Shadowing Practice: Stop stressing about school. - Learn English Speaking with Video
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167 sentences
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Let me ask you a question that's gonna make you feel really uncomfortable.
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In five years, who is actually gonna care about the number on the piece of paper you're stressing over right now?
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Think about it.
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Right now, your entire world is closing in.
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You've got your finals, you've got your tests, and your entire friend group is stuck in this loop where the only thing you talk about is,
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yo, what did you get on the math test?
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Bro, if I don't get 90%, I'm cooked, bro.
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You're basing your entire identity, self -worth, and your future happiness on a percentage.
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But I'm here to tell you the truth, your teachers, or maybe even your parents won't.
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Nobody cares.
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In 2030, nobody is gonna ask you what you got on your chemistry test.
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Nobody's gonna care if you were the smart kid or the struggling kid.
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If you're letting these exams destroy your mental health and make you feel like a failure, you're falling for the biggest lie in the education system.
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It's crazy how friend groups change during exam seasons.
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You see the kids who get 100 % walk around like they just won a Nobel Prize thinking they've made it,
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and you see the kid who got 60 % act like their dog just died.
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But here's the reality.
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Getting 100 % on a test makes you smart for exactly one week.
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After that, it's the same shit.
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It doesn't actually change who you are, it doesn't make you a better person, and it definitely doesn't guarantee you success in life.
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I've seen kids who are straight A students in high school and reach 22 and have absolutely zero social skills,
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zero worth ethic, and no idea how the real world works
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because they spent their entire youth chasing a gold star from a teacher.
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On the flip side, if you failed, it's not the end of the world.
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Unless you literally need that grade to get into a specific program like medicine or law, that F is just a letter.
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It's not a reflection of your intelligence.
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It's a reflection of how well you can memorize a textbook for 45 minutes.
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Now, let's be balanced here.
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I'm not saying you should just walk into class and flip the table.
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I passed my exams.
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I did well.
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There's a specific group of you where grades do matter.
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If your goal is to become a doctor or a scientist or an engineer or a lawyer, yeah, you need that grade.
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You can't hustle your way to become a heart surgeon.
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You need a degree for that.
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But let's talk to the 90 % of you.
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If you're sitting there telling everyone, I'm going to become an entrepreneur.
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I'm going to make money online.
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I'm going to become a creator, but you're crying over history tests.
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Why?
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If your goal has nothing to do with the traditional system, why are you letting the system's metrics define your happiness?
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If you're doing nothing outside of school to build your own path, then 100 % on a test isn't going to save you.
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And if you're working on your own stuff, then a 40 % isn't going to stop you.
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Let's talk about the scariest person you're gonna meet in five years.
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The guy who was the smartest kid in your grade and did absolutely nothing else.
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School is basically a giant game of Simon Says, as cringy as it is.
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The teacher says, memorize this, and you do it.
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The teacher says, sit here for an hour, and you do it.
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If you're good at following instructions, the system gives you 100 % and tells you you're a genius.
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But here's the problem.
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The real world doesn't give a dab about how well you follow instructions.
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In the real world, there is no teacher standing over your shoulder telling you what to study.
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There is no syllabus for making money or building a life.
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If you spend your entire teenage years being a good student, you're training yourself to be a high -level employee, not a leader.
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You're training yourself to wait for permission before you take action.
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I've seen it happen.
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The straight -A student goes to college, gets a safe degree,
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and ends up in a cubicle working for the guy who got C's in his high school
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but spent his weekends actually building something.
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Why?
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Because the C student learned how to fail.
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He learned how to handle the disappointment of a bad grade and keep moving.
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The straight A student is often so terrified of seeing 99 instead of 100 that they never take any real risks.
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They're paralyzed by the fear of being wrong.
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Don't let a perfect transcript become a cage that keeps you from trying anything difficult.
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But wait, I do need to talk to the people who use school is a scam as an excuse to be lazy.
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This is the biggest trap of all.
