Shadowing Practice: Pharmacy Technician - Career Conversation - Learn English Speaking with Video

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My name is Brian Sturlogson.

I'm from Bismarck, North Dakota.

And where do you work and what's your job title?

I work at Heritage Pharmacy and I'm the only pharmacy tech there.

Okay, so what do you do in your job?

What's a normal day like?

Normal day is we answer a lot of phone calls, fill prescriptions, doctor calls.

That's about it.

How many hours do you work in a week?

I work 40 hours a week, if not a few more, maybe 45.

Do you take work home with you?

No, not at all.

How would you describe the pace at which you work?

All depends on the day.

Some days can be really crazy where you barely get a lunch and other days you'll get some time to sit around,

talk, maybe socialize a little bit, free time.

Where did you go to school?

I actually didn't end up going to school.

I did a preceptorship.

There's two different ways you can become a pharmacy tech.

You can either go to Wahpeton and do their two -year program

or do a two -year program through a pharmacy wherever you're located.

But with the preceptorship, a lot of things change right after I finished.

So there's a lot of new rules and regulations on that.

So, why did you choose this career?

and after I was done I loved working in the pharmacy so much that I decided to do the program.

What goals do you have in your career?

Goals?

I don't know if I have so many goals set.

It's just kind of working there.

It's mainly just getting those pay raises.

There's not much different work.

It'd be fun to possibly like maybe go to the hospital and do some of the,

I know there's certified techs for doing infusions and stuff where they get to mix other things.

You don't always get to see that if you're just a tech in a retail pharmacy.

You don't get to see all the neat things that you can do in the hospital setting, which would be fun to kind of do that

or to be at least exposed to it a little bit because you get very little during the program.

What do you think it takes to be successful as a pharmacy technician?

you have well you have to be patient for one

you have to be okay with you know you're working under the pharmacist

so you're kind of working for not only a boss

but a pharmacist is above you too but you definitely well

that also depends on where you're at because if you're in the clinic or the I guess infusion kind of setting.

I don't think you see people, but when you're in the retail you definitely have to have people skills

or you're not going to make it very far

because you not only have to answer the phone call you have to greet customers, ring them up, and assist them with anything over -the -counter.

So it is It's a lot of people skills, I guess.

Do you travel for your job?

No, but I do think there's opportunities to be able to be a traveling tech.

I don't know of them within here.

I think if you're in a smaller town, you can possibly do more traveling stuff.

But within the job where I'm at, there's three different pharmacies.

So I kind of get to travel, I guess, across the street and maybe to the north side of town.

But not town to town.

Do you work independently or on a team?

I would say it's more of a team.

And can you give us some examples?

Well, like in a day, there's four pharmacists that I work with and whoever I'm with at the time,

we'd kind of be considered a team.

Either I would put a prescription or he puts a prescription in and we work together, filling filling that script, getting it ready,

double checking things, making sure we have the right drug, right directions.

And with my environment, I'm lucky enough to have people I really enjoy working with,

so we have a good time while we fill prescriptions and are greeting the people.

which I think helps with people coming in for prescriptions to see that we have a good time.

Because you don't really want to go into a place where nobody's smiling or greeting you happy, I guess.

And any advice

that you would give to a high school student who thinks they might be interested in being a pharmacy technician?

I would say you probably would want to go into a pharmacy, not just spend an hour there because I do know

that sometimes we have students come in and they'll spend a couple hours there.

You don't really get to see what the pharmacy is like in a couple hours.

Do a day or stop in maybe two days, two days a week.

Try one of the busier days and one of the less busy days to see

if it's really something you like because then the longer you're there,

the more you get to see the people you get to deal with every day, the phone calls that you get,

and I guess watching how things work between the pharmacist and the tech and the people that come in.

Because I know we also have the clinic that we have to deal with, so there's other things that go along with where I'm at.

But if you are interested in it, it's a great occupation, great thing to go into it's a two -year program

and I would say just make sure it's something you want to do

or that you're really interested in and if not there's always other programs

that especially through Wahpeton that are great two -year programs that can lead to amazing careers that are in high demand.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Pharmacy Technician - Career Conversation”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: pharmacy, program, tech, prescription, guess. This video has 80 sentences and 993 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:38. The speaker talks at a natural 150 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 15 of its 80 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
pharmacy noun	/ˈfɑɹməsi/	A place where prescription drugs are sold or dispensed.
prescription noun	/pɹəˈskɹɪp.ʃən/	A written order from an authorized medical practitioner for provision of a medicine or other treatment, such as (ophthalmology) the specific lenses needed for…
greet verb	/ɡɹiːt/	To welcome in a friendly manner, either in person or through another means such as writing.
skill noun	/skɪl/	A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
clinic noun	/ˈklɪn.ɪk/	A medical facility, such as a hospital, especially one for the treatment and diagnosis of outpatients.
depend verb	/dɪˈpɛnd/	To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition
technician noun	/tɛkˈnɪʃən/	A person who studies or practises technology; an expert in a particular technology.
assist verb	/əˈsɪst/	To help.
whoever	/huˈɛvɚ/	Who ever: an emphatic form of who.
pace noun	/peɪs/	A step taken with the foot.
regulation noun	/ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/	The act of regulating or the condition of being regulated.
script noun	/skɹɪpt/	A writing; a written document.
wherever	/(h)wɛɹˈɛvɚ/	Regardless of the place in, at or to which.
occupation noun	/ˌɑkjʊˈpeɪʃən/	An activity or task with which one occupies oneself; usually specifically the productive activity, service, trade, or craft for which one is regularly paid; a…
independently adverb	/ˌɪndɪˈpɛndəntli/	In an independent manner.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
come in for verb	To be subjected to.
end up verb	To bring to a conclusion.
go along with verb	To acquiesce to or comply with a proposal, despite lacking a desire or value for it.
sit around verb	To spend time sitting idly, not doing anything important.
work together verb	To be coworkers with someone; to share a workspace with someone.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

How many hours do you work in a week?
Do you take work home with you?
Where did you go to school?
What goals do you have in your career?
Do you travel for your job?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form	loved working · enjoy working
Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary	have to be · have to have · have to answer
Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now	you're working · are greeting
Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction	you'll get · they'll spend

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 29 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: prescription /pɹəˈskɹɪp.ʃən/, technician /tɛkˈnɪʃən/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/, occupation /ˌɑkjʊˈpeɪʃən/, infusion /ɪnˈfjuːʒən/
Long words — get the stress right: regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/, occupation /ˌɑkjʊˈpeɪʃən/, independently /ˌɪndɪˈpɛndəntli/

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 pharmacy, prescription, greet.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →