Shadowing Practice: On the Power of the 15 Minute Habit - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Hello everybody.
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Hello everybody.
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This week I'd like to talk to you about time management and specifically,
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well as the title of my video is,
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the power of the 15-minute habit,
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particularly when it comes to language learning.
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I hope it's no surprise or secret to anybody to learn that,
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yeah, the secret to getting a lot done is time management.
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Figuring out how, of all the things that we'd like to do and achieve all the things we have to do,
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all the things that demands are on us.
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How can we manage to get something done
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if we already have a full plate
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and we want to do something like learn a language or practice a musical instrument or really you know get in shape,
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take up some sport or something, exercise.
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Again my personal experience as somebody who's always wanted to do this kind of thing
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and do a lot of them and had a lot of aspirations
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and felt frustrated by the fact
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that there's there's never enough hours in the day to do all that you would want to do,
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is to start small, as I've talked about,
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you know, the atomic habits type approach of instilling a habit in small chunks is a good way to get something started.
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It's very well to be ambitious and say,
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I'm going to do something,
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but if you haven't done it before and you throw yourself into it
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and you try to do too much in a too intense period you tend to burn out
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and stop whereas if you can instill a habit by starting small
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and maintain it then you'll go a lot further and particularly
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when you have languages that you want to learn
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or things like languages i think there are a lot of things other things like language
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but that's my main area and languages really are when you start learning a language,
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it's like planting a plant,
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it's a growing thing, you can only rush it so much,
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and in point of fact it takes time to grow,
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and if you try to go too fast it doesn't really help it too much.
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So yeah, I long since discovered that you know
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if I look at my day say and I find
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that I got an hour or so for a couple of languages
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and rather than saying maybe I can only do one of them because I want to do it so intensively,
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rather than working in that fashion,
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which might be kind of fun and satisfying for a while,
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but means I'm not doing any of the other languages or other things,
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and probably I won't sustain it,
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and sort of it's a stop-and-start method.
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Compared to that, really getting a habit going and keeping it up consistently just bears much more fruit.
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That's just been my consistent experience.
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But what amount of time,
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and what does it mean to just say,
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you know, if I give it a time period like 15 minutes,
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minutes what's what's going on in a 15 minute time period.
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15 minutes I think is we all should know can be a very short time period
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or a very long time period depending on what you're doing
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and how you feel about it and pressures and and how difficult it is.
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But in my mind it's a very convenient number you can divide an hour
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and specifically to a quarter of it and
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if you try to do things in
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that amount of time you do them in the right way you turn around
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and say wow I actually really achieved a lot maybe not today
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but if you can take 15 minutes each and every single day and really
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do the same thing in the same way and in an intense fashion in a dedicated focused fashion
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you will probably be amazed at what you can achieve I always have
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and I got used to it now but still when I think about it,
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the ability to take something like a mental growth process,
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a stimulation process, like putting new information into your brain
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and hoping to have it stay there and congeal and actually grow into something that is you can use.
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It's another operating system your brain.
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It's a set of other words and sounds that you don't understand
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and you come to understand and you come to actually be able to think in them and say them yourself.
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That's an amazing feeling, I've always enjoyed that for the process itself.
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So that requires doing things,
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I believe, at the bottom of my heart,
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on a systematic regular basis.
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Absolutely the best thing to do is to find a time of day,
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carve out a time of day
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when you can say this is my time for doing this
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and just have that be absolutely dedicated without any question to that purpose.
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And then when that time comes to do that with 100% focus,
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100% energy, 100% no nonsense,
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no ifs, ands or buts.
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Establishing that time as a habit is important.
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If you've set your time to do something to be at this time,
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when that time of day comes around,
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you should find yourself doing it and if something prevents you,
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you should feel, I want to be doing this and
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if you're forced to miss it and you feel like I missed it,
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I wanted to do that.
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When you have that kind of habit instilled,
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if you can really focus and do what you're doing well in that time period,
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you will achieve a lot.
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And one of the things you may achieve is you might get good enough to realize,
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hey, this is not enough time,
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I need to put in more time and I'm happy to do that.
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I can do it now,
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I want to, this is what's important to me.
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But in and of itself,
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15 minutes is, as we all know,
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can be a very short period of time,
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a very long period of time,
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depending on what we're doing and how we feel about it
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and how strenuous it is to us and how stressful it is and all these kind of things.
