Shadowing Practice: I Started With $600... Now I Make $10B/Year - Learn English Speaking with Video

I'm about to spend the day with a self -made billionaire worth over 13 billion dollars

but he didn't make his fortune in oil tech

or real estate David Green started with a 600 loan making tiny picture frames inside of his home

and somehow turned that 600 into Hobby Lobby one of the biggest companies in America

so I flew to Oklahoma to go straight to the source to spend the entire day with David

and find out how he turned 600 into billions

and what his blueprint would be for someone starting from zero dollars today

so with that being said let's get this video on the way

we made it to oklahoma for the first time in my

entire life we're on our way right now to go meet up

and interview one of the richest men in the entire state

i mean guys like i said earlier he started with 600 loan

and he turned that into a fortune worth over 13 billion dollars

so i don't know what to expect

but we're going to be spending the day with him figuring out exactly how the hell he did it

so let's go see what he has to say all right

you guys we made it to our destination out here in oklahoma you guys we're at the hobby lobby headquarters

but i have to point something out that is absolutely insane

and we're driving in here

so you can see right here this is the hobby lobby e -commerce corporate office another hobby lobby corporate office

if you go across the street come here this building right

across the street here is the hobby lobby finance building

when we were driving up

and down this entire street on the way in here he owns like 10

or 15 buildings that They're all part of this massive campus that he has, so it's crazy that we are really about to interview a guy who built one of the biggest companies in America.

So come with us right now to meet him, you guys.

Come on.

Good, how are you?

Awesome.

There it is.

How you doing?

Good morning.

How you doing, sir?

I'm good, you good?

It's great to meet you.

Good to meet you.

We're very happy to be out here.

Well, it's good to have you here, I think this is our first time ever in oklahoma city

good well this is a great city everybody visits this you don't absolutely i just had to tell you

when i was driving by seeing all like the different buildings

and complexes like this is part of your campus you started

all this with just six hundred dollars how does it make you feel

when you drive by

and you see what you created yeah it makes me feel like it's taking a long time

but it's one brick at a time but we're proud

that what god has done

so we give him glory for what he's done you've built an amazing company you have an incredible family, what is the number one thing that you would say you're the most proud of of everything?

My family.

I'm most excited about my family that serves the Lord.

That's the number one thing.

Not Hobby Lobby.

That wouldn't be first.

And how old are you today?

I'm 84.

84. Well, what's kept you so sharp at 84?

Is it just the passion and love for what you're doing?

Well, yeah, you have to love what you're doing, and I love what I'm doing because I'm doing it for a reason, something the future makes a difference, you know?

So we're doing something that has to do with eternity, and that's people telling people about Christ and they're receiving Christ.

Other than that, why?

You know, you've got to ask why, you know.

More does not make people happy.

Could you tell my audience, why Hobby Lobby?

How did you come up with this business idea?

We started by making little frames in the garage, and that's how we started.

When you have $600, you don't open up a retail store.

You just make little frames and sell them darts and craft stores, and there was a store we sold to that was Hobby Lobby.

We grew to the point where we had borrowed their names, and then we opened our first store in 1970, and our first store was only about 600 square feet, right here in Oklahoma City.

I know over these last 55 -plus years, in terms of total revenue at Hobby Lobby, what is the most amount of money Hobby Lobby made in a single year?

Well, this year we ought to do about $10 billion. So, yeah.

$10 billion.

We have 1 ,100 stores.

That's incredible.

It's one of the biggest American retailers in the country.

God has blessed us.

We've been doing good.

You didn't come from a lot of money growing up, though.

No, I came from a very poor family.

My dad pastored churches, never over 100, and there were six of us kids.

So we didn't have a lot, but we never complained about it everybody we knew didn't have a lot either

so we didn't know we were poor let's go out here

that'd be awesome you're going to show them the picture of

your mom yeah we have a lot of people from uh

chosen so this is my family right here oh my goodness

so there's 50 of us in counting

so i think there i don't know how many there is today

because we have a lot a lot of great grandkids i have 25 great grandkids he mentioned

that there was a picture of your mom here as well this is This is a picture of my mom here, it was an artist that drew this and so this is kind of the in essence of who she is,

the fruit of the spirit go into the world and preach the gospel to everybody.

So this is kind of the essence of, they captured the essence of who she is in this photograph and you can see the world behind it.

Do you remember a conversation or piece of advice

that your mom gave you that has always stuck with you to this day that maybe you'll pass on to your kids?

Well I think when I was younger I would go home and say, hey mom now I'm the supervisor of all these tgny stores

and she'd say well what do you've done for the lord

and i'd go back and say oh mom i've started this company

and what are you doing for the lord you know

so i think that stuck with me you know

so what you're saying means nothing in terms of time nothing

but what you're doing for the lord is eternal and

so that's that stuck with me so i think that was the main thing.