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You see these top G edits saying school is for losers, so you decide to fail your exams on purpose.
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You play video games all night, you don't study, you fail, and then you tell your parents, it's fine, Bill Gates dropped out.
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Bro, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard.
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He didn't fail 10th grade English because he was too busy playing Valorant.
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If you're failing school and you have nothing else going for you, no businesses, no skills, no gym routine, no discipline, you aren't a rebel.
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You're just a loser.
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You're using the school as a scam narrative to cope with the fact that you have zero worth ethic.
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If you can't handle the discipline of sitting down and studying for two hours,
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how are you going to handle the discipline of running a business for 10 years.
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Now, I know what some of you are thinking.
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Bro, I agree with you, but if I bring home a 50%, my mom is gonna literally end my life.
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I get it, parental pressure is the number one reason why you're stressing right now.
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But you have to understand where they're coming from.
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Your parents aren't obsessed with the grade because they love the letter A.
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They're obsessed because they're scared.
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They want to know that you have a future.
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They want to know that you aren't gonna be living in their basement when you're 30.
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If you want your parents to stop breathing down your neck about your exams, you have to give them something else to believe in.
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If you tell your dad, I failed my math test because school is a scam, he's going to be furious.
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And he's right to be, because you sound like a lazy kid.
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But if you can show him, look, I got 70 % on this test
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because I was busy putting four hours a day into learning this skill or building this project, and here is the progress I've made,
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he might still be annoyed, but he'll respect the hustle.
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Respect is earned through results, not excuses.
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You can't ask for freedom to ignore exams if you haven't proven that you're disciplined enough to work on something else.
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If you spend your time after school just rotting on the couch, then yeah, your parents should be mad about your grades.
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Because that's the only metric they have to see if you're actually trying.
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Stop arguing with them and start outworking their expectations.
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When you start showing real -world competence, the pressure of the classroom starts to fade away.
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The only thing you should be taking away from school is discipline and social intelligence.
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School is a social laboratory.
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It's where you learn how to deal with people you don't like.
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It's where you learn how to hit a deadline when you really don't want to.
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But the content of the exam, 99 % of it is useless.
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But the process of showing up and getting the job done, that matters.
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I've seen the smartest kids in my school get the highest grades, but they have no backbone.
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They can follow instructions perfectly, but they can't think for themselves.
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And in five years, the guy who got a 70 % but spent his free time learning how to communicate, how to build things
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and how to stay disciplined is gonna lap the guy who got 100 % and stayed in his bedroom.
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The next time you're sitting at your desk with the test in front of you
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and your heart is racing and you feel like you're gonna throw up, take a deep breath and do the 5 year test.
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Ask yourself, will I remember the answer to question 14 in 5 years?
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No. Will anyone ask me about this grade in 5 years?
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No. Will my life be over if I get a C?
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Absolutely not.
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Do your best, try to pass, don't be a bum.
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But once you hand that paper in, let it go.
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Don't spend the next three hours dissecting it with your friends.
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Don't spend the night crying because you missed one question.
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The real exams start after school.
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The real test is what you do with your free time, how you treat your friends,
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and whether or not you're actually building a life you're proud of.
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Stop letting a letter on a piece of paper tell you who you are.
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Go pass your exams, and then go do something that actually matters.
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But before I go, I want you to imagine something.
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Imagine it's five years from now.
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The stress of this week, it's gone.
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You don't remember the name of the teacher you hated.
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You don't remember the formula for that math problem that kept you up until 2am.
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The hallways of your school are silent and you're standing out in the real world.
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In that moment, nobody's gonna hand you a rule book.
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Nobody's gonna tell you exactly what to study and what to do next.
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The safety net of school is officially gone.
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And for most people, that's the most terrifying moment of their lives.
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Why?
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Because they spent 15 years learning how to be a student, but they never learned how to be a human being.
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They spent their entire youth waiting for someone else to give them a grade to tell them they were good enough.
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And when they get into the real world and there aren't no grades, they freeze.
