Shadowing Practice: 我一直以為同事討厭我，直到她離職那天告訴我真相｜Learn English Through Story - Learn English Speaking with Video
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The first time I met Claire, I was sure she didn't like me.
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She didn't say anything rude.
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That would have been easier.
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Instead, she did something much harder to understand.
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She was polite.
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Very polite, but never warm.
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On my first day, my manager introduced us.
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This is Emily.
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She'll be joining the project team.
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Claire looked up from her laptop.
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She smiled for maybe half a second.
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Nice to meet you.
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Then she looked back at her screen.
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That was it.
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I told myself not to overthink it.
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Maybe she was busy.
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Maybe she was shy.
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Maybe that was just her personality.
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But over the next few weeks, I started noticing things.
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When I made a joke in the break room, everyone laughed.
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Claire didn't.
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When I asked if she wanted to join us for lunch, she usually said, thanks, but I brought something.
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When I shared an idea in a meeting, she would sometimes pause before saying, I don't think that's going to work.
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She wasn't mean.
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She was just cold.
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And somehow, that felt worse.
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One afternoon, I gave my first big presentation to the team.
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I had spent three nights preparing for it.
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When I finished, my manager said, Great job, Emily.
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This is exactly what we needed.
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A few people nodded.
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Someone said, Nice work.
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I looked at Claire.
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She was staring at one of my slides.
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Then she said, You might want to double -check the numbers on page 12.
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My stomach dropped.
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I opened the slide.
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She was right.
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One number was wrong.
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It wasn't a huge mistake.
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But suddenly, that was the only thing I could think about.
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After the meeting, I heard two co -workers talking near the printer.
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One of them said, Claire catches everything.
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The other laughed.
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Yeah, nothing gets past her.
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I walked back to my desk, feeling stupid.
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Claire sat across from me.
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She didn't say anything.
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Neither did I.
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From that day on, I became nervous around her.
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Every time I sent an email, I checked it three times.
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Every time I spoke in a meeting, I wondered whether she was judging me.
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If she looked serious while I was talking, I assumed I had said something wrong.
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If she gave me a short answer, I assumed she was annoyed, and if she disagreed with me, I took it personally.
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The strange thing was, I didn't feel that way around anyone else.
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Only Claire.
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A few months later, we were put on the same project.
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When I saw our names together, I actually sighed.
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My co -worker Megan heard me.
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What?
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Nothing.
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She looked at the screen.
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Oh.
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Claire.
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I looked at her.
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So it's not just me, Megan laughed.
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What do you mean?
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I don't think she likes me.
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Megan raised an eyebrow.
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Did she say that?
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No. Did she do something?
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Not exactly, Megan smiled.
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Then maybe don't write the whole movie before you've seen the trailer.
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I laughed, but I didn't really listen.
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Working with Claire was exactly as uncomfortable as I expected.
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Her emails were short.
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Please revise this.
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Can you check the source?
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Let's discuss tomorrow.
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No smiley faces.
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No exclamation marks.
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No hope you're having a great day.
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Just information.
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One night around 6 .30, she sent me a message.
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Your section needs more detail.
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I stared at it.
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That was all she wrote.
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I was exhausted.
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And suddenly I was angry.
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I typed, I've already revised it twice.
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What exactly is missing?
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I almost added, if you don't like my work, you can just say that.
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But I didn't.
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A minute later, Claire applied, call.
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I didn't want to, but I clicked the button.
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Her face appeared on my screen.
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She looked tired too.
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She said, I think we're talking past each other.
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I waited.
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Then she shared her screen.
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For the next 20 minutes, she explained exactly what the client was asking for.
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And she was right.
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Again.
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At the end, I said, okay, I understand now.
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Claire nodded.
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Then she said something unexpected.
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Your main idea is good, I looked at her.
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What?
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The idea.
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She pointed at my document.
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It's good, I just think it needs more support.
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Oh, that tiny compliment stayed with me for the rest of the night.
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I hated that it mattered so much.
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Over the next year, our relationship stayed almost exactly the same professional useful distant we
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could work together we just couldn't seem to become friends then one morning i walked into the office
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and saw a card on the table near the kitchen it
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said good luck claire i stopped i picked it up inside
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were messages from half the team we'll miss you best of
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luck in the new role don't be a stranger i turned to megan claire's leaving.
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Megan looked surprised.
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You didn't know.
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No. Friday's her last day.
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I looked across the office.
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Claire was sitting at her desk like it was any other morning.
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For some reason, the news bothered me.
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I should have felt relieved.
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The person who made me nervous for two years was leaving.
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No more overthinking her emails.
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No more wondering what her expression meant.
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No more feeling like I was constantly being graded.
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But I wasn't relieved.
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I felt strange, almost disappointed.
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That afternoon, I signed the card.
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I wrote, good luck with your next chapter.
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Then I stared at the sentence.
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It sounded like something you'd write to someone you barely knew.
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Maybe that was exactly what we were.
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On Friday, the team had a small farewell lunch.
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There was pizza, cake, a few speeches.
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Our manager said, Claire has been one of the most reliable people on this team.
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Everyone nodded.
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I did too.
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Because whatever else I thought about her, that part was true.
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Claire thanked everyone.
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Then she looked around the room.
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For a second, her eyes stopped on me.
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Then she looked away.
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After lunch, people started leaving early.
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Around 4 .30, I was packing my bag when Claire walked over to my desk.
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Do you have a minute?
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My first thought was ridiculous.
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She's leaving in 30 minutes and I'm still somehow in trouble.
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I said, sure.
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She pointed toward an empty meeting room.
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Can we talk in there?
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That made me even more nervous.
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We sat down.
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Claire closed the door.
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Then she placed a small envelope on the table.
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This is for you.
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I looked at it.
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What is it?
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Nothing dramatic.
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I smiled.
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That sounds dramatic.
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For the first time in two years, Claire actually laughed, not politely, really laughed.
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Then she looked at me and said, I owe you an explanation.
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I felt my stomach tighten. About what?
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Claire looked down at her hands. About me.
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I didn't say anything.
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She took a breath.
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I know I've probably seemed cold to you.
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Probably?
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I almost laughed.
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Instead, I said, a little.
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She smiled.
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That's generous.
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Then she became serious again.
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I need you to know something.
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She looked directly at me.
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I never disliked you.
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I stared at her.
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I wasn't prepared for that sentence.
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She continued.
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Actually, it was almost the opposite.
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I didn't understand.
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Clara leaned back in her chair.
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When you joined the team, I had already been here for six years.
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I had applied for a promotion twice.
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I didn't get it.
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I was angry, mostly at myself.
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Then she looked at me.
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And then you arrived.
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I stayed quiet.
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You were new, but people listened to you.
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You were comfortable speaking in meetings.
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You asked questions I was afraid to ask.
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You connected with people quickly.
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And everyone seemed to like you.
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I almost interrupted her, because that was not how I remembered my first few months at all.
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I had felt nervous every day.
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I had gone home replaying conversations in my head.
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I had spent entire meetings afraid someone would realize I didn't belong there.
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Claire shook her head.
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See, I didn't know any of that, she continued.
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All I saw was someone doing things I wished I could do more easily, and I started comparing myself to you.
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There it was, the truth I had never imagined.
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Not dislike, comparison.
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Claire said, every time you did well, I felt worse about myself.
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She paused.
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And I'm not proud of that.
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I didn't know what to say.
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So you really were judging me?
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She gave a small smile.
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Sometimes I laughed.
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Great, but not in the way you thought.
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She looked embarrassed.
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I wasn't thinking Emily isn't good enough.
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I was thinking why can't I be more like Emily?
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That sentence hit me harder than I expected.
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For two years I had walked into meetings worried Claire thought I wasn't good enough.
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And across the table Claire had apparently been wondering the same thing about herself.
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I said, you know what's crazy what i was intimidated by you claire blinked by me yes why
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because you always knew the answer she laughed no i didn't
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you looked like you did well you looked confident i wasn't
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we both stared at each other then we started laughing two
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grown women sitting in a meeting room realizing we had spent
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two years being intimidated by each other claire wiped under one eye this is ridiculous us.
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Very.
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Then she became quiet again.
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There was another reason I kept my distance.
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I waited.
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I knew I was probably going to leave.
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She told me she had started looking for another job more than a year earlier.
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She hadn't told anyone except her manager.
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I didn't want to get too attached.
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I frowned.
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That's a terrible strategy.
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I know.
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You worked here for seven years.
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I know.
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You were already attached she smiled also true then she pushed
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the envelope toward me open it later i picked it up
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before we left the room i asked her something why tell
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me all of this now claire thought for a moment
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because i don't want you to remember me as someone who
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hated you i didn't answer immediately then i said i don't
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think i will anymore her eyes softened good at five o 'clock Claire picked up her box.
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People hugged her.
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I did too.
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It felt strange.
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But not uncomfortable.