100

I wanted to ask you, so, you know, you started this company with just $600.

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What did you spend that $600 on?

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You know, I spent $450 on this chopper to make little frames.

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Chopper?

104

Yeah, it chops wood.

105

We call it a chopper, but it cuts wood to make little miniature frames.

106

So our beginning was making little frames.

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And so we'll show you the $450 of the $600.

108

And then we had to buy glue and moldings and things like that.

109

And then we had a salesman go out and sell these frames.

110

And so that's how we started.

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This was our catalog right there.

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I paid an artist to draw this, you know.

113

And then talk to me about this right here.

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This right here was of the $600 we borrowed.

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This was $450 of it.

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And it has a leg out here that the molding comes.

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And then you press that with your feet to cut the molding.

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We've taken the blades off because they're very sharp.

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When did the idea come?

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We want to have more of a diverse product catalog.

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We're going to sell furniture, office, you know, art and supplies.

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When did that kind of start to?

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You know, I came from retail.

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I was a supervisor for TGNY that doesn't even exist today

125

and so I that was in my heart it was retail

126

but you don't open a retail store with $600

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so you start making little frames

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and at some point I had enough money to open the first door we just had crafts in there

129

and then we would add art supply and then we would add and

130

so over the last 50 some odd years we've continued to

131

add different departments to make Hobby Lobby what it is today

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I wanted to ask what would you say was like the number one most pivotal mistake

133

that you made in building the business?

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Because a lot of people only talk about the highs.

135

They talk about the success.

136

What was maybe the biggest mistake that you made in building Hobby Lobby that a young entrepreneur could learn from?

137

The biggest mistake we made was borrowing money.

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We got in trouble when we lost money.

139

The bank was going to foreclose on us.

140

So right now, we don't borrow money except for to buy Christmas, and then we're back to zero borrowing money by December when Christmas is gone.

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And what did you learn about leveraging money from a bank?

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Is that just something that you wouldn't do again?

143

We don't do that.

144

We just feel like that we should work on our own profits

145

and our own sales we just that's not something

146

that we want to do cool nice

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and where are we at right now this by the way is kind of what we want to think

148

if you do all of those things you're pretty much know how to run copy lobby

149

so we continue to talk about these signs

150

so we're your headquarters right now yes we have 13 000 square feet here

151

and what does the sign say right here well it says ask the lord for guidance that's the number one thing.

152

Have a plan with few exceptions.

153

Study, study, study.

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I mean, which of these should you not do?

155

Keep it simple.

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Too many choices are harmful to business.

157

So those are the things that we can come back to almost every time to run this company.

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This is the layout room right here.

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This is where we have a lot of layout rooms.

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This is one of the larger ones, but there's probably another dozen or more.

161

What we do is we show the employees how to lay out things.

162

So we tell them exactly how many to carry based on their sales.

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We tell them how to lay it out.

164

So every store will be the same this is fascinating i've

165

never seen a layout room like this before a company like

166

yours walk me through some of these things right in here well for instance here we tell the average store

167

that they need to how many they need to carry they need to carry three of this the average store

168

and we sell 1600 of this a month three years ago we sold seven a month 700

169

and as a company we sell 1600 a month

170

so every item has a ticket on it

171

that tells you how many you sell how do you determine whether you're going to keep

172

or let a product go that's where the The buyers have to study, study, study.

173

So they're looking to try not to get too many items and too few because you need to be in the middle.

174

And that's what we try to teach them.

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You can have this many and it's wrong and this many and it's wrong, but this is how many they're supposed to have.

176

I don't know how much that is.

177

But you learn that by studying it because when you go like this, you're just diluting everything.

178

So that's why those signs are very important out there is how many should you carry, how many different SKUs, how many different items should you carry.

179

What is this ratio?

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This tells you exactly how much space everything gets.

181

If it's blue, the smaller stores may not have it.

182

So 90 % of our stores will look pretty much like this.

183

Did you treat the layout for Hobby Lobby, or did somebody else kind of come in?

184

We have worked together with individuals to say, this is how much room we want.

185

And it's always an ebb and flow.

186

Some departments are growing, some are cutting back.

187

So it's an ongoing environment to decide how much space every department receives.

188

Fascinating.

189

I've never gotten to see this like this before.

190

This is really cool to see the master behind the plan.

191

Yeah, this is what this is all about here, and it tells you how much money we make on each item.

192

This item here, we sell $28 ,000 a month, and we make $95 ,000 a month off of that.

193

So that's $1 .2 million off of that item.

194

So some items are a little better.

195

This item right here, Gorilla Glue, we sell $84 ,000 a month.

