Shadowing Practice: Speak Confidently About Any Topic Without Preparation (10-Minute Practice) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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How would you like to be able to just think of an idea and then talk about it for two, three minutes without stopping and without second guessing yourself?
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Being able to speak off the cuff or on the fly is something
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that is so desired when it comes to speaking in a second language,
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because it means that you have the freedom and the fluency to be able to talk about anything without preparation.
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to become a better communicator and to speak spontaneously about anything, this is absolutely something that you can practice.
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In this episode, I'm going to share with you some strategies and techniques to improve your impromptu speaking or impromptu speech,
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which is a presentation or a talk delivered with little to no advance preparation
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so that you can train yourself to talk clearly about different things.
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without preparing.
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And here's something else I want you to know about this practice.
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While this is something that people often practice in their first language, when you do it as a speaker of English as a second language,
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you not only improve your ability to talk confidently about any subject, you also improve your fluency,
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your vocabulary, and you minimize the gap between the English that you know and the English that you speak through effective practice.
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what we're going to do today.
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First, we're going to do a quick exercise to help you practice speaking quickly.
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Then I'm going to offer you three frameworks that you can use to talk about any subject without a lot of preparation.
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Finally, I'll share with you a very cool tool to practice impromptu speech.
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Let's get started.
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If you're new to my channel, then my name is Hadar.
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I'm a non -native speaker of English.
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I'm a speech and pronunciation coach, and I'll help you find the best fluency so that you can speak English with clarity,
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confidence, and with freedom.
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You should check out my website at hadarshamish .com for a ton of free resources and free downloads.
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And you can also follow me on social media if you want to get daily lessons from me.
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Before we get started, we're going to do a quick exercise.
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I'm going to give you a speaking prompt and I'm going to give you time to complete the sentence.
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I'm going to give you an example.
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Let's say the beginning prompt Yesterday.
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So you need to repeat it and then complete it.
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For example, yesterday, I spend the entire day in the park with my family.
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Yesterday, I spent the entire day in the park with my family, right?
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So it's kind of like prompting you to speak quickly and complete a thought without preparation.
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All right, so I'm going to give you three prompts, and in each one, I want you to complete it.
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The first one.
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I can't believe that I...
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Now you, I can't believe that I...
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The next one.
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Did you hear that?
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Did you hear that The next one,
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who knows what they are Who knows what they are?
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Okay, good.
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So here's the method to practice impromptu speech.
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First of all, you get the topic or the thing that you'd like to talk about or present your opinion on.
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So while practicing, you will be giving this topic or you can choose it.
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I will share with you some tools later on.
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Then take one or two minutes to prepare.
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It's okay to prepare for a short time.
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And this is a good way to practice speaking about topics without preparing.
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But at the beginning, you do need to be able to prepare.
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So as you prepare, you want to make quick notes.
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You want to limit the time of preparation, one minute or two minutes.
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And then you can also decide on one of the three frameworks
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that I'll share with you to be able to use them.
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And then you go into speaking and again, limit yourself to one or two minutes of speaking.
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If you want to take it one step further, something that you can do is to listen to your recording,
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speaking about something, taking notes for improvement.
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And then doing it again.
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So you only need to do it once.
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That way you can both prepare, speak quickly, but also improve and try to fine tune some things so you can do better the next time.
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That is something that you want to do with a topic.
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And think about the fact that here you'd like to do as many topics as possible
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because you train your brain to think about different things, to come up with an opinion really quickly.
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every topic will require you to use different words and different scenarios.
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All right, so here are a few frameworks that will help you organize what it is that you want to say.
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The first framework is opinion, reason, and example.
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This is really good for expressing a clear opinion, and you can back it with support.
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So whatever the topic is, we'll give you a few example topics in a minute, whatever the topic is, when you have that one minute to prepare,
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think about what your opinion about this topic is.
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Explain the reason for having this opinion and back it up with example.
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This should fit a one -minute impromptu speech, and you can think about these things quickly.
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Usually, they just come to you the moment you think about opinion, reasoning, and example.
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This is the first framework.
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The second framework you can use is advantage, disadvantage, and conclusion.
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This is great for balanced evaluation and being able to make quick decisions,
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while speaking, especially if you don't have a lot of time to prepare.
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It's usually persuasive, but it's also fair because you give both the advantage and disadvantage.
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So for example, if the topic is should teenagers have access to social media or is social media healthy for teenagers,
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you can quickly think about advantages,
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disadvantages, and then the conclusion where you to talk about something.
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And then when you prepare, you write the advantages, disadvantages, and then one note about what it is that you think.
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And remember that while you're speaking, you can already process your thoughts better and also form a stronger opinion.
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But as you go into your impromptu speech,
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it's important that you already have that clarified in the one minute of preparation that you have.
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The last framework you can use is to share the situation.
