Shadowing Practice: MIAMI VLOG: exploring South Beach, boujee hotel stay, good eats, shopping & more!! - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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So we got in last night, went to a really nice dinner at STK.
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So we got in last night, went to a really nice dinner at STK.
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Never been before.
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Honestly, it was so-so.
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A little overrated.
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Woo!
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Woo!
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Yeah.
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I don't know.
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Achieving a tan in October is something I think to be proud of.
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I'm pretty hyped on that, to be honest.
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This is my second time to South Beach.
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How many times have you been here, baby?
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This is my fourth time in Miami, my first time ever staying in South Beach.
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Yeah, first time staying in South Beach for me as well.
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Honestly, it's definitely left a better impression than just visiting.
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It's really nice, but goddamn, is it hot.
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So I think we should get in the water, huh?
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Let's go.
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It's only 11 a.m.
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too.
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I feel like it's going to get even warmer, but let's hop in.
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literally the perfect weather the water here is so blue and it feels really good today a cucumber spicy marg with tajin passion fruit spicy marg with tajin can't beat it all right now time for the moment we've all been waiting for the room tour we're staying at the shellborn obviously in south beach so first which is a nice little touch we have this beautiful mini bar as you can imagine it's pretty pricey so i don't think we'll be using this Tito's bottle for 34 bucks.
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It's actually cheaper than I thought.
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Okay, that's actually regularly priced.
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Anyway though, they have a nice little espresso machine, all that good stuff.
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So I was researching the Shelbourne.
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It was built in the 1940s, this building, and then they just renovated it and dropped 100 milli re-venerating.
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Renovating.
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Re-venerating.
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But this is by far the coolest part.
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The living room area is actually so, so absurd and really well done.
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I've never had a room like this this is by far the nicest room i've ever stayed and i think we one-upped the room from the vegas vlog not too long ago and then obviously you know this is where the magic happens where we edit all the videos coming to a youtube near you and then the balcony is amazing we're planning to get a bottle of wine tonight and just chilling out here and taking full advantage of these views and all the space we have out here But I'd say that's pretty hard to beat, huh?
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Miami, you are beautiful.
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There's construction going on both sides of us though.
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You could just tell they're building so much down here.
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It's crazy.
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And then you have a view of the pool down there, which we are about to head to next to get more margaritas.
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Then we have the bedroom.
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Nice king-size bed.
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Honestly, we made a joke.
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The pillows were so soft.
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It was like sleeping on pillowcases.
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Credit to Lauren for that joke.
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But I thought this bed was hella comfortable.
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Slept 10 hours last night.
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That's the perk of being on vacation, right?
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and then another nice addition too is another plasma screen tv in here which is always clutch i mean we watch like 20 minutes of tv on vacation but you know it's nice to have oh good point we have a second balcony actually forgot about that i don't know what you would use this space for obviously much smaller but hey you can kind of flex on people and say you got two balconies i guess so anyway then we have the bathroom which you know obviously is pretty messy the one thing that is really nice about this is the Japanese shower which I didn't know was a thing but the tub is in the shower as well which is pretty cool unfortunately the tub won't fill up because the drain the drain keeps draining when you when you I don't know what to say and a nice touch of course the Aesop is it Aesop or Aesop people because settle a debate I've been telling Lauren it's Aesop if Ben Taylor says it's ESOP then it's ESOP.
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Let's hit the poo.
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Okay yesterday when we got to our hotel we were looking out on our balcony and we spotted this thing and I was like no way there is a diving board so we come down to the pool yesterday and there's no ladder to get up it so maybe when this hotel was built back in the 40s this was a diving board but now it's just an ancient artifact.
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we were disappointed to say the least this vacation could not have come at a better time because i've been feeling so burnt out is there anything more american than working too much but i was really trying to get last week's vlog up in time for you guys and i also had some brand deals over on tiktok and instagram to get done.
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But the craziest thing for me now is anytime I post I'm somewhere on Instagram stories, I get multiple DMs and messages from you guys saying, oh, I can't wait for the vlog, which is actually so crazy to me.
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I absolutely love it.
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And it really pushes me to just continue to film content and show you guys what I'm up.
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I've been posting YouTube videos since 2020, but really started taking this one seriously about two and a half years ago.
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And all I wanted that whole time was to have a community just like this one.
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So honestly, I love the pressure and I could not be more thankful that you guys want the content.
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I can think of worse places to work from.
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Nothing better than wine at the beach right?
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Literally didn't even bring glasses.
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I said it's romantic to drink out of the bottle.
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Whoa look over there.
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I thought we were gonna miss the sunset.
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Thank you.
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I love you.
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Woo!
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Good morning!
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I don't know if it gets much better than this.
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10 out of 10 sunrise, It's literally right in front of us.
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Yeah, it's perfect.
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It feels so nice out too.
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It's like actually the perfect temp.
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I believe the barge is gone.
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I'm a little disappointed.
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Yeah, we had this massive barge sitting out right on the water for a while, and we woke up today, and Lauren's like, oh my god, is the barge gone?
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It's gone.
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It literally wasn't moving yesterday.
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She's obsessed with it.
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How sick is this?
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All right, here's the ube latte with sweet potato, apparently is ube.
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That's really, really good.
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Correction, ube is a yam from the Philippines.
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We're moving now baby.
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It's not like riding the e-bikes in New York, they're way easier honestly.
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I forgot what it's like to pedal.
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Alright, a Miami staple.
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People keep talking about this so we gotta try it.
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Beforehand I had to make a special pit stop and go to CVS.
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If you guys don't know I have madly severe peanut allergy, nut allergy in general, so I left these in New York.
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Had to make a telehealth appointment, get the prescription submitted to a pharmacy nearby, but we have them so now I don't have to worry about dying because everywhere I have shellfish and nuts here so now I can enjoy my food in peace.
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all right so clearly it was awful i'm about to polish this off so easily my god had to add this picante sauce and that made it a 10 out of 10 so good so apparently they started here in south beast specifically and now they're pretty much everywhere they're chained.
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They're even in New York but we've never had it before.
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Authentic.
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Back to our trusty steed that goes three miles an hour.
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All right even though this is a New York local spot I figured we'd check out the Kith here in Miami.
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Before I even stepped foot inside of this establishment they sniped me and said no filming so I had to be real sneaky and just try to do this on my phone.
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Kith has so many cool collabs.
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I really like these Birkenstocks, and then these are just an abomination, to be honest.
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I know loafers are in and sneakers, but that's crazy.
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And then they had a ton of cool on clouds that I've never seen before, and I'm really tempted to get these Solomons as well, but I figured there's no reason to buy these right now in Miami.
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Backgammon is a goaded game, and when we saw this, me and Lauren were both so tempted.
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We're not even Yankees fans, but it was just honestly so gorgeous.
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We debated actually buying it.
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Kith is definitely a little pricey, but if you're looking for cool collabs or unique fashion pieces, then I highly recommend checking it out.
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Now I got loads of questions and recommendations of where to go eat in Miami for dinner.
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Fortunately, this was just a block from our hotel, which was really convenient.
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But even if it wasn't, I still think we would have came here.
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The name of this place is Bayoli, and I would definitely recommend booking it in advance because it gets insane during busy season.
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I mean, you wouldn't be able to tell by the looks of it right now.
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We got to our table just after seven and by the time we left, it actually did start to fill up.
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But the best part about this is if you're looking for a great meal and want to party afterwards, this place turns into a club and it's quite the scene.
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I just took it easy with a nice crispy Diet Coke because we had another long day of drinking those passion fruit margaritas.
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We ordered the Kagoshima Wagyu Roll with truffle soy and it is genuinely a life-changing dish.
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So yeah, if you're looking for good food and good vibes with friends, family, or a bachelorette party or bachelor party, then this spot is definitely the one to go to.
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All right.
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So unfortunately it's Lauren and I's last day here.
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We both agreed we could definitely stay longer.
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So we figured might as well ball out.
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I don't know the last time I've done this.
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Honestly, I could probably count on my hand how many times I've actually done this.
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So we had to send it on some room service we got an ice latte for you the specialty ube latte for me whole milk of course a sunrise smoothie with strawberry mango honey it looks so yummy and refreshing a side of crispy bacon this very interesting looking hash brown oh that is interesting let's get to the main course we've got a ham that looks insane a ham and cheese croissant the breakfast sandwich rich, beautiful fruit plate.
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God, let's feast.
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About This Lesson

