Shadowing Practice: Learn English by Making Mistakes | Slow English Podcast - Learn English Speaking with Video
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That little voice inside your head will slowly grow.
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You are capable of doing anything you set your mind to.
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Hello, and welcome back to my Slow English podcast.
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A podcast to learn easy English.
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A podcast to finally understand English.
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Any level can practice listening,
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but this episode has intermediate to advanced vocabulary.
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So, if you think you're ready for faster listening,
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then put this video in times 1.25 or 1.5.
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Give yourself a challenge and speed up this video.
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Speaking of challenges, today I want to talk about challenging yourself.
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Stepping out of your comfort zone and being the dumbest person in the room.
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Because it's intimidating to be surrounded
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by people who are smarter than you or better than you.
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Today, I went to a dance class.
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I've always loved to dance since I was a little girl.
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But it's been ages since the last time I went to a dance class.
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And I went to ballet or contemporary or cumbia dance classes.
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But today, I went to a different dance class.
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And all the girls there were so good.
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Right away, there were so many steps that I was having trouble memorizing.
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Meanwhile, the other girls were remembering each step as we learned them.
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Instantly, they had so much flow and rhythm and such a good memory.
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And I thought, I don't stand a chance against them.
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And I was almost certain I worked a
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lot harder than anyone else to remember the choreography.
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I know this because everybody danced with such free movements.
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Like they weren't even trying.
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Meanwhile, I was just stumbling, forgetting every step.
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But then I realized I wasn't dancing against them.
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You are almost never really going against someone else.
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I mean, you can choose to go against someone or you can choose to learn from them.
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And once I set my mindset to learning from them instead of competing with them,
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and once I pushed through all of my insecurities,
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feelings of self-consciousness, embarrassment, and intimidation,
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then I eventually memorized the choreography.
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I got there with much more work than the other girls. But I got there.
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And I got there because I didn't give up.
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I didn't quit.
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I got there because despite all my insecurities, I kept going.
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I didn't give up.
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I felt so proud of myself after.
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Even if you look around that room and you see everyone dancing,
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you probably wouldn't say, Wow,
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Tiana is an impressive dancer.
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Probably not.
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But I am impressed with myself.
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I am impressed at my huge achievements today.
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I am impressed because I achieved something huge today.
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Everyone was really sweet, by the way.
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Nobody made me feel self-conscious or insecure.
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It was all in my head.
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It always is just in your head.
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But it made me think I want to continue being the worst dancer in the room.
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Because that means I'm in the right place to improve.
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No, I'm in the perfect place to improve.
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Why would you want to be the best dancer in the room?
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If that's really what you want, then you have to think,
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are you just trying to impress others?
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Or are you looking to be your best self?
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I think it's valid to want to be your best self,
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but it's not always the best thing to want to impress others.
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I think you will end up disappointed,
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disappointed to realize their opinions weren't
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as rewarding as you thought they were going to be.
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I challenge you to put yourself in situations where you have something to learn.
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Put yourself in places where you look dumb.
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Places where you have the least experience.
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The least amount of knowledge.
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Rooms filled with people who are smarter than you, better than you.
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It's intimidating, I know.
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But if you look at it this way,
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you'll feel so proud of yourself after.
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Then, that little voice inside your head will slowly grow.
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Just like a flower that you talk to or sing to every day so that it grows.
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your mind will have that same nurturing voice
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that says you are capable of doing anything you set your mind to.
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And then you'll be unstoppable, unbreakable.
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When was the last time you put yourself in a room where everyone was better than you at something?
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Now, something I could have done.
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Whenever we use have, we always follow with the past participle.
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For example, could have saw,
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could have seen, could have did, could have done.
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For example, what would this one be? Could have grew?
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Tell me in the comments.
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Now, I could have seen everything differently.
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I could have chosen to think negative thoughts.
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To say, oh no, I'm the worst one here.
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Everyone is judging me.
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They are so good.
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I am so dumb.
