Shadowing Practice: Success at School vs Success in Life - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
34 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
We want to do well at school for an obvious reason.
2
Because, as we're often told, it's the primary route to doing well at life.
3
Few of us are in love with the A grades themselves.
4
We want them because we're understandably interested in one day having a fulfilling career, a pleasant house and the respect of others.
5
But sometimes, more often than seems entirely reassuring, something pretty confusing occurs.
6
We come across people who triumphed at school but flunked at life and vice versa.
7
The former stars who once knew exactly how to satisfy their teachers may now be flatlining in a law office
8
or relocating to a provincial town in the hope of finding something better.
9
The path that seemed guaranteed to lead to success has run into the sand.
10
We shouldn't actually be surprised.
11
School curricula are not designed by people who necessarily have much experience of or talent at the world beyond.
12
School curricula are not reverse -engineered from fulfilled adult lives in the here and now.
13
They were intellectually influenced by all kinds of slightly random forces over hundreds of years of evolution, shaped by, among other things,
14
the curricula of medieval monasteries, the ideas of some 19th century German educationalists, and the concerns of aristocratic court societies.
15
This helps to explain the many bad habits that schools can inculcate.
16
They suggest that the most important things are already known, that what is is all that could be.
17
They can't help but warn us about the dangers of originality.
18
They want us to put up our hands and wait to be asked.
19
They want us to keep asking other people for permission.
20
They teach us to deliver on rather than change expectations.
21
They teach us to redeploy ideas rather than originate them.
22
They teach us to respect people in authority rather than imagine that in rather inspiring ways,
23
no one actually knows quite what's going on.
24
They teach us everything other than the two skills
25
that really determine the quality of adult life Knowing how to choose the right job for us
26
and knowing how to form satisfactory relationships
27
They'll instruct us in Latin
28
and how to measure the circumference of a circle long before they teach us these core subjects Work
29
and love That said it isn't
30
that all we need to do to succeed at life is
31
flunk school a good life requires us to do two very tricky things.
32
Be a very good boy or girl for twenty years
33
and simultaneously never really believe blindly in the long -term validity or seriousness of what we're being asked to study.
34
We need to be outwardly, entirely obedient, while inwardly, intelligently and unashamedly rebellious.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
C146
Why Unloved People Hate Themselves #shorts #selfcare
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C122
The Secret to a Calm Life
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
C126
Why Socrates Hated Democracy
British AccentIELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C12
Why Parents Bully Their Children
Daily ConversationUniversity Students
B251
What is The School of Life?
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
C1618
The Point of Travel
British AccentTravel EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C2496
The Purpose and Benefit of Emotional Education
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C14
7 Secrets of Therapy
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C16
Why Heartbroken People Make the Best Lovers
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
C151
Don't Despair
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B26
Who Dreams of the Greatest Love? (it's not who you expect)
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
How to Get Over Someone
British AccentUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B24
What to think of the Rice Theory of the Japanese Character
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C13
PHILOSOPHY - Plato
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C15
What True Love Really Is
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C18
How to Parent Yourself
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B24
LITERATURE - Charles Darwin
British AccentIELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B27
Why Religious Beliefs Aren't Just Silly
British AccentIELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C115
When Love Isn't Easy
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
C19
Should I Choose Passion or Duty?
British AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
C14
22 sentences
How to Be Strong and Resilient
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C13
455 sentences
Watch this if you feel like you’re behind in life
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B26
298 sentences
BEST Study Routine that made me a TOP ACHIEVER (in HALF the time)
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
295 sentences
School Didn’t Teach You How to Talk, So I’ll Do It For You
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
C12
21 sentences
The one principal that all highly successful people share | Mark Manson
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C13
124 sentences
Use Strategic Thinking to Create the Life You Want
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
394 sentences
Success Is Hard Until You Build Systems Like This
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C14
43 sentences
Can Work Make You Happy? Should It?
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B28
6 sentences
If You Want Everything From Life, You'll Get Nothing
American AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
57 sentences
3 ways smart people stay stuck in failing patterns | Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
C15
24 sentences
English vocabulary in use Advanced Unit 2
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepCambridge Exam Prep
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Success at School vs Success in Life”. This video has 34 sentences and 450 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:00. The speaker talks at a natural 150 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| flunk verb | /flʌŋk/ | Of a student, to fail a class; to not pass. |
| fulfill verb | /fʊlˈfɪl/ | To satisfy, carry out, bring to completion (an obligation, a requirement, etc.). |
| aristocratic adjective | /ˌæɹɪstəˈkɹætɪk/ | Of, pertaining to, or favouring, an aristocracy. |
| blindly adverb | /ˈblaɪndli/ | In a blind manner; without sight. |
| circumference noun | /sɚˈkʌmfɹəns/ | The line that bounds a circle or other two-dimensional figure. |
| educationalist noun | a specialist in the theory of education. | |
| flatline verb | /ˈflætˌlaɪn/ | To stop beating. |
| inculcate verb | /ˈɪn.kʌl.keɪt/ | To teach by repeated instruction. |
| instruct verb | /ɪnˈstɹʌkt/ | To teach by giving instructions. |
| intellectually adverb | In an intellectual manner. | |
| intelligently adverb | In an intelligent manner. | |
| inwardly adverb | /ˈɪnwɚdli/ | In an inward manner; to or toward the inside or to oneself. |
| obedient adjective | /əˈbidiənt/ | Willing to comply with the commands, orders, or instructions of those in authority; biddable. |
| originality noun | /əˌɹɪd͡ʒɪˈnælɪti/ | The quality of being original or novel. |
| originate verb | /əˈɹɪd͡ʒɪneɪt/ | To cause (someone or something) to be; to bring (someone or something) into existence; to produce or initiate a person or thing. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come across verb | To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition. |
| put up verb | To place in a high location. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are not designed · are already known · be asked |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who triumphed · people who necessarily |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, can't, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: reassure /ˌɹi.əˈʃʊɹ/, unashamedly /ˌʌnəˈʃeɪmɪdli/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/, provincial /pɹəˈvɪn(t)ʃəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: aristocratic /ˌæɹɪstəˈkɹætɪk/, originality /əˌɹɪd͡ʒɪˈnælɪti/, originate /əˈɹɪd͡ʒɪneɪt/, unashamedly /ˌʌnəˈʃeɪmɪdli/, satisfactory /sætɪsˈfækt(ə)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 flunk, fulfill, aristocratic.
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.