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talk about the problem and then talk about the solution.
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This is really good for diagnosing and maybe fixing something.
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So it can feel usually more analytical and practical.
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So for example, if the topic is why people avoid hard conversations, right?
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So you can say, Oftentimes, people avoid hard conversations.
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The problem is that when they avoid conversations, and then you talk about why that is a problem, and then you can share the solution.
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So, first of all, you say what the problem is, and usually it
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it's to repeat the topic
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and maybe add a few more words about it then say why it's a problem in your opinion
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and then what you think the solution is
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and as you're preparing for it using this framework the emphasis should be on the solution
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and also clarifying the problem so you can use each one of
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use the advantages versus disadvantages
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and the conclusion whatever framework you use it should be based on what the topic is
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and what makes sense or what you feel most comfortable with okay
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so now i'm going to give you five impromptu speech topics where you can use either one of these frameworks to
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talk about this topic, you can choose one or two and practice it.
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And here's the method as well.
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One, choose the topic.
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Two, give yourself one to two minutes to prepare using one of the frameworks.
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So that means choosing the framework and then writing bullet points for yourself.
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Do not write a script.
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That is not the purpose.
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And number three, put a timer and talk about the topic for up to one minute, maybe a minute and a half.
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or make a video of yourself talking about it, because afterwards you can go back, look at it, and see what you can improve.
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So here are the topics to choose from.
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And by the way, in the description or on my website, I will share more topics for you to choose from.
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And at the end, I'll also share a really cool tool that you can use for impromptu speech practice.
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The first topic, remote work versus office work.
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And The next topic, Social media use.
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The third learning new skills as an adult, The fourth, Working under pressure.
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and the fifth artificial intelligence in daily life.
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I know these topics are broad but this is exactly why I want you to think about this topic.
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There are so many things you can talk about in each topic.
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Choose one framework each one of the frameworks that I shared can be used here and prepare. and speak.
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Do not aim for perfection.
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Aim for progress.
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Aim for communication.
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The idea is to practice not to get the perfect speech.
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To get the perfect speech, not that perfect exists, but to get to a really good outcome,
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you have to practice it again and again and have a bunch of little speeches that are far from ideal,
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but that is how you're going to improve.
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Lastly, like I promised, here is a really cool tool that you can use.
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Take a look.
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Bye.
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Yeah.
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I'm going to share the link to this tool in the description below.
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It's also on my website.
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I hope you can use it or any one of the prompts that I shared with you.
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Use the frameworks and improve your impromptu speech, your ability to think on your feet, speak on your feet and talk to the point without preparing.
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too much.
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If you like this video, consider liking it, subscribing, and also check out my website for additional lessons about clear communication,
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pronunciation, confidence, and fluency.
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Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day and I'll see you next week in the next video.
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Bye!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Speak Confidently About Any Topic Without Preparation”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: topic, framework, practice, speech, prepare. This video has 139 sentences and 1724 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:33. The speaker talks at a steady 149 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| impromptu adjective | /ɪmˈpɹɑmp.t(j)u/ | Improvised; without prior preparation, planning, or rehearsal. |
| disadvantage noun | /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/ | A weakness or undesirable characteristic; con; drawback. |
| prompt verb | /pɹɑmpt/ | To lead (someone) toward what they should say or do. |
| fluency noun | /ˈfluːənsi/ | The quality of smoothness of flow. |
| pronunciation noun | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken. |
| clarify verb | /ˈklæɹ.ɪ.faɪ/ | To make or become clear or bright by freeing from impurities or turbidity. |
| teenager noun | /ˈtiːnˌeɪ̯d͡ʒə/ | A person between thirteen and nineteen years old (inclusive). |
| communicator noun | /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪtə/ | Someone who, or something that communicates. |
| confidently adverb | /ˈkɑnfɪdəntli/ | In a confident manner; with confidence; with strong assurance; positively. |
| diagnose verb | /ˈdaɪ.əɡˌnoʊs/ | To determine which disease is causing a sick person's signs and symptoms; to find the diagnosis. |
| persuasive adjective | /pə(ɹ)ˈsweɪsɪv/ | Able to persuade; convincing. |
| spontaneously adverb | /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs.li/ | In a spontaneous manner; naturally; voluntarily. |
| cuff noun | /kʌf/ | The end of a shirt sleeve that covers the wrist. |
| timer noun | /ˈtaɪmɚ/ | A device used to measure amounts of time. |
| lastly adverb | /ˈlæstli/ | Used to mark the beginning of the last in a list of items or propositions. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'm going to give you an example.
- I can't believe that I...
- Did you hear that?
- It's also on my website.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 28 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, I'll, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, perfection /pɚˈfɛk.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, communicator /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪtə/, confidently /ˈkɑnfɪdəntli/, spontaneously /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs.li/
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 impromptu, disadvantage, prompt.
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.