Shadowing Practice: Rock Paper Scissors, but it's Weird - Learn English Speaking with Video

What if rock, paper, scissors was infinitely long?

For example, since paper beats rock and scissors beats paper, what if to beat scissors you could just use a bomb?

Then how would you beat the bomb?

This is whatbeatsrock.com and some of the interactions this game made me do are insane.

Poverty beats teacher, let's go!

So what beats a bomb?

Oh shit.

Um...

Water, right?

If you put a bomb in water, it won't blow up.

Okay.

What beats water?

Ooh...

I'm gonna have to say the sun.

Because the Sun will make the water evaporate.

Let's go.

A thousand people agree.

What beats the Sun?

Oh shit.

Hmm.

I got it.

Shade.

Let's go!

So what beats shade?

It has a picture of a tree.

So maybe fire?

What beats fire?

Now we can't say water because we've already used water.

So this is where things get a little hard.

I used to work in a donut shop and they always said

that if a fire started in the back to throw flour on it.

So we're gonna try flour.

And yeah, pro tip, don't put water on a grease fire.

So what beats flour?

We can't say water.

I'm thinking like butter.

Only eight people have guessed that.

What beats butter?

Okay.

Knife, of course.

What beats a knife?

What if we go something like absurd, like a train?

Someone else has guessed that?

How?

Okay, one of our goals is to try to get something that no one has guessed before.

What beats a train?

Can I just say a bigger train?

No, you can't just add bigger to something and expect it to win That's not how this game works, buddy.

Well, damn.

Let's reset So what beats scissors?

Anvil.

What beats an anvil?

Think lava.

You dropped an anvil in lava I don't think it would be an anvil anymore.

Oh crap.

What beats lava?

I got it This is risky, but I think it will work.

What about oxygen because when lava meets with oxygen It just turns back into rock.

Oh my god.

Wait, that wasn't even that unique 267 people damn.

I'm not really that smart.

I guess what beats oxygen space space beats oxygen.

Oh, no, what beats space?

Part of me is just thinking like satellite five people have guessed that okay.

What beats a satellite?

This is easy I think a meteor would destroy satellite.

I think our last score was 11 So let's try to beat that what beats a meteor no way

What if I just said like math because

if you do math you can find out where the meteor is gonna be

and then destroy it in time This is risky Math beats meteor that was genius.

You are the first person to beat meteor with math Oh my god, so you just need to think outside the box for this game.

So what beats math?

What

if I just said like cheating cheating beats math two other

people have guessed this we have a score of tens We just need to get one more to beat our past score.

What beats cheating?

Wait!

A teacher.

Let's go.

What beats a teacher?

Her husband for not making enough money.

No, I'm kidding.

I kind of want to say principal.

I'm going to say poverty, actually.

Poverty beats teacher.

Let's go.

What beats poverty?

Uhhhh...

Stock market.

It's taken a while.

Last time this happened, I was the first person.

Stock market beats poverty.

And we're first again, dude.

The stock market can lift people out of poverty, or at least that's the idea, right?

Dude, we have a score of 13.

I think this is pretty good.

What beats the stock market?

What I'm about to say is pretty nerdy, but I actually enjoy doing research on like stocks and investments

and the stock market most of the time goes down in September.

100

So I'm gonna put September.

101

September is 90% of the time a bad month for the stock market

102

and this game should know that if it knows everything.

103

Hey, never mind.

104

I'm an idiot.

105

13 is a score to beat.

106

We can do it.

107

Hold up.

108

Let me see the leaderboard.

109

What?

110

Nah, that can't be real.

111

Okay.

112

Um, I guess our goal is 11,000.

113

No, I'm just kidding.

114

A storm beats a plane.

115

What beats a storm?

116

What about Meteorologist Meteorologist Let's go!

117

A meteorologist predicts and prepares for a storm We're the first person to get

118

that right Now how do you beat a meteorologist?

119

Um, gun?

120

A gun can shoot the meteorologist But not the weather forecast sadly Oh no How do you beat a gun?

121

Part of me wants to say like Yeah, what about like just a bulletproof vest?

122

There's no way I don't get this, right?

123

Um, I think you can beat it with like a sword?