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They stop moving.
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They realize they have no internal compass because they let the school system build it for them.
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The world doesn't grade you on a curve.
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The world doesn't care if you tried your best.
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The world only cares about one thing, value.
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What you can actually do.
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Can you solve problems?
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Can you lead people?
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Can you stay disciplined when nobody's watching?
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Can you build something out of nothing?
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That is your real report card, and that report card is being written every single day, not just during finals week.
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If you spend your 20s crying over the fact that you weren't the smart kid in high school, you've already lost.
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And if you spend your 20s arrogant and lazy because you were the smart kid, you've also lost.
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The clock is ticking.
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While you're sitting there stressing over a history test, the version of you that you're supposed to become is waiting.
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He's waiting for you to realize that school is just a small, noisy room in a massive, infinite mansion.
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Don't let the walls of that small room be your entire horizon.
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Go take your tests. Be respectful.
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Do the work.
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But the second you walk out of those school doors, I want you to flip a switch in your brain.
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Stop being a student and start being a builder.
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Most people are going to spend their whole lives waiting for a gold star that's never coming.
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They're gonna wait for a promotion wait for a lucky break wait for someone to tell them it's okay to start
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Don't be most people the most important exam you'll ever take isn't on a desk in a classroom
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It's in the choice you make tonight when you close your phone
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Are you gonna go back to the brain raw?
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Are you going to start building the person who you were actually meant to become success isn't something
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that's given to you by a teacher?
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It's something you have to take from a world
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that doesn't want to give it up hand in the paper walk out of the room and then
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And finally, start your real life.
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I'll see you at the top.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Stop stressing about school”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: grade, test, exam, kid. This video has 167 sentences and 2075 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:14. The speaker talks fast, about 225 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| exam verb | /ɪɡˈzæm/ | Shortened form of examine |
| discipline noun | /ˈdɪsəplɪn/ | A controlled behaviour; self-control. |
| 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. |
| examination noun | /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/ | The act of examining. |
| lazy adjective | /ˈleɪ̯zi(ː)/ | Unwilling to do work or make an effort; disinclined to exertion. |
| flip verb | /flɪp/ | To throw so as to turn over. |
| mathematics noun | /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/ | An abstract representational system studying numbers, shapes, structures, quantitative change and relationships between them. |
| instruction noun | /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/ | The act of instructing, teaching, or providing with information or knowledge. |
| scam noun | /ˈskæm/ | A fraudulent or dishonest deal. A swindle. |
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| happiness noun | /ˈhæpinɪs/ | The emotion of being happy; joy; elation. |
| desk noun | /dɛsk/ | A table, frame, or case, in past centuries usually with a sloping top but now usually with a flat top, for the use of writers and readers. It often has a… |
| breathe verb | /bɹiːð/ | To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases. |
| reflection noun | /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/ | The act of reflecting or the state of being reflected. |
| classroom noun | /ˈklɑːsɹʊm/ | A room, often in a school, where classes take place. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| drop out verb | To leave (school, a race, etc.) prematurely and voluntarily. |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. |
| show up verb | To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically. |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. |
| stand over verb | To be very watchful of. |
| take away from verb | To subtract a quality from; make something seem not so good or interesting. |
| throw up verb | To vomit. |
| walk around verb | To walk with no planned destination; to meander. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- It's not a reflection of your intelligence.
- I'm going to make money online.
- Can you stay disciplined when nobody's watching?
- Can you build something out of nothing?
- Are you gonna go back to the brain raw?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | kids who get · kid who got · kids who are |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | they've made · I've seen · I've made |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be balanced · is earned · being written |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the biggest · the scariest · the smartest |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 98 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, gonna, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, breathe /bɹiːð/, ethic /ˈɛθ.ɪk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/, reflection /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/, promotion /pɹəˈmoʊʃn̩/, mansion /ˈmæn.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, laboratory /ˈlæb(ə)ɹəˌtɔɹi/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/
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 exam, discipline, skill.
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.