiarized with those words, expressions, or concepts.
38
You might understand the word today, but if you don't use it, if you don't include it into your everyday speech, you will lose that word.
39
And that's because learning has two stages and you're only doing the first.
40
So the first stage is passive vocabulary.
41
You recognize the word, you understand it, but you can't yet use it.
42
And stage two is active vocabulary.
43
You use that word in the right context when you need it without hesitation and without any translation happening in your head.
44
Words become part of your vocabulary only through consistent use.
45
Until then, they're not really your words, they're someone else's.
46
Okay, another thing I wanted to point out is that you don't need to learn all the words.
47
You need to learn the right words for you, for your life, for your job, for your interests, for everything that surrounds you.
48
Would a ballet dancer and a truck driver use the same words every day?
49
Nope.
50
Would a fashion blogger or a cybersecurity analyst talk about the same topics?
51
Definitely not.
52
So instead of trying to learn everything, start building your own vocabulary bank.
53
Words you need for work, words and expressions that match your hobbies and interests, words that match your tone, your style, your humor.
54
Basically words and expressions you would use in your native language if you spoke English.
55
That's how you build a vocabulary that serves you.
56
And if you're learning vocabulary that is relevant to you, that you feel like is useful to you,
57
you're not going to get bored and you're going to understand exactly where to use those expressions, how to use those words, and actually feel the progress.
58
So I like to call these words high impact vocabulary.
59
These are words that are frequent, are flexible, are functional to you, are commonly used in English,
60
or are professionally or emotionally useful to you.
61
We all come from different backgrounds.
62
We all have different mindsets, different mentalities, different culture.
63
We cannot all speak the same way.
64
You don't all speak the same way in your country and everybody has its own style of communication, right?
65
So we're trying to kind of do the same thing.
66
We're not trying to be robots and everybody have the same exact vocabulary bank, but we're trying to match what we need to our thoughts,
67
our ideas, our goals, our style.
68
You want to look at, okay, what's my job?
69
What are my interests?
70
What do I like doing?
71
What do I like watching?
72
What do I like reading about?
73
Because if you're already consuming content that you're into, that you're interested in, might as well consume it in English.
74
Because if you're actually interested in what you're watching, reading, you're going to pay attention differently than
75
if you're trying to learn some random words that you just wrote on a piece of paper.
76
It's going to be organic learning.
77
Try to find expressions or idioms or different phrasal verbs that you find that you use a lot in your native language.
78
So this way you want to match what you're going to be sounding in English with your native language style.
79
Then learn expressions that match your style.
80
If you're sarcastic, learn sarcastic expressions.
81
If you're funny, learn some jokes.
82
Your environment, your house, try to describe everything around you.
83
Try to narrate everything you're doing.
84
Try to be comfortable within your comfort zone, but in English.
85
Your outfit, your breakfast, how your day went, what you watched on the news, talk about your pet, talk about your friend.
86
Things that you can actually feel, things that you can attach some sort of emotional baggage to.
87
This is how you're going to discover what you need to learn
88
because when you're going to try to say those things and you won't have them, you're going to know, okay, this is the word that I need to look up.
89
This is the expression I need to search for.
90
This is the style that I'm looking for.
91
And that's how you identify what you need to learn specifically for you.
92
Don't just learn random words from an article on a topic
93
that you're not even interested in because you will never end up using those words.
94
So you will never remember those words.
95
Therefore, you're just wasting your time.
96
Remember, you don't need to know everything.
97
And of course, our passive vocabulary will always be bigger than our active vocabulary, right?
98
Because we're able to understand a lot more, we consume a lot more compared to speaking or producing.
99
We don't write and we don't speak as much as we listen and watch and read.
100
So it's okay to have a bigger passive vocabulary because
101
when you're watching a documentary on a topic that you're not even interested in,
102
you will understand what they're talking about even though those words might not be part of your active vocabulary
103
so you won't be able to use them in the same way they did in
104
that documentary but we are mostly focusing on active vocabulary
105
and how you can speak more fluently
106
and more confidently another thing I used to do is practice all the dialogues
107
and the conversations that I had had during the day in the evening
108
or before bed or while I was taking a shower.
109
So the conversations I would have in my native language with friends,
110
colleagues, teachers, parents, whatever, I would try to replay them in English
111
and then I would know like okay I wanted to say
112
that but I don't really know how I'm gonna go and look for those words and expressions.
113
Or for work for example I would prepare like a little presentation on a small topic
114
and I would try to talk about it as if I would present it.
115
I would convince people of what I was trying to say and again
116
because my thoughts were coming from my native language I kind
117
of knew okay this is how I want to present this information.
