Shadowing Practice: ☾ PILLOW TALK 4 / Failures, Rejections + Parent Expectations ✧ - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hi everyone!
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So this is episode number four for Pillow Talk with special guest, Karen!
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Hi!
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Do you guys remember Karen from Summer Goals?
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She was the really cute girl.
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The one that did this and probably a lot of this.
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Topics are how to deal with failure, rejection, sacrifice, and living by your parents' standards.
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Let's go.
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I can't go.
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Okay, okay.
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Go first.
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Alright, this is by Relax2Nature.
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When we hear the word rejection, it usually means something unpleasant.
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But is there a positive side of rejection?
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Sometimes we tend to feel like rejection is a bad or negative connotation because that's what society displaces on us.
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However, I always had this belief in this mantra that rejection is a blessing in disguise.
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Rejection is just one way of directing you to the right place that you need to be.
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Everything happens for a reason, so if this doesn't happen right now, then something else is meant to happen.
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I heard this one saying that really resonated with me and hopefully it resonates with you guys.
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God or the universe always has three answers to any of your questions or concerns.
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It's always yes, not yet, or I have something better.
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Oh yeah.
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So Lisa Chan asked, how would you tell your parents about wanting to live your own life
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and not something they would expect from you?
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I think a lot of times we feel like our parents don't understand us, don't communicate with them what we want, they really won't understand us.
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It's true.
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I know my parents were immigrants, so I knew like they went through so much and they didn't want us to go through the same hardships.
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When I graduated from college, I was told that I needed a nine to five job.
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Imagine trying to explain to your parents like, hey, mom and dad, I'm gonna quit my job now and make YouTube videos.
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I think for them to really understand why this means so much to me is that I
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I showed consistency in the things that I want.
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I'm not just saying, "Hey mom, dad, I want to become a YouTuber or I want to become a painter." But instead, I show them that I'm doing it.
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That dedication shows maturity and once you show maturity to your parents, that's when they can start believing in you.
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Yeah, they trust you.
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It's so true.
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So Roshika, she asked, "How do I deal with failure?
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It's depressing when I can't live up to my own standards."
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I guess an example that I can give from myself is When I first started my YouTube channel, I had this expectation in my mind,
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like how I want my videos to turn out.
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but If I kept having that expectation, then I would not keep uploading things because I would just be disappointed every single time.
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practicing and practicing and practicing.
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In each practice you can You know, give yourself a pat on the back, like, "Wow, I did it !" You know, like, I...
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I stepped out of my comfort zone to achieve something that I couldn't before.
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So instead of thinking of it as a failure, think of it as mini -accomplishments to get you to that final goal.
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Yes, yes.
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Pat on the bag, mini accomplishments!
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All the time.
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You gotta keep doing that to keep you going.
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Failure invites change.
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That's how I see it.
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And change could be a good thing.
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AJ asks, "I'm scared about going to college and realizing I don't like my major or career decision.
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Please help." It's okay.
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Like seriously, it's okay if you don't know what you want to do even up until the point you graduate.
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It takes time.
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I mean, for some people it takes them a lifetime to find their passion.
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College should be like an introduction to a new world for you to explore.
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being on your own, being a responsible adult, being responsible for your time.
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I feel like college teaches you a lot about time management.
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Like if you have a class at 8am, you have to wake yourself up.
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You're not going to have your parents there waking you up.
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I know for a fact that right before I went to college, I thought that it was going to be a lot harder than high school, but it's actually a lot easier.
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It is easier.
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Because you don't have to go to six classes in one day.
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You might be going to two to three different classes.
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Yeah.
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And you end up having a lot of time in your life day
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and you can pick your teachers yeah you get to go on teachers enjoy this moment
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because you're not gonna be around this many creative like -minded people in college because
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when you go out into the real world it's really different
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it's actually harder I feel they know like people actually say oh the real world's really hard
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and I never really understood it until I had to go into it So enjoy it, please.