124

A bulletproof vest might stop a bullet, but it's not much help against a sword.

125

Makes sense.

126

What beats a sword?

127

Can we say lightsaber?

128

Does it know what fictional weapons are?

129

It knows.

130

How do you beat a lightsaber?

131

Can I say, like, the Force?

132

The Force beats lightsaber?

133

Okay, so now we're, like, in Star Wars nerd territory, and this might be a mistake.

134

We need to get out of here.

135

What beats the Force?

136

Oh, shit.

137

Um, oh my god.

138

So Anakin was supposed to be the chosen one, right?

139

But he ended up turning into Darth Vader.

140

So what if I say, like, betrayal?

141

If this works, that's insane.

142

Betrayal beats the force.

143

Betrayal can destroy even the strongest of forces just like Anakin Skywalker.

144

Yes.

145

Dude, we're doing great.

146

I don't think we'll reach 11,000 because that's just insane.

147

And I have a life.

148

But I just want to get as many first discoveries as possible.

149

I think that's our goal.

150

How do you overcome a betrayal?

151

What happened in Berserk?

152

Honestly, dude, maybe like lifting weights.

153

That's how you can get over betrayal.

154

Dude, okay.

155

Lifting weights builds trust.

156

Betrayal destroys it.

157

You can't betray a good pump.

158

Let's go.

159

Okay, so now we're in this area where we might be getting first discoveries back to back to back.

160

This is awesome.

161

What beats lifting weights?

162

What causes your gains to decrease?

163

I think no matter how hard you work in the gym if you eat ice cream every day, it won't matter.

164

So ice cream?

165

Please work.

166

Because if you have like a really good weightlifting session You'll probably burn 400 500 calories, and that's about what ice cream is.

167

And yeah, you can't lift weights with a cone in your hand.

168

Okay, well, maybe I was overthinking it.

169

But what beats ice cream?

170

This should be pretty easy.

171

Part of me just wants to go and say like a spoon, right?

172

Spoon beats ice cream.

173

How am I the first person for that?

174

You eat ice cream with a spoon.

175

How am I first?

176

What beats a spoon?

177

A spork.

178

Cause it's low-key just a better utensil.

179

A spork is a hybrid of a spoon and a fork, making it a superior utensil in this case.

180

Dude, let's go.

181

One other person guessed this.

182

Now we have a score of 15.

183

This might be our high score.

184

I'm not sure.

185

What beats a spork though?

186

Fuck.

187

So I was in Boy Scouts.

188

I went camping a lot and so I always had a spork.

189

The spork was overpowered to have because when you're camping

190

and hiking Every single thing you have matters

191

because you want your pack to be as light as possible

192

But one thing the spork sucked at was trying to eat like a steak.

193

So I'm gonna say steak steak beats spork You can't even eat a steak with a spork.

194

That's how dominant it is.

195

Five other people guessed this dude.

196

We're doing really good I think what ruins a steak let's think I mean part of me just thinks like

197

if you poop on it then yes It's ruined, but then we have to say what beats poop, and I really don't want to do that I feel like we have a few outs like Grenade, and I want to save those.

198

There's other ways to destroy a steak.

199

What about dirt if you drop a steak in dirt?

200

I don't think I would eat it.

201

What do you mean dirt does not beat steak?

202

What I should have just said grenade dude 16 what beats a truck tornado?

203

Whoa, we're the first person a tornado can pick up a truck like it's a toy.

204

What beat the tornado?

205

Okay, crazy thought.

206

Los Angeles?

207

Because I'm pretty sure tornadoes like physically cannot spawn in Los Angeles.

208

Or not spawn, yeah, like exist.

209

I guess impossible.

210

Los Angeles beats a tornado.

211

Los Angeles is a city that can withstand a tornado.

212

Oh, I guess there can be tornadoes in Los Angeles.

213

Oh.

214

What beats Los Angeles though?

215

Gas prices?

216

Seems easy.

217

Let's go!

218

We're the first person!

219

Gas prices can bankrupt Los Angeles or at least make its residents cry themselves to sleep at night.

220

What beats gas prices?

221

History lesson for you.

222

Stagflation.

223

This is when demand of something is really high, the inflation rate is high.

224

I think this occurred in the 70s.

