Shadowing Practice: Speak English Fluently — Use STRESS Correctly! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Today I want to teach you a lesson about stress.
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Not the kind of stress you get when you're going to pay your taxes or your partner's upset with you,
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but stress in language because many of you hear all the words, but don't understand what someone's actually saying.
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Ready?
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Yeah, you said it.
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You understand every word they say, but not what they mean together.
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That's because language isn't just words words, we have intonation, and stress is one of those where we're trying to tell you what's important.
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Okay?
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So, I'm going to go to the board, and I'm going to teach you today how we can use stress to communicate better when we speak,
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but also to understand when someone's speaking to us.
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Ready?
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Let's go to the board.
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We're going to work on spotlight.
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I'm going to teach you the spotlight method to work with stress, and that's what this is here.
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A spotlight is used when you want to show something very specific.
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As you can see, I want you to just see Mr. E, so the spotlight comes down on Mr. E.
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It brings my attention to where I want it to, want you to go.
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Okay?
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So, let's give an example, all right?
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I didn't say she stole the money, okay?
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I didn't say she stole the money.
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I didn't say she stole the money.
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I didn't say she stole the money.
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I didn't say she stole the money.
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I didn't say she stole the money.
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I didn't say she stole the money.
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Different type of spotlight.
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I lost mine.
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Okay.
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Okay, so what does that mean?
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You noticed I said it, same words, about seven or eight times, but each one was a little bit different.
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What I was doing that was trying to show you number one, this is what I call the frame.
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I said the same words, but not the same message.
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When I say something like, I didn't say she stole the money, it means someone else said it.
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Mr. E said it.
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Tony said it, but it wasn't me.
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When I didn't, when I say, I didn't say, she stole the money, I'm like, the money was stolen,
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but it wasn't her, it was maybe him.
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I didn't say she stole the money.
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Something was stolen by that person, but not necessarily the money.
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I have said these same words over and over again, but each message is different.
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Now to you, if you're just learning English, you're like, they said the same thing.
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Why is this person angry?
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Why is this person angry?
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Why is this person.. why?
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The message was switched.
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Because same words don't mean the same message.
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When I stress I, for instance, right, stress tells you what is important.
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When I say I didn't say she stole the money, I'm telling you my involvement, me, I didn't have anything to do with it.
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So me, as the speaker, that's important, right?
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I'm saying I didn't do X.
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Or I could talk about the object.
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I didn't say she stole the money, so then I'm talking about the thing, not myself.
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I'm not important, because I didn't say that.
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Something was taken, and that's what is important.
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So stress tells you what is important.
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Now, when we come to number three, take one and two and put them together.
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Change the stress, change the meaning.
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You can't just randomly say words and think it's all okay.
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Sometimes, even worse, is when students go, I did not say she stole the money.
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Now, we understand all the words, but all the juice, je ne sais quoi, the taste, the flavor is taken out of it.
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You're not telling me where to point my attention.
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And that's what the spotlight is for.
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What do you want me to really understand from what you say?
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And that's why sometimes when people are speaking, they can say something like, I didn't say she stole the money because I was pointing, right?
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So, I'm giving you information that's there, so you have to listen to the stress on the words.
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Now, if we take these three together, right, same words does not equal same message.
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Stress tells you what is important.
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Change the stress, change the message message, we can come up with a principle,
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which is an idea, a basic idea I want you to keep from this lesson, right?
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And the basic idea is this, stress the information you want the listener to see.
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Just like with my flashlight when it's dark, what do I want to see is where I point it, or the spotlight tells you, okay?
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Now simple enough message, I'm sure you got it, right?
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change the stress.
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I want to check to see if you really got it, okay?
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So, what I want to do is go here.
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It's called fluency.
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That's what you're here for, you don't want to just know English, you want to be fluent at it. So,
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I'm going to give you three different activities I'm going to run through to check to see your understanding or your fluency.
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Let's check...
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Let's do the first one.
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See where I stress the word.
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Pay attention.
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Tom didn't go home last night.
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Tom didn't go home last night. Where was the stress?
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If you said didn't, you got it correctly.
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You listened.
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So I said, Tom didn't go home last night.
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I could have said, Tom didn't go home last night, which meant Tom went somewhere.
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But not to his house, right?
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So that stress would change the information you were receiving.
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So if you got the right word, didn't, you just passed the listening test.
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How about choose?
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Now, choosing, how would I say this?
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Okay?
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I want to say go.
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Go.
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Tom didn't go home last night.
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Tom didn't go home.
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And I want to emphasize it.
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How would I actually say it?
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Would I say, Tom didn't go home last night, or Tom didn't go home last night?
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Which one would I choose, A or B?
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If you said A, good.
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You chose the right one.
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You knew what I wanted to give the information, what I wanted you to pay attention to,
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and you chose which word to emphasize, which was the verb.
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What didn't he do?
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Didn't is an auxiliary verb, right?
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But I was really talking about the direction going.
