Shadowing Practice: TED English Course. B1.Lesson 1 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
Reviewer Gopjei Reviewer All right,
2
so let's take four subjects that obviously go together.
3
Big data, tattoos, immortality, and the Greeks.
4
Right?
5
And the issue about tattoos is that, without a word, tattoos really do shout.
6
So you don't have to say a lot.
7
And tattoos tell you a lot of stories.
8
If I can ask an indiscreet question, how many of you have tattoos?
9
A few, but not most.
10
What happens if Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, cell phones, GPS,
11
Foursquare, Yelp, Travel Advisor, all these things you deal with every day turn out to be electronic tattoos?
12
And what if they provide as much information about who and what you are as any tattoo ever would?
13
What's ended up happening over the past few decades is the kind of coverage
14
that you had as a head of state or as a great celebrity, is now being applied to you every day by all these people who are tweeting,
15
blogging, following you, watching your credit scores, and what you do to yourself.
16
And electronic tattoos also shout.
17
And as you're thinking of the consequences of that, it's getting really hard to hide from this stuff, among other things, because it's not just the electronic tattoos,
18
it's facial recognition that's getting really good.
19
So you can take a picture with an iPhone and get all the names, although again, sometimes it does make mistakes.
20
But that means you can take a typical bar scene like this, take a picture, say, of this guy right here,
21
get the name, and download all the records before you utter a word or speak to somebody,
22
because everybody turns out to be absolutely plastered by electronic tattoos.
23
And so there's companies like Face.com that now have about 18 billion faces online.
24
Here's what happened to this company.
25
There are other companies that will place a camera like this.
26
This has nothing to do with Facebook.
27
They take your picture, they tie it to the social media, they figure out you really like to wear black dresses.
28
So maybe the person in the store comes up and says, hey, we've got five black dresses that would just look great on you.
29
So what if Andy was wrong?
30
Here's Andy's theory.
31
What if we flip this?
32
What if you're only going to be anonymous for 15 minutes?
33
Well, then, because of electronic tattoos, maybe all of you and all of us are very close to immortality,
34
because these tattoos will live far longer than our bodies will. And
35
if that's true, then what we want to do is we want to go through four lessons from the Greeks
36
and one lesson from Latin America.
37
Why the Greeks?
38
Well, the Greeks thought about what happens when gods and humans and immortality mix for a long time.
39
So lesson number one, Sisyphus.
40
Remember, did a horrible thing, condemned for all time to roll this rock up, it would roll back down, roll back up, roll back down.
41
It's a little like your reputation.
42
Once you get that electronic tattoo, you're going to be rolling up and down for a long time, so as you go through this stuff, just be careful what you post.
43
Myth number two, Orpheus, wonderful guy, charming to be around, great partier, great singer, loses his beloved,
44
charms his way into the underworld, only person to charm his way into the underworld, charms the gods of the underworld,
45
they release his beauty on the condition he They never look at her until they're out.
46
So he's walking out and walking out and walking out, and he just can't resist.
47
He looks at her and loses her forever.
48
With all this data out here, it might be a good idea not to look too far into the past of those you love.
49
Lesson number three, Atalanta.
50
Greatest runner, she would challenge anybody.
51
If you won, she would marry you.
52
If you lost, you died.
53
How did Hypomenize beat her?
54
Well, he had all these wonderful little golden apples, and she'd run ahead and he'd roll a little golden apple.
55
She'd run ahead, he'd roll a little golden apple, she kept getting distracted.
56
He eventually won the race.
57
Just remember the purpose as all these little golden apples come
58
and reach you and you want to post about them or tweet about them or send a late-light message.
59
And then, of course, there's Narcissus.
60
Nobody here would ever be accused or be familiar with Narcissus.
61
But as you're thinking about Narcissus, just don't fall in love with your own reflection.
62
Last lesson from a Latin American.
63
This is the great poet Jorge Luis Borges.