118
These are the words that I needed and I didn't have
119
or I thought I knew but I didn't have on the spot
120
which means that I had them in my passive vocabulary
121
but I had to convert them into active vocabulary
122
and then I would get a little bit more technical
123
and play with root words that could get prefixes
124
and suffixes added to them in order to create new words
125
so English is fun and interesting that way you have one root word
126
and then you can add different elements either at the beginning of the word
127
or at the end and create three four maybe five new words for example the verb to create.
128
It could be creativity for the noun and it could be creative for the adjective.
129
Help, helpful, helpless, happy, unhappy, happiness.
130
So when you start getting used to what type of prefixes there are and what type of suffixes there are,
131
you can kind of play with it yourself and you develop this logic of,
132
okay, what would make this word the opposite of the other if I added a certain prefix. Do, undo.
133
Interested, uninterested.
134
Competent, incompetent.
135
And so on and so forth.
136
Most important thing, do not learn too much at once.
137
I know it gives you that instant gratification feeling, that sense of learning when you write many things down,
138
but you're not going to retain those words.
139
You're not going to remember them.
140
They won't even become part of your passive vocabulary let alone
141
active vocabulary this is just wishful thinking this is just hope
142
and this hope fades away
143
so instead what i would do i would choose three to five words maximum five is like a lot
144
so three to four is perfect i would focus a lot on the pronunciation to make sure
145
that i'm confident i'm saying them right then i would try
146
to find real life examples in my mind even imaginary situations
147
but realistic situations that could happen in my life where I could use that word.
148
And very importantly, I would say those things out loud.
149
I would also try to write a little short story with those words.
150
It's kind of a fun exercise especially for my students
151
when you give them kind of random words
152
and they have to find a way to put them all together and to make them make sense.
153
Or you can also journal about your day for example and try to incorporate those words into your sentences.
154
So as you can probably notice it's a lot more production rather than consumption.
155
So you write things down and then you start using them.
156
You start to produce your own thoughts containing that word or that expression.
157
And one of the most important things that a lot of people forget about
158
or maybe they don't know about is that you need to revisit those words.
159
You need to reuse them, refresh them.
160
Imagine I curl my hair today and I want the curls to last for two weeks.
161
They won't.
162
I have to re-curl them maybe in two days, maybe tomorrow in order for them to last.
163
Those are your words.
164
The curls are your words.
165
You have to continuously use them, introduce them into your vocabulary, look at them, say them,
166
so they stay alive and they stay in your active vocabulary and they don't go into passive vocabulary or completely fade away.
167
So when you're doing this vocabulary rotation, I would also add some synonyms and antonyms.
168
For example, if you always use the word nice, right?
169
Depending on the context, depending on the situation, sometimes you can use a different word, not nice.
170
Of course, you can say a nice outfit, nice dress, nice house, nice weather, nice park.
171
Everything can be nice.
172
Nice is a very, very generic word, very flexible.
173
But if you're trying to enrich your vocabulary, you can switch that up.
174
You can have pleasant instead of nice.
175
You can have lovely, enjoyable, it could be stunning or delicious or beautiful,
176
so many other things depending on what you're describing.
177
And the same thing with antonyms, you could have the word bad that you use with everything,
178
but you can also have terrible, awful, unpleasant, disappointing, mediocre.
179
So identifying that word that you use a lot
180
and finding synonyms for it will make you sound a lot more flexible
181
and a lot more fluent because you're going to express your thoughts a lot more accurately.
182
And another thing about the negative words or the antonyms of the good words, being polite is huge in English, okay?
183
So here we're talking a little bit about our social skills.
184
If you're out shopping with a friend and she's trying to pick a dress, for example, and you're just there to help her choose one, and you see one that you don't like,
185
don't just say, this is ugly, because this sounds pretty hurtful, and this could offend your friend, but just say things like,
186
this is not as beautiful as the last one.
187
I liked the blue one more.
188
I think that the other one suits your style better.
189
Do you notice how I said pretty much what I intended to say
190
that this dress is ugly but I never used those words.
191
I just redirected her attention towards a different dress because it's not about what you think about that specific dress.
192
It's about your friend choosing a good one.
193
So very often when you're using very simple words like good, bad, ugly, it could sound too dry.
194
It could sound rude.
195
So you always want to be prepared with softer synonyms or expressions to diffuse that and not sound super direct.
196
Of course, this is different with a best friend or a family member or something, but if you're with someone who you don't know very,
197
very well, do not risk it.
198
Always be polite.
199
Okay, another major, major thing that a lot of traditional schools and teachers don't really talk about is connected speech.
200
Learning how to pronounce those words in connected speech is crucial.
201
If you don't learn how that word sounds in real life, in real life speech, then you might not even recognize it when someone will use it.
