Shadowing Practice: SEtalk: Why Deep Reading Still Matters - Learn English Speaking with Video

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40 sentences
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1
How many of you finished a whole book last month?
2
Now, how many of you read the news on your phone this morning?
3
I thought so.
4
Most of us read more words than ever, yet we read them differently.
5
Two years ago, I picked up a novel I'd loved as a teenager.
6
I'd read it three times when I was younger,
7
so I couldn't wait to start again.
8
But after two pages, I'd already checked my phone twice.
9
I kept skipping whole paragraphs, which had never happened to me before.
10
By the end of the evening, I'd given up, and I felt ashamed.
11
It was as if my brain had forgotten how to stay still.
12
It turns out I'm not alone.
13
When researchers tracked people's eyes as they read online,
14
they found something rather worrying.
15
Most people read the first few lines, then slid down the left side.
16
The pattern looked like a letter F, so it was named the F-pattern.
17
Skimming is fine for emails, but it's not how we understand ideas.
18
So, does it matter whether we read on paper or on a screen?
19
In 2018, a huge review brought together fifty-four studies,
20
which had involved over a hundred and seventy thousand readers.
21
The review showed that people understood factual texts better on paper.
22
Surprisingly, the gap wasn't getting smaller, and it was actually growing!
23
In another study, readers were given the same short mystery story,
24
and half of them read it on an e-reader.
25
Afterwards, the e-reader group struggled to put the events in order.
26
Researchers think paper gives our memory a kind of map.
27
You can feel how far into the story you are,
28
and that helps you remember what happened.
29
So I set myself a simple rule.
30
Every evening, I read on paper for twenty minutes,
31
while my phone stayed in another room.
32
The first week was painful, and I kept reaching for it.
33
By the third week, I'd finished that old novel,
34
and I loved it all over again!
35
I'm not saying we should throw away our phones.
36
But if you gave deep reading just twenty minutes a day,
37
you might be surprised at what comes back.
38
Your attention isn't broken.
39
It's just out of practice.
40
Thank you.

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Lesson

SEtalk

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “SEtalk: Why Deep Reading Still Matters”. This video has 40 sentences and 377 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:13. The speaker talks at a natural 170 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
reader noun/ˈɹi.dɚ/A person who reads.
researcher noun/ˈɹiˌsɝ.t͡ʃɚ/One who researches.
mystery noun/ˈmɪs.t(ə.)ɹi/Something secret or unexplainable; an unknown.
afterwards adverb/ˈæf.tɚ.wɚdz/At a later or succeeding time; after that;
painful adjective/ˈpeɪn.fl̩/Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.
slide noun/ˈslaɪ̯d/An item of play equipment that children can climb up and then slide down again.
fifty noun/ˈfɪfti/A banknote or coin with a denomination of 50.
differently adverb/ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/In a different way.
skip verb/skɪp/To move by hopping on alternate feet.
surprisingly adverb/səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/In a way that causes surprise because it is unexpected, or unusual.
teenager noun/ˈtiːnˌeɪ̯d͡ʒə/A person between thirteen and nineteen years old (inclusive).
ashamed adjective/əˈʃeɪmd/Feeling shame or guilt.
paragraph noun/ˈpæɹəɡɹæf/A passage in text that starts on a new line, the first line sometimes being indented, and usually marks a change of topic.
factual adjective/ˈfæk.tʃ(u)əl/Pertaining to or consisting of objective claims.
skim verb/skɪm/To pass lightly; to glide along in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

WordMeaning
bring together verbTo cause people to do something together; to bring about togetherness.
come back verbTo return to a place.
give up verbTo surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone).
pick up verbTo lift; to grasp and raise.
throw away verbTo discard (trash, garbage, or the like), to toss out, to put in the trash.
turn out verbTo end up; to result.

Sentences worth repeating

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

  • How many of you finished a whole book last month?
  • It turns out I'm not alone.
  • I'm not saying we should throw away our phones.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 10 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'd, I'm, couldn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • Long words — get the stress right: differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, surprisingly /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like reader, researcher, mystery.

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 →