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Right before she left, she said, Don't let them make you doubt yourself.
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I smiled.
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You either.
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She nodded.
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I'm working on it.
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Then she walked out.
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I opened the envelope after I got home.
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Inside was a small card.
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Claire had written, Emily, you were never the problem.
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I just didn't know how to deal with what you brought out in me.
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You reminded me of the person I wanted to become.
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I'm sorry if my insecurity ever made you feel small.
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I hope you never make yourself smaller just to make someone else comfortable.
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I read that last sentence three times.
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Then I thought about all the moments I had misunderstood.
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The short emails, the serious expressions, the corrections, the lunches she didn't join.
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Some of those things really were distance.
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Some of them probably were insecurity, and some of them were simply Claire being Claire, but I had taken every little piece and built one big story around it.
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She doesn't like me.
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Once I believed that story, everything became evidence.
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A short email meant she was annoyed.
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A correction meant she wanted to embarrass me.
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A serious face meant I had done something wrong.
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I had never asked.
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I had just decided.
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And Claire had done something similar.
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She saw my presentation, my jokes with coworkers, my ideas in meetings, and she built her own story.
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Emily is confident.
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Emily has everything figured out.
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Emily doesn't struggle the way I do.
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Neither story was true, or at least neither story was complete.
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That's something I thought about many times since Claire left.
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We spend so much time trying to understand what other people think of us, but most of the time we don't actually know.
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We see a face, a message, a silence, a tone of voice.
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Then our minds fill in the missing pieces.
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Sometimes we're right.
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Sometimes we're completely wrong.
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And And sometimes, the person we think is judging us is standing on the other side of the room judging themselves.
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That doesn't mean you should ignore bad behavior.
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If someone treats you badly, you have every right to protect yourself.
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But not every quiet person is angry, not every disagreement is personal, not every bit of distance means rejection, and not every cold -looking person feels cold inside.
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Sometimes, asking one honest question can save you months or even years of guessing.
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Claire and I probably won't become best friends.
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We don't need to.
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But we still text sometimes.
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A few months after she left, she sent me a picture from her new office.
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Under it, she wrote, I spoke in a meeting today without rehearsing the sentence ten times first.
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I laughed.
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Then I replied, Look at you.
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She sent back, still terrifying.
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I wrote, Do it anyway.
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A minute later, she replied, That's what I'm learning.
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Maybe that's what I learned too you never really know what battle someone is having with themselves.
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So don't automatically turn their silence into rejection.
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Don't turn their confidence into proof that your own isn't enough.
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And don't make yourself smaller because you imagine someone else wants you that way.
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Sometimes the truth is much simpler.
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Two people can be standing in the same room, each secretly wondering if the other one is better.
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If you enjoy stories about real life, real feelings, and natural English, subscribe to Fluent Trail English.
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There are more stories waiting for you.
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See you in the next story.
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Why Practice Speaking with This Video?
This video offers a relatable workplace scenario—perfect for shadow speak practice. The dialogue captures everyday interactions, from awkward introductions to feedback exchanges, mirroring real-life conversations you might have. By learning English with videos like this, you’ll master natural tone, pacing, and social cues. Shadowing the speaker helps you internalize how to express uncertainty (“I told myself not to overthink it”) or receive feedback (“my stomach dropped”), making your speech more authentic. It’s a proven way to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world communication.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
The video is rich with practical structures. Here are key ones to focus on:
- Past continuous for background actions: “She was staring at one of my slides” sets a scene, showing ongoing actions. Practice this to add depth to your stories.
- Modal verbs for soft feedback: “You might want to double-check” is a polite way to point out mistakes—critical for workplace communication. Shadow this to sound professional, not confrontational.
- Emotional idioms: “My stomach dropped” vividly describes anxiety. Learning such phrases helps you convey feelings more dynamically than basic words like “worried.”
Common Pronunciation Traps
Pay attention to these tricky sounds to improve English pronunciation:
- “Polite”: The “i” is short, not long—avoid saying “poh-lee-tay.” Listen closely and shadow to nail the crisp “ih” sound.
- “Pause”: The “au” is a diphthong (aw + uh). Many learners rush it, but stretching it (“pawz”) makes it sound natural.
- Connected speech: “Thanks, but I brought something” links “but I” into “buh-tai.” A shadowing app can help you practice this fluidity, as native speakers rarely pause between words.
By focusing on these elements, you’ll turn passive viewing into active learning—making shadow speech a powerful tool for fluency.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was annoyed · were put · was exhausted |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've seen · I've already revised · has been |
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.