Shadowing Practice: Michael Rosen's top tips for performing poems and stories - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Hi, I'm Michael Rosen and I want to give you some tips on how to perform poems and stories.
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Hi, I'm Michael Rosen and I want to give you some tips on how to perform poems and stories.
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First thing to remember is that in poems and stories you've got different characters.
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So you want to show the people listening or looking at you that these characters are different.
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So you might need to have different voices or different ways of looking to fit those different characters.
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One character might be serious, the other one might be quite funny.
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So you've got to show those differences.
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In English we're very good at showing difference in the way in which we speak.
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And some of that is to do with your tone of voice.
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So you could be quite loud or you could be quite quiet.
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You can be up high, you can be down low.
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And also we're very good at emphasising things.
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So sometimes you can say, It was a camera and it was looking at me.
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Now that's called emphasis, so you can really push on different words so that the audience gets the really important stuff.
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Now another thing we can do with language in performance is change the speed that we're talking at.
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So one moment I can talk really quickly and another moment I can speak really slowly.
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So when you look at the poem or the story you're doing you want to think, Which bits are gonna go quick?
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Which bits are gonna go really slowly?
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And of course, slowly what happens is that people lean forward.
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They're expecting something.
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So slowly is sometimes quite a good way to build tension.
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As well as when you're really quick and you're really scared, you can vary it.
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Now, of course, we think of language as all words, but really we make lots of noises, don't we?
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In speech we go, oh yeah, yeah, and sometimes we imitate the sound of things.
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Aeroplane came over, oh there was a bird.
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So we've got all these means of making noises, crash and bang, but also just with our mouths.
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We can go, for example, so you can use noises.
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When it shows in a story or a poem that something happened, you can imitate the sound of it.
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And the door closed.
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You can see that I use my hands all the time.
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What we have when we're performing is we've got our face, our hands and our whole body so that when you want to say you were scared,
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you could show maybe you were scared with your hands and your body.
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I was a bit scared.
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Or I was really excited, you see.
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Or if you want to use your hands to show the rhythm, so if you want to say I was walking down the road.
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You can make your body and your hands and your face work with the rhythms of the poem or story.
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Now remember, if you want your audience to be interested, then you have to show that you're interested.
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You have to show that you're really enjoying it.
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Even if perhaps you're feeling a bit off, or you're a bit tired, or you're a bit bored, you've got to put all that to one side.
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You've got to show that you really care about this poem or story.
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So you've got to look enthusiastic, that's got to be in your eyes and it's got to be in the way that you move, just as I've said, maybe even just in the way that you're breathing.
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You've got to show that you care.
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Now in poems and stories, quite often the sound repeats itself.
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Now the most famous we know is rhyme.
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I do a little poem that goes down behind the dustbin.
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I met a dog called Jim.
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He didn't know me and I didn't know him.
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Yes, it's a rhyme.
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Now rhyme's very infectious.
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We like to use it.
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To be a bit careful when you're doing rhyme in your performance of poems.
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If you overdo it, you forget what the poem's all about.
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You have to get that just right.
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But in stories, quite often, it's repetition.
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Think fee-fi-fo-fum in Jack and the Beanstalk or Or, who's been eating my porridge?
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We quite often have repeating.
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So when you repeat, make sure that you make it slightly different each time and then the audience starts listening.
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Why is it different?
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And it's different because it comes at a different moment in the story.
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Very important.
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Now, one of the things you have to do when you're performing is to forget that it's you doing it.
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I know that sounds daft, but you have to be prepared to give up what are called your inhibitions.
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That's the things that make you kind of fit in with everybody and be the same as everybody.
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Performing is in a funny sort of way making yourself different.
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So you have to be prepared to sometimes be silly, people have to look at you and think, that's a bit crazy, that's a bit daft.
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You have to not worry what people might think of you, not worry, you know, some people say to me, hey Michael Rosen, you've got big ears, you see?
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And I go, yeah, I have got big ears.
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You've got to put all that to one side.
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When you're performing, you've got to use it.
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You might one moment go, what did he say?
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So you use the fact that people laugh may be at my ears.
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That's the way you do.
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So you have to give up being kind of caring or nervous about yourself.
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Be silly, just give it all out there.
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So what you have to do is just find a way to sort of lose yourself in the performance.
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Think that it's sort of not really you doing it, but as if somehow or other you're a puppet.
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So that's who you are, so you're there performing it.
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So when I'm performing, I'm not really Michael Rosen, I'm another kind of Michael Rosen who's doing the show.
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That'll help you when you're doing a poem, think that you're maybe the poet, not you.
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You're maybe the person who's doing the narrating in a poet, you know, the person who says, this is what's going on.
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And you can do that with the story so that you pretend that you're not you, so everybody's looking at this other kind of a person
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and then you can stop being self-conscious and worrying about who you are.
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The key thing is the performance.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will practice the art of performing poems and stories effectively, guided by tips from Michael Rosen. By delving into character differentiation, voice modulation, and the use of physical expression, you will learn how to captivate your audience. This experience will enhance your English speaking practice, making your performances more dynamic and engaging.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Emphasis - Highlighting specific words to convey importance.
- Tone of voice - The quality or character of your voice when speaking.
- Rhythm - The pattern of sounds and beats in a poem or story.
- Character - A person or figure in a poem or story with distinct traits.
- Expression - The use of body language, facial gestures, and vocal variety to convey emotions.
- Speed variation - Changing the pace of your speech to build tension or excitement.
- Rhyme - The repetition of similar sounds in lines of poetry.
- Physical expression - Using your body and facial expressions to enhance storytelling.
Practice Tips
To make the most of your shadowing technique when practicing with poems and stories, follow these tailored suggestions:
- Listen Carefully: Choose a video or audio recording of performance poetry. Pay attention to the speaker’s tone, speed, and emphasis.
- Shadow with Variation: Mimic the performance at different speeds. When the speaker slows down to build tension, try to imitate that pacing. Conversely, when they speed up, practice matching their excitement.
- Use a Shadowing App: Consider recording yourself using a shadowing app. This allows you to track your pronunciation and intonation, making it easier to note improvements.
- Incorporate Physicality: As you practice, don’t hesitate to use your hands and facial expressions to reflect emotions or action in the story. This will enhance your performance and may help you remember lines better.
- Focus on Enthusiasm: Ensure your performance shows genuine interest. This will not only engage your audience; it will also help you practice sounding enthusiastic in your English speaking practice.
- Repeat and Reflect: After your practice sessions, reflect on which parts felt challenging. Repeating these sections can improve your English pronunciation and delivery over time.
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.
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