Shadowing Practice: Our Kids' IQs Are Dropping. Is Big Tech to Blame? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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For decades, the world's biggest tech companies have been selling a vision of the future directly to American schools.
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We've got this device or this program or this app.
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The future is digital.
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Where their products are supposed to bring education into the 21st century.
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It's an incredible value proposition for schools.
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It's going to make your kids smarter and make your teachers happier, streamline all your processes and so on.
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But underneath the hype is a disturbing trend.
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Take a look at this graph.
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On the test known as the nation's report card, scores have been declining since 2012.
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Around the same time, tech companies began selling personal devices to American classrooms at scale.
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This is a massive, uncontrolled experiment.
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Kids are learning less.
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Their thinking is far more shallow.
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There have been some winners in all of this.
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Companies like Google have seen enormous success getting their products in
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front of a young audience with a lifetime of buying ahead of them.
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Even if you got this Chromebook free now, you're a customer for life.
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Why did we allow schools to become
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Silicon Valley profit centers?
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We talked to teachers, parents, and experts about how the tech industry invaded American schools, what their real motivations are, and the impact on students.
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Because now big tech has launched a new push to disrupt education again using the same playbook.
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And this time, the technology is even more untested.
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My name is Kirsta Bowman.
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I teach band, music technology, and choir.
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I'm teaching band, and kids are each supposed to have an instrument like a trumpet or a clarinet or a flute.
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And I look up and I have a trumpet player with their Chromebook open.
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They're trying to hack Roblox.
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And then I have a flute player trying to watch a K -pop drama on her Chromebook.
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If I put them away, kids will come in, where's the Chromebooks?
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Where's the Chromebooks?
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In 2011, Google launched a new product with a lot of hype.
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When you run
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Chrome OS on notebooks, you end up with a very different, unique experience.
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We call those Chromebooks.
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At first, the Chromebook was kind of a flop.
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By design, it had fewer features than a regular laptop, limited to what you could do on Google Chrome.
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Early reviews panned it, and sales weren't great.
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But Google did have one advantage with the Chromebook.
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Chromebooks are very inexpensive.
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By the end of 2011, some Chromebook models were selling for as little as $300, much cheaper than other laptops on the market.
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Google started marketing these cheaper alternatives to schools and teachers.
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We hope, you know, this model will help more schools take the leap.
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This Chromebook has everything a teacher could need.
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They knew to go to teachers and get teachers and then their districts to serve as ambassadors.
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It just took our walls and blown away.
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These machines can go anywhere.
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We have now just gone citywide, statewide.
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It gives us the power of the entire Google team.
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It's almost like Google is part of our team now.
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By 2016, Chromebooks made up more than half of the 13 million devices purchased by U .S schools.
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But the Chromebook was only one part of the push to get more tech into schools that has completely reshaped the classroom,
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and not necessarily for the better.
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To understand why, we need to go beyond the marketing pitch and look at the industry's real motivations.
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It includes the companies that are providing the technologies, and it also includes investors that influence what the companies do.
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The industry is known as EdTech.
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Over the past two decades, EdTech has exploded as an industry.
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It includes everything from the devices that kids learn on to what they're learning, how teachers give quizzes and plan lessons, and so on.
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Google is one example of that.
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It provides the Google Workspace for Education and Google Classroom and then all of the other services like YouTube and Search.
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The edtech market in the U .S has more than tripled since 2012.
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And it's expected to grow by more than $100 billion in the next 10 years.
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One big reason for the growth is how tech companies seized the opportunity when COVID shut down classrooms.
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The tech industry, particularly Google and Microsoft, really presented tech as the solution for schools,
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to the exclusion of other options like outdoor learning.
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Chromebook sales worldwide more than doubled during the pandemic, mostly because of how many schools are buying the devices.
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But the devices have stuck around.
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It was successfully translated into a new normal because now it's assumed that schools will be using a lot of technology.
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They're expected to do all of this work on their computers.
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They're expected to type essays.
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They're expected to submit work on Google Classroom through surveys, through forms.
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Even with enormous growth in Chromebook sales and fees Google makes from Chromebooks used in schools, the company is making most of its money elsewhere,
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mainly from Google search and advertising.
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So why is Google so interested in education?
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You've got this captive audience of children.
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If they are growing up in school, getting used to a Google environment,
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that's very likely what they're going to use later when they get out of school.