196

And so that equates, if you look at the cost in the sale, that equates to $255 ,000 a month.

197

So what is that?

198

$3 million that we make off of this a year.

199

So we have that on every item that we carry a three minute of Gorilla Glue isn't too bad.

200

Let's see the book section real quick.

201

So because all the Christian bookstores went out of business, we feel like it's important to have a couple displays in front of every one of our stores.

202

two that's in front of our doors here that have bibles

203

and good books that's what this is here and we're we're tweaking it

204

so we're always coming along

205

and adding new books dropping the slowest ones adding 10 dropping 10

206

so this is always rotating have you written any books as

207

well do you have any books coming out yeah this one

208

here is one of our books here the legacy life and

209

so we've written our book how do you want to be remembered i want to be remembered as someone

210

that loved their family and just telling other people the good news

211

so that we think there's good news that everybody needs to know.

212

That's more important than being 100 billion instead of 10 billion.

213

And there is a big debate in the Christian community as to whether

214

or not God does want us to be rich and become successful financially.

215

How do you feel about that?

216

How do you interpret that?

217

You know, as long as it's His, I think He's great.

218

It's because of Him that God has blessed us, because it's His and we're the stewards of what He owns.

219

I think the best thing you can do for God to

220

bless you is to let Him know you're only the steward and not the owner.

221

And I think one of the main reasons why

222

that we're successful is because we know our family agrees that it's not ours.

223

It's his and we're stewards of what he's given us.

224

Guys, we are about to get right back to the video.

225

I mean, we're spending the day with the $13 billion man.

226

But I realized something crazy.

227

Why should I be the only one getting to ask these billionaires questions?

228

So I decided to build something for you, for my audience here on YouTube.

229

Where every single week, not once a month, not a couple times a month, every single week, i bring the billionaires ceos

230

and the massive entrepreneurs i interview on this channel onto private live zoom calls where they mentor you directly

231

and you get to talk to them you can literally tell

232

these billionaires here's my business here's my problem what would you do

233

if you were me now think about how powerful

234

that is instead of spending the next five years making mistakes

235

trying to figure everything out yourself you can ask someone who's

236

already built a billion dollar company how would you scale this

237

how would you sell this how would you invest that's the School of Mentors, the number one community for entrepreneurs in the entire world that we built.

238

And the goal is simple, compress years of trial and error into conversations with people who've already won.

239

One answer from one of these billionaires could completely change the way you approach your business.

240

So if you're serious about becoming an entrepreneur, stop trying to figure everything out alone.

241

All you have to do to get access, go down, click the link in the description of this video and join the School of Mentors now.

242

I can't wait to see you on the inside.

243

With that being said, let's get back to the video with the $13 billion man.

244

Hobby Lobby has how many stores now?

245

We have 1 ,100 stores in 48 states.

246

You have over 1 ,000 stores.

247

You close every single one of these stores on Sunday.

248

Right.

249

But your competition stays open.

250

Why do you do that?

251

Well, it cost us a lot.

252

In a lot of things we have done, it's cost us a lot of money.

253

For instance, it cost us a lot of money when we closed on Sunday, but we knew that that was what we're supposed to do.

254

We just were keeping people from attending church, and so it cost us a lot of money.

255

So we just did it because we felt like this is where God was leading us to close on Sunday.

256

And there's a lot of things that we've done, not selling Halloween.

257

We used to sell Halloween.

258

So there's a lot of things that we have done, and every one of them that I can think of has cost us money in the short term.

259

But in the long term, God has blessed our company.

260

You don't sell Halloween stuff.

261

We don't sell Halloween.

262

We used to sell Halloween.

263

But I'm just giving you a few examples of things that we have done.

264

I can give you a lot of those that we used to do, but we don't do because we just don't feel it's right.

265

So you will never compromise your Christian faith or your integrity and ethics for more money?

266

I would not.

267

And if we see something that makes us more money, it has nothing to do with what's going to guide us.

268

What's going to guide us is doing things that we think is right with God's Word.

269

I'm proud of you.

270

You know that?

271

Well, thank you.

272

Like, I'm learning from you.

273

And, like, just to know that, like, that's, like, the way that you run your business is so commendable.

274

Because you know most people wouldn't do that.

275

Well, I think in the big picture, because I tell people in the bigger picture, maybe that's the way the Lord intended it.

276

Maybe He intends it that you don't do something for the wrong reason.

277

I'm not going to be closed on Sunday to make more money.

278

No, I closed on Sunday and we did less business and made less money for a period of time.

279

But in the bigger picture, God has always blessed us.

280

What have you learned about consumer psychology and building out over a thousand stores?

281

You've got millions of customers coming to your stores every week.

282

What have you learned about consumer psychology?

