Shadowing Practice: The Most Helpful Mindset I See as a Therapist - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Fundamentally, you need a desire to change and a belief that that change is possible.

People love pointing out to me how pointless counseling is, how pointless self -development of any kind is,

how pointless hope itself is as a concept.

Those individuals will point at broken systems and their past failures and attempts and failures and attempts.

And they're really deeply rooted in their pessimism and that's their prerogative.

it's not my place to force my worldview upon them

or force change upon them just like they can't tell me

that hope and therapy don't help me I can't tell them yeah yeah hope

and therapy are going to help you right it's and

that was hard for me to accept it first to accept

that yeah you're right actually you know counseling hope self -development

that doesn't matter for you that won't be helpful

that was hard for me to wrap my head around there was a time period

when I was in my undergraduate program

and there was an individual in my life that I cared about

and I saw him struggling

and of course I thought I knew all the answers

I was like hey hey I know how to help you guy

you gotta stop doing this this this you gotta start doing this this and this

couldn't get him to listen couldn't figure out how to make

him see what he was doing wrong in my opinion

so I went to one of my professors a guy I really looked up to

and I laid out

that question of like hey how do I give this guy

a little how you doing wake up how do I give this guy wake -up call

that he's going to listen to

and what my professor said was not what i was expecting he was like you should not

and cannot force change on people even

if you got him by force into the counseling room nothing's going to change

if he doesn't want to be there doesn't believe in what he's doing there there's no there's no point right

but this video is about is that for those individuals who are like me,

who believe in hope and self -development and the power of the human spirit, there should be a lot of,

it's hard to hate to overuse the word here,

but there should be a lot of hope in the fact that we have seen some powerful examples of how this is, this is real.

It is real.

I point to someone like Viktor Frankl who wrote

The Man's Search for Meaning.

If you haven't heard his story or read his book, do that.

It's much better than anything I'll ever say.

but he went through Auschwitz, one of the darkest times in human history, and he was able to build this internal citadel,

this inner fortress that got him through, that held on, he was able to hold on to purpose and hope through that.

I mean, can you imagine?

Or someone like, I can't remember the dude's name, but the book is called The Philosophical Fighter Pilot, and he was shot down in Vietnam,

he was a POW, tortured, starved, you know, you name it broken down every system everything in

that world was telling him give up die we don't want you here

and he would not give in he would not give up hope or someone like uh again

dunscab over here can't remember his name at all

but uh the hurricane that boxer who was wrongfully convicted of murder

and put away and he said yeah my body's here in prison

but you will not imprison my mind i get to control what's between my ears

and he same thing build up that inner fortress

that inner citadel our human spirit is so incredibly powerful our survival instincts are

just our ability to be resilient is remarkable and i obviously want

and hope that a lot of people buy into that

and want that you know that path

but again it's not my place to force somebody who is as the cool kids say

i guess like a black pill

or a doomer like it's not my place to be like no no no no

you have to see it my way but yeah

if you are one of the individuals like me know

that no matter the darkness

you might be shrouded in look at victor frankel no matter what you've done in your past

or what mistakes you're trying to correct, there is road ahead and you get to choose how you're going to walk it.

And I don't know you, but I do believe in the human spirit.

So I do believe in you.

All right, guys, take care.

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203 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “The Most Helpful Mindset I See as a Therapist”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: force, individual, pointless, counseling, inner. This video has 66 sentences and 803 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:24. The speaker talks fast, about 182 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
counsel noun	/ˈkaʊn.səl/	The exchange of opinions and advice especially in legal issues; consultation.
pointless adjective	/ˈpɔɪntləs/	Having no point or sharp tip; terminating squarely or in a rounded end.
fortress noun	/ˈfoɹ.tɹɪs/	A fortified place; a large and permanent fortification, sometimes including a town; for example a fort, a castle; a stronghold; a place of defense or security.
belief noun	/bɪˈliːf/	Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
deeply adverb	/ˈdi(ː)pli/	To a deep extent or degree; very greatly.
ear noun	/ˈɪə̯/	The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.
helpful adjective	/ˈhɛlp.fl̩/	Furnishing help; giving aid; useful.
incredibly adverb	/ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/	In an incredible manner; not to be believed.
survival noun	/sɚˈvaɪ.vəl/	The fact or act of surviving; continued existence or life.
darkness noun	/ˈdɑɹk.nɪs/	The state of being dark; lack of light; the absolute or comparative absence of light.
remarkable adjective	/ɹɪˈmɑɹ.kə.bl̩/	Worthy of remark; notable; interesting.
wrap verb	/ɹæp/	To enclose (an object) completely in any flexible, thin material such as fabric or paper.
victor noun	/ˈvɪk.tə(ɹ)/	The winner in a fight or contest.
torture noun	/ˈtoɹt͡ʃɚ/	The infliction of severe pain or anguish, especially as an interrogation technique or punishment; (usually in the plural) a technique, method, or device which…
hurricane noun	/ˈhʌɹɪkeɪn/	A severe tropical cyclone; an intense storm rotating around a central eye.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
give up verb		To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone).
wake up verb	/ˌweɪk ˈʌp/	To stop sleeping; to awake.
break down verb		To stop functioning.
build up verb		To erect; to construct.
figure out verb		To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
go through verb		To travel from one end of something to the other.
lay out verb	/ˌleɪ ˈaʊt/	To expend or contribute money to an expense or purchase.
look up to verb		To show respect or admiration for (someone); to see (someone) as a role model.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have seen · haven't heard · you've done
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is called · might be shrouded

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 22 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, doesn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

Long words — get the stress right: incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, pessimism /ˈpɛsɪmɪzəm/, prerogative /pɹəˈɹɑɡ.ə.tɪv/

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 counsel, pointless, fortress.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: The Most Helpful Mindset I See as a Therapist - Learn English Speaking with Video

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