Shadowing Practice: How to get comfortable speaking up in meetings - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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You can be incredibly good at your job, but you will still be overlooked if no one hears what you think.
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I'm currently working with a client who has this exact issue.
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She's incredibly competent, incredibly smart, but she struggles to speak up in meetings.
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So she would have an opinion, get nervous, second -guess herself, and then hold back.
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And this becomes a problem if you want to grow your career
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because your manager and your co -workers never get to hear your opinions and see your judgment, especially your spontaneous judgment.
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As of first, we needed to work on the nervousness itself, of course.
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But then we got really practical about the actual meeting.
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How do you enter the conversation?
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How do you say what you think without constantly softening it?
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And then together we created a few ways that she could phrase herself that actually sounded like her.
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And then she tested this in real life and when she got nervous or got stuck, she just texted me on WhatsApp and we can work through it right away.
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And this is how I work in coaching.
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We map out what situations that are actually holding you back, what behavior lies underneath it, and then we work through it one by one.
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Using the things that are actually happening in your life.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How to get comfortable speaking up in meetings”. This video has 15 sentences and 224 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:56. The speaker talks fast, about 239 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| incredibly adverb | /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/ | In an incredible manner; not to be believed. |
| judgment noun | /ˈd͡ʒʌd͡ʒ.mənt/ | The act of judging. |
| practical adjective | /ˈpɹæk.tɪ.kəl/ | Relating to, or based on, practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis. |
| worker noun | /ˈwɝ.kɚ/ | One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor. |
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| underneath adverb | /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/ | Below; in a place beneath. |
| competent adjective | /ˈkɒmpətənt/ | Having sufficient skill, knowledge, ability, or qualifications. |
| spontaneous adjective | /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs/ | Self-directed; happening or acting without external cause or instigation; proceeding from natural feeling, temperament, or momentary impulse. |
| overlook verb | /ˈoʊ.vɚˌlʊk/ | To offer a view (of something) from a higher position. |
| nervousness noun | The state or quality of being nervous. | |
| soften verb | /ˈsɑfən/ | To make something soft or softer. |
| struggle noun | /ˈstɹʌɡəl/ | A contortion of the body in an attempt to escape or to perform a difficult task. |
| client noun | /ˈklaɪ.ənt/ | A customer, a buyer or receiver of goods or services. |
| constantly adverb | /ˈkɑnstənʔli/ | In a constant manner; occurring continuously; persistently. |
| exact adjective | /ɪɡˈzækt/ | Precisely agreeing with a standard, a fact, or the truth; perfectly conforming; neither exceeding nor falling short in any respect. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| work through verb | To get past a difficult or stressful situation by thinking or talking about it. |
| hold back verb | To act with reserve; to contain one's full measure or power. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be overlooked |
Pronunciation to watch
- Long words — get the stress right: incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, spontaneous /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs/
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 incredibly, judgment, practical.
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.