Shadowing Practice: Practice Speaking & Reading Out Loud with This English Shadowing Exercise - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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hey what's up Stefanie the English coach here from Englishfulltime.com in this video we are going to do shadowing practice we're going to work on our pronunciation natural Rhythm
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hey what's up Stefanie the English coach here from Englishfulltime.com in this video we are going to do shadowing practice we're going to work on our pronunciation natural Rhythm
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natural intonation connected speech and just like the last time I made a video like this we are going to use an email that I wrote myself and sent to my list of email subscribers back in
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2020 now 2020 if you don't remember was a really crazy year for the entire world that is when the pandemic started and we were all quarantining we had had to stay home it was just insane and for
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me on a personal level the year was hard not just because of the pandemic but because of so many other things that I was going through at the time and because it was such a rough year for
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me I had to take breaks from my work and I would just disappear entirely for months at a time and when I sent this email I really wanted to update my subscribers and tell them and be honest about
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how I was doing and how I was not doing well but I was improving so not only is this going to be really great pronunciation practice for you but you're also going to encounter lots of good useful
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words and expressions uh and vocabulary that I think you will be able to use yourself when you are talking about rough times in your own life now before we get started I just want to let you know
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that Linked In the description I have put a free PDF for you in case you want to print out this email WR in the margins Circle things highlight things really dig into the material of course I
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always recommend students do that because that way you can Circle the words that you struggle with you can underline words that are new for you it really gets you engaged in the material and I'm also going to include an audio file so if you really want to practice the shadowing and work
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hard you will be able to listen to that audio file again and again without having to listen to this YouTube video and everything that I say in the video you'll just be able to listen to the
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material that you're going to Shadow and practice that okay so in just a second I'm going to start reading the email so you can hear how it sounds again listen to the Rhythm listen to the way
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I connect words listen to my intonation and you want to try and imitate that okay you really want to try to match my sounds match my Pace like how fast I'm reading match my rhythm how I'm linking
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the words together words that I'm lengthening words that I'm shortening and the intonation right the rise and fall The Melody of the words and then after I do this reading I'm going to go over a few
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of the longer words and break them down for you just in case you're struggling a little bit with the pronunciation so we'll have like a mini pronunciation lesson at the end of the video and by the way I am going to be reading off of my computer screen which is right below the
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camera in case it looks funny because I will be looking down a little bit okay let's get started where have I been hey when 2020 first started I said this was going to be my year last year was
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was rough the year before that wasn't much easier but this year this was going to be the year for all things good mental well-being balance enjoying Hobbies growing the business going on vacation and
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leaving my work at home finally getting control of my bad habits and living with Incredible focus and drive and well look at us now quarantined and locked down around around the world sending memes
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about toilet paper and standing in line for hours just to get groceries what a weird world we live in right now I have no idea what life is like where you live but if you're practicing social
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distancing like the rest of us then chances are you're pretty bored me too but truth be told I've been practicing social distancing long before it was a buzzword on the news I was
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practicing all kinds of distancing especially social media distancing why because this year unfortunately has been one of the hardest years of my life so far and it has nothing to do with
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any kind of virus I don't want to get into the details but I'll just say that I was dealing with some serious issues stuff that sent me into a deep depression made me lose the will to keep
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going and finally had me calling therapists to to get help it's the kind of ugly stuff that no one wants to talk about it's easier to go through life pretending everything is always peachy
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but it's not and I've never been a pretender I can't make videos and teach English when I feel awful because people can read my face like a book I'm as transparent as a window
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and people can see right through me so I knew I needed to get myself in check before continuing with my work it has not been easy I've had endless stress migraines insomnia and a lot more
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and that's weird because it takes a lot to push me over the edge anyway why am I telling you all this because I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel I am finally smiling again laughing and
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genuinely happy my drive is coming back and I'm finally getting back to so many project that were put on hold like the new version of connect and communicate and the pronunciation
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course I'm making I want you to know that we all go through ups and downs maybe you are even going through a really difficult time right now and if you are just don't give up there will be
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light at the end of the tunnel there are people who love you and there are people who want to help you today I'm sitting in my new office and getting organized I just started renting
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it 2 days ago and it feels good to finally have a place where I can focus on my work on helping you so that's it I just wanted to let everyone know I'm alive and well or rather getting better
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and I hope to get back on social media soon I hope you're doing well and that you are taking advantage of all the downtime to relax and be productive we'll be in touch talk soon Stephanie
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okay so there you have it now it's funny because I actually did not end up finishing the new version of connect and communicate although I still plan on doing that but I moved on to other projects or
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I should say I chose to focus on other projects instead and I did end up making the pronunciation
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them American Rhythm intonation connected speech reductions all of that and then you end by really finding your own voice in English and choosing how you want to sound so it's a really intense
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program but I cover absolutely everything that you would ever want to know about pronunciation in general in English but also speaking and how to speak persuasively and well and eloquently and
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again how to find your voice in English so you can use your voice to represent who you are and want to be in English so I'll put the link in the description if you want to check out that course but I also ended up making another course that's called The Amazing American accent sound bank and
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all that course is is a deep dive on every single sound of my American English so it's not General American English or anything like that it's based entirely on sounds that I use in my accent and I
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to dig very deeply into each individual sound to understand it and train their ears to hear the sound correctly because if you can hear it correctly then you can imitate it correctly so
