Shadowing Practice: How to Speak English Without Making Grammar Mistakes - Learn English Speaking with Video

Many teachers say, don't worry about your grammar mistakes, just communicate.

Um, well, yes, but.

You see, there's something else very important you need to know.

And if you don't do this, your spoken English will just never improve.

Let me explain.

Hello, it's Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy and the YouTube channel English Speaking Success, helping you become a more confident speaker of English.

Now, I remember at school I had to write essays and then give the essay to the teacher.

A few days later, the teacher would come back and there's your essay, my essay, covered in red ink.

all the mistakes.

And I think, oh, no. And that's why nowadays, a lot of people think about mistakes.

They have a negative feeling.

So I understand why lots of teachers and linguists now say, don't worry about mistakes.

Don't focus on the mistakes.

More important is your communication.

Now, that's true, right?

We should embrace our mistakes.

You have to make mistakes to get better.

The important thing not to forget is you then need to correct your mistakes and learn from your mistakes.

Otherwise, you're always going to be here.

And many people forget that and they just carry on making the same mistakes again and again.

And so they stay at the same level.

Now, you can rely on your teacher to correct your mistakes.

However, there's quite a bit of research that shows teacher correction doesn't always work, not always the most effective way.

I think actually the most successful students learn to self-correct.

And I think that's the key.

So in this video, I want to show you how to do that, to learn to self-correct.

So you can use grammar, making mistakes, but then correcting your mistakes so later you can use grammar without making mistakes.

Yeah, that should be the title of the video.

But if I put that title, you wouldn't click, right?

Welcome to social media world, Keith.

it reminds me of a story right i had a friend

i still have a friend he's a buddhist monk i don't see him a lot

because he lives out in china but i remember

when i visited his temple one day

and i was struck by all the visitors being attracted by the gold

and the glitter and and the the monks would say you know come

and pray with us and you will become rich And I remember thinking,

Buddhism isn't about becoming rich, getting money.

And so I asked him, I said, why do you promise these people that they will become rich?

His answer, well, listen, I'm going to tell you the answer later, because right now, let's focus on your grammar, right?

Grammar first, Buddhism second.

I'm not a Buddhist, by the way.

But so I don't get distracted.

Let's focus on helping you learn how to correct your grammar so you can use grammar without making mistakes.

Now, in this video, I'm going to show you a framework to do that, that you can use for all your grammar in the future.

I'll use one example today to make it clear.

But once you have this framework, boom, Bob's your uncle.

You'll be able to use it for all of your future study.

Are you ready?

Of course you are.

You've been waiting.

Let's do it.

Okay, so this framework has six steps.

step number one is focus on one rule at a time.

This is important because when you practice, very often when you're speaking or writing,

you're trying to correct and use all the grammar correctly.

And there's just so much grammar, it's overwhelming and you can't do it.

And you go blank or you make lots of mistakes.

So focus on one area of grammar that you find difficult, or that you know is a problem for you,

and just focus on that, right?

For example, if you confuse the present simple and the present continuous.

I mean, for example, right, why do we say, I eat breakfast at seven o'clock, but we say, I'm eating breakfast with my friend now?

Why?

Or, on the other hand, maybe you confuse countable and uncountable nouns, right?

I mean, why do we say how many apples?

How much water?

And what about coffee?

How much?

How many?

So focus on one area at a time.

Next.

Right.

Now, step number two is practice.

Actually, I suggest here you use what I call the speaking success system.

It's at the heart of all my teaching and my courses.

It's the heart of the gold course for IELTS speaking students.

Discover the language, practice using it, and then review it.

I'll talk about reviewing later, but let's look at discover the language and discover the rule, if it's grammar, and then practicing how to use it.

Practice speaking.

Now, you can discover the rule through a grammar reference book.

Hello, Grandad.

Reference book.

I've got ChatGPT.

OK, sure.

That as well. That works.

Whatever.

For this video today, let's discover the language through context, right?

And for those of you who are IELTS students, let's take an IELTS question and see some language.

So here's the question.

Do you usually cook at home?

And the answer?

Yes, I cook most evenings after work.

I usually cook Spanish dishes because I like them.

