Shadowing Practice: Testing New Ways to Recognize What Makes a Good Teacher - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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I'm Alex Villarreal with the VOA Special English Education Report.
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I'm Alex Villarreal with the VOA Special English Education Report.
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In recent years, Bill Gates has given financial support to improve American education.
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In 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Measures of Effective Teaching Project.
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The project tests new ways to recognize what makes a good teacher.
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Its goal is to help educators and policymakers identify and support good teaching.
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The study is being carried out in public school systems in seven American cities.
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Thousands of teachers volunteered to take part.
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They agreed to have their classes recorded on video,
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but only for observation by expert researchers.
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Last spring, the project collected digital videos of 13,000 lessons in the classrooms taught by the teachers.
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They were in grades 4 through 9.
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Researchers also collected information from students.
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They asked students to report their opinions of each teacher's classroom.
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Students were also tested in mathematics, English, and biology.
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Officials recently released early results of the project study.
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The report says teachers' past success in raising student scores on
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state tests is one of the strongest signs of their ability to do so again.
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This is known as a teacher's value added.
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The teachers with the highest value added scores on state tests also help students understand math or show reading ability.
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The results also say students know effective teaching when they experience it.
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The students gave comments on whether or not their teachers cared about them.
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They also gave opinions on how much teachers controlled or managed student behavior in the classroom.
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The report found that classrooms where students reported positive experiences were more likely to show greater learning gains.
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Another finding shows that combining different sources of information helps administrators provide better comments and suggestions to teachers.
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In many cases, administrators had been basing their comments on student test scores only.
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The Measures of Effective Teaching project continues through 2012 when final results will be released.
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Researchers plan to test a new measure that examines what a teacher knows about how to teach a subject.
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Experts say these findings could also help create better training and development for teachers.
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For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villarreal.

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Context & Background

In a recent video report, Alex Villarreal from VOA explores innovative methods to assess effective teaching through the Measures of Effective Teaching Project. This initiative, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to identify the characteristics that contribute to successful teaching. By analyzing thousands of classroom interactions and student feedback, the project sheds light on what makes a good teacher, emphasizing the importance of both teaching practices and student experiences in academic achievement.

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

  • “What makes a good teacher?” - A common question that invites discussion about teaching effectiveness.
  • “Students know effective teaching when they experience it.” - Highlights the importance of student perception in evaluating teaching quality.
  • “They agreed to have their classes recorded on video.” - Indicates the willingness of teachers to participate in research for improvement.
  • “Classrooms where students reported positive experiences.” - Signifies the link between student experience and learning gains.
  • “Teacher's value added.” - Refers to a teacher's effectiveness based on their impact on student success.

Step-by-step Shadowing Guide

To effectively utilize the shadowing technique and enhance your English pronunciation, follow these steps based on the content from the video:

  1. Select the Video: Choose a snippet from the video where Alex discusses the innovative ways to recognize good teaching.
  2. Active Listening: Watch the selected segment several times without attempting to speak. Focus on the pronunciation and intonation of key phrases.
  3. Initial Shadowing: Rewind the video and, after each sentence, pause and repeat what you hear as closely as possible. This will help you understand rhythm and speech patterns.
  4. Dive Deeper: Identify tricky expressions or phrases like “teacher's value added” or “students know effective teaching.” Repeat these several times until you feel comfortable.
  5. Practice with Feedback: Use a shadowing site or your recording device to compare your speech with the original. Listen for areas needing improvement in articulation or flow.

By employing this shadowspeak method, you can steadily improve your English pronunciation and become more confident in your speaking abilities. Regular practice using these structured strategies will make a noticeable difference in your communication skills.

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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