Shadowing Practice: The Power of Small Habits | English Listening Practice - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hello, hello!
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I am so happy you're here with me today.
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Pull up a chair, grab your favorite drink, I've got a steaming cup of coffee right here, and let's settle in.
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You're listening to Speak Power Daily, and I'm Charlotte.
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Have you ever looked at a massive mountain and thought, there is absolutely no way I'm getting to the top of that.
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Maybe that mountain isn't made of rocks and snow.
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Maybe your mountain is speaking fluent English, or finally understanding those tricky phrasal verbs that seem to change meaning every time you blink.
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It feels huge, doesn't it?
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It feels like you need to be a superhero just to get started.
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But here is a little secret, just between us.
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Even the fastest marathon runners in the world had to learn how to walk first.
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And before they walked, they probably spent a good few months wobbling around on the floor and accidentally bumping into furniture.
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We all start in the same place.
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We start small.
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Today, we are talking about the incredible power of starting small.
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I think we often live in a world that is obsessed with big results.
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We want the big promotion, the big house, and the perfect English accent by next Tuesday.
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We treat our goals like a microwave meal.
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We want it hot and ready in three minutes. But let's be honest.
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Life is much more like a slow-cooked stew.
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It needs time, a little bit of heat, and the right ingredients added one by one.
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Starting small is actually a superpower because it removes the fear.
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When we think about learning a whole language, our brains go into a bit of a panic mode.
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But when we think about learning three new words while I brush my teeth, our brains say, Oh, I can do that.
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That's easy.
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I remember when I tried to learn how to bake.
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I wanted to make this spectacular three-tier chocolate cake I saw on the internet.
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It looked like a dream.
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Well, my first attempt looked more like a chocolate puddle.
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I was so frustrated.
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But then, I decided to just learn how to make a simple cookie.
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Just one good cookie.
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Once I mastered that, everything else started to feel possible.
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So, take a deep breath.
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You don't have to climb the whole mountain today.
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You just have to tie your shoelaces and take one step. Are you ready?
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Let's talk about how that one step changes everything.
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Have you ever tried to push a car that has broken down?
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Or maybe you have tried to move a very heavy piece of furniture, like a sofa.
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At the very beginning, it feels impossible.
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You push and push, and your face turns red.
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But the heavy object just stays there, laughing at you.
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But once you get it moving just a little bit, something magical happens.
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It becomes easier to keep it moving.
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This is exactly how our brains work when we learn English.
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The hardest part is almost never the studying itself.
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The hardest part is simply starting.
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Our brains can be a little bit like a lazy cat.
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They like to be comfortable.
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They like to sit in the sun and do nothing.
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When you tell your brain, OK, now we are going to study English grammar for two hours, your brain panics.
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It says, no way, that is too much work.
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I want to watch funny videos of dogs instead.
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And just like that, you procrastinate.
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You find a million other things to do to avoid opening your textbook.
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So, how do we trick our lazy brains?
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We make the task so small that our brain cannot say no. Instead of saying, I will write a whole essay in English,
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tell yourself, I will just write one sentence.
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Instead of saying, I will listen to a long podcast, say, I will just listen for two minutes.
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When the goal is tiny, the resistance disappears.
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Your brain thinks, Oh, one sentence?
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I can do that while I wait for the kettle to boil.
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It feels safe.
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It feels easy.
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But here is the wonderful trick.
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Usually, once you write that one sentence, you will find it is easy to write a second one.
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Once you listen for two minutes, you might as well listen for five.
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You are building momentum.
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You are getting the heavy car moving.
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By giving yourself permission to do less, you actually end up doing more.
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It takes the pressure off your shoulders.
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We often think that to be successful, we must suffer and work until we are exhausted.
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But honestly, suffering is not a very good strategy for learning a language.
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Enjoyment is much better.
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When you start small, you stop being afraid of the task.
