Shadowing Practice: Most English Learners Can’t Do This (Fluency Challenge) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hi everyone!
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In this video, you are going to practice your English fluency.
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Okay?
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When I say fluency, I don't mean speaking with perfect grammar.
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I mean speaking smoothly, with flow, and not stopping too much to think, right?
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So, making small mistakes is absolutely fine.
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What really matters is confidence and communication.
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Now, this is part two of another video of my Speaking Challenge series.
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So please watch that first.
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It's very important.
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And then come back here.
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Okay.
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All right, let's get started.
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Right, let's start everyone.
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I'm going to spin the wheel and we're going to see what our first topic is going to be.
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All right, it is future goals.
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Before we start, I forgot to say, if you are a Patreon member,
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make sure to download the full PDF and audio files to help you.
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You can practice shadowing and lots of other things.
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And also for free members, there will be a free PDF as well.
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All right, here we are, a goal for the future.
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So, for higher level students, I want you to just talk about a future goal, okay?
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And for maybe lower or intermediate level students, you can answer the questions.
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And also try to use the phrases in bold.
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So we have, let me see how I can explain this.
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This is a good kind of starter phrase that will give you time to think, right?
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Let me see how I can explain this.
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Hmm.
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Well, right.
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In order to, that shows purpose, right?
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The reason for doing an action, like so that or to.
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So in order to.. imagine my goal is to lose weight.
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In order to lose weight, I need to eat healthily and go to the gym often.
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And then so finally is your summarising sentence.
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In part one, I realised I didn't really go through, talk about these phrases.
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So I will quickly, if that's okay.
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So set a goal, right?
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You make a goal.
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Work towards something.
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Again, that's you're working towards a target, an aim, a goal.
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Achieve my dream, right?
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Maybe your dream comes true.
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Long-term plan.
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Maybe that's five-year plan, 10-year plan.
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We have long-term and short-term.
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And make progress, right?
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You improve.
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Right, it's my turn first.
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I would like you to listen and see how much you understand and maybe even practice some shadowing.
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Okay?
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All right.
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Ready?
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Let's go.
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Let me see how I can explain this.
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Well, I guess my goal is to continue this YouTube channel and try to grow it,
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look after it. And eventually,
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my long-term plan is to create an online English academy where people can learn English independently
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and make the most out of all of these fantastic resources we have.
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I notice that a lot of students want to study English, but they say, I don't know what to do.
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And that's where I want to help people.
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I want to give people structure and help so that they can learn English in a fun and effective way.
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What steps do I need to reach that goal?
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Well, I think I need to be consistent with uploading these videos.
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Not get too down if a video doesn't do very well or something like that.
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But I think if I keep working towards this goal of growing my YouTube channel, I will eventually make progress.
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Fingers crossed.
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So finally, yeah, that is my goal,
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to create an online English academy where I can really make a difference in people's lives
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and help people stop wasting time when it comes to learning English.
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You know, I've met some people who have been learning English for seven, 10 years, and they make small progress,
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if I'm honest with you.
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So that's my dream.
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All right, that was probably longer than two minutes.
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I don't know.
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But now it's your turn.
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So pause the video.
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You can choose to talk for one minute or two minutes.
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Okay, good luck.
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Okay, how was that for you?
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Don't worry about making mistakes, remember?
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Just try to get your thoughts out there and keep speaking.
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All right, next up, let's see what we have.
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Looks like it's going to be freedom.
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That's a difficult one.
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So let's take our time, do our best, and enjoy it.
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All right, it's time for the freedom question.
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So it's a difficult topic.
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So maybe let's answer the question.
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So we have, what does freedom mean to you?
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And do you think people today are truly free?
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Really difficult questions, but don't worry about having the perfect answer.
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That's not what this is about, okay?
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So let's look.
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Actually, that's quite interesting.
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Another really good kind of time filler.
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It's a phrase that gives you time to think, especially at the start of an answer.
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In my opinion, simple, easy.
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And so finally, as the summary, quick look at some of these words, have the right to, so you're lawfully,
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legally allowed to do something.
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Freedom of speech, they have that in America.
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Personal choice, basic human rights.
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So the right means here, you know, that everyone is allowed something.
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The basic human right to food and water and shelter, like a home.
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Lose your freedom.
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You don't have to use any of these if you don't want to.
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Okay, I'm going to start.
