Shadowing Practice: stop being an audience member of your own life - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Recently, in my days, I've looked a little like this.
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Recently, in my days, I've looked a little like this.
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It's like I'm an audience member in other people's lives.
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and being pulled into their world,
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their interests, their seemingly endless talents,
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while mine are left in the dark.
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I have an average screen time of about four and a half hours a day.
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And that doesn't even cover the time spent behind my computer or watching TV.
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And four and a half hours is a lot of time to be spending on anything, really.
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But especially on something that usually isn't all that meaningful,
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often just gets forgotten pretty much instantly,
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and sometimes isn't even real.
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They say you are what you consume.
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And if that's the case,
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then who does that make me?
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And better yet, who am I without it?
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I came across a quote this morning,
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like literally 15 minutes ago.
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I was just scrolling away and I had to pause
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and basically just go upstairs and record this because it just hit a little too close to home.
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It goes like this.
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You obsess over your identity in relation to others while your soul rots inside of you.
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Potentially a bit of a serious,
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dramatic take, but I kind of think it is that serious.
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On pretty much every single social media platform that I'm on,
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I have lists and lists and lists of things I want to do.
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and they just keep growing.
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And that's the problem.
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They keep growing and they never shrink because nothing ever gets ticked off.
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More and more I've just kind of realized how sad it actually is
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that I clearly have so many ways in
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which I would like to spend my time
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but I choose to just spend it watching other people do stuff instead and my interests are just you know rotting away.
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If I wouldn't have all of those sort of external voices to listen to
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and to compare myself to where does that leave me?
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I just want to know.
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I quite often feel as though there's a gap between the things I want to do
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and the things I actually end up doing.
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I have no idea if I can do this.
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And there's a lot of reasons for that really,
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whether it's because I don't have time or skills,
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equipment, patience, originality, permission, but above all, confidence.
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So it's easier to consume what everyone else is making,
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rather than attempting to close that gap yourself.
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The more I consume, and consequently the less I create,
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the bigger that gap gets.
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And the more self-doubt begins to creep in.
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Until you put the phone down.
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I am attempting this painting today.
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I've had it saved for a long time and today's the day.
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We'll see how I manage.
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I think the act of creating isn't so much about the actual output as it is about its effects on you.
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One of the things that scares me the most about how much I consume is the total lack of self-expression.
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In a way, it feels as though the more I take in,
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the less I understand who I am as a person,
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what it is that I like or don't like,
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and what I'm actually capable of.
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There we have my little painting.
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And it didn't take that long, like two hours max.
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You know?
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And that's not to say that it works out every time, because it won't.
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It's not working.
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It just keeps cracking.
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I might have to give up on this one.
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It is what it is.
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I tried at least.
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But you also might discover things you didn't even know were there.
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One of the things that I've really been wanting to try is gouache paint.
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So I bought some.
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Now that I'm actually actively trying to make the things that I want to make,
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what do you know?
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I'm actually getting really excited about them.
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It's sparking something in me.
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A part of me that usually isn't really that stimulated.
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I haven't even started using the freaking paint.
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I'm already super happy with my purchase.
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Like, that means something.
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But I never would know that that means something if I wouldn't try.
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So, I'm gonna try these paints now.
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The reality is though that consuming is infinitely easier than creating will ever be.
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It doesn't really ask much of you.
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No skills or patience, definitely no tolerance for being a beginner,
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so it's a comfortable place to be really.
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That is, of course, until you realize that if you never allow yourself to be a beginner,
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you'll also never stop being one.
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While we're on the topic of being a beginner,
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I know very well how hard it can be to flip
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that switch and start making the things that you want to make.
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So if you're looking for a little bit of guidance,
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I can highly recommend Skillshare,
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the sponsor of this video.
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Throughout this journey of trying to create more and consume less,
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I've turned to Skillshare multiple times,
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and it's been such a great tool to answer the one question I always found myself asking,
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where do I start?
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I think starting is often the hardest part of anything,
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really, but especially with all of these interests that I have,
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it can be so overwhelming to figure out how to bring them to life
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and where to even learn the skills necessary for them.
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Skillshare has been a pretty perfect companion for it.