Right now, I'm learning how to cook Italian food.

Right.

Interesting.

So he says, yes, I cook most evenings.

I usually cook Spanish dishes, but I'm learning how to cook Italian.

OK.

100

Why is he using the present simple sometimes and the present continuous other times?

101

What's the rule?

102

Right.

103

Yes.

104

So the rule is we use the present simple for a habit or a routine.

105

and the present continuous for something happening now or around this time.

106

Okay.

107

Very, very simple. So that's discovering.

108

Let's practice.

109

Let's practice speaking.

110

I'll ask another question and I want you to give one sentence with the present simple.

111

I do A and another sentence with the present continuous.

112

Now I'm doing B.

113

Okay.

114

For example, if I say, do you usually go to cafes or to restaurants?

115

Right.

116

Let's find out what our student says.

117

Well, I go to cafes about twice a week.

118

I usually go to a cafe near my home.

119

This week, though, I'm trying a new cafe near my office.

120

Right, I go to cafes twice a week.

121

It's a habit, a routine.

122

This week, now, I'm trying a new one.

123

It's around this time.

124

You see the difference?

125

Keep practicing.

126

Here's another one for you.

127

Do you have a hobby?

128

Well, I might say, yes, I play the guitar.

129

I usually play in the evenings.

130

Right now, I'm learning a new song by Van Halen.

131

Let's move on to step number three.

132

Okay, step number three, speak slowly.

133

Now, just now you were practicing with one or two sentences.

134

You also need to practice kind of longer turns, speaking more a longer time.

135

And when you're doing that and having conversations, speak more slowly.

136

because when you slow down, it gives you time to think and practice specifically the grammar that you're doing and to get it right.

137

Focus on accuracy by speaking more slowly.

138

The big mistake so many students make is that they speak too quickly and they think fluency is speed.

139

It is not.

140

Fluency is not speed slow down and it's really going to help you speak more accurately and use grammar correctly, right?

141

Slow down.

142

Do you remember the Buddhist monk?

143

The story of my friend, the Buddhist monk who in the temples, they use gold and getting rich to attract people.

144

So I said to him, I said, why do you do that?

145

Why do you tell people they're going to be rich if they come in to the temple.

146

He said, well, if they never come in to the temple,

147

we can never teach them or convince them or tell them the story we want to tell them.

148

They have to come in.

149

Once they come in, we can then tell them about Buddhism and it's not about money.

150

But if they don't come in, we can't teach them.

151

Interesting, right?

152

A bit like YouTube and clicking.

153

Interesting.

154

Food for thought.

155

With that thought, let's move on to step number four.

156

Okay, step number four.

157

Well, remember, step number one, focus on one rule.

158

Number two, practice.

159

Number three, speak slowly.

160

Number four, record yourself and check.

161

You see, if you don't have a teacher to correct you, you need to correct yourself.

162

And a great way to do that is record yourself audio or video when you're speaking.

163

So when you're having a conversation or telling a story to yourself, record it.

164

If you're having a Zoom meeting with somebody and practicing, record it.

165

Ask for permission, but record it.

166

And then listen back and focus on the one grammar rule, right?

167

Not everything, forget vocabulary.

168

The one grammar rule you're focusing on, Are you using it correctly?

169

And if not, you'll see the mistakes.

170

And if you are using it correctly, pat yourself on the back.

171

Job well done.

172

Excellent.

173

And then move on to step number five, which is...

174

Step number five is to use AI to review.

175

Do you remember I talked about the speaking success system?

176

You're discovering language, you're practicing and then review.

177

So to review, use AI.

178

It's so simple.

179

You can get AI to create stories, podcasts, news articles, anything.

180

You just need to tell it the one grammar rule you're focused on and then to create something, a short story, a short dialogue.

181

using that grammar rule.

182

You can say, create a story using five examples of that grammar rule.

183

And then you've got a little story in a different context, but practicing the same grammar.

184

You can read it.

185

You can listen to it.

186

You can get it text to speech, make it into audio.

187

If you're really clever, you can get text to video, make a nice video, whatever.

188

But you can just create unlimited materials to practice this and to review this.