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This is going to be quite interesting because I haven't planned anything.
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Ready?
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Go.
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Actually, that's quite interesting because I think freedom to me is the ability to make choices about my own life,
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whether that's where I live, what I believe, or how I spend my time, as long as it doesn't hurt others.
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But it's not just about the absence of rules, right, no rules.
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It's more about finding a space where you can be your authentic self, right?
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A space where you can express yourself and do the things that you love.
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As for are we truly free, I think that's a difficult question.
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I mean, nowadays we definitely have more rights than we did in the past, maybe my great-great-grandparents.
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But I think we also have some new pressures, you know, like consumerism, social media,
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and even work culture are pressures that tie us down to,
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you know, our current lives.
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I mean, owning a house and having what's called a mortgage is a way that also ties you down.
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These are some good phrases.
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So yeah, I'll just end it.
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So finally, I think that we are free, but it's a very complicated thing.
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But it is definitely something that we need to fight for and decide on our own what that means.
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All right, maybe that answer wasn't the best, but again, it doesn't matter.
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Just express yourself, say what you want, and good luck.
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Okay, pause the video.
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It's your turn.
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Okay, how was that for you?
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A little bit difficult?
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That's okay.
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It was difficult for me too, so well done for doing it.
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It's time for our next one.
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The spinning wheel is looking a bit bare at the moment.
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I wonder what it's going to be.
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It is a problem in my city.
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Okay, let's go to the slides.
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Okay, so here it is, a problem in my city.
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The questions that you can use if you want are what problem does your city have and how does it affect people?
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How does it change their lives in some way?
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The three phrases I would like you to use are firstly, well, I haven't really thought about it before, but...
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well, I haven't really thought about it before, but...
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Again, this is a great time filler for you to practice, memorize, use it in real conversations.
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Next is as a result.
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And that's like saying because of.
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A slightly more formal way of saying because of.
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And then your summarising sentence or concluding sentence.
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So in conclusion.
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And here are the other phrases that you can use if you want to.
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We have traffic congestion, right?
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That means lots of cars on the road, right, blocked up, public transport like buses and trains,
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air pollution, maybe there are lots of cars so the air quality isn't as good,
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affordable housing, affordable means you can buy it,
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it's not too expensive, and find a solution.
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Okay, ready?
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Well, I haven't really thought about it before.
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But if I think about it now, there are many problems in my city.
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But one of the most important problems or issues is the lack of affordable housing.
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You see, house prices have increased so much in the past decade,
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a lot more than people's average salaries, right, the money they get each year.
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And as a result, it's nearly impossible for young people and first-time buyers to actually buy a house.
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And I think this has had a lot of just sad,
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dangerous, not dangerous, but lots of different kind of effects on society.
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It means people are forced to rent, right?
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People are forced to rent and other large companies are buying houses and renting them out.
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So we might become a society of renters.
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Not now, but in the future.
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And another thing is that there is now a gap between generations
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and also between those who own their houses and those who simply rent.
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And I see it as a really,
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really big problem because the price of a place to live a house is just astronomical, right?
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It's at a ridiculous point now.
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so in conclusion
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that is the biggest problem I think we have in my
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city we do have problems like traffic congestion of course
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because there are always roadworks everywhere we go
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but I guess that's another problem so in conclusion yes it is the house prices and I wish
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something got done to solve this problem and to find a solution
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and let just normal people own their houses and live a normal life.
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That's what I would like to see.
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Okay, that's my answer.
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I'm actually curious what the house prices are like where you are.
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So if you would like to type in the comments and let me know, I'd actually really appreciate that.
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Anyway, pause the video and answer it for yourself.
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Well, I hope that went better for you than it did me
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because I felt I was blabbering on for far too long.
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But that's just the activity.
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All right, what's it going to be?
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Red or blue?
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Place your bets now.
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It's going to be red.
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Food I love or hate.
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I like talking about food.
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I hope you do too.
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Okay, this should be an easy one for you all.
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I think food as a topic is a really important topic to practice and practice well.
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So later, making speeches and talking about your favourite food, food you don't like, your local cuisine.
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It's a good small talk topic, you know, in a sense.
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All right, questions.
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What's your favorite food and why?
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And has your taste in food changed over time?
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I think I'll just answer those questions.
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We have our time filler, like giving us time at the start.
