Shadowing Practice: I Wish I Knew This When I Started Scuba Diving - Learn English Speaking with Video

Did you think scuba diving would be easy?

I did, and now after logging over 500 dives, diving has become second nature for me.

But let me tell you, it was a grind in the beginning, and I wish I'd known how to make the process faster, safer, and honestly a lot more fun along the way.

So to help make scuba diving easier for you, here are 13 things that I learned that will help you when you first start scuba diving.

Let's get into it.

I'm Thomas Hughes, a professional scuba instructor, and on this channel, you'll see videos on scuba education, equipment, experiences, and environmental awareness.

Lesson number one.

When I first started diving, I was so worried about doing something wrong on a dive, I kept thinking things like, what if I messed up something for one of my dive buddies,

or what if I screw up and hurt myself, right?

I'd get stressed and anxious before a dive, and honestly, it made me unsure if I wanted to keep diving at all.

But lesson number one is to relax.

Remember diving is supposed to be fun.

This level of anxiety and stress just isn't needed and just remember your training.

Focus on those fundamentals and get out there and enjoy your diving.

Lesson number two.

On my first dive trip ever, I witnessed a dive emergency that could have turned into a serious incident.

But luckily everyone was able to end their dive safely and they all got back home okay.

In diving, it's a bit of an international signal that if your scuba cylinder has a dust cap on the valve, that means that it's a full cylinder.

And when you use a tank, you're taught to never put the dust cap back on, which makes sure that someone doesn't mistake it for a full tank, right?

Should always be checking your air pressure before you get in the water, but mistakes happen.

And well, on this trip, a dive instructor ended up grabbing a nearly completely empty tank by mistake because they were in a rush okay.

The first time they checked their SPG was about five minutes into the dive

when they took the last breath of air off that rig and their SPG read empty.

Luckily they were near their dive buddy who donated their octo and they made a safe ascent ending their dive early.

So lesson number two is don't become complacent.

Always do your pre -dive safety checks even if that means

that your buddies have to wait an extra minute before you get into the water.

Lesson number three.

I remember after getting my open water certification I had the feeling of like what's next

and I wanted to just immediately jump into the next class.

I was hooked right.

I really felt like I had a lot of knowledge already just from the basics

and more training would just open even more doors for me and just I had this thirst for knowledge at the time.

Unfortunately what actually happened is as I learned more I realized there was even more I didn't know about diving

and that really impacted my confidence.

I started to get a bit more anxious again and wondering

if I would ever improve and be able to enjoy dives like all of my dive buddies seem to.

But then I realized this is just what's known as the Dunning -Kruger effect taking place.

Lesson number three is understanding that the more you learn about a topic, the more you realize you don't know about that topic.

Okay, this is normal and it's important to stay humble, not be complacent, and continue learning gradually as you gain experience.

Lesson number four.

The first time I ever put on a wetsuit it was a brand new five millimeter

that did not fit me very well.

It was so tight.

It cut off my circulation in my arms and in my legs

and because it was brand new it made me way more buoyant than I was used to.

I struggled so much with my buoyancy that day

that I gave up and decided I just wasn't going to go diving that day.

Now luckily an instructor friend told me that struggling with buoyancy is normal

and help give me some tips so I could work on it.

Lesson number four is to focus on your buoyancy early and often.

You'll always be working on it.

Once I started to dedicate time specifically to just focusing on buoyancy and trim,

my dives were way more enjoyable and now I can stay neutral in just about any position underwater.

Lesson number five.

As I was focusing on my buoyancy, I had to learn a few things as well, right?

I wasn't perfect obviously at the beginning.

I kept struggling to hold my position in the water column

and I felt like I constantly had to add puffs of air

or release air from my BCD to kind of raise and lower myself over and over again.

But then I realized something.

My lungs were like an internal BCD

and the BCD itself was more for just kind of becoming neutrally buoyant at first at a different depth, right?

So lesson number five is to understand the link between buoyancy and breath control.

Once this clicks for you and once it clicked for me, I was able to easily rise and fall with just my breath

and only needed to touch my BCD

if I decided I needed to become more neutral again

because maybe I went to a deeper depth or to a shallower depth.

Lesson number six.

Believe it or not, when I took my advanced open water course, I almost quit diving because of how bad I was in the water.

I was frustrated by terrible air consumption, horrific buoyancy control, and I really lacked in just the basic fundamentals of diving.

I remember still I walked into the dive shop and told the owner, I don't think this is for me.

Do you have suggestions for selling my scuba gear?