202
Because whenever someone talks, they connect the words a lot more close to each other than
203
when you're learning this vocabulary word isolated.
204
When you're learning words or expressions in isolation without them being connected to words in front of them and after them,
205
you're learning them in a very robotic way.
206
Like nobody will actually pronounce them the same way you are learning them.
207
So if you learn the word remote control, if you write it down, you're going to read it remote control,
208
remote control, and you're going to say it just like that
209
slowly
210
and very very clearly in speech it's going to be hey
211
have you seen the remote control remote control remote control it's
212
going to be a lot more squished like the sounds are not going to be as wide so
213
if you're learning the word remote control okay write it down
214
you don't need the translation you just need the explanation the definition of it um
215
and then try to imagine it okay where would I use this and say that out loud.
216
Hey, I'm looking for the remote control.
217
I'm looking for the remote control.
218
And say that a few times.
219
I'm looking for the remote control.
220
I'm looking for the blah, blah, blah, blah, right?
221
It has to become an exercise.
222
It has to become a tongue twister.
223
And then when you say remote control, remote control, remote control multiple times, that T at the end pretty much disappears.
224
And it's a silent T, remote control, remote control, remote control, right?
225
But when you're learning it in isolation, you will read every single letter because you have the time,
226
you have the space, and you're trying to learn it correctly, right?
227
Most of the other words you're learning, they change when they're spoken.
228
They change based on what comes before them and what comes after them in a sentence.
229
The question, what do you mean by that?
230
If you write it down, what do you mean by that?
231
What do you mean by that?
232
That is extreme articulation.
233
Nobody says it like that in real life, right?
234
They'll say, what do you mean by that?
235
What do you mean by that?
236
What do you mean by that?
237
So if you're saying that sentence multiple times faster and faster and faster,
238
you will eventually learn what that sounds like and how long it should take you to actually say it.
239
What do you mean by that?
240
And not what do you mean by that because
241
that will make you sound a lot less fluent
242
and a lot more robotic and on top of
243
that you're practicing your listening skills too
244
so um there is a website i think it's called youglish
245
i'm gonna put it right here you can write the expression
246
or the word that you're learning
247
and it will give you uh snippets of videos from movies
248
or ted talks or whatever online where you could hear
249
that word in real speech so you can see how quickly
250
that word is pronounced or how it is connected to other words around it.
251
Okay and the last part is learning idioms.
252
Idioms are such a big part of spoken English it's crazy everybody uses an idiom like every other sentence
253
and if you don't know idioms are short phrases or expressions
254
that have a completely different meaning than the actual words in them.
255
So they're like metaphors that English speakers use all the time.
256
So what I like to do with idioms when I learn them, I look up the idiom that I want to learn
257
or maybe I take the idiom that I heard somewhere
258
and I want to introduce it into my speech because I liked it.
259
I feel like it's something that I would use or it matches an idea from my native language.
260
So what I would do, I would have the idiom written down.
261
I would say it many times because I want to make sure that I pronounce it correctly and fast enough.
262
Then I would write the definition and I would read
263
that definition out loud or the meaning and then I look at the origin.
264
Where did it come from?
265
Because for me, for example, if I can attach some sort of logical explanation to some of these things, I can remember them better.
266
And not all idioms will have like a super clear origin story, but a lot of them do
267
and then I will try to create a little dialogue in
268
my head where would I use this with whom would I use this I basically imagine like a fake situation
269
but a realistic one and then I try to put
270
that into one of the lines of the dialogue either used by me
271
or by someone else for example spill the tea spill the
272
tea what does spill the tea mean it's definitely not spilling the tea out of a cup.
273
So spill the tea means, okay, tell me what's the gossip.
274
I'm intrigued.
275
I want to know what happened.
276
Tell me more.
277
Tell me what you know, right?
278
It's something that I shouldn't really be talking about, but I want to know more about.
279
So let's imagine I have a friend who's a manager at a company
280
and there was this incident with an employee
281
and they had this talk with HR and my friend was part of
282
that conversation and I want to know what happened and I ask her, okay, you had the meeting, spill the tea.
283
That means tell me what happened.
284
So that's how I would actually try to introduce that idiom into my life, connecting it with real persons,
285
with real situations, so then I can attach some sort of emotional baggage to it.
286
So I created a free PDF guide with 20 of my favorite idioms, and you can get it when you subscribe to my newsletter.
287
You can find the link in my description here.
288
Okay, so let's do a little recap, a little summary of what we just talked about.
289
You need to focus on words that fit your energy and your lifestyle.
290
Don't try to learn too much.
291
Go deeper, not wider.
292
Move vocabulary from passive to active by using it.
293
Focus on production.
294
Balance the consumption with the production.
295
Speak and write just as much as you listen and read.
296
Use the words in full expressions and sentences and practice connected speech.
297
And idioms are your best friend when you want to sound fluent.
298
All right, I hope this helped you and if you have a friend or you know someone
299
who's still learning vocabulary through old school methods, send them this video.
300
I know there's a lot more methods that could be super efficient in vocabulary learning, so if you know one, make sure to write it down in the comments.
301
All right, thank you so much for watching.
302
Bye!
📺 Same Channel
B12
I understand ♥️
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B13
Improving your English accent is easy if you let go of your “native language mouth” 🤓 #english
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B11
Connected speech in English 🔗 #english #connectedspeech
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B11
How to Expand Your English Vocabulary - Part 3 - Word Families #englishvocabulary
Business EnglishHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B21
I Finally Got a New Vlogging Camera | DJI Osmo Action 6
Travel EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B13
How to Expand Your English Vocabulary - Part 2 - Replacing the Word Good #englishvocabulary
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B19
How to Expand Your English Vocabulary - Part 1 - Using Synonyms #english #englishvocabulary
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B2How to Overcome Accent Anxiety & the Fear of Speaking English
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B13
Why I did the English routine #speakenglish #englishspeaking
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B23
How to Learn English Vocabulary
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B26
How to Study English by Yourself
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B11
Your House = Your English Zone | Practice English at Home (Ep.1)
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B12
How I Became More Confident! (level - EASY)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B12
Improve Your Accent in English with 10 Tongue Twisters
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B23
How I Learned English with Movies and TV-Shows
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B25
How I Would Learn English Today
Travel EnglishDaily Conversation
B211
4 Best Ways to Improve Your English Pronunciation
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B2How to Practice English by Yourself (Vlog)
Travel EnglishDaily Conversation
B110
A Day in My Life in Canada (English Vlog)
Travel EnglishTeensDaily Conversation
B21
Can AI Replace English Teachers?
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
✨ Recommend Video
B22
118 sentences
How I Trained My Brain to Think in English (and Stop Translating)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B21
723 sentences
How to Remember Everything || Graded Reader || Improve Your English || Listen And Practice
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B21
97 sentences
English Speaking Practice || Stop Forgetting Words! Remember Vocabulary Naturally
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B155 sentences
If I Had to Learn English Again… I'd Do This
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B21
389 sentences
How To Go From B1 To B2 Level of English (What ACTUALLY Works)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B1471
18 sentences
The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Students (Part 5) 🌟
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B2198 sentences
Why You Need To Train Your Ears First, Not Your Eyes | English Tips
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B23
96 sentences
Think faster and speak 🗣️
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B12
746 sentences
100 Verbs Every English Learner Needs (with examples)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B22
97 sentences
How I Learned English (didn’t speak it until I was 18)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B21
386 sentences
Stop Studying, Just Listen: This English Method Will Change Your Life | Inspired by Muniba Mazari
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 302 sentences and 3695 words to shadow. The speech runs for 21:22. The speaker talks at a natural 173 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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. |
| remote adjective | /ɹəˈməʊt̞/ | At a distance; disconnected. |
| passive adjective | /ˈpæs.ɪv/ | Being subjected to an action without producing a reaction. |
| connect verb | /kəˈnɛkt/ | To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object. |
| spill verb | /spɪl/ | To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| pronounce verb | /pɹəˈnaʊns/ | To declare formally, officially or ceremoniously. |
| curl noun | /kɜɹl/ | A curving piece or lock of hair; a ringlet. |
| ugly adjective | /ˈʌɡli/ | Displeasing to the eye; aesthetically unpleasing. |
| translation noun | /tɹænzˈleɪʃən/ | The conversion of text from one language to another. |
| introduce verb | /ˌɪntɹəˈdus/ | To cause (someone) to be acquainted (with someone else). |
| dialogue noun | /ˈdaɪəˌlɑɡ/ | A conversation or other form of discourse between two or more individuals. |
| depend verb | /dɪˈpɛnd/ | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition |
| retain verb | /ɹəˈteɪn/ | Often followed by from: to hold back (someone or something); to check, to prevent, to restrain, to stop. |
| flexible adjective | /ˈflɛk.sɪ.bəl/ | Capable of being flexed or bent without breaking; able to be turned or twisted without breaking. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. | |
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| 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. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 106 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: translation /tɹænzˈleɪʃən/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, consumption /kənˈsʌmp.ʃən/, isolation /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/, efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/
- Long words — get the stress right: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, documentary /ˌdɒk.jʊˈmɛn.tɹi/, isolation /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/, temporary /ˈtɛmp(əˌɹ)ɛɹi/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like vocabulary, remote, passive.
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.