Shadowing Practice: How to Deal with Embarrassment - Learn English Speaking with Video
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It's lunchtime, and the cafeteria is jam -packed.
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You balance your books and your corn dog as you make your way through the crowd when someone bumps into you.
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Okay, you manage to hold on to everything but one of the books.
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And as you bend down to pick up your dog -eared copy of Hunger Games...
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Oh, your pants tear right in the back in front of everybody.
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Welcome to Wellcast.
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We've gotten a lot of suggestions for this one, from viewers like
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Cream Soda Pop 8990 and Cool Birch.
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Today, we're exploring embarrassment.
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We'll explain exactly what your brain is doing the moment after you trip in front of everyone,
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and give you our three -step method for brushing it off and moving on.
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Are you ready?
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Like many of the emotions you experience daily, embarrassment is a biological reaction.
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drilled into our brains by generation after generation of embarrassed ancestors.
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Embarrassment occurs in a boomerang -shaped region right behind the eyes called, get ready for this, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex.
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Okay, that's a mouthful, but you can just remember it as PAC.
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You know, like, PAC my belongings, I am moving to Canada and never returning, I am so embarrassed.
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Researchers at UC Berkeley discovered that the pack lights up whenever someone's embarrassed.
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They did this in an experiment where they forced subjects to, get this, sing the temptation song,
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My Girl, acapella, and then watch a video of their performances.
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Cruel, right?
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Activity in pack shot up and corresponded with sweaty hands, racing heartbeats, and general expressions of, oh my god, this is horrible.
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That's where we come in.
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It's time for our three tips to getting over embarrassment?
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Step one, force yourself not to be the center of the universe.
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You need to convince yourself that whatever just happened isn't as big a deal as your mind is rapidly making it.
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Odds are it isn't.
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In fact, there's a tested scientific principle called the spotlight effect
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that states that other people don't notice nearly as many of your guffaws as you think they do.
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One experiment that tested this had a bunch of college students wear bright yellow
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Barry Manilow and Blazin t -shirts to an introductory psych course.
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Afterwards the students were asked how many of their classmates they thought noticed the ugly t -shirt.
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Invariably the guest number was much much higher than the actual number.
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So first things first take a deep breath and repeat the mantra.
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Science says it's not as big a deal as my brain thinks it is.
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Step two, don't apologize, deal with it.
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Guys, the worst thing
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you can do after calling a lot of attention to yourself is drawing even more attention by apologizing a lot.
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Instead, downplay the moment.
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If you incessantly apologize after an embarrassing incident, you're only telling others that this is a big deal and they should treat it as such.
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Step 3.
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Don't dwell.
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Change the channel.
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There's a big difference between embarrassment and shame.
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Embarrassment is often a natural and unavoidable reaction to an awkward circumstance.
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But if you continue to fixate on what happened, replaying the moment over and over again in your brain,
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the embarrassment can turn into shame and anxiety.
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You don't want to carry that around with you.
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Instead, imagine your mind as a TV and the embarrassing situation as an obnoxious sitcom that's forever in syndication.
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Change the channel and replace that awful sitcom with something positive.
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A good memory or a joke or a book that you read that you really liked.
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Anything to get rid of that junk.
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Let's recap.
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Embarrassment is a completely healthy reaction to an awkward situation.
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Force yourself to remember that this is a big deal in nobody else's eyes but your own.
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Don't apologize.
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Instead, try to downplay the moment.
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And don't replay what happened over and over again.
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Change the channel!
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Tweet us at WatchWellCast, email us at WatchWellCast at gmail .com, or leave a comment down below.
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We'll see you next time!
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How to Deal with Embarrassment”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: embarrassment, brain, step, moment, embarrassed. This video has 62 sentences and 676 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:40. The speaker talks at a steady 145 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| embarrassment noun | /ɪmˈbæɹ.əs.mənt/ | A state of discomfort arising from bashfulness or consciousness of having violated a social rule; humiliation. |
| apologize verb | /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/ | To make an apology or excuse; to acknowledge some fault or offense, with expression of regret for it, by way of amends |
| embarrassed adjective | /ɪmˈbæɹ.əst/ | Having a feeling of shameful discomfort. |
| experiment noun | /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/ | A test under controlled conditions made to either demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of… |
| awkward adjective | /ˈɔk.wɚd/ | Lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments. |
| replay noun | /ˈɹiːpleɪ/ | An act or instance of replaying (of playing something, such as a game, again); a replaying of (something). |
| sitcom noun | /ˈsɪtˌkɑm/ | Situation comedy. |
| pants noun | /pænts/ | An outer garment that covers the body from the waist downwards, covering each leg separately, usually as far as the ankles; trousers. |
| occur verb | /əˈkɜː/ | To happen or take place. |
| awful adjective | /ˈɔːfʊl/ | Very bad. |
| anxiety noun | /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/ | An unpleasant state of mental uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension and obsession or concern about some uncertain event. |
| horrible adjective | /ˈhɔɹ.ɪ.bəl/ | Causing horror; terrible; shocking. |
| ear noun | /ˈɪə̯/ | The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea. |
| afterwards adverb | /ˈæf.tɚ.wɚdz/ | At a later or succeeding time; after that; |
| odd adjective | /ɑd/ | Differing from what is usual, ordinary or expected. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| get over verb | To overcome. |
| light up verb | To illuminate, to bring light to something, to brighten. |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. |
| shoot up verb | To grow taller or larger rapidly. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- That's where we come in.
- It's time for our three tips to getting over embarrassment?
- You don't want to carry that around with you.
- We'll see you next time!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | we're exploring · is doing · am moving |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | We'll explain · We'll see |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 13 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, isn't, we'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, mouthful /ˈmaʊθfʊl/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: brush /bɹʌʃ/, suggestion /səˈd͡ʒɛst.ʃən/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, temptation /ˌtɛmpˈteɪʃən/, obnoxious /əbˈnɑkʃəs/
- Long words — get the stress right: embarrassment /ɪmˈbæɹ.əs.mənt/, apologize /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/, experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, anxiety /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/, biological /ˌbaɪ.əˈlɑ.d͡ʒɪ.kəl/
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 embarrassment, apologize, embarrassed.
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.