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You stop looking at the mountain and just look at the path right in front of your feet.
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And suddenly, English doesn't feel like a scary monster anymore.
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It just feels like a small, manageable part of your day, like brushing your teeth or making your bed.
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Imagine you have a bucket in your garden.
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It is a hot, dry summer day.
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You want to fill this bucket with water, but you don't have a hose.
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only have a tiny little spoon.
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You might think, this is ridiculous, I will never fill this bucket with a spoon.
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But if you add one spoonful of water every single second, eventually, that bucket will be full.
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It might take time, but it will happen.
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This is the magic of consistency.
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It is not about the size of the spoon.
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It is about not stopping.
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In the world of learning English, many people make the mistake of being weekend warriors.
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Do you know what a weekend warrior is?
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It is someone who does nothing from Monday to Friday, and then on Saturday, they study for five hours straight until their brain hurts.
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They think, look at me, I am working so hard.
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But let me ask you a funny question.
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Would you brush your teeth for one hour on Sunday morning, and then not brush them again for the rest of the week?
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Of course not.
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That would be terrible for your teeth, and probably terrible for the people talking to you.
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You brush your teeth for just two or three minutes, but you do it every morning and every night.
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That small, repeated action keeps your smile healthy.
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English is exactly the same.
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Your brain prefers small, frequent meals of information, not a huge buffet once a week.
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When you study for five hours at once, you get tired.
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You get bored.
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And worst of all, you forget most of it by Monday morning.
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But when you do just 15 minutes every day, your information sticks.
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It becomes part of you.
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Think about learning just one new word a day.
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Just one.
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That sounds incredibly small, doesn't it?
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That sounds almost too easy.
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But if you do that for a year, you will have learned 365 new words.
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If you do it for three years, you have a vocabulary of over a thousand words.
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That is enough to have real conversations, and you did it without ever feeling stressed or overwhelmed.
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So don't worry about going fast.
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Fast cars often crash.
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Worry about keeping the engine running.
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Even if you are moving slowly, as long as you don't stop, you are making progress.
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You are letting those drops of water fill the bucket, and one day, you will look down and be surprised to see that the bucket is overflowing.
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Now I have to be honest with you.
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There is a tricky part to starting small.
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It is a little trap that catches many people, and I want you to be careful.
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It is the feeling that nothing is happening.
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Just imagine you decide to get fit.
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You go to the gym for 20 minutes, you lift some weights, you run on the machine, and you eat a healthy salad for lunch.
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You feel great!
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But then, you go home and look in the mirror.
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Do you look like a movie star?
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Do you have big muscles?
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No. You look exactly the same as you did yesterday, maybe just a little bit sweatier and red in the face.
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If you look in the mirror every single day looking for a change, you will be disappointed.
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You might say, I exercised for three days and nothing changed.
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This is useless.
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I quit.
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Learning English feels exactly like this.
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You study your five vocabulary words.
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You listen to a podcast for 10 minutes.
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Then you try to speak to someone and, oops, you make a mistake.
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You forget the word umbrella and say rain hat instead.
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You feel silly.
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You think, I am putting in the effort, but I am not improving.
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But this is where you must have faith.
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Just because you cannot see the result, it does not mean it isn't there.
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Think about a tree.
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Before a tree can grow tall and touch the sky, it must grow deep roots underground.
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For a long time, all the work happens in the dark, under the soil.
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If you dug up the seed every day to check if it was growing, you would kill it.
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You have to trust that the roots are getting stronger.
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Your English is growing roots right now.
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Every time you listen, every time you repeat a sentence, you are building connections in your brain.
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You are building the foundation.
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It is invisible work, but it is the most important work.
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So please, don't be the person who yells at their garden.
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Imagine standing over a tiny flower and shouting, Grow faster!
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Where are my tomatoes?
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I want them now!
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The poor plant would be terrified.
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Be patient with yourself.
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Give your English tree time to settle in the soil.
