Shadowing Practice: Stuck at B2? Do This for 90 Days - Learn English Speaking with Video

If you're currently at B2 and you want to move to a C2 level, I completely understand you.

I don't blame you because everyone wants to reach a C2 level.

I want you to be patient with me today.

Give me just 10 minutes because as a university professor, I've built a 90-day plan which can help you move to C2 much faster.

And please, I'll stop you right there.

Don't start complaining, okay?

I'm not going to give you 20 things to do in one day.

I'm not going to overwhelm you with a lot of information.

No. It's going to be a real routine that you can follow.

And I'm going to tell you exactly what to do in the first 30 days,

the next 30 days, and then the final 30 days because each stage serves a different purpose.

You will not be lost anymore because so many of you, they want to start a certain plan or a certain program to move faster towards C2 level,

but they are completely lost.

They don't have the right guidance they don't know the exact methods to follow in order to move faster

so they waste a lot of time.

That's why in this video you'll know exactly what to listen to, what to practice, how you can work on your speaking skills,

what kind of vocabulary exactly you'll need to build and most importantly how to track your progress,

how to know that you're actually improving and that your level is advancing.

I promise you, you don't need to study for three hours a day.

I'm not trying to scare you here.

I'm not trying to make you hate this language.

You will only need 45 minutes to one hour in order to execute this plan.

Before I give you the secret plan that nobody knows about, nobody knows about, trust me, I need you to do one thing first.

You will need to do this on day one and then again on day 90.

That's how you'll see if these 90 days actually changed your English or not.

So get your notes ready

because I'm going to tell you exactly what I would do personally if I had only 90 days.

Before we start, I need you to do something that is very important.

No further discussions, please.

Just listen.

I want you to make one recording, okay?

Take your phone and record yourself answering this question do you think artificial intelligence will improve

or damage education do you need to prepare for this question

before the recording process no absolutely not you don't need any

preparation beforehand you don't need any script to rely on don't

look up any vocabulary in the dictionary no just speak

and then save that recording as day one then just forget about it now

because we will come back to it later on day 90.

Now without further ado, let's start our actual plan.

I want you to remember three important words.

The first one is input, the second one is activation, then the third one is fluency.

One word for each month.

For the first 30 days your job is very simple listen to better english

and copy it every day spend 20 to 30 minutes listening to english

that is slightly above your current level and please listen to something you enjoy

if you like to listen to podcasts on youtube go ahead

in your situation i would highly recommend ted talks you know why

because usually these people help you learn how to explain certain ideas complex ideas sometimes

and how to develop arguments

because it's not just about everyday basic English no it's more than

that and that's what's going to allow you to move faster to see to also

if you like to listen to podcasts which is something amazing

and that I do every day as well I would highly recommend the diary of a CEO

or you can find thousands of similar podcasts on YouTube and on Spotify.

If you prefer books like me, then audiobooks are amazing as well.

You learn a lot.

You learn structured English, of course, sometimes even academic English.

There are so many websites and platforms that allow you to listen to audiobooks for free.

For example, there is this website called LibriVox.

You can find public domain books completely free.

You'll find and even classics there if you like that as well.

And you won't need any subscription whatsoever.

You can also find public domain books on this website called Project Gutenberg.

There's this option to have the text open, the written text open right in front of you while you're listening to the audiobook.

I want you to tell me right now in the comments, when you're working on your input,

that is listening, of course listening skills do you prefer youtube audiobooks

or podcasts i'm actually curious to see how you guys consume english

but the piece of advice

that i can give you at this point is you need

to choose something slightly above your comfort zone slightly above your

level okay i'm not saying you should understand nothing nothing at all no but it should challenge you definitely

And while you're listening, I need you to do one thing.

Grab your notebook, okay?

And steal three expressions from what you're listening to.

I don't care if it's an audiobook, a podcast, I don't care.

Just steal three expressions.

I'm not saying 20.

Three expressions only.

Now, let's say you collected three expressions that are slightly above your current level.

That's good.

What are you going to do next?

Now, I want you to do some shadowing.

What is shadowing?

I want you to go back to that audio exactly where you heard

that expression and I want you to repeat

and copy the tone the rhythm the pronunciation

that you hear I'm going to show you exactly how go

to YouTube type the diary of a CEO then you'll have plenty of videos to watch you even have

shorts I'm going to choose a short

because I don't have much time guys I'm going to choose a topic

which intrigues me

which is interesting to me not a boring one of course

i am going to choose this topic teachers pay more than

billionaires the president cannot explain why we're there there's a lot of reasons to suspect

that we're just at war

because they wanted us to be how to get us out of here trips have lost their lives

that if you are a multi-billionaire you're probably pay a lower percentage in taxes than

if you're a school teacher or a firefighter we've almost never seen There is a rise in violence, the collapse in trust.

We're in the brink of losing our democracy and we're running out of time to do something about it.

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You see how it's done?

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I didn't need to spend necessarily 30 minutes on shadowing per se.

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I just wanted to listen to the accurate pronunciation of the expressions that I collected.

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And that's exactly what I need you to do.

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And that's all for month one.

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That's all I need you to do nothing more listen work on your input

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and collect three expressions and then copy them do some shadowing

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and please don't waste 20 minutes looking for the perfect video

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or the most interesting video just focus on one youtube channel

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or one audiobook for one week

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and then you can change of course the following week

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and try to be quick in choosing the video just like how i showed you

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because you need to make this routine very easy for you so you continue doing it

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now we move to month two

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and this time we're focusing on one thing now you have

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english here it's not gonna be dormant forever you need to activate it okay

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so we move to activating the english you've collected because again there is a difference between understanding advanced english

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i'm sure you understand academic vocabulary sometimes i know you understand complex arguments

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and being able to produce it that's something else

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and i'm sure many of you understand

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and recognize this feeling maybe you hear someone using a very advanced expression

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and you're like i do understand this expression but when it's time for you to talk and to express yourself

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in a very advanced manner, you go back to the basic vocabulary words again that you're

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so familiar with and that you can't get rid of like I think bad, good, instead of detrimental, advantageous, useful.

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Does this happen to you?

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Let me know in the comments right now.

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Because if it does, it doesn't mean that you need more vocabulary.

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I know you already have

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so many vocabulary words in your head you just need to know how to retrieve

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that vocabulary at the right moments to resolve this problem together

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i have thought of something you will need 10 minutes a

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day for speaking only that's your main exercise 10 minutes is not a lot of time there are

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so many topics out there that you can use in order to practice your speaking skills

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and if you want me to share with you a long list of topics in the comments let me know

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if you love artificial intelligence

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and everything around it you can find literally thousands of topics about this thousands of questions

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that you can answer you can also form your own questions for example will ai eventually replace certain jobs

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and now do you remember those expressions you've been collecting before

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in month one i want you to choose only one

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or two expressions that you can use while speaking and

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if you're struggling to find an expression in your notebook

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that will fit your speech then that's okay i don't want

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you to complicate things just go to an online dictionary

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that i keep sharing with you guys always on instagram and on tiktok such as cambridge dictionary

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or merriam-webster dictionary and look for advanced phrases and expressions

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and trust me you'll find plenty of them on these websites

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at this stage we're not looking at vocabulary words per se

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no we're looking at chunks also remember we're not just collecting

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these expressions in a passive way no we need to use them

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so that is the whole point of month two we're talking about english

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that is sitting there somewhere in your brain

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and how to activate it only 10 minutes a day and

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if 10 minutes feels difficult

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or overwhelming at first i completely understand i'm not going to force you start with five minutes it's also good

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because the goal is activation here the important thing is to speak regularly

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and constantly and stick to this every single day Now we reach the final 30 days.

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I promise this video is ending soon.

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At this point, you spend one month collecting English, working on your input, and another month activating English and producing it.

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So every day, choose a random question and speak for five minutes.

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The question doesn't necessarily have to be complex or difficult.

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It should be easy at this point.

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For example, would you rather work or finish your studies?

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Then press record.

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And there is one rule here.

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I don't want you to stop.

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Just speak.

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If you forget a word, don't panic.

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Just find another alternative or another way of expressing that.

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If you make one grammar mistake, just continue.

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We don't care.

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If you start a sentence and you don't know how to finish it anymore, it's okay.

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Just find another way.

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For example, I'm speaking for five minutes, then all of a sudden I forget the word bookshelf what

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am i going to do in this situation i'm just going to find a solution an alternative

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and keep speaking i can just say you know the piece of furniture where you keep all the books

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and just continue speaking

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because that's real fluency fluent speakers again forget words all the time sometimes they change sentences made arguments

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and sometimes they realize there is a better way an even better way to explain what they're explaining

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so they find other words they find other expressions to articulate

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that the whole purpose is that communication continues

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and that's what we're training in month three now you'll tell

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me dr ima i don't have anybody i'm alone i don't

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have anybody to speak with i'm going to tell you use

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ai yes i said it use ai you can literally use

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this to your own advantage you can choose an ai voice

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assistant you can tell it ai tell it let's have a

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10 minute conversation about a certain topic let's say social media

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or fashion i don't know what you choose i don't really

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care just tell it to ask follow-up questions to disagree with you whenever she

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or he or it deems necessary and to correct the most important mistakes

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that you made not all the mistakes just the most important

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mistakes at the end not in the middle at the end and then actually have the conversation.

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Now some people will come at me

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because they don't like the idea of using artificial intelligence in language learning

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and i do understand part of this criticism even ai can make mistakes we all know

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that but it depends first

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and foremost on how you use it i'm saying it you only use it for practice do you realize

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that there are so many people out there who really want to practice their speaking skills

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but there's nobody to practice English with, not gonna lie, I do see it as incredibly useful.

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Just one piece of advice when it comes to that, don't treat every single correction as the absolute truth because AI at the end of the day always makes mistakes.

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Look at it as a speaking partner only.

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I'm actually curious about this one.

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Do you sometimes use AI to practice English or not?

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And tell me whether it has helped you improve your speaking skills a little bit

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or do you always prefer real people and real human interaction

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so remember month three is all about challenging yourself leaving your comfort zone removing the safety nets

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because you'll have to speak for five minutes continuously without preparation without the dictionary without stopping

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and that's real fluency oh my gosh we're at day 90 now do you remember that recording

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that you did on day one don't watch it yet no

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i want you to answer the same question you answered on

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day one on day 90 it was do you think

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that artificial intelligence will improve

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or damage education answer the same exact question again for three

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minutes no preparation nothing then watch both recordings day one

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and day 90 don't obsess over your accent no that's not

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what we need right now listen to your english are there

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fewer pauses can you develop your ideas more easily are you using more precise expressions

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when you forget a word can you continue do your sentences

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come out naturally that's what i want you to prepare

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because sometimes we study english for several months

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but we see no progress why because we don't know how to track this progress

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but now that you have these two recordings answering the same question you can easily spot if there are fewer mistakes

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or more development when it comes to your arguments and you know

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if you actually made progress

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or not now can you really reach c2 in 90 days i can't promise that each

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and every one of you will reach a c2 level after

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90 days c2 is a very high level not gonna lie to you

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and each learner learns differently

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and at different speed the question is can 90 days of focused practice move your English significantly to that level?

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Absolutely.

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Especially if you combine both inputs and outputs.

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If you know eventually how to activate that English in your head and how to produce it, not just consume it.

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That's the whole philosophy behind this plan.

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If you forgot everything I've said in this video, I'm going to repeat myself in 30 seconds.

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Month one, input.

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Listen to slightly more advanced English, TED Talks, audiobooks, podcasts, and choose three expressions to collect and copy them.

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Month two, activation.

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Speak for 10 minutes a day.

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Use the expressions you've collected in month one.

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If you need more phrases or expressions, you can use a learner's dictionary like Cambridge Dictionary.

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Month three, fluency.

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Speak for five to 10 minutes a day without preparation.

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Practice alone with another person or with AI.

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Answer one question.

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Don't rely on the dictionary.

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And if you forget a word, just continue.

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That's it.

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Input, activation, fluency

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and you don't even need an hour every day what matters

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much more is doing it consistently for 90 days now i want to know who's actually starting this plan

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and who's serious and who's not so go to the comments

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and write your current level plus day one

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and this brings me to the end of this video i really enjoyed talking to you guys thank you

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so much for always listening to me and for the support

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that you give me and that's why i ask you constantly to write some comments

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because i really really love to know more about your perspective

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and what you guys do exactly to practice your english

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and that's what motivates me to make more videos

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because it's not easy you know

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but i just love to do it for you guys

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if you've enjoyed this video please don't forget to subscribe like and comment and i'll see you in the next one

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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