Shadowing Practice: Shadowing is AMAZING!! π | Learn My British Accent π¬π§| ADVANCED π€ - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Welcome back, or welcome, to English with Catherine.
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Today we've got a lovely technique -based video.
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Kind of a skill that you can practice and get better and better at.
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And that is shadowing.
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I've just been calling it copying, but shadowing is so much more romantic.
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Sounds a lot more beautiful.
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You're going to shadow me and you're going to learn my accent.
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Lucky you.
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Shall we just get to it?
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I think so.
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Let's get started.
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Shadowing is so good for sounding natural.
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If you want to sound a little bit more authentic when you're speaking in English, a little bit more, I guess, native, shadowing is great because you're kind of copying the nuances,
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the little details in an accent and in pronunciation, which is, as we all know, quite difficult to master.
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When you're shadowing, what you want to do is try to speak at the same time as me, not after not before because that's impossible, at the same time.
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And by the way, you could do this every day as part of your English practice.
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Find a person that you like the sound of and who has the accent that you want
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Listen to them every day on YouTube!
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That's the beauty of the online world.
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You can usually always find what you're looking for, no matter how weird or wonderful that is.
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The focus is not on grammar, it's not on vocabulary.
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Try not to get distracted by some grammar that you don't know or a word that you've never seen.
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Focus on intonation and all of the features I'm going to tell you about.
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When you're having conversation with someone, they ask you questions.
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Have you ever been to Italy?
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Have you ever seen the Eiffel Tower, for example?
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Have you ever tried caviar.
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And that's when stories come up, right?
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You might want to tell a story as part of your answer.
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The story that I'm going to tell today is about when Tom and I went to Cornwall.
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We had the most amazing time and we tried wild garlic.
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So if anyone ever asks me, "Have you ever been to Cornwall?" or "Have you ever tried wild garlic?" This would be my response: Are you ready?
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In May, a couple of years back, Tom and I went down to Cornwall for a little getaway.
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In May, a couple of years back, Tom and I went down to Cornwall for a little getaway.
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The features.
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I've used a schwa.
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Obviously I've used a schwa.
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I'm always using schwa.
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The modern RP accent is full of them.
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I've used a schwa in 'ay' so I'm not saying 'ay', I'm saying 'uh'.
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By the way, the sound of the schwa is 'uh' in case you didn't know.
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I've used one in
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"to" so I've said "tuh" instead of "too" and I've used one in 'for' so I've said 'fuh' instead of 'for'.
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There's also one in the middle of 'getaway'.
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I'm not saying 'getaway' or 'getaway', I'm saying 'geta'.
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getaway Get away.
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Again, try not to worry about the vocabulary, just focus on the pronunciation.
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Intonation.
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I have stressed the word Cornwall in this sentence, because Cornwall is the most important word in the sentence, to deliver the meaning to the listener.
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If I didn't stress Cornwall, it might not be as clear and might not be such an efficient way of communicating that.
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I'm going to say it again now and I want you to try
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and copy me and say it at the same time as me, which is called shadowing.
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In May, a couple of years back, Tom and I went down to Cornwall for a little getaway.
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In May, a couple of years back, Tom and I went down to Cornwall for a little getaway.
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In May, a couple of years back, Tom and I went down to Cornwall for a little getaway.
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I'm sure you sound so good.
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We stayed in a little cottage which had a babbling brook running through the garden.
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It also had an old English country kitchen with an aga.
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It was amazing.
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A feature of this part of the story in terms of pronunciation is blunding.
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It's formally known as catenation, which is something I actually only learnt the other day.
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Catenation! or blending is what we do when a word ends with a consonant
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and then the next word starts with a vowel.
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As you probably know, vowels are A, E, I, O, U.
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We have catenation between 'stayed' and 'in' because 'stayed' ends with a consonant, 'd', and the next word starts with a vowel.
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So we can blend them together instead of having a break.
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This creates a smooth flow when you're speaking.
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We stayed in.
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We stayed in.
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Din.
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Stayed in.
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It also happens between 'had' and 'ay'.
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We're not saying 'had -ay', we're saying 'had -a'.
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Harder An A is a schwa So it's easier to do that, okay?
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So it's 'ha -ja', 'uh' is your schwa sound.
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It's happening throughout this piece of the story, honestly.
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There's so many examples.
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Old English.
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Old English.
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We're blending D to E there.
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Not Old English.
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Not like a robot.
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It's smooth like hot chocolate.
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Old English.
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Shadow me when I say it again.
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We stayed in a little cottage which had a babbling brook running through the garden.
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It also had an old English country kitchen with an aga.