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I'll leave a link to that course below as well now let's go back to the email and I want to focus on a few different words and I'm just going to say them slowly and I want you to listen to
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how I pronounce each syllable so that you can imitate and of course use this pronunciation when you are shadowing as well so the first word we have is incredible incredible okay in C C
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incedible credible creda CR creda creda creda bull bull bull incredible next we have quarantined
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quarantined quarar quar quarin in in in teen teen teen quarantined quarantined next unfortunately un
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un un four four four unfor unfortun Chin Chin Chin unfortunate Chin Chin Chin unfortunately
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unfortunately next therapists therapists this one is a little bit tricky because of the ending you have the so an S and then a TS Thea Thea pists pists therapists therapists next transparent
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transparent so you have the word parent in there like I am a parent transparent trans trans trans
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parent parent pair pa pa parent parent transparent next genuinely genuinely gen gen gen you genuin
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win win winly genuinely genuinely so that is it I have so much for you in this video I hope you take advantage of it I hope you learn something and have fun practicing I know that the topic
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of this email is a little bit sad and depressing but you know it's based on my real life and again life is tough sometimes okay we all have ups and down so I wanted to choose something that
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I felt you could relate to don't forget that you can download the PDF so you can read it yourself practice reading it out loud you're also going to get the audio file of me reading the email that
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way you can just listen to that over and over and over again and Shadow and repeat that and another really great thing that you can do with this email if you print it out is you can actually highlight
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different words and phrases that you want to use in your life I'll just run through this email again real fast and I will point out some of the ones that I think could be useful for you and you can ask yourself hey do I use these words do I use these phrases because if you don't make
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a note of it highlight them and you can start using them so for example mental well-being okay mental well-being getting control of my bad habits getting control of my bad habits we're all
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working on that right now right all of us all of us together I'm sure standing in line for hours standing in line for hours right I'm sure you've had to stand in line for hours before then we have
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I don't want to get into the details okay there will be times where people will ask you something and you might want to say hey I don't want to get into the details of this but you know something
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else I don't want to get into the details next dealing with some serious issues dealing with some serious issues the will to keep going the will to keep going stuff that no one wants to
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talk about okay stuff that no one wants to talk about see how like there are so many phrases you can literally grab from this email and you can use them in the next conversation you have in English
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when you talk about things that are a little bit more personal okay in this part here where I said I've never been a pretender this is so true I have always been like this ever since I was a kid like if I'm sad I cry if I'm happy I laugh I don't hide anything I can't hide anything literally
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bottled up emotions inside of me is no that's no I no go I can't I will literally explode um but I know some people are not like that at all some people are able to keep it in and keep
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a straight face and keep going on with life and everything like that so my question for you down below if you care to share what kind of person are you are you the kind like me where you're like I can't pretend if I'm mad I'm mad or are you the kind of person that's like no I prefer
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to keep a straight face and um keep my emotions private and deal with it I don't know like on my own so that people around me don't see what I'm going through so what is your way of dealing with
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these things okay oh another phrase it has not been easy it has has not been easy okay stress migraines insomnia I'm sure we've all gone through that at one point so you need to know
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these words and how to say them right oh finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel that's a good one um going through ups and downs that's another one okay so like I said there's lots of
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useful vocabulary and phrases and expressions in this email so I hope you have a fun time practicing everything and finally I want to let you know that I have some other free resources on my website that can really help you with with your pronunciation I have a 7day pronunciation
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challenge that is completely free it has over 8 hours of pronunciation training with me inside of it videos where you can just watch them and I'm explaining and I'm teaching and I'm talking
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and I'm going over different sounds and linking and all kinds of things mindset work too which is really important when it comes to pronunciation so that is a 7-Day free challenge you sign up it's
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all automated each day the challenge material will come to your inbox okay and then I also have an IPA guide that's really helpful if you want to study all of the individual sounds that
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I use in English but quickly okay and that is it I really hope you enjoyed the lesson feel free to watch it as many times as you need in order to really start understanding
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and hearing how the connected speech works and I cannot wait to see you in my next video bye
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Context & Background
In today's practice session, we dive into a reflective email written by Stefanie, an English coach, during the tumultuous year of 2020. This email not only shares personal struggles caused by the global pandemic but also highlights the importance of resilience and mental well-being. As you engage with this content, you'll encounter various useful words and expressions that can enhance your daily communication, especially when discussing challenging situations in life. This blending of personal storytelling with language learning offers a unique opportunity for shadowing practice, allowing learners to grasp real-life English usage in a meaningful context.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- “Light at the end of the tunnel” - A metaphor expressing hope for better times after difficulties.
- “Mental well-being” - Refers to the state of our emotional health and happiness.
- “Dealing with serious issues” - An expression acknowledging personal challenges.
- “Taking advantage of downtime” - Using free time effectively for relaxation or productivity.
- “Transparent as a window” - A phrase indicating honesty and openness in communication.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively practice shadowing with this video, follow these steps:
- Listen Actively: Start by watching the video without repeating any phrases. Focus on Stefanie’s pronunciation, intonation, and rhythm.
- Follow Along with the Transcript: Utilize the provided PDF to read along as you listen. This will help you connect written words to their spoken forms.
- Practice Shadowing: After familiarizing yourself with the content, begin shadowing. Repeat phrases immediately after Stefanie, aiming to mimic her pace and pronunciation. This technique, known as shadowspeaks, will refine your speaking skills and help improve your accent.
- Record Yourself: Use a voice recording app to capture your shadowing practice. Compare your pronunciation and intonation with Stefanie's. This can be particularly beneficial for IELTS speaking practice, as you’ll develop your speaking fluency and coherence.
- Focus on Challenging Words: Identify difficult words mentioned in the video and break them down phonemically. Use a shadowing app to hear these words pronounced correctly, allowing you to practice them in isolation.
By embedding these techniques into your daily practice, you're not only enhancing your English skills but also gaining confidence in expressing your thoughts and feelings more fluently.
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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