Shadowing Practice: I Tried Making Friends in the Hood - Learn English Speaking with Video

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right now i'm in canada's most dangerous neighborhood jane

and finch breaking news two men dead shots were fired three separate shootings near jane

and finch jane and finch we're near jane and finch

and i have just one impossible mission to get a random stranger here to hang out with me

but it's going to be harder than expected tell us a

little bit about life here in jana finch trenches most dangerous

most trench in canada content creators got shot in the head over here.

I don't know how to feel about this video.

Maybe let's warm up a little bit and grab something to eat first.

That's a good idea.

It's not because I'm scared or trying to stall.

I just, I'm hungry.

Stop the cow.

I decided to grab a little drink to give me a bit more time to rethink my life decisions.

I'm really hoping today is not my last day on earth.

I still haven't tried In -N -Out yet, so hopefully I can do that before I die.

Now, before entering the neighborhood, I figured it'd be a good idea to get some advice from my local.

So I walked around, and it didn't take me long to run into someone interesting.

Hi, my friend.

You want a coffee?

Sorry, I don't have...

I mean, I have a coffee here.

You want it?

Oh, yeah, of course.

Thank you. Of course.

Do you live around the Jane and Finch area?

Yes, yes.

I'm trying to make a friend here.

Okay.

I was wondering, do you have any advice for me?

Do you know anything about this area?

This area is dangerous.

It's dangerous?

Yes there's a lot selling cocaine oh okay yes i was in

that building and in that building they were from jamaica they tried to they tried to what

oh my goodness i'm so sorry to hear this yes

but i watched the police and then they stopped it

so you're okay i'm glad to hear

that wow be careful be careful okay okay well thank you

so much have great day okay wish you the best enjoy the drink of course take care did i hear that correctly

i mean my ass is kind of nice hopefully they don't see me as a target after

that interaction i not only lost my drink

but i also lost any little amount of courage i had

before arriving here i then tried starting a conversation with another

guy excuse me sir oh okay no worries have a great day all right let's go

well that's a pretty fitting shirt anyways i was still looking

for someone who could give me actual advice about the area before entering the neighborhood and that's

when i ran into these two guys i'm trying to make

a friend here a friend a friend someone who's willing to

hang out with me get to know each other be careful

who you make your friends to here why should i be

careful half the people here have mental illnesses really you have

a better chance of not having any friends that's not too

good to hear i've been here since 1975 bro 1975 wow

you look very young i'm 53 years old you're 53 yeah

this man was telling me how he's been in this neighborhood all his life

and he was kind enough to give me a quick rundown

of the area let me tell you this trip this this is neutral zone okay

that way is all crips you know about crips and bloods right?

I have heard about Crips and Blood.

Okay.

Anything past Finch is Crips.

Anything south of Finch is Bloods.

It's good you guys are wearing these colors.

You're wearing neutral colors.

Neutral colors.

Great.

Thank God.

There's like crossfires and you know gang shooting at each other.

Right here in this mall.

In this mall?

Yeah in the parking lots and like last summer they had shootouts in this parking lot.

Jane and Finch has the most shootings in the whole of Toronto.

You know where you landed?

This is the place of all the unwanted.

Okay this is where all the unwanted come bro your family

don't want you you got kicked to the curb you got divorced whatever problems you got it's on you

and nobody's helping you this is where you end up this

is rock bottom jaden finch it's rock bottom bro after giving

me a rough breakdown of the area we wrapped up our conversation

and he left me with one last piece of advice stay

in the common areas don't go into the neighborhood do not

go into neighborhoods for your own safety okay do not go into the neighborhoods for your own safety.

I am in the neighborhood.

Really glad that it's sunny today because if it wasn't, I'd probably be pissing my pants right now.

Although I was told not to go into the neighborhood, I feel like if I didn't, it would ruin the point of the challenge.

And so it was finally time to try and make a friend.

The first thing I noticed was despite it being sunny on a Saturday,

it seemed like there was barely any people outside.

But after walking around for a few minutes, I eventually spotted my first person.

I was going to ask her, but I got too scared when I got close.

I can't even lie.

Who was she talking to?

I have no idea.

i may have fumbled that opportunity

but the next person i saw i was definitely going to

ask excuse me sir i'm trying to make a friend in this area

and i was wondering

if you'd be down to hang out anytime nope no okay

100

have a great day after running into those two people i was still struggling to find anyone outside

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and then i had a genius idea bus stops excuse me

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sir i have a really random question for you i was wondering

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if you would be open to hanging out together nope huh

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okay no worries have a good day excuse me sir i was wondering

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if you'd be down to hang out well right now i'm

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busy right now what another day i might be busy for a

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while yeah no worries have a great day man okay i

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have a really random question for you i'm sorry bro no

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i speak in english oh no english okay okay sorry no

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worries have a good day no english damn it about an hour had passed now

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and I was only able to find a few people.

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So I decided to switch things up and walk to the other side of the hood.

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I don't know if you guys can see that but there's police officers from afar.

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We are in an area called Shoreham which the guy was telling me this is either the Bloods or Crips.

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I don't really remember.

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I also thought that was a constant thing.

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I didn't know they kept the same name in Toronto

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but the fact that there's police officers just walking around is not a great sign.

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The neighborhood here definitely looks a little bit more sketch than before.

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I feel like everything about the scenery is telling me not to go in there.

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All right, let's just go in really quickly.

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I'll take a few steps in, test the waters out.

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The fact that I have a camera just makes it so much worse.

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At this point, I felt like I was in a ghost town the way nobody was outside, and I genuinely did not know how I was going to make a friend

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but on the bright side this was the perfect time to

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film the intro okay let's film the intro quick really okay

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let's film the intro really quick right now i'm in the

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hood right now i'm in canada's most dangerous right now i'm

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in canada's most dangerous neighborhood let's find out what it's all about all right i'm out i'm out

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when i'm scared it's like guys it's coming this way we're

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cooked might as well get my will ready i saw these kids walking up from a distance

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and although i considered asking them to hang out i figured

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that might be a bit weird

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so instead i asked them for advice i'm trying to make a friend do you guys have any advice for me

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anything to stay away from

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or don't say you're part of any game okay what was

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the most scary experience you guys have gone through here is there anything i got shot like right there in

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You saw a guy get shot?

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Yeah.

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And was it a random shooting or?

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Not really.

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Damn.

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Okay.

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Well, perfect.

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Thank you guys so much.

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I appreciate it.

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Have a great day.

148

Appreciate it.

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I had been in the hood for a few hours now

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and I was starting to feel a bit discouraged about whether I'd actually be able to make a friend.

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Then all of a sudden, everything changed.

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Excuse me, sir.

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I have a really random question.

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Would you be potentially down to hang out with me?

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I know like just get to know each other to make a friend um right now

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if you're not free right now it could be another day

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sure actually yeah wait what's your name difference difference yeah seiko

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nice to meet you meet you our hangout would be whatever you want to do

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if you don't have a preference

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and like we could figure something out are you actually down yeah that's calm that's calm

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thank you bro i appreciate you nice to meet you bro

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do you think like any time today may work not today

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not today it wouldn't be today another day okay do you mind

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if i grab your instagram and then

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if anything we're still you can let me know appreciate you

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bro yeah yeah have a good one take care have a

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great day all right dude was hella chill i was kind of stunned the way he said yes

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so easily like it felt almost too good to be true

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but i wasn't going to complain all

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that was left to do was set up a day

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and time for the hangout okay so i've been texting difference back

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and 4th and he told me he is down to play basketball today

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so I'm about to get ready drive to the basketball court

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and hopefully we just have a good time and he actually shows up

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and does not bail on me because

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that would be pretty bad we have officially arrived at the

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basketball court now all we gotta do is wait for our

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boy to show up you know they used to call me Jeremy Linden in high school we'll cut

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that difference texted me the night before

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that he was going to be at the court at three

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so i was pretty confident he was going to show up

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but as time went by i became a bit less confident

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it's 3 24 right now i guess he's just a little

184

bit late hopefully he uh still shows up though it is

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3 35 right now i'm genuinely getting a little concerned on where he's at

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because if he doesn't show up

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That means I'm going to have to go back to the hood and find another person to hang out with me.

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And I really do not want to do that.

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It was getting later and later, and there wasn't much else I could do besides wait.

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Nope, that's an old lady.

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Then, just as I was starting to lose hope, I saw someone walking towards the court.

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I think I see him from a distance.

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Yes, sir.

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Okay, our boy's here.

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Yo, what's good, bro?

196

I appreciate you for coming, man.

197

It means a lot.

198

Your name is Difference, right? wait is it spelt like the actual word difference yeah

199

damn that's like that's really unique i've never heard anyone with

200

that name i guess you could say it's pretty different

201

so i saw on your instagram

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that you played basketball yes i do you play basketball for

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a college yeah i play at niagara college yeah yeah my second year okay

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so yeah we started off by letting difference warm up for a bit

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and bro was straight automatic from the frito line so

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when i first came up to you What was the reason you said yes

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because I was just like a stranger that walked up to you I seen

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that you guys were recording some I was like curious what's going on I was gonna ask what's going on.

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Yeah, I thought you know like why not make new friends, you know I don't have a lot of friends.

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Likewise.

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I don't have many friends.

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Yeah, it's good to get to know people Right.

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You know, it's good.

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Now it was time to have some fun We played a game of horse

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and I was actually doing pretty good until he pulled out his ultimate move Hey, oh my goodness.

216

So you live in the Jane and Finch area?

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Yeah, I live in that building.

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I came here in 2017.

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And so you haven't experienced anything, like, too crazy, right?