64
When he was threatened by the thugs of the Argentine military junta, he came back and said, oh, come on, how else can you threaten other than with death?
65
The interesting thing, the original thing, would be to threaten somebody with immortality.
66
And that, of course, is what we are all now threatened with today because of electronic tattoos.
67
Thank you.
✨ Recommend Video
B11
155 sentences
Everyday English Conversation - Talking about social media usage
TeensDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B11
259 sentences
Stop Studying Grammar: Build B1 English Through High-Intensity Phonetic Shadowing | English Podcast
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B12
101 sentences
Is the internet good or bad? | 6 Minute English.
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B23
322 sentences
10 oddly specific things to NEVER share with anyone
TeensDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B11
120 sentences
How Your Quick Decisions Can Change Your Life | practice English with Spotlight
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B11
423 sentences
🎬 Learn English Through a Simple Story! | Introducing Yourself in English
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B115 sentences
Telephone
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B1304 sentences
Learn English With Podcast | English Podcast Conversation | Episode 23 | Intermediate Level
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B21
130 sentences
English Story (B2) - 🏠 She Hosted a Party. No One Came–But Everyone Watched | FREE PDF + Vocabulary!
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B2535
36 sentences
Luyện nghe tiếng anh về những câu chuyện hằng ngày cùng #imleafsun - Section 6 | English Corner
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B11
28 sentences
Speakout 3rd Edition B1+. Unit 1: BBC Street Interview
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B12
124 sentences
Why You Think Everyone is Watching Your Mistakes | Coffee English Talk | B1
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “TED English Course. B1.Lesson 1”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tattoo, electronic, roll, lesson, immortality. This video has 67 sentences and 838 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:45. The speaker talks at a steady 146 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| tattoo noun | /tæˈtuː/ | An image made on a body part, usually the skin with ink and a needle. |
| immortality noun | /ˌɪmɔːɹˈtæləti/ | Never dying |
| threaten verb | /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/ | To make a threat against someone; to use threats. |
| charm noun | /t͡ʃɑɹm/ | An object, act or words believed to have magic power (usually carries a positive connotation). |
| underworld noun | /ˈʌndɚˌwɚld/ | The world of the dead, located underneath the world of the living; the afterlife. |
| shout verb | /ʃaʊt/ | To utter a sudden and loud cry, as in joy, triumph, exultation or anger, or to attract attention, to animate others, etc. |
| tweet noun | /ˈtwiːt/ | The sound of a bird; any short high-pitched sound or whistle. |
| foursquare adjective | /ˈfɔːskwɛː/ | Having four equal sides; square. |
| indiscreet adjective | /ɪndɪsˈkɹiːt/ | Not discreet; lacking in discretion. |
| partier noun | One who parties; a person who attends a party or other lively gathering. | |
| plaster noun | /ˈplæstɚ/ | A paste applied to the skin for healing or cosmetic purposes. |
| distract verb | /dɪˈstɹækt/ | To divert the attention of. |
| accuse verb | /əˈkjuz/ | To find fault with, blame, censure. |
| condemn verb | /kənˈdɛm/ | To strongly criticise or denounce; to excoriate. |
| utter verb | /ˈʌtəɹ/ | Sometimes preceded by forth, out, etc.: to produce (a cry, speech, or other sounds) with the voice. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| walk out verb | To stage a walkout or strike. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| roll back verb | To return to a prior state. |
| run ahead verb | To use sidings to pass a different train. |
| come back verb | To return to a place. |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
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 | being applied · be accused · was threatened |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | is now being · you're thinking |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | you're only going to be · you're going to be |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | will place · will live |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 13 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, he'd. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/, myth /mɪθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shout /ʃaʊt/, facial /ˈfeɪ.ʃəl/, reflection /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: immortality /ˌɪmɔːɹˈtæləti/, anonymous /əˈnɒn.ə.məs/, celebrity /səˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ɾi/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like tattoo, immortality, threaten.
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.