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Tutus are sweeter asks, how do you pursue a career in art while being recognized for your intellect?
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Love your advice.
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I think society often discredits or doesn't give enough credit for creative people.
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And if you just look around your, like everything around you, look at the magazines or like clothes or packaging, right?
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Everything.
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This room.
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Yeah, there's someone that thought about how to put all the things in the world all that together.
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Whenever there's design, there's a sense of intelligence behind it.
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But it's another form of intelligence that's not about words or writing or books or science.
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It's visual or it's sound, it's audio or it's taste.
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If you want to pursue a career in art, there's so many different paths you can take.
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You don't just have to be a painter.
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You can be a social media manager that focuses on the creativity of the social media, creative director.
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You could also be a stylist.
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I mean, there's so many different facets of creativity.
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Don't just limit yourself to one.
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Final question is from Eleanor Foy.
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She asked, Michelle, how do you deal with feeling isolated and lonely at school?
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Love you.
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Love you too.
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There's nothing wrong with learning how to be comfortable by yourself and your own thoughts.
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Good people will attract good people.
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I think feeling isolated is only temporary because you'll eventually be attracted or you'll find good people If anything,
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I think it's a blessing in disguise because You filter out.
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the not so good people out of your life.
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And so you only have like a handful of good people in your life.
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And those are the only people that you do want in your life anyway.
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If you want to find people, if you want change in your life, you have to invite that change.
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And sometimes that change can be scary, but you need to have that challenge to push you into a different direction for your personal development.
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So that's pretty much it guys.
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These were all the questions.
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Thank you so much for asking these great questions.
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We hope you guys enjoyed the video and hopefully they were helpful.
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You guys are so sweet!
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I read the comments on the summer goals video and you guys are so sweet.
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Thank you. And...
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- We love you.
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- Yes.
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Subscribe to Karen's channel.
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I will add the link here.
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and Instagram here.
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There.
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There.
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Bye everyone!
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Best of luck with everything!
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We love you!
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Bye!
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, learners will practice essential English skills by engaging with themes of failure, rejection, and parental expectations as discussed in the video titled "Pillow Talk 4." Through this lesson, you will enhance your speaking and listening abilities, improve your English pronunciation, and develop greater confidence in expressing your own experiences and emotions. By reflecting on personal challenges and how to communicate them effectively, you will learn to articulate your thoughts in a clear and authentic manner.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Rejection: The act of refusing or dismissing something or someone.
- Expectation: A strong belief about what will happen in the future, especially from parents.
- Mini accomplishments: Small successes that lead to a larger goal.
- Consistency: The quality of always behaving in the same way or having the same level of performance.
- Failure: The lack of success or the inability to meet a desired standard.
- Blessing in disguise: Something that seems bad at first but results in something good.
- Communicate: To share or exchange information effectively.
Practice Tips
To effectively utilize the shadowing technique, choose a segment from the video where Karen discusses personal experiences and emotions surrounding rejection and parental expectations. Focus on mimicking her intonation, rhythm, and pronunciation. The informal and conversational tone of the discussion provides an ideal setting for practice. Here are some tips to follow:
- Watch the video segment once without speaking: This allows you to familiarize yourself with the content and context.
- Replay the segment: Use the shadowing app or site that allows you to slow down the playback speed if necessary to match your speaking skill level.
- Pause frequently: After each sentence, repeat what was said out loud to practice your English pronunciation.
- Record yourself: Listen to your recordings and compare them to the original. This will help you identify areas for improvement.
- Integrate the vocabulary: Use key phrases from the lesson in your own sentences to enhance your fluency.
Remember, each practice session is a step toward your goal. Embrace the mini accomplishments along the way—these are the building blocks of your progress!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is meant · was told · being recognized |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | start believing · kept having |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | need to be · have to wake · have to go |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | won't understand · will attract · you'll eventually |
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.