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There's also something else that's valuable in schools.
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They collect a lot of data from children in schools.
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That's a tremendous amount of data that's super valuable and basically cradled a grave, be mined and tracked.
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Google has said it doesn't store student data or target kids with advertising.
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But just this year, the company paid a $30 million settlement with parents who claim
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that YouTube collected data of kids under the age of 13.
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They also settled another lawsuit alleging they collected and stored students' biometric data.
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And they're facing more legal action.
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A group of California parents say Google uses student data to create intimately detailed profiles on school -aged children,
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and then uses that profile to market products and services.
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Just being made to use this at school every day without understanding what it's taking from you, that is its own type of harm.
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It's clear what Google and other ed tech companies are getting from kids.
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A stable market, valuable data, and potential customers for life.
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But there are reasons to be concerned about what our kids are getting in return.
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We've had data for over 60 years, over half a century, on what happens when tech goes into schools.
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Unfortunately, it's been bad for 60 years.
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My name is Dr. Jared Cooney -Horvath and I am a neuroscientist who focuses on human learning, memory, and attention.
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A test called the Program for International Student Assessment has found that scores have declined globally in reading, math, and science for more than a decade.
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You always see declines in scores when kids use tech more.
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And the more countries invest in tech, the faster those scores start to go down.
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And in the US, fewer than 30 % of eighth graders last year were proficient in reading and math.
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If you ever see a teacher who's been in a classroom for over 20 years, they will flat out tell you,
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kids are learning less, memory is down, attention is down, general IQ is down.
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The only thing up is ability to process visual scenes.
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But we know our biology hasn't changed, so realistically you can't say that their attention is worse.
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There's a scientific explanation for this.
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Multitasking is hands down the worst thing you can do for learning and memory and attention.
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Once we get onto a screen, it's like, let me open this tab, let me scroll this, let me just check this.
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The average attention span on screens has plummeted from two and a half minutes in 2003
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to just 44 seconds in recent years.
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They've trained themselves for thousands of hours a year to use this tool in one way, rapid jumping.
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Now we say time to think, six minutes into it, they go right back to rapid jumping.
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It's a pure training thing.
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This is why schools have always been so highly focused.
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We have 50 minutes where you're in a quiet classroom.
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We got a book, we got a teacher, we got a board.
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Let's go.
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Beyond the impact of devices on learning, we're also seeing problems in other areas.
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The number of high school students reporting symptoms of depression has risen since 2011, jumping to 40 % of high schoolers by 2023.
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And numerous studies have found a link between excessive screen time and isolation.
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There's a lot of talk now about the effect of social media on kids and kids being very anxious and depressed.
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And it's hard to distinguish where social media ends and edtech starts.
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A lot of these kids are taught that these iPads and Chromebooks are to help with emotional regulation.
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They're upset or they're struggling either in school or at home or somewhere else.
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A teacher or another adult is like, oh just go on your Chromebook, listen to music, watch YouTube,
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you know, go on your tablet, play some games.
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I had an eighth grade class last year that I did struggle with behavior wise.
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By the third quarter, just none of them were submitting anything online anymore.
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So I said screw it, I'm just giving them all like paper assessments.
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And a lot of kids started participating way more.
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A lot of grades went way up.
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In the past few years, lawmakers have started banning cell phones in schools, saying they're bad for mental health and distract from learning.
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That's opened the door to countries also saying, well, wait a second, what about all this other tech?
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That's not really seeming to help much.
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Last year, the Swedish government announced an effort to emphasize traditional learning like books and handwriting as opposed to using digital devices.
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I believe that you should only use digital teaching materials with older children.
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Young children shouldn't be exposed to screens at all.
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And some places around the U .S are starting to rethink the role of other devices, too.
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While the kids go back to school, state lawmakers will head back to the state capitol soon to talk about
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if other screens are just as much of a problem.
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Wake County Public Schools taking a closer look at its digital entry technology footprint, one of those key items up for consideration, the Chromebook.
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But while policymakers and districts debate the devices currently in their schools,
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the ed tech industry has a shiny new toy to hold its place in the classroom.
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We have a new tool in education, sort of like a calculator for words.
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I think resisting it is probably a bad idea.
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That doesn't usually work.
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Some of the same big tech companies are now in the race for the next generation, this time with new AI products.
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Google has implemented its Gemini chatbot into its education suite, while OpenAI recently formed a partnership with Canvas, a major ed -tech learning platform.
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And the pitch sounds familiar.
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It's very similar to the way it was when we first started seeing laptops offered.
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This is the future.
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This is a tool that students are going to need to know how to use.
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Marketing that says that kids will be at a loss if they don't know how to use it, if they're not using it now.
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The federal government has thrown its full weight behind AI in education.
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This next executive order relates to artificial intelligence education, sir.
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That's a big deal because AI is where it seems to be at.
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We have literally trillions of dollars being invested in AI.
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And in July, a group of parents and activists concerned about AI in schools met with a White House official.
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And this is what they were told.
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China is, quote, eating our lunch regarding AI advancements, so that in order to create an AI -ready workforce, we have to start early.
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In January, the Department of Education announced that it would prioritize federal grants to AI initiatives.
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Google and other major tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, and Meta, have also signed a pledge to train American kids how to use AI.
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More AI in schools means a revenue stream for companies that are so far struggling to turn AI products into profit.
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Tech companies are companies.
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They're like anything else.
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They're going to lie to us to sell products.
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They have one job, make money.
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It's our job to vet their claims.
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And recent studies suggest that frequently relying on AI tools could diminish critical thinking.
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It could flood the curriculum with misinformation because generative AI often provides misinformation, wrong answers.
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It is not a learning tool.
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It is an offloading tool.
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It is the surest way to make sure kids avoid the process of thinking.
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AI is still so new that we don't know all the ways it'll impact education.
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But here's what we do know.
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While the tech industry has been wildly successful at getting its products into every inch of the classroom, students don't seem to be doing any better.
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So it's worth asking, what's the rush before we know for sure?
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If you think the primary function of school is learning, then literally every decision we make has to hinge back on what is better for learning.
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This is an uncontrolled experiment that we have to stop.
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We have to say enough is enough and let's just hold off.
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Let's do some studies and figure out what the long -run effects are
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and maybe where the sweet spot is in tech usage because where it is right now is we know it's way, way over the top.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Our Kids' IQs Are Dropping. Is Big Tech to Blame?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Google, Chromebook, tech, learning, companies. This video has 146 sentences and 2279 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:56. The speaker talks at a natural 176 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| classroom noun | /ˈklɑːsɹʊm/ | A room, often in a school, where classes take place. |
| decline verb | /dɪˈklaɪn/ | To move downwards, to fall, to drop. |
| collect verb | /ˈkɑlɪkt/ | To gather together; amass. |
| laptop noun | /ˈlæp.tɑp/ | A laptop computer. |
| pitch noun | /pɪt͡ʃ/ | A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand. |
| experiment noun | /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/ | A test under controlled conditions made to either demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of… |
| rapid adjective | /ˈɹæp.ɪd/ | Very swift or quick. |
| invest verb | /ɪnˈvɛst/ | To spend money, time, or energy on something, especially for some benefit or purpose; used with in. |
| fewer | /ˈfjuː.ɚ/ | Less; a smaller amount of something non-integral commonly expressed as an integer |
| submit verb | /səbˈmɪt/ | To yield or give way to another. |
| enormous adjective | /ɪˈnɔː.məs/ | Extremely large; greatly exceeding the common size, extent, etc. |
| motivation noun | /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/ | Willingness of action especially in behavior. |
| eighth adjective | /eɪtθ/ | The ordinal form of the number eight. |
| mathematics noun | /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/ | An abstract representational system studying numbers, shapes, structures, quantitative change and relationships between them. |
| hype noun | /haɪp/ | Promotion or propaganda, especially exaggerated claims. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| get on to verb | To contact (someone) in order to raise or discuss a certain matter. | |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. | |
| hands down adverb | without much effort; easily | |
| hold off verb | To delay (someone or something) temporarily; to keep at bay. | |
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You've got this captive audience of children.
- They're going to lie to us to sell products.
- It's our job to vet their claims.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | have been selling · have been declining |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have been · have seen · has launched |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is known · be mined · being made |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 31 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, don't, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: eighth /eɪtθ/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, rethink /ɹiːˈθɪŋk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, partnership /ˈpɑɹtnɚʃɪp/, rush /ɹʌʃ/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, successfully /səkˈsɛs.fə.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like classroom, decline, collect.
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.