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Whether I wanted to paint waterscapes,
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which I'd never attempted before,
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or learn how to use gouache,
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which I'd never used before,
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or just figure out how to help any future ideas come to life,
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I could always find a little bit of guidance on Skillshare.
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It's been incredibly helpful for me,
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and I'm sure it will be for you as well.
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So if you'd like to see for yourself,
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the first 500 people to use my link in the description or scan the QR code on screen,
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will receive a one month free trial of Skillshare.
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I think people often assume that creating is only relevant if you're an artist of some sort,
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and I don't really agree with that.
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Creating to me, at its very core,
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is nothing but a constant cycle of problem solving,
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of figuring out how to narrow down that gap between imagination and creation.
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And rather than freaking out over the distance,
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just giving it a shot instead.
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So I'm gonna try to recreate a shot that I've been seeing all over my Instagram for the past couple of days,
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and I think it looks really cool.
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Essentially just like a hand reaching through the screen.
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I've never done this before,
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I don't own a green screen so I don't know if it's gonna work but I'm gonna try and we'll see.
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You never know.
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I'm learning that at the end of the day pretty much everything is figureoutable
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if you just give yourself the space for it.
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I don't know.
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Let's see what that looks like.
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It's been a couple days since I've tried to recreate
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that shot
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but I've been just like tweaking it a little bit re-recording
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some stuff admittedly it actually turned out pretty okay it's definitely not perfect
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and I feel like there is absolutely more ways to make it look more realistic
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or more like smooth and put together
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but I don't know I'm just discovering it sounds so stupid
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but all these things are kind of obvious obviously
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when you're gonna start giving things a shot and trying things
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and doing things you're gonna start realizing
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that you're more capable than you think you are or
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that things maybe aren't as hard as they seemed
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or you know stuff like that
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and maybe that's what makes it even worse like there's such obvious benefits to not just scrolling your life away
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and yet we still do it all the time
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and i don't mean to say
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that consuming is the issue here i think my lists of interests are nothing
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but proof that there is plenty of inspiration to be gained from it
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but it's more more so about what you do with all of that inspiration and all of that input.
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Rather than just letting it float around in your head,
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morphing into a million different questions,
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just giving it an outlet instead.
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Whatever that may look like for you.
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And it's not a matter of quit consuming cold turkey,
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but more a matter of know what you're consuming,
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be aware of what you're consuming,
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be intentional about what you're consuming,
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and don't let it get in the way of what you do
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and what you make and what you try and how you think
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and how you view yourself and the list goes on
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but you get the point just most of the time it really is that damn phone
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Why practice speaking with this video?
This video provides a profound insight into our daily routines and the potential of our untapped abilities. The speaker reflects on the idea of being a mere spectator in one's life, which is relatable to many English learners. Engaging with this material can enhance your IELTS speaking practice by allowing you to understand complex emotions and thoughts expressed in fluent English. By articulating similar sentiments or responding to the speaker's views, you can actively practice speaking and refine your vocabulary. This process can be further enriched by utilizing a shadowing app to mimic the speaker's intonation and pacing, giving you the tools to express your own thoughts confidently.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Throughout the video, several key structures and expressions can enhance your English speaking skills:
- “I have an average screen time of…” - This construction effectively conveys habits. Practicing this structure can help you describe your daily routines.
- “If that’s the case, then who does that make me?” - Using rhetorical questions like this can add a reflective tone to your speech, making it more engaging.
- “The more I consume, and consequently the less I create…” - This cause-and-effect structure is useful for discussing the relationship between actions and outcomes in various contexts, particularly important in discussions around personal growth.
Try employing these structures in your own conversations to articulate personal experiences or abstract ideas more clearly.
Common Pronunciation Traps
While listening to the speaker, you'll notice certain pronunciation challenges that are common among learners:
- "Obsess" and "identity" - The stress on the second syllable of "obsess" may be overlooked. Focus on pronouncing these words correctly to improve clarity.
- "Consume" and "creation" - These words have subtle sounds that learners might struggle with. Practicing them through shadowing can aid in refining your pronunciation.
- "Potentially" and "originality" - Pay attention to the smooth connection between syllables in longer words, as they can often lead to mispronunciation.
Utilizing a shadowing site can assist you in mastering these tricky pronunciations. By repeating after the speaker, you can develop a more natural speaking rhythm and tone, essential for effective communication in English.
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.
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