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Instead, I chose to think positive thoughts.
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I'm going to learn so much from everyone here.
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Everyone is admiring my courage of standing out and embarrassing myself.
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They will teach me so much.
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I am so brave.
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Period.
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Make it a game.
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I love playing this game of finding the positive side to everything in every situation.
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Make a game out of finding the positive side to it.
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Everything has one.
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For example, walking to work in the hot sun,
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feeling irritated because of the traffic and the noise.
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Or, walking in the hot sun, feeling grateful.
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The sun came out today and basking in the warmth of it.
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Walking in the warm sun and thinking, I am grateful.
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I am healthy today.
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And I can go to work.
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I have the ability to make money and have my freedom.
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I can work.
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I can walk.
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I can feel the sun on my skin.
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I can interact with people, socialize, and surround myself by people.
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And even if I'm feeling irritated by these circumstances.
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I make it a game to find beauty in those moments.
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Another example, a breakup.
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Someone cheated on you, betrayed you,
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or or things just ended, you can see all the negatives,
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much more than the positives.
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You can tell everyone about all the awful things they did to you,
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how much of a victim you were,
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Or you can play my game and feel grateful for the lessons they taught you,
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for your ability to love, for the experience you got of being loved.
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You can learn from the lessons they left you and leave the rest.
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Take it, be grateful for it, and move on.
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You'll only end up hurting yourself by holding on to that pain.
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So just learn from it and let it go.
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Another example.
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I have a few.
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Say you wake up feeling sick.
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My life sucks.
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But you woke up.
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Your lungs still work.
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Your eyes can see.
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You probably have a phone that you can write on,
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watch on, or talk to people on while you recuperate.
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Your body might not be able to work, but your brain still can.
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You can still study English.
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You can still read books about topics that you love.
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You can still work on yourself and grow in different ways.
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While your body recuperates.
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So, the next time you feel irritated,
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overwhelmed, insecure, unmotivated, lonely, or embarrassed,
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then join me in this fun game I like to play and find the positive side to it.
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And remember, sin miedo al fracaso, don't be afraid of failure.
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Failure is afraid of you.
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I love making videos like this and reading your comments makes me feel so connected to you all.
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It's genuinely therapy to talk to you guys.
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So don't forget to like this video so I can focus on helping you learn English in the easiest way possible.
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Remember, never stop learning.
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Speaking Goals for This Clip: Building Confidence Through Real-Life Practice
This video targets a critical fluency milestone: communicating personal experiences with emotional depth while navigating self-doubt. By exploring the speaker’s journey of overcoming insecurity in a dance class, learners practice expressing vulnerability, resilience, and pride—skills essential for IELTS speaking practice and everyday conversations. The dialogue models how to structure a story with a challenge, turning point, and resolution, helping you organize thoughts coherently in English.
Phrase Bank: Reusable Expressions for Daily Conversations
- Stepping out of your comfort zone – Taking risks to grow
- Stumbling – Making small mistakes while trying something new
- Pushed through – Persisted despite difficulties
- Felt so proud of myself – Expressed personal achievement
- Set my mindset to – Changed my attitude toward
These phrases work in contexts like sharing goals, discussing challenges, or reflecting on progress—perfect for shadow speech exercises to mimic natural rhythm.
Fix Your Weak Spots: Rhythm and Intonation in Emotional Speech
The video’s slow, conversational pace makes it ideal for practicing the shadowing technique (or "shadowspeak"). Notice how the speaker emphasizes words like "proud," "achieved," and "kept going" to convey emotion. Many learners struggle with varying intonation when talking about personal experiences, but repeating the dialogue aloud—matching pauses and stress—will help you sound more natural. For IELTS speaking practice, focus on the rise and fall in phrases like, "I didn’t give up" to show conviction. This exercise also builds stamina for longer speaking tasks, as you’ll learn to maintain flow even when discussing complex feelings.
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 | I've always loved · it's been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be surrounded · being loved |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who are |
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.