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Well, let me think about that.
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An absolute classic time filler.
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example.
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You can also use for instance if you want and summary so in the end.
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Other key phrases a big fan of.
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I'm a big fan of Italian cuisine.
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My go-to meal.
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So that's a meal you might eat often and that you go to it straight away, right?
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My go-to meal to have a sweet tooth.
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Maybe you can imagine that means you like sweet food, sugary food.
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I do have a sweet tooth.
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A balanced diet, right?
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You eat a good amount of vegetables, fruit, you know, protein, right?
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Meat or beans.
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All right, let's go.
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Okay, what's your favorite food?
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Ready?
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Well, let me think about that.
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If I had to choose a favourite food,
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I think it would be something like sushi or Japanese cuisine in general.
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But I like sushi because it's light, it's fresh.
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There's a fair amount of variety and I like the detail.
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I'm a perfectionist, right?
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So I like detail in things.
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When something is beautifully made and I just love it
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but I like how you have the wasabi sometimes the ginger soy sauce the flavor of the rice
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if it's done really well my first trip to Japan I ate so much sushi It was amazing.
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But I also like other types of Japanese food.
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But that's not to say I don't like other types of cuisine like Italian, Mediterranean, obviously Korean food.
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I eat a lot of Korean food.
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Maybe you're wondering why I haven't said English food.
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I do like English food, but I guess I just prefer Japanese food.
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As for the second question, I think my taste in food has changed over time,
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but quite simply because I'm unable to eat spicy food at the moment, or really greasy food.
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In the past, I would eat lots of really spicy curries,
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maybe three times a like a Jalfrezi.
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I like Jalfrezi, Vindaloo.
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These are quite spicy curries in the UK.
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Yeah.
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Anything else?
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Yeah.
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And I think I have also become more conscious about what
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I eat now i'm getting older like i try not to eat too much sugary food um
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because i know it's really bad for me whereas in the
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past i would eat a lot of chocolate a lot of sugary um like cakes
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and bread and stuff like that yeah
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so in the end it has changed over time and my favorite food at the moment is Japanese cuisine, namely sushi.
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Okay, so I'm not very happy with my answers today,
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but I think I should post this anyway because done is better than perfect,
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if you remember that from another video of mine.
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All right, pause the video, it's your turn.
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Well, I hope that went really well for you guys.
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I think I'm purposefully showing my answers that aren't perfect on purpose.
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So you can also feel more comfortable, right?
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All right, it's the last one.
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Which one do we think it's going to be, everyone?
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I pretty much don't need to spin this, do I?
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Because we know it is technology.
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All right, let's go to the slides.
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Right, let's talk about technology.
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Let's look at the questions first.
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Has technology made life better or worse?
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What technology could you not live without?
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I think these are good questions to answer or just talk about technology for one to two minutes.
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Phrases I would like you to use.
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That's something I think about a lot, right, at the start of your answer.
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at the same time.
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So maybe you say something positive and then you want to say like on the other hand, right?
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We can say at the same time, there are some bad things too.
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And your summary, so overall.
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Quickly look at some of these words.
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Modern technology, spend time online, stay connected.
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That means staying connected online and with friends.
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Social media apps, right, like WhatsApp, Line, Kakao, Facebook.
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Technology has changed our lives.
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Okay, I will go first.
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This is, again, just a natural answer.
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I'm not trying to pass an IELTS test, okay?
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I'm just trying to improve my flow, my rhythm, right?
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And not think about making mistakes or having perfect grammar.
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That's really important.
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And also not translating in my head.
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I'm just trying to speak ideas.
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All right, ready?
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Let's go.
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Has technology made life better or worse?
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That's something I think about a lot.
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I think technology has obviously made our lives better in many ways.
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You know, we can stay connected with our friends and family if we live far away.
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And I think everything is more efficient now.
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If you just think about cooking and doing the laundry, right, washing your clothes, doing work.
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everyone uses AI now to like write emails, which is crazy to me.
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But yeah, so it definitely has made our lives easier.
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Maybe I shouldn't use the word better.
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Because at the same time, I do believe people have shorter attention spans.
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They can't focus for as long as they used to.
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there's a lot of online addiction
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and definitely a hundred percent a certain amount of loss of human connection i think less
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and less people are meeting up in person you know everyone's working from home now um
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and i think that's really dangerous and especially using ai where people are messaging to each other just using AI.