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We stayed in a little cottage which had a babbling brook running through the garden.
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It also had an old English country kitchen with an aga.
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Here's the next part.
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On one of the nights of our stay, we foraged for wild garlic in the surrounding fields.
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because there was an abundance of it.
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Later that day, we made a pasta dish using the wild garlic.
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I hadn't known Tom for very long, so it was a great opportunity for conversation.
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Contractions.
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Guys, we use so many of them.
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If you want to sound more natural, definitely try to use contractions.
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We've got one here with "hadn't" Hadn't.
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We're not saying 'had not'.
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We're saying "hadn't".
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Another point on intonation.
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It's so important guys to know which words to stress.
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As I always say, try to stress the words that give the most meaning.
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Try to imagine the sentence without those words.
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It wouldn't make sense, right?
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The meaning would not be delivered to the listener.
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In this text, I'm stressing wild garlic because it's the star of the story, okay?
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It's what I'm mainly talking about here.
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I'm also stressing the word abundance.
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because it's a word that exaggerates.
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We often stress exaggerating words.
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It just gives drama and sparkle to the story.
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I want you to shadow me now.
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Good luck.
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On one of the nights of our stay, we foraged for wild garlic in the surrounding fields.
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because there was an abundance of it.
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Later that day, we made a pasta dish using the wild garlic.
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I hadn't known Tom for very long, so it was a great opportunity for conversation.
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one more time.
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On one of the nights of our stay, we foraged for wild garlic in the surrounding fields.
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because there was an abundance of it.
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Later that day, we made a pasta dish using the wild garlic.
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I hadn't known Tom for very long, so it was a great opportunity for conversation.
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What you can do now, everyone, is rewind and just listen again.
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Just keep shadowing me until you feel that you've got the essence of how I sound
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Of course you don't want to sound exactly like me.
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You have to inject your own personality into that.
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Your own charm and your own sparkle.
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Because how you speak is what makes you unique.
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I hope you enjoyed that, I definitely did.
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Storytelling is so important when you're having conversations.
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How to tell a story.
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It's really for advanced level students who reach a point where they're communicating quite regularly with people who are asking them questions, and they want to tell a good story.
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Good luck with all your shadowing everyone.
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I'm sure you sound so so beautiful.
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I'm gonna see you really soon, I'm gonna see you next Saturday.
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Have the loveliest most amazing weekend.
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Bye!
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will practice the art of shadowingβa powerful technique that involves simultaneously mimicking a fluent speaker to improve your English pronunciation and intonation. By engaging in this method, you will not only hone your speaking skills but also become familiar with the nuanced sounds of a British accent. This technique, often referred to as shadowspeak, allows learners to pick up on subtle details in speech that are crucial for sounding more authentic and natural in conversations. Get ready to enhance your accent and fluency by participating in shadow speech exercises!
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Nuance - Subtle differences in meaning or expression.
- Intonation - The rise and fall in pitch while speaking.
- Schwa - The mid-central vowel sound represented by an "uh" sound in unstressed syllables.
- Pronunciation - The way in which a word is pronounced.
- Getaway - A short vacation or outing.
- Authentic - Being genuine or real, particularly concerning accents and speech.
- Stress - Emphasizing a particular word within a sentence for clarity.
Practice Tips
To maximize your learning experience while shadowing using the techniques discussed in this video, follow these tailored practice tips:
- Daily Practice: Integrate shadowing into your daily English practice routine. Choose a reliable video that features a native speaker whose accent you wish to emulate.
- Speak Along: Focus on speaking at the same time as the speaker, not before or after. This real-time response fosters better mimicry, making it an effective shadowspeech exercise.
- Ignore Grammar: Donβt get sidetracked by unfamiliar grammar or vocabulary. Concentrate solely on how words are pronounced and the speaker's intonation.
- Identify Key Features: During practice, pay attention to specific elements like the schwa sound and stressed words to understand how they affect overall communication.
- Record Yourself: Occasionally record your shadowing sessions. Listening back will provide insights into areas that need improvement and help track your progress.
- Vary Your Sources: Explore different accents and styles of speech to become well-rounded in your shadowing skills. This diversity helps enhance your adaptability when speaking with various English speakers.
Embrace the journey of mastering English through shadowing and enjoy the process of shadowspeaks as you develop into a more confident communicator!
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 β a past action that still matters now | you've never seen Β· I've said Β· have stressed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause β extra information about a person or thing | pronunciation, which is Β· catenation, which is Β· students who reach |
| Passive voice be + past participle β the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is called Β· would not be delivered |
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 β like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1β2 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 β making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.