Because I went out and bought everything after open water thinking that this is the new career for me.

Now, luckily, they talked me out of quitting diving completely

and suggested that I just take some time trying to enjoy diving before getting too worked up about classes

and whether I'm being bad or good in the water and all these different things.

So I got more dives in and he was right.

Everything became easier as I gained more experience.

So lesson number six is that more time in the water helps everything from buoyancy control to air consumption.

And if you feel like you're struggling to improve, you may just need to spend some more time underwater in order to relax and improve.

Lesson number seven.

When I am teaching a class, especially open water students, I almost always see them using their hands to swim and turn underwater, right?

It's natural response because if you know how to swim, you would swim with your arms normally, right?

But this is very ineffective and wastes a lot of energy and air when we're diving.

Instead, I teach them to cross their arms

or hold it onto their BCD straps or clasp their hands

so they can just occupy themselves and stop flailing

so much underwater like one of those wacky inflatable marketing things

that you see on the side of the road here in the U .S.

Now, in every single case, this helps them to improve their air consumption

and protects them from hitting corals or rocks and things like that by accident and getting hurt underwater.

So lesson number seven is to not use your hands to swim or turn underwater.

Use your fins instead and learn how to do things like helicopter turns and stuff like that over time, okay?

It's going to save energy, it's going to save air, and you'll be amazed by how much this can help with your air consumption alone.

Lesson number eight.

After I got certified as an open water diver I was absolutely hooked on diving

and like I said I went to the shop I asked about the next course

and I bought a full set of gear including a dive computer, regulator, and BCD.

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As my diving continued I realized there were a lot of things I wish I had

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that my BCD and regulator just couldn't really provide for me and they're things that I really wanted.

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Now this was anything from like d -ring placement on my

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BCD to the number of ports on my first stage

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and later I ended up having to replace most of

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that initial gear because I needed more than what it could offer me

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and I kind of wasted money on that initial investment.

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I ended up selling a lot of it on Facebook marketplace and other parts I just wound up donating away.

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So lesson number eight is that you do not have to buy all your gear at once.

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Take some time diving to learn what you do

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and don't like about rental gear and look at what other divers have and ask about their kit that they're wearing.

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You're going to learn a lot this way

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and it can save you from wasting money on gear that you're just going to end up replacing later.

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Lesson number nine.

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I don't know what I'm going to do when I get past 10.

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So a few years back I had just moved to North Carolina from Texas

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and outside of a couple family members I didn't know anyone here at all

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and as we all know making friends as an adult can be tough

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but I went to the local dive shop to see what

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kind of diving was in the area kind of ask about charters trips things like that

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and honestly i had a great time i ended up hanging

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out there for over an hour chatting with the shop employees

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and some of the divers that were in

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and out of the shop as well

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and it kind of just turned into a little hangout spot

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now i didn't really know anyone well at all especially

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that first day but they invited me out to a local beer garden

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and i made a bunch of friends including my now best friend.

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So lesson number nine is to be sociable.

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Divers love talking about diving and it's a great way to make friends since you already have a hobby in common.

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If you see someone with a dive flag on their car

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or a diving shirt like this one here or something like that, don't be afraid to stop them and start talking about diving.

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You might be surprised you might find a new friend there.

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Lesson number 10.

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When I went on my first dive trip, I had less than 10 dives total in my logbook, and that included my initial checkout dive, so really it was more like four or five dives, right?

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But during that trip, we dove three to four times a day for five days straight, and I added 18 dives to my logbook.

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So in one trip, I more than doubled my time underwater, and it made a huge impact to my diving.

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Diving that many times, day after day, back to back like that, allowed me to gain so much confidence and improve my fundamentals tremendously.

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Now, lesson number 10 is to go on dive trips.

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They truly accelerate your skills by so, so much and are incredible experiences as well.

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If you're new, you're going to see so much improvement back -to -back diving like that.

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And if you're more experienced, you get to see amazing things that you can't always get back home.

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I love dive trips so much.

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It's one of the reasons why I'm going to be hosting my own coming soon.

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So click that first link in the description to get my newsletter

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so you don't miss out when I start offering those trips and you can go diving with us.

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Lesson 11.

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So now speaking of experience, I often hear divers talk about the number of dives they have or how long they've been and diving.

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Some like to show off which certifications they have too and try to prove how experienced they are, right?

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Well, the funny thing is I've learned

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that even people who have been diving for 40 years may not be that experienced still.

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Diving often and in varied conditions is really way more important than the total number of dives

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or total years of diving that you've had.

