Shadowing Practice: Practising My First Presentation with a Colleague - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
Thanks for staying late, Mark. I'm really nervous about tomorrow.
2
No problem. How long is your presentation?
3
Ten minutes. It's about our new delivery app.
4
Great. Pretend I'm the sales team. Go ahead!
5
Okay... um, hello everyone. Today I'm going to, um, talk about...
6
Okay, stop there for a second. Can I be honest?
7
Oh no. Was it that bad?
8
Not bad at all! But you were speaking really fast.
9
And you didn't look up from your notes once.
10
I know... I always do that when I'm nervous.
11
Have you tried starting with a short story?
12
A story? What kind of story?
13
Maybe a customer who had a problem with a delivery.
14
Oh! Like the woman whose birthday cake arrived three days late?
15
Exactly! People will remember that.
16
And after each main point, just pause and breathe.
17
Okay. Let me try again from the beginning.
18
Last month, a customer ordered a birthday cake from us.
19
It arrived three days after the party.
20
Ha! Poor woman. Now I want to hear the rest.
21
That's why we built the new app!
22
Very good. But what if someone asks about the cost?
23
Hmm... I'm not sure yet. Should I guess?
24
Never guess. Say you'll check and get back to them.
25
That's good advice. I'll write that down.
26
You'll be fine tomorrow. Honestly, you've improved a lot.
27
Thanks, Mark. I owe you a coffee!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Practising My First Presentation with a Colleague”. This video has 27 sentences and 230 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:40. The speaker talks at a steady 138 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 9 of its 27 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 14 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| arrive verb | /əˈɹaɪv/ | To reach; to get to a certain place. |
| presentation noun | /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/ | The act of presenting, or something presented. |
| breathe verb | /bɹiːð/ | To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases. |
| pause noun | /pɔːz/ | A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation. |
| customer noun | /ˈkʌs.tə.mə/ | A person or company who purchases or receives a product or service from a business or merchant or intends to do so. |
| delivery noun | /dɪˈlɪv.(ə.)ɹi/ | The act of conveying something. |
| cake noun | /keɪk/ | A rich, sweet dessert food, typically made of flour, sugar, and eggs and baked in an oven, and often covered in icing. |
| birthday noun | /ˈbɜːθ.deɪ/ | The anniversary of the day on which someone is born. |
| beginning noun | /bɪˈɡɪn.ɪŋ/ | The act of doing that which begins anything; commencement of an action, state, or space of time; entrance into being or upon a course; the first act, effort… |
| advice noun | /ədˈvaɪs/ | An opinion offered to guide behavior in an effort to be helpful. |
| coffee noun | /ˈkɑfi/ | A beverage made by infusing the beans of the coffee plant in hot water. |
| improve verb | /ɪmˈpɹuːv/ | To make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something). |
| honest adjective | /ˈɑ.nɪst/ | Scrupulous with regard to telling the truth; not given to swindling, lying, or fraud; upright. |
| hello | /hɛˈloʊ/ | A greeting (salutation) said when meeting someone or acknowledging someone’s arrival or presence. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) | |
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'm really nervous about tomorrow.
- How long is your presentation?
- It's about our new delivery app.
- Pretend I'm the sales team.
- Have you tried starting with a short story?
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 10 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you'll, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, birthday /ˈbɜːθ.deɪ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like arrive, presentation, breathe.
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.