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Good on you.
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Now, here's the third one.
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Tom didn't go home last night.
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That's the answer.
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What do I have to emphasize?
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You got it.
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Tom, which is the subject, right?
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The answer was Tom didn't go home.
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I emphasized that, so you have to pick which word if I want to get the message.
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And what was the message I was sending?
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Well, I'm picking
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Tom out of many people because it could have been Tom, Tony, Bill, and Tara, but Tom didn't go home.
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The rest did go home.
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So, by telling you that, I picked out
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Tom as the one person I wanted you to identify.
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And you see how I said the sentences, they're almost the same.
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Not to a native speaker, because they would have said, why did you say
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Tom like that?
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You wouldn't, but they would have noticed.
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But now you will, because you did well at the listening, the choosing, and the reverse.
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And the reverse is just where I give you the answer, and I want you to think back at the question,
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like where would that come from?
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Why would they do that?
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I'm getting you to think a little bit about where the information comes from.
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All right?
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So, you did well in the frame, all right, we got our principle down,
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you got some fluency, but here's the deal.
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You're not going to be able to do this after a 10 -minute lesson.
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That's just not the way how the world works.
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So, how am I going to help you to get good at doing this for yourself at home when you're by yourself?
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Well, I've got some field work for you.
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Field work.
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If you've got a garden, it's when you go out and you pick out the weeds and whatnot.
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But if you're in the army, field work is where you do your job.
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It's going out in the field.
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Scientists do it as well.
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You go out into the field and practice.
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See if this is, you know, will work for you or you can get better.
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My field work is for your practice.
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The first thing I want you to do is to move it.
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I like to move it, move it.
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I like to...
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No. Now, if your family's going, what's wrong with you?
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They're right.
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Sit down.
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When I mean move it, remember what I did at the beginning of this lesson.
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I said, I didn't say she stole the money.
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I didn't say she stole the money.
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I didn't say she...
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I moved it.
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Now by moving it, what I was doing is changing the stress.
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But that's not all I want you to do.
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When you move it, I want you to examine and say, well, when I move it, how does the message change?
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I didn't say she stole the money.
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It wasn't me.
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Maybe it was him.
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Didn't say that it's not true, but it wasn't me.
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So, I go, the message is saying, the speaker's saying, not me.
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I didn't say she stole the money.
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What's the difference?
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She stole it.
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I go, no, no one, no, nobody said she stole it.
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She might have borrowed the money.
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She might have lost the money, because that verb, I said, no, I didn't say she stole it.
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She could have lost it, she could have borrowed it.
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By saying that, I'm saying this word does not apply in this sentence.
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So I don't want you just to move the words.
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That's easy, but it doesn't mean anything.
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Look at what it means as you move it, pay attention, write it down and go, what am I saying to them?
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And remember the spotlight we talked about, you're putting a spotlight.
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This is the information I want them to pay attention to.
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Hunt it.
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Dun, dun, dun, dun.
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Some of you aren't hunters because you're vegetarians and vegans, and I respect that greatly.
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But in this case, hunt it means look for it.
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It's great that you produce this yourself, but because you're learning a language,
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you want to be able to see it to see how it changes messages.
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So I've been doing it this whole video, even when I'm not doing the special sentences, and other videos I've done, you can go over them,
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hunt, go watch my videos, look where I put emphasis or, like, a stress on something,
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and then try and look at what I was trying to tell you, what I repeated, because in videos like this,
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I will repeat and go blah and then show you.
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That's very obvious, so that's good.
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But you can do it on YouTube videos, you can do it when you're watching politicians.
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I did not steal the money.
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No, I did not steal the money.
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Huh?
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Those aren't the same sentences.
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He's like, I didn't steal it, I borrowed it, all right?
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So hunt it.
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Watch television and notes.
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Pay attention in the real world.
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Before you go into the real world, right, look for it.
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Where do people stress?
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Why don't people just talk like this all the time?
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It would be very robotic and boring, but even in the movies, nothing like that happens.
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Where's the bomb?
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No, like, where is the bomb?
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Like, where's the bomb?
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Is there a bomb?
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They're telling you, where should your attention go?
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Now correct it.
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Correct it?
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How do I correct it?
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This is where this becomes very useful.
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Sometimes you're speaking to someone and they'll tell you something, and you can correct them by using stress, right?
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You said you would do it on Tuesday.
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I didn't say I would do it on Tuesday, right?
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Okay?
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It means, I said I would do it, but I never said Tuesday.
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So I've used stress to tell them that.
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Or you could say, I didn't say, I didn't say I would do that, means that never happened.
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Hmm?
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One, I'm talking about the actual day, which I did say I'd do it, but it's not this day.
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The other one could be, I didn't say this at all.
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Correct it.
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Use the stress method to listen, or sorry, when you speak, and that's why I said this lesson is about listening and speaking, to correct people.
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show where they made the mistake.
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It could be, you know, what was said, what thing they were speaking about, right?