225

I don't know.

226

I dropped out of college.

227

What beats tagflation?

228

Oh fuck.

229

Um, what if I just say like money?

230

Money beats tagflation.

231

Makes sense.

232

What beats money?

233

Taxes, right?

234

Taxes beat money.

235

545 people agree.

236

Money can't escape taxes.

237

What beats taxes?

238

What if I say like, I don't want to say running away because I actually might get arrested for that.

239

Can I say accountant?

240

Accountant beats taxes?

241

What beats an accountant?

242

Um, I don't want to say gun because we already did that to the meteorologist.

243

A shotgun.

244

Let's go!

245

An accountant can't crunch numbers fast enough to dodge a shotgun blast.

246

What beats a shotgun?

247

Ooh!

248

Wait, this is interesting.

249

So if you don't know how a shotgun works, or at least a buckshot, which is a type of ammo, it shoots a bunch of little pellets that shoot out, and it's really effective for short range, but at a certain distance,

250

you literally can't get hit.

251

So, I'm gonna say just, like, distance.

252

Let's go!

253

You can't even get close to a sh- Exactly!

254

We're the first!

255

Oh, we're not the first.

256

One other person has guessed this.

257

Okay.

258

What beats distance?

259

Oh no, this is hard!

260

Cellphone.

261

Right?

262

Cellphone beats distance.

263

You can use a cell phone to measure distance or at least Google it.

264

I was just thinking, you know, you can call someone even if they're far away, but okay.

265

What beats a cell phone?

266

What about like a hacker?

267

A hacker can easily breach a cell phone security.

268

You're basically asking to get hacked.

269

We're the first person, dude.

270

What beats a hacker?

271

Hmm.

272

A firewall?

273

A firewall blocks hackers.

274

It's like a digital bouncer at the club.

275

Let's go.

276

What beats a firewall?

277

You can't just say hacker again, right?

278

Shit.

279

We're at 15.

280

I think our last score was 16.

281

So we have to get this right.

282

I don't think I can say like computer virus because that's what a firewall stops.

283

What if I say a Trojan horse?

284

It's a type of virus that like sneaks into your computer.

285

If this works, I'm insane.

286

Oh my god.

287

A Trojan horse sneaks past a firewall.

288

It's like a digital ninja.

289

See guys, I may act like a dumbass, but I'm not really that dumb.

290

Sometimes.

291

What beats a Trojan horse?

292

So I believe the Trojan horse was used by the Greeks to invade a city.

293

I forgot.

294

And the Romans beat the Greeks.

295

So what if I just say Romans?

296

Romans beat Trojan horse?

297

Let's go.

298

What beat the Romans?

299

What if I just say like like corruption that should work right?

300

Okay, okay?

301

The Romans were infamous for their corrupt empire, so it's only fitting that corruption takes them down I'm not gonna lie guys.

302

You should tell your teacher to put this video on for the class I'm teaching a lot about history

303

and also shooting accountants with shotguns, but that's that's besides the point what beats corruption Um, I want to hit 20 man.

304

What beats corruption?

305

Terraria reference.

306

What if I just say like explosives?

307

Corruption can't withstand the explosive force of truth.

308

Let's go.

309

And how do you beat explosives?

310

Well, it's quite simple.

311

A shield.

312

Let's just keep going.

313

Let's see how far we can get.

314

What beats a shield?

315

A tank?

316

A tank can blast right through a shield.

317

What beats a tank?

318

A mine?

319

Like a landmine?

320

Yes.

321

What beats a mine?

322

A mine sweeper?

323

Let's go.

324

A mine sweeper is a game that helps you avoid mines.

325

Well, this is like an actual like person, but you know what we take it what beats Minesweeper

326

So it's talking about the game and objectively solitaire is more fun solitaire beats Minesweeper Minesweeper is ass dude.

327

What beats solitaire gambling gambling is way more fun Let's go gambling is a high-stakes game

328

while solitaire is just a lonely night in yeah, man If you're playing solitaire, you have something wrong with you or you're just very lonely.

329

What beats gambling?

330

Ooh What if we just say like luck luck meets gambling what beats luck?

331

Dude, we can hit 30.

332

Death.

333

Death is the ultimate bad luck.

334

What beats death?

335

Reviving?

336

Reviving beats death?

337

It's the ultimate comeback.

338

What beats reviving?

339

So what would be like a zombie?

340

I was about to say truck, but we already said that.

341

An axe?

342

Please, please.

343

You can't revive something that's been axed.

344

It's a done deal.

345

Let's go!

346

Dude, we've gotten a lot of first discoveries, man.

347

What beats an axe?

348

A diamond?

349

No!

350

We're back at the beginning!

351

We could say hydraulic press again, but that's boring.

352

I think if you're strong enough, a hammer can break a diamond.

353

FUUUUUUUCK!

354

Well, we tried, and we hit 30.

✨ Recommend Video

363 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 354 sentences and 2359 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:31. The speaker talks fast, about 205 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 74% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

steak /steɪk/ (noun) — Beefsteak: a slice of beef, broiled or cut for broiling.
tornado /tɔɹˈneɪ.doʊ/ (noun) — A violent wind in the form of a mobile, rapidly rotating, funnel cloud that has contacted the ground.
poverty /ˈpɑːvɚti/ (noun) — The quality or state of being poor; lack of money
mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/ (noun) — An abstract representational system studying numbers, shapes, structures, quantitative change and relationships between them.
betrayal /bɪˈtɹeɪəl/ (noun) — The act of betraying.
corruption /kəˈɹʌpʃən/ (noun) — The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity.
gambling /ˈɡæm.bl̩.ɪŋ/ (noun) — An activity characterized by a balance between winning and losing that is governed by skill and/or chance, usually with money wagered on the outcome.
spoon /spuːn/ (noun) — An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.
shotgun /ˈʃɑtɡʌn/ (noun) — A gun which fires loads typically consisting of small metal balls, called shot, from a cartridge.
accountant /əˈkaʊn.tənt/ (noun) — One who renders account; one accountable.
hacker /hækəɹ/ (noun) — Someone who hacks.
meteor /ˈmiːtiɚ/ (noun) — An atmospheric or meteorological phenomenon. These were sometimes classified as aerial or airy meteors (winds), aqueous or watery meteors (hydrometeors…
insane /ɪnˈseɪn/ (adjective) — Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad.
oxygen /ˈɑksɪd͡ʒən/ (noun) — The chemical element (symbol O) with an atomic number of 8 and relative atomic mass of 15.9994. It is a colorless and odorless gas. Sometimes called elemental…
lava /ˈlɑvə/ (noun) — The molten rock ejected by a volcano from a vent such as a crater or fissure; magma that has breached the surface of the earth.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

work in (verb) — To find time or space for, amid other things.
blow up (verb) — To explode or be destroyed by explosion.
end up (verb) — To bring to a conclusion.
find out (verb) — To discover, as by asking or investigating.
get out of (verb) — To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
get over (verb) — To overcome.
hold up (verb) — To wait or delay.
pick up (verb) — To lift; to grasp and raise.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 76 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, can't, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, withstand /wɪðˈstænd/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: corruption /kəˈɹʌpʃən/, shotgun /ˈʃɑtɡʌn/, shield /ˈʃild/, shade /ʃeɪd/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, superior /sʊˈpɪɹ.i.ɚ/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/, infinitely /ˈɪnfɪnɪtli/, meteorologist /ˌmiːti.əˈɹɒ.lə.dʒɪst/

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 steak, tornado, poverty.

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have guessed · has guessed · we've gotten
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	might stop · might be · might get
Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea	should know · should be · should have
Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past	was overthinking · was trying · was just thinking

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 →

Shadowing Practice: Rock Paper Scissors, but it's Weird - Learn English Speaking with Video

Can You Beat Minecraft Backwards?

Russian Roulette - Studio C

Will It Pizza? Taste Test

How Much Do You Bench Press?

Impossible 0.0000001% Odds!

I Crushed Every Chip Into One Chip

I Broke Every Rule At Arcades

Rivals RNG, But I Can Only ROLL ONCE!

Engineers vs GIANT Egg Drop

This Train Game Is Pure MADNESS... - Ep 2

If Squid Game Was ACTUALLY Asian

THIS OR THAT !?!?

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?