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The flowers will come, I promise, but only if you let the roots grow first.
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So, where do we go from here?
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We have talked about mountains, lazy brains, buckets of water, and invisible roots.
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It feels like we have been on quite a journey today.
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But really, we have just been sitting here, sharing a coffee and a few ideas.
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And that is exactly the point.
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Life isn't made of huge, dramatic movie scenes.
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We aren't always fighting dragons or winning gold medals.
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Life is made of Tuesdays.
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It is made of quiet mornings, rainy afternoons, and the five minutes you spend waiting for the bus.
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Think of your English learning, and your life, like a beautiful mosaic.
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Do you know what a mosaic is?
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It is a piece of art made from thousands of tiny little tiles.
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If you hold just one tile in your hand, it doesn't look like much.
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It is just a small, square piece of colored glass or stone.
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You might look at it and say, this isn't art, this is just a rock.
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But when you place that one tile next to another,
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and another, and another, eventually you step back and you see a magnificent picture.
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You see a landscape, or a face, or a sunrise.
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Every small step you take is one of those tiles.
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That one word you learned today?
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That is a blue tile.
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That mistake you made and laughed about?
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That is a yellow tile.
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That five-minute podcast you listen to?
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That is a bright red tile.
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On their own, they seem small and unimportant.
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But keep placing them, day after day, and you are building a masterpiece.
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So please, stop waiting for the perfect time to start.
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Stop waiting for that magical Monday when you will suddenly have three hours of free time and endless energy.
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That Monday does not exist.
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The perfect time is right now, in the glorious, messy, imperfect present.
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You don't need to be perfect.
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You just need to be present.
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You just need to show up for five minutes.
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Thank you so much for letting me be a small tile in your mosaic today.
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I hope you feel a little lighter and a little more ready to take that one tiny, brave step.
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Remember, the smallest step is often the most important one because it is the one that starts the journey.
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I am Charlotte, and I will be right here cheering for you.
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Until next time, keep speaking your power, one small word at a time.
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Bye for now.
Why practice speaking with this video?
Practicing speaking skills in English can often feel overwhelming, especially when aspiring to reach fluency. However, this video encourages learners to embrace the power of small habits, which can significantly enhance your speaking abilities. By engaging with the content, you experience real-life contexts that make the language more relatable and easier to grasp. This approach aligns perfectly with effective speaking practices like shadowspeak and other shadowing techniques. The friendly, conversational tone used throughout the video creates a comfortable space that allows you to practice English without fear of failure, making it an ideal choice for IELTS speaking practice.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Throughout the video, several key grammatical structures and expressions are used that can help learners enhance their speaking fluency:
- “Have you ever looked at a massive mountain…” - This phrase introduces a common rhetorical device, engaging the audience's imagination while inviting personal reflection.
- “We all start in the same place.” - This universal statement encourages inclusivity, making it easier for learners to relate their journey in English learning to that of others.
- “Take a deep breath.” - A simple imperative phrase that serves to calm the learner. It teaches an important skill: the art of pausing and preparing before speaking.
- “The hardest part is simply starting.” - This emphasizes the importance of taking the first step, a sentiment that resonates with anyone beginning their language-learning journey.
These structures provide great examples of how to form engaging sentences that resonate with native speakers.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you practice repeating phrases from the video, be aware of these potential pronunciation traps:
- “Incredible” - Ensure you emphasize the second syllable to sound more fluent.
- “Phrasal verbs” - This term can be tricky due to its stress pattern; practice saying it slowly to master the rhythm.
- “Mountain” - Take note of the vowel sounds; many learners tend to pronounce it too quickly, losing clarity.
- “Frustrated” - This word often gets slurred. Focus on clearly articulating each syllable.
By paying attention to these pronunciation details, you can effectively improve your speaking skills and prepare yourself for real-world conversations. Utilizing authentic resources like this video as part of your learn English with YouTube