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If you dive twice a year for 50 years versus 50 times a year for two years, you both have 100 dives,

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but I'd argue person diving more frequently may actually be a little bit more experienced in the water just

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because of how often they get that repetition so lesson number 11 is

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that certifications years of diving

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and total dives don't automatically equal experience experience comes from diving frequently

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and experiencing many different diving conditions as well once i realized

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this i learned who i wanted to take more advice from

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and who i would listen to but honestly maybe i'd ignore their advice overall

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because they just aren't as experienced as they might sound on paper.

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Lesson number 12.

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I had just finished that first dive trip

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that I mentioned a little bit earlier

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and one of the divers on the trip asked me

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when my next one was and where I was going to be going next.

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I remember I looked a little bit cheapish

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and mentioned how expensive trips are and that I wasn't sure

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when I would be able to take off time from work to go on another trip like that.

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And she asked me a really important question that's always stuck with me she said do you live to work

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or do you work to live and

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that question has just stuck with me ever since now I make sure to really invest time

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and money into the right trips where I can get the best experiences possible

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because I work to live I don't live to work lesson number 12 is

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that dive trips can absolutely be expensive but they're also absolutely worth it especially

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if you do it right do not let life pass you by

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because you're so caught up in work

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that you never take time to enjoy what you're actually working for and getting to live life as well.

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Lesson number 13.

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Now, speaking of trips, I used to stress before every dive trip making sure I packed everything I needed and then some.

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But then I was anxious about keeping the baggage weight under the limit as well

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because I didn't want to have to pay extra fees for either extra bags or overweight bags.

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The thing is, once the dive trip was over, I usually would realize that I had a bunch of stuff

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that I packed that I never even used from dive gear to extra rash guards, clothes, and just things I didn't need.

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But then I started keeping a packing list for everywhere I've gone, especially noting the things that I never even used on the trip or things that I wish I had.

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And now I just use my packing list and make small edits as needed, removing all that stress and worry.

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So lesson number 13 is to keep a good packing list for your trips.

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Learn from others and adjust it based on what you actually use on the trip, not just what you brought on the trip.

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And if you wanna see my generic packing list for scuba travel, you can click the link down in the description below and I'll send it over to you.

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Now, I did say 13 lessons, but I wanted to share one more with you

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because I think it's an absolutely critical tip if you want to improve as a diver.

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The thing is, it's a bit of a longer one, so watch this video next where I give you a trick to help fix your buoyancy problems.

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With that, stay safe, have fun, and let's go diving.

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You

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30 Things You Can Do Without Scrolling | Use Your Time Better | Improve Your English Fluency ✅️

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Scuba Diving Lessons and English Learning: A Real-Life Scenario

The video shares a scuba instructor’s journey from nervous beginner to seasoned diver, packed with relatable stories and practical tips. As he recounts moments of anxiety, equipment mishaps, and learning curves, the dialogue feels like a friendly chat—perfect for practicing English. You’ll hear natural phrases like “logging over 500 dives,” “second nature,” and “a grind in the beginning,” which mirror how native speakers talk about hobbies and growth. This real-world context makes it easy to connect with the content while improving your language skills.

Useful Chunks & Collocations to Memorize

“logging dives”: Keeping track of the number of dives you’ve done (e.g., “After logging 50 dives, she felt more confident”).
“second nature”: Something you do easily, without thinking (e.g., “Checking my gear is second nature now”).
“a grind”: A difficult, tiring process (e.g., “The first few months of learning were a grind, but it was worth it”).
“pre-dive safety checks”: Routine inspections before diving (e.g., “Never skip pre-dive safety checks—they save lives”).
“buoyancy control”: Managing how high or low you float in water (e.g., “Good buoyancy control makes diving more enjoyable”).

Your Shadowing Challenge: Practice Like a Pro

Ready to improve your English pronunciation and fluency? Try this shadowspeak exercise with the video. First, pick a 30-second clip (like the part where the instructor talks about his first wetsuit). Listen once to get the rhythm, then hit play again and immediately repeat each phrase out loud, matching the speed, tone, and stress. Focus on copying how he says “It was so tight” (short, stressed “so”) and “cut off my circulation” (smooth connection between “cut” and “off”). Use a shadowing app to record yourself and compare—you’ll notice quickly where you can adjust. This shadow speech technique helps train your mouth to move like a native. For extra practice, switch to a new clip about pre-dive checks and repeat. Learning English with videos like this makes practice fun, and consistent shadowing will boost your confidence in no time!

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has become · they've been · I've learned
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	isn't needed · was hooked · was frustrated

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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