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So, you can correct it in conversation.
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Cool?
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All right.
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So, we've got...
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Here's your fieldwork.
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Move it, right?
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I like to move it, move it.
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Move it through a sentence, and then don't just do that.
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Write down how it changes the sentence so you can get the understanding.
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Next, hunt it.
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Watch television, watch politicians, watch movies.
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Where are they stressing?
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What are they trying to tell you?" and correct it.
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You can pretend on this one, or you can try it out in real life, right?
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So, I didn't say...
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I didn't say Tuesday.
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I didn't say Tuesday, and that changes the message.
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Correct someone by using your English.
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Now, we've gone through fieldwork fluency, yadda yadda yadda yadda.
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What I want to go to is forum.
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And the forum, in case you don't know it because it's a fancy word, it's you people, you're the forum, you're watching.
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You are watching this video, you are going into the comment section, and that's where I would like you to go.
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When I am done this lesson, I've got one thing to give you more, I would like you to go into the comment section,
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whether it be on YouTube or wherever you're finding this, and I want you to write this sentence.
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I didn't say, she bought my car.
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Why?
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Okay, here's where it gets interesting.
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Number one, I want you to capitalize, so if you say, say, for example, you might do this.
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You might do this.
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I didn't say she bought my car, or you could do this.
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I didn't say she bought my car.
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So take one of them, one word, highlight it, make it all capitals, and then explain how that changes the sentence.
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And then other people can check and tell you if you're right or wrong.
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Because now you're writing it down and you're going to go, did I stress the right part for the information I want the spotlight on?
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Do I really understand this lesson?
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And then with other people help you, it's great to have more than one teacher, especially live, right?
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Because every day we have the videos up, people come by regularly and check and we'll give you hints.
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I've seen people write many comments.
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Anyway, I want to finish up this lesson.
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And as I finish it up, I want to not just leave you with your homework.
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I want to give you some place you can go to, to learn more.
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And it's not just on the stress method.
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Some of it is.
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Okay?
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But it's how to speak better and how to listen better.
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And these are some other lessons I've done, and I call this section further.
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So what we're doing here is giving you three videos you can go to to enhance your speaking or listening skills,
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reading and writing in other videos.
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In this case, improve your pronunciation with the grab -and -break method.
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Check that video out.
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Okay, I've also got another one.
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Secret to English fluency is not speaking.
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All right?
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I know, this whole video is on speaking.
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Oh, yeah, but guess what?
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It's not the secret.
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So, now you can combine these lessons, right?
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And finally, the two essential skills you need for great conversations.
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So by using this for listening and using this for conversation,
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you're going to find that your ability to speak and understand English is going to grow like crazy.
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Anyway, listen, thank you for taking the time and listening.
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And where I'd like you to go is, if you're not on YouTube, go to www .ing as in English,
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vid as in video dot com to see these videos, of course, and other great teachers we have there.
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It's been a pleasure.
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Have a good one.
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See you soon.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Speak English Fluently — Use STRESS Correctly!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: stress, stole, word, Tom, message. This video has 294 sentences and 2794 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:18. The speaker talks at a natural 171 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 67 of its 294 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| steal verb | /stiːl/ | To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| spotlight noun | /ˈspɒtˌlaɪt/ | A bright, directional light or lamp, especially one used to illuminate the focus or center of attention on a stage. |
| emphasize verb | /ˈɛm.fə.saɪz/ | To stress, give emphasis or extra weight to (something). |
| forum noun | /ˈfɔːɹəm/ | A place for discussion. |
| borrow verb | /ˈbɑɹ.oʊ/ | To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it. |
| verb noun | /vɝb/ | A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being. |
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| reverse noun | /ɹɪˈvɝs/ | The opposite of something. |
| principle noun | /ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/ | A fundamental assumption, fundamental law or guiding belief. |
| politician noun | /ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/ | One engaged in politics, especially an elected or appointed government official. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| hunter noun | /ˈhʌntɚ/ | One who hunts game for sport or for food; a huntsman or huntswoman. |
| juice noun | /d͡ʒuːs/ | A liquid made from plant, especially fruit. |
| fancy noun | /ˈfæn.si/ | The imagination. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| pick out verb | To remove by picking. |
| come down on verb | To punish or criticize (someone). |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. |
| finish up verb | To complete the last details of a task. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
| go over verb | To look at carefully; to scrutinize; to analyze. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- How would I actually say it?
- What do I have to emphasize?
- He's like, I didn't steal it, I borrowed it, all right?
- They're telling you, where should your attention go?
- How do I correct it?
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 said · I've done · I've used |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is used · was stolen · was switched |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | emphasize, which was · Tom, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 126 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: politician /ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, flashlight /ˈflæʃˌlaɪt/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: politician /ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, vegetarian /vɛ.d͡ʒɪˈtɛ.ɹi.ən/, auxiliary /ɔɡˈzɪl.(jə).ɹi/
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 steal, lesson, spotlight.
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.