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But 15 minutes as such for languages in particular,
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I really do feel is kind of ideal
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in my experience also as well just in terms of the fact
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that languages are living things
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that they need time to grow you can't rush them to too much
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and so yeah as a point of fact in terms of instilling a new habit
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and learning a language if you can manage to do it at 15 minutes a day each
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and every single day at the same time in the same way and the way you do it is a knowledgeable way,
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an intense focused way.
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It's not just sitting down for 15 minutes and doing anything and turning around that's going to bring you some results.
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But if you have a method and a procedure
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and you go at it with full energy for
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that period of time
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and you do it at the same time every day for a period of time over a period of months or years,
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you will be amazed at what you what you can learn and what you can do.
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So what is that sort of intense focused way?
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Well, I don't know quite how to describe that.
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I have in my academy,
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I've got a number of courses like this where I take
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people at the same time every day in the same way
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and I walk them through the use of a manual
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and they describe this as sort of a roller coaster because it's going pretty fast and pretty rapid,
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but I'm a knowledgeable driver and I'm in control of it
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and I sort of help them establish that
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and I really feel now looking at my groups of students that wow you know is this something that
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I'm not just talking about but I'm now actually imparting to people the ability to do this so
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I guess in a certain sense if I've talked about this before
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and I know I have and this is an ideal
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that you've had but you hadn't been able to implement it
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or figure out what am I supposed to be doing these 15 minutes.
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A, I've got my best seller,
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my million view video out there about learning and Latin in 15 minutes
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and I walk very clearly through the steps and I've got this
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courses in my academy now that you're welcome to come by
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and then give them a try to see exactly what's going on
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but I've tried to apply this other in other areas of my life too,
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my flute playing and exercising when I fall off a routine
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and I try to get back into it
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and yeah 15 minutes is just if we can learn how to manage our lives,
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learn how to manage our day,
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get 15 minutes in for anything that we're trying to do
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and you know just make that a systematic regular habit
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and go at it with full energy and knowledgeable knowledge of what you're supposed to be doing.
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I think that the results are really amazing.
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So give that a thought.
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It doesn't have to be 15 minutes exactly.
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15 minutes is a nice convenient time because we can divide the clock into that,
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but small chunks of time,
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15-20 minutes a day, each and every single day,
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the same time, the same way,
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that really is the secret.
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So if that appeals to you,
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if that's the kind of approach that you like to languages,
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again I encourage you to encourage my,
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to subscribe to my newsletter and think about
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popping by my academy at some point to have a visit
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and see what some of these courses are like and perhaps one of them might be for you.
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I thank you for listening to me and I will talk to you again next week.
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Why practice speaking with this video?
In the world of language learning, especially when learning English with YouTube, utilizing videos like "On the Power of the 15 Minute Habit" allows you to immerse yourself in authentic language contexts. This particular video discusses effective time management strategies for language learners. By practicing speaking while engaging with this content, you not only grasp the concepts presented but also enhance your fluency and confidence in English.
The format of this video is perfect for adopting the shadowing technique. You can listen to the speaker and simultaneously attempt to mimic their words and intonation. This practice fosters conversational skills and allows you to internalize important phrases and vocabulary, making it an excellent resource for IELTS speaking practice.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Throughout the video, several grammatical structures and expressions can be highlighted:
- “If you can instill a habit…” - This conditional structure effectively communicates the importance of establishing routines in language learning.
- “It takes time to grow…” - Here, the speaker uses a metaphor that relates language acquisition to nurturing a plant, a vivid illustration that aids comprehension.
- “I discovered that…” - This past simple tense phrase signifies personal experience, making the advice relatable and trustworthy.
- “Rather than saying…” - The use of "rather than" contrasts two actions, a useful expression for structuring arguments and discussions.
By repeating these structures while practicing speaking, you can improve your grammatical accuracy and increase your expressive potential in English.
Common Pronunciation Traps
When engaging with the vocabulary in the video, there are certain pronunciation challenges to be aware of:
- “Achieve” - The initial 'a' sound can be tricky; practice using the correct stress on the second syllable, sounding like 'uh-CHEEV.'
- “Incorporate” - Focus on the smooth transition between syllables to avoid sounding choppy, especially the 'cor' and 'rate' parts.
- “Intense” - Ensure that the 't' is pronounced clearly, as it's commonly misarticulated, resulting in a softer ‘d’ sound.
By being aware of these pronunciation traps, you can actively work to improve your English pronunciation and avoid common pitfalls.
Incorporating these elements into your practice not only enhances your language skills but also aligns with the strategies discussed in the video, promoting a consistent and manageable approach to language learning.
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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