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As long as you stay out of the way, you don't do nothing crazy, nothing's going to happen to you, hopefully.

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I've heard, like, shootings, you know, I've heard a few stuff.

222

But just because we heard that doesn't mean this is not a good community.

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Like, it's good people.

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So you find, like, there's a lot of good people here, nice people.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

226

At least like 70 -80 % of the people here, pretty nice, pretty chill.

227

They just stay out of the way, trying to live a life, you know.

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Difference was explaining to me that the reality of the neighborhood was different from the way the media portrays it to be.

229

And he invited me to walk through it to check it out for myself.

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Did you walk inside?

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Like this neighborhood, this specific neighborhood.

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Did you actually walk?

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Did you take that little turn right there and just walk inside?

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I don't think so.

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You scared?

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Yeah, I'm not scared.

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I'm a grown -ass man.

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But yeah, maybe let's not go there.

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Wait, why?

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No, it's really up to you like

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if you want to come with me like i'll come with you okay i'll come okay well check out

242

that neighborhood i honestly did not know what to expect

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but as we walked deeper into the neighborhood i was genuinely

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shocked there was just a bunch of people outside having a

245

good time the adults were talking to each other kids were playing in the playground

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and there were even barbers giving out free haircuts got haircuts

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over here very calm it's a good neighborhood we can go

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to park people are friendly I feel like in other areas it's not like everyone's houses are all around

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and there's just a park in the middle everyone can come

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out exactly hang out exactly it's a family you know everybody

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knows each other it's a good neighbor it's a very very

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good neighbor actually how are you doing those your neighbors you

253

know I meet on YouTube sorry hello you want to say

254

hi to YouTube my channel is called Seiko yeah appreciate it thank you for the subscribe, man.

255

Thank you.

256

Hey, what's up, YouTube?

257

If anyone got some money, I'm broke, so I need something.

258

Okay.

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All right, that's enough camera time.

260

When I made this video, I didn't really know what to expect, whether it be a negative or positive experience.

261

Yeah.

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But I feel like so far, it's been very positive.

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Like, I met you.

264

You're super nice.

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Yeah.

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Showing us the community, which seems like just a bunch of nice people.

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Yeah, it's a good community.

268

To go from feeling pretty scared at the beginning to then feeling welcomed by the community

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and seeing how friendly people were was truly an eye -opening experience.

270

It reminded me that there's always another side to a story and sometimes all it takes is keeping an open mind,

271

being friendly, and treating others with respect because you never know how one conversation can completely change your perspective on life.

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155 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 271 sentences and 2747 words to shadow. The speech runs for 14:05. The speaker talks fast, about 195 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 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

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

finch /fɪnt͡ʃ/ (noun) — Any Eurasian goldfinch (of species Carduelis carduelis, syn. Fringilla carduelis).
jane /d͡ʒeɪn/ (noun) — A female client of a prostitute.
scare /skɛɚ/ (verb) — To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way.
nope /noʊp/ — No.
neutral /ˈnuː.tɹəl/ (adjective) — Not taking sides in a conflict such as war; nonaligned.
genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/ (adverb) — In a genuine manner; truthfully, truly.
intro /ˈɪntɹoʊ/ (noun) — An introduction.
arrive /əˈɹaɪv/ (verb) — To reach; to get to a certain place.
mall /mɔːl/ (noun) — A pedestrianised street, especially a shopping precinct.
chill /tʃɪl/ (verb) — To lower the temperature of something; to cool.
goodness /ˈɡʊdnəs/ (noun) — The state or characteristic of being good.
sunny /ˈsʌni/ (adjective) — Featuring a lot of sunshine.
unwanted /ʌnˈwɒntɪd/ (adjective) — Not wanted; unwelcome.
haircut /ˈhɛə(ɹ)kʌt/ (noun) — The act of cutting of the hair, often done professionally by a barber, hair stylist, or beautician.
trench /ˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/ (noun) — A long, narrow ditch or hole in the ground; either manmade, or formed naturally through erosion or tectonic plate movement.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

show up (verb) — To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically.
go into (verb) — To get involved in; to investigate or explore.
run into (verb) — To enter by running.
come with (verb) — To join and come along.
go in (verb) — To become obscured by clouds.
go on /ˈɡoʊˌɒn/ (verb) — To continue in extent.
live in (verb) — To reside on the premises of one's employer (used especially of domestic staff such as nannies, cooks, maids, etc.)
bail on (verb) — To abandon (someone or something).

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 76 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shock /ʃɔk/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/, shootout /ˈʃuːtaʊt/
Long words — get the stress right: genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, automatic /ˌɔː.təˈmæt.ɪk/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/

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 finch, jane, scare.

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if it wasn't, I'd probably · if I didn't, it would ruin
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	haven't tried · i've been · he's been
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	were fired · was told · was left

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 →

Shadowing Practice: I Tried Making Friends in the Hood - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?