189

So important and yet so easy.

190

Once you've done that, move on to step number six.

191

Right, number six.

192

Well, first, quick review.

193

First, one rule.

194

Second, practice.

195

Three, speak slowly.

196

Four, record yourself.

197

Five, AI and review.

198

Six, do some writing.

199

because I think in addition to speaking, writing is a great way to reinforce the language.

200

If you can write with a nice, beautiful pen, I actually think that's better.

201

If you want to type, you can type.

202

Hey, just call me granddad.

203

But I think writing is a really good way to reinforce the language.

204

Now, I know a lot of teachers do reading and writing first and then kind of speaking later.

205

Course books as well, kind of speaking is the activity at the very end.

206

I totally disagree with that.

207

I think you should do speaking first and then some reading and then some writing.

208

The writing at the end, that for me is a much better way of doing it.

209

So there we have it.

210

The six steps.

211

It's a framework you can use for any grammatical item that you want to practice.

212

And it's all about learning how to self-correct.

213

Give it a go.

214

Try it out.

215

Now, I've got two action points for you.

216

Actually, three.

217

The first one is if you've liked this, subscribe to the channel.

218

Oh, and you could also become a member now.

219

If you look at the subscribe button next door, there's a join button.

220

Become a member.

221

Become a Keithian.

222

You get custom badges, emojis, extra video footage.

223

Most importantly, you support all the work that I do on YouTube.

224

Action step number two is download the PDF for this lesson

225

and you can review and practice everything that we've been talking about.

226

That's it.

227

I hope this has been useful and will help you on your journey to using grammar correctly when you speak.

228

Thank you so much for watching.

229

I do appreciate it.

230

Take care.

231

Have a great day and I'll see you in the next video.

232

All the best now.

233

Bye bye.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “How to Speak English Without Making Grammar Mistakes”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: grammar, mistake, speaking, practice, step. This video has 233 sentences and 2053 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:09. The speaker talks at a steady 135 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
grammar noun	/ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/	A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general.
monk noun	/mʌŋk/	A male member of a monastic order who has devoted his life for religious service.
cafe noun	/ˌkæˈfeɪ/	A convenience store, originally one that sold coffee and similar basic items.
café noun	/ˌkæˈfeɪ/	A coffee shop; an establishment selling coffee and sometimes other non-alcoholic beverages, simple meals or snacks, with a facility to consume them on the…
fluency noun	/ˈfluːənsi/	The quality of smoothness of flow.
confuse verb	/kənˈfjuːz/	to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand
reinforce verb	/ˌɹiː.ɪnˈfɔːs/	To strengthen, especially by addition or augmentation.
subscribe verb	/səbˈskɹaɪb/	To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name).
countable adjective	/ˈkaʊn.tə.bəl/	Capable of being counted; having a quantity.
grammatical adjective	/ɡɹəˈmæt.ɪ.kəl/	Not breaching any constraints of the grammar, or morpho-syntax, of the relevant language.
granddad noun		grandfather
linguist noun	/ˈlɪŋɡwɪst/	One who studies linguistics.
overwhelm verb	/ˌoʊ.vɚˈwɛlm/	To engulf, surge over and submerge.
uncountable adjective	/ʌnˈkaʊntəbl̩/	So many as to be incapable of being counted.
glitter verb	/ˈɡlɪtəɹ/	To sparkle with light; to shine with a brilliant and broken light or showy luster; to gleam.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
slow down verb	To decelerate.
come back verb	To return to a place.
find out verb	To discover, as by asking or investigating.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Otherwise, you're always going to be here.
I'll use one example today to make it clear.
I mean, why do we say how many apples?
Do you usually cook at home?
Do you have a hobby?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	You've been waiting · we've been talking
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if I put that title, you wouldn't click
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've done · you've liked · has been
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was struck · is speed · is not speed

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 50 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

Long words — get the stress right: grammatical /ɡɹəˈmæt.ɪ.kəl/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, accurately /ˈæk.jə.ɹɪt.li/, importantly /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt.li/, unlimited /ʌnˈlɪm.ɪ.tɪd/

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 grammar, monk, cafe.

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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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?