Shadowing Practice: how to command attention when speaking - Learn English Speaking with Video

It's no fun when people don't listen to you, is it?

It's not nice to feel like you're on the sidelines

and everything you say is just spoken over or forgotten or not heard in the first place.

I used to have that very same issue.

I don't anymore.

In fact, that's a lie.

I can do.

I do tend to default into speaking too quickly and under-energized.

And usually that happens when I'm tired or

if I'm speaking to someone I've known for a long time or

if I am speaking to someone who I look up to

a lot I can tend to make myself smaller quieter

and speak too fast usually because of anxiety around speaking to them

or just kind of lacking confidence in the situation now this happens to most likely everyone not everyone

but most people have a certain degree of this and

if you're watching this video firstly I'd like to say stop worrying

so much it's not as big a deal as you as you think

and it's not because you don't have a deeper voice

and it's not

because you don't have a louder voice although those things tend to sometimes come with confidence it doesn't mean

that doing that will show or provide confidence it just means

that those people have are more relaxed usually and

when you're more relaxed you're more resonant in the first place

so whatever your voice type is

or whatever range you speak in being more relaxed will always make it more fuller

and more richer sounding

and give you the edge on your own voice it doesn't matter what other people sound like

or have done in the past that's not important I tell

you what back in 1994 I saw the artist Björk Bjork

for those in the UK I saw her play at Phoenix festival in Stratford-upon-Avon in the UK

and now you wouldn't think of Björk as having a

like a powerful voice would you or an authoritative voice

but she you might even think she's kind of quirky or cute

or I don't know what your your thoughts are I know

that's how people have described it to me in the past

but really she's a fierce warrior

and talking about commanding attention she sings with power don't get me wrong

but she's not necessarily got a deep voice she certainly knows her stuff that's very true

but when I saw her play at the time I believe she was dating a drum

and bass DJ called Goldie and I'm not sure

if there's any influence on the music there

because she was a talented musician herself

but she walked onto this huge stage without any band there in a little white dress.

She stood there at the microphone at the front of the stage, nothing else.

She did no dancing around.

She stood there very calmly, very grounded, very present, and drew these thousands of people into her.

She literally just performed her songs, and towards the end of her set, a lot of them were remixed with drummer bass, which is why I thought that was at the period she was dating Goldie.

Now, she's a kind of, you know, small framed woman she's got a not high-pitched voice

but it's a you know you wouldn't say it's a powerful voice necessarily she doesn't sound operatic for example

but she commanded

that audience more than I've ever seen in fact it was

one of my favorite like shows I've ever seen in my life

and it was a real testament to holding court and actually holding presence because presence will command attention.

If you are connected, if you are grounded, if your feet are flat on the floor, your belly loose and your muscles limber and relaxed,

you will draw in more attention.

You can't help but do that.

If you are listening, if you are engaged, you will become engaging.

This is a really, really, really key thing to remember if you feel you don't fit in, If you feel that you're not being listened to or heard,

you need to plant your feet in the ground and let people know you're there, not through volume, not through deepening of the voice, but through your presence.

By being present, you become more present and that is commanding and that is how, the best way I know that you can command an audience.

In the future, watch your favorite speakers or people you look up to or peers or friends or relatives around you

and try to notice the ones that really stand out and

if those people

that really stand out also tend to have deeper louder voices see what else they might be doing see

if there's anything else in their message are they connected

or are they just like throwing words away are they with you do they draw you in

or are they just putting the message on you what is it that works look at them Watch people.

You can improve yourself by looking at others.

And if you can find a video of Bjork from the mid-90s, check her out.

She was absolutely awesome.

Hopefully that's helpful.

Very short one today.

But think about it.

It's really important to command attention.

You don't have to be louder.

You don't have to be deeper.

Just more grounded and present.

See you next time.

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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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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