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So even people aren't speaking to each other directly anymore.
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And that scares me.
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I'm not going to lie.
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That scares me a lot.
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So technology has changed our lives.
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But overall, I think, well,
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the answer is it's made it better and worse, isn't it?
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I think it's made it better, but we need to take a step back,
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reflect, and think about how it is changing our lives for the worse, and try to change that, right?
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Try to connect again with people and ourselves
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and even just being bored you know i think being bored is actually really important
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but nowadays you can watch so many movies and tv shows and youtube channels
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and i just think it's really important to sometimes just sit and be bored and sit with your thoughts.
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That's maybe a strange answer and you will all say, David, you're so strange, what's wrong with you? in the comments.
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But that's how I feel.
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This answer was way too long, but I'm not going to record it again.
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All right, that's my answer.
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Now it's your turn.
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Pause the video and just talk.
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And you know what?
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I would actually like you to write your answer in the comments if you can.
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But don't use any AI.
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Just type it with all your mistakes, the same as this speaking challenge.
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Type your answer and don't worry about mistakes, please.
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Right?
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This is a fluency challenge.
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I want to see your mistakes.
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Okay, sorry.
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Pause and I'll see you in a second.
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Right, that is the end of today's lesson.
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I do hope it was helpful for you and you practiced some of these difficult topics.
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Remember to get the PDF if you are a Patreon member,
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and even free members will get a free PDF to also help you answer the questions.
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All right.
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Oh, finally, please choose one question from today's video and answer it in the comments below.
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I really want to read them.
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I will reply to every single one.
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And please don't use chat GPT.
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Refrain from using any AI.
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Just write it yourself.
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This is a really important thing, everyone.
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All right, that's it from me.
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Thanks again.
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I'll see you in the next video.
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Bye bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Most English Learners Can’t Do This”. This video has 348 sentences and 3165 words to shadow. The speech runs for 26:01. The speaker talks at a steady 122 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| pause noun | /pɔːz/ | A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation. |
| cuisine noun | /kwɪˈziːn/ | A characteristic manner or style of preparing food, often associated with a place of origin. |
| filler noun | /ˈfɪlɚ/ | One who fills. |
| sushi noun | /ˈsuːʃi/ | A Japanese dish made of small portions of sticky white rice flavored with vinegar, usually wrapped in seaweed and filled or topped with fish, vegetables or… |
| fluency noun | /ˈfluːənsi/ | The quality of smoothness of flow. |
| spicy adjective | /ˈspaɪsi/ | Of, pertaining to, or containing spice. |
| bore verb | /boɹ/ | To inspire boredom in somebody. |
| affordable adjective | /əˈfɔɹ.də.bəl/ | Able to be afforded; inexpensive or reasonably priced. |
| congestion noun | /kənˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃən/ | An accumulation or buildup, the act of gathering into a heap or mass. |
| curry noun | /ˈkʌ.ɹi/ | One of a family of dishes originating from Indian cuisine, flavored by a spiced sauce. |
| scare verb | /skɛɚ/ | To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way. |
| tooth noun | /tuθ/ | A hard, calcareous structure present in the mouth of many vertebrate animals, generally used for biting and chewing food. |
| nowadays adverb | /ˈnaʊ.ə.deɪz/ | At the present time; in the current era. |
| grammar noun | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come back verb | To return to a place. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| step back verb | /stɛp ˈbæk/ | To stop what one is doing and evaluate the current situation. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What steps do I need to reach that goal?
- What's your favorite food and why?
- Which one do we think it's going to be, everyone?
- I pretty much don't need to spin this, do I?
- What technology could you not live without?
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 met · haven't planned · haven't really thought |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is allowed · are forced |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who have · those who own · emails, which is |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | our best · the best · the most important |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 55 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, haven't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: tooth /tuθ/, smoothly /ˈsmuːðli/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: sushi /ˈsuːʃi/, perfectionist /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/, addiction /əˈdɪkˌʃən/, conscious /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/, pollution /pəˈluʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: affordable /əˈfɔɹ.də.bəl/, astronomical /ˌæs.tɹəˈnɑm.ɪ.kəl/, consumerism /kənˈsumərɪzm̩/, perfectionist /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/, purposefully /ˈpɝ.pəs.fə.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like phrase, pause, cuisine.
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.