283

What makes people buy?

284

Well, I think they buy because in the warehouse, there's a big sign that says these are the four

285

or five things you need to know to be successful at business

286

and one of them is they ask the Lord for direction.

287

Another one is keep it simple, you know.

288

How do you keep it simple, you know?

289

When you have 1 ,100 stores that have 70 ,000 items, that's 77 million different decisions.

290

Well, how do you not make 77?

291

So you better find an easy way to do business, and so that's one of the successes

292

that we have is learning how to keep it simple because that's the only way I can do it.

293

I can't do it if it's complex, so we do it as simple as we can.

294

You know that they don't teach this in school, right?

295

I'm not real sure because I didn't get past the 12th grade, and I didn't do really well there.

296

Do you give away a lot of money?

297

We give 60 % of our profits to various ministries.

298

60 % of your profits.

299

Right.

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How much money have you given away?

301

A lot.

302

In the billions?

303

Yes.

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And why do you do that?

305

Why not?

306

Why not?

307

Why keep it?

308

A lot of people do want to keep it.

309

Well, and are they happy?

310

No, I don't think so.

311

So what I'm learning for you is that even though you're worth it, billions of dollars.

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You know that this is all temporary.

313

That's correct.

314

We're here for a short time.

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The Bible tells us we're here and nothing but a vapor.

316

So when you think of that, then you say, well, why?

317

You know, and so the why has to be eternity, and that's where we want to spend our time.

318

Can I tell you something?

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Tell me something.

320

You have amazing advice, sir.

321

I will.

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Thank you.

323

Thank you for your time.

324

That is a wrap on today's video.

325

I need y 'all to stop right now.

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Like and subscribe for amazing content coming every week to the School of Hard Knocks.

327

We just interviewed the billionaire founder of one of the biggest companies in America, David Cream, the 13 billion dollar man

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but i want to go a step further

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and i want to give you direct access to the billionaires

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i interview just like david green every week i host live zoom calls with the eight nine

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and ten figure entrepreneurs i interview on the school of hard

332

knocks inside of my private entrepreneur community the school of mentors

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you can join right now by going down clicking the link

334

in the description this video i can't wait to see you on the inside with

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that being said we'll see you in the next video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 335 sentences and 3705 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:43. The speaker talks fast, about 236 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 89% 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
lobby noun	/ˈlɑ.bi/	An entryway or reception area; vestibule; passageway; corridor.
hobby noun	/ˈhɑ.bi/	An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time.
billionaire noun	/ˌbɪl.jəˈnɛɚ/	Somebody whose wealth is at least one billion (10⁹) currency units (usually understood to exclude holders of hyperinflated currencies).
entrepreneur noun	/ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/	A person who sets up a business; generally, a person who owns and manages a business and assumes its financial risks.
bless verb	/blɛs/	To make something holy by religious rite, sanctify.
layout noun	/ˈleɪ.aʊt/	A structured arrangement of items within certain limits.
mentor noun	/ˈmɛn.tɔː/	A wise and trusted counselor or teacher.
essence noun	/ˈɛsəns/	The inherent nature of a thing or idea.
borrow verb	/ˈbɑɹ.oʊ/	To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it.
glue noun	/ɡlu/	A hard gelatin made by boiling bones and hides, used in solution as an adhesive; or any sticky adhesive substance.
sharp adjective	/ʃɑɹp/	Terminating in a point or edge, especially one that can cut or pierce easily; not dull, obtuse, or rounded.
headquarters noun	/ˈhɛdˌk(w)ɔɹ.tɚz/	The military installation from which troops are commanded and orders are issued; the military unit consisting of a commander and his support staff.
knock verb	/nɑk/	To rap one's knuckles against something, especially wood.
psychology noun	/saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/	The study of the human mind.
craft noun	/ˈkɹæft/	Ability, skillfulness, especially skill in making plans and carrying them into execution; dexterity in managing affairs, adroitness, practical cunning…

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
give away verb		To make a gift of (something).
go down verb		To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one.
go out verb		To leave, especially a building.
come along verb		To accompany.
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
come up with verb		To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
cut back verb		To reduce the amount of (something).
drive up verb		To cause or force a price, quantity, rate, etc. to increase.

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 sell · used to do
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has done · you've built · has blessed
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	being said · be remembered · be closed

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 99 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: sharp /ʃɑɹp/, passion /ˈpæʃən/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, ratio /ˈɹeɪ.ʃoʊ/, exception /əkˈsɛpʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: entrepreneur /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/, psychology /saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, supervisor /ˈsupɚˌvaɪzɚ/, eternity /əˈtɜɹnəti/, temporary /ˈtɛmp(əˌɹ)ɛɹi/

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 lobby, hobby, billionaire.

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

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?