You're practicing English with "MIAMI VLOG: exploring South Beach, boujee hotel stay, good eats, shopping & more!!" using the Shadowing technique — a method originally developed for professional interpreter training.

Focus on sounding like the speaker — not just repeating words. With 15–30 minutes of daily practice, you'll build real-world speaking confidence.

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.

How to Practice Effectively on ShadowingEnglish

  1. Choose your video: Pick a YouTube video with clear, natural English speech. TED Talks, BBC News, movie scenes, podcasts, or IELTS sample answers all work great. Paste the URL into the search bar. Start with shorter videos (under 5 minutes) and content you find genuinely interesting — motivation matters.
  2. Listen first, understand the context: On your first pass, keep the speed at 1x and just listen. Don't try to repeat yet. Focus on understanding the meaning, picking up new vocabulary, and noticing how the speaker stresses words, links sounds, and uses pauses.
  3. Set up Shadowing mode:
    • Wait Mode: Choose +3s or +5s — after each sentence plays, the video pauses automatically so you have time to repeat it out loud. Choose Manual if you want full control and press Next yourself after each repetition.
    • Sub Sync: YouTube subtitles sometimes appear slightly ahead or behind the audio. Use ±100ms to align them perfectly so you can follow along accurately.
  4. Shadow out loud (the core practice): This is where the real work happens. As soon as a sentence plays — or during the pause — repeat it out loud, clearly and confidently. Don't just mouth the words: mirror the speaker's exact rhythm, stress, pitch, and connected speech. Aim to sound like a shadow of the speaker, not just a word-by-word recitation. Use the Repeat feature to drill the same sentence multiple times until it feels natural.
  5. Scale up the challenge: Once a passage feels comfortable, push your limits. Increase speed to <code>1.25x</code> or even <code>1.5x</code> to train high-speed language reflexes. Or set Wait Mode to <code>Off</code> for continuous shadowing — the most advanced and rewarding mode. Consistent daily practice of 15–30 minutes will produce noticeable results within weeks.

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