Shadowing Practice: How to Actually Lock In At School - Learn English Speaking with Video
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These are the 7 things I did to go from a C student to getting straight A's,
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and for some context as to why I feel like I'm qualified to share this with you,
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I'm currently in my final semester as a master's student studying mechanical engineering
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and have gotten all A's so far in grad school, so let's get right into how I've managed to do this.
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Tip number 1, time block your weeks.
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I like to dedicate 30 minutes on Sundays to planning out my upcoming week, specifically Monday through Fridays, using an app called Obsidian.
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Now, this workflow will work for any note -taking app you may already be using, so don't feel like you have to switch over to Obsidian.
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First, I start by blocking out the time I have class and any of the rigid constraints,
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which are things I have to do at specific times of the day.
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Next, I block out my priorities, such as time to complete homework and studying for any upcoming exams.
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Finally, with all the empty space, I'll fill up my time with hobbies or give myself periods to relax and do nothing.
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It sounds silly to time block your downtime, but it's helped me remove this terrible habit I used to have, which was procrastinating.
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In high school, I used to come home and tell myself that I'm going to start studying after an hour break.
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And then I start watching YouTube, time flies by, I'm in the middle of a banger video, and okay, I'll start at 4 .30.
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4 .30 turns into 5, and then 6.
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Aw, fu - Tip number two.
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Pay attention in class and use office hours to your advantage.
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Paying attention in class is a cheat code, and it can save you hours by ensuring that you're learning the material
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when it's being taught to you by a trained professional instead of having to teach yourself incredibly complex topics on your own.
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It's like being stuck in a maze and asking your teacher who has a bird's eye view which direction to go.
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Sure, you can solve the maze by yourself, but it's so much easier to use your resources to your advantage.
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Now, if you feel like you don't have enough time to ask your questions in class,
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well then office hours, which is where you can talk one -on -one with teachers, is a great place to ask any follow -up questions,
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especially when it comes to the homework.
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I used to work through 80 % of my homeworks, and any of the sections I got stuck on I would bring to my teacher
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and work one -on -one with them through the problem until I had a full understanding of the material.
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Tip number three, study often every day instead of overnight the day before an exam.
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It's like working out, people don't work out once a week for five hours straight, instead you exercise for one hour five times a week,
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because this gives your body the time it needs to regenerate and grow during those rest periods.
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Your mind works the same exact way, it needs time to sleep on information and subconsciously process what you're learning.
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Plus, having to dedicate 5 hours in a single day to studying for one class sounds miserable.
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So why not do less daily and avoid burning out?
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Which leads me to the next tip, go outside and have fun.
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There's a corny saying that goes, work hard, play hard.
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And that is exactly what I embodied when I started getting all A's.
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By doing all the other tips in this video,
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I was efficiently learning which actually gave me more free time to do other things outside of school.
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I started going out, pursuing my hobbies, and spending more time with my friends.
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Going outside and having fun, especially on the weekends when I do not time block anything, can help with regenerating the mind
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and giving it the rest time it needs to get back to working hard on the school days.
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So, enjoy your weekends.
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Tip number 5.
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Romanticize the process.
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This goes for anything hard you want to do in life.
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You've got to make the process as frictionless as possible.
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Whether that's buying really nice school supplies or going to the coffee shop to study,
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how you make school less frictionless is by finding small ways to enjoy the everyday process.
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Because getting all A's isn't something that'll just happen overnight.
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I personally romanticize the process by finding interesting places to study.
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Because being stuck in the library cubicles all day is no fun.
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Working at coffee shops or in nature are my personal favorite places to work.
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Plus, it feels like a good use of free will.
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Like, if I'm going to be working hard, would I rather be here or here?
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Bonus tip, a physical calendar.
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This went from a dumb gimmick
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I originally got to decorate my old dorm to one of my favorite aspects of everyday day life.
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The way I use it is by mapping out any upcoming tests within that month,
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and this helps me have a higher level understanding of what I need to start preparing for weeks in advance,
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unlike the planner app, which only shows me what I have going on for that week.
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The calendar is a nice way to gauge your workload
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and have something you can physically cross off at the end of a hard day at school, which feels really rewarding.
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Plus, you know that feeling when you're in the most miserable class ever?
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Well, this calendar can show you the light at the end of the tunnel
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because you can physically see the finite number of days left until the classes over.
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Tip number six, find your why.
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You need to give yourself a genuine motivating reason for why you want to dedicate all this time
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and effort to doing good at school, aside from just wanting to get all A's.
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Ask yourself the deeper questions like why does this even matter?
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Are you just getting good grades to impress your parents or do you actually want a job in the field you're studying?
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If you're in high school, does getting good grades mean you can get into your dream college?
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Or maybe for some of you, it's about getting a job that pays well.
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Having a strong why is essential because everyone gets that initial boost of motivation at the start of the year,
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but that initial motivation will always fade away.
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So what you need is a solid reason for why you're going to put in the work,
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even on the days when you feel lazy and demotivated.
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This was the first tip that I can look back on that actually changed the trajectory of my academic life.
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that my why was that I was genuinely interested in becoming an engineer, so I stopped looking at school as something I'm forced to do,
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and instead looked at it as an opportunity to learn these incredibly interesting concepts that I can apply to the real world.
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Once I found this reason, implementing the rest of the tips in this video became second nature,
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because I personally wanted to pay attention every day at school.
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School became less about grades, and more about how much information can I learn.
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And ironically, that's exactly what led to me getting better grades.
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Tip number seven, how I use AI to help me learn.
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Here's the truth, you won't become an student if you rely on AI, but AI is here to stay whether we like it or not.
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So here's the one and only way I've been using AI in my workflow.
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To me, AI acts as a teacher assistant.
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I use AI for when I'm unable to go to office hours
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or need a smart friend to quickly look over my homework.
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So first, I start off by doing my homework assignments completely on my own.
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Then I use AI to double check my work.
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When I get something wrong,
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I'll ask AI to show me step by step how they got their solution and I'll compare it to my own work.
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From there, I find the step where I did something wrong and I'll correct it with the help of AI.
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But for all the steps after that, I'll go back to trying to solve the problem myself,
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and I'll repeat this process until I have the final correct answer.
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So there you have it.
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Those are my 7 tips to getting all A's.
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If you want to learn more, then make sure to subscribe.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How to Actually Lock In At School”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tip, hour, process. This video has 98 sentences and 1438 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:10. The speaker talks fast, about 233 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| homework noun | /ˈhoʊmˌwɝk/ | Exercises assigned by a teacher to a student which review concepts studied in class. |
| upcoming adjective | Happening or appearing in the relatively near future. | |
| calendar noun | /ˈkæl.ən.də/ | Any system by which time is divided into days, weeks, months, and years. |
| dedicate verb | /ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/ | To set apart for a deity or for religious purposes; consecrate. |
| everyday adjective | /ˈɛvɹiˌdeɪ/ | Appropriate for ordinary use, rather than for special occasions. |
| solve verb | /sɒlv/ | To find an answer or solution to a problem or question; to work out. |
| incredibly adverb | /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/ | In an incredible manner; not to be believed. |
| physically adverb | /ˈfɪz.ɪ.kli/ | In a physical manner. |
| motivation noun | /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/ | Willingness of action especially in behavior. |
| overnight adverb | /əʊvə(ɹ)ˈnaɪt/ | During or throughout the night, especially during the evening or night just past. |
| miserable adjective | /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/ | In a state of misery: very sad, ill, or poor. |
| hobby noun | /ˈhɑ.bi/ | An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time. |
| maze noun | /ˈmeɪz/ | A labyrinth; a puzzle consisting of a complicated network of paths or passages, the aim of which is to find one's way through. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| bonus noun | /ˈbəʊ.nəs/ | Something extra that is good; an added benefit. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
| burn out verb | To destroy by fire. | |
| fill up verb | To make (something) completely full. | |
| follow up verb | To take further actions remaining after an event; to continue, revisit, or persist; especially, to maintain communication or verify. | |
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. | |
| look over verb | To check quickly; to make a brief or cursory visual inspection of. |
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 have · used to come · used to work |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being taught · being stuck |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | have, which was · teacher who has · hours, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 29 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'll, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, miserable /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/, priority /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/, mechanical /məˈkænəkəl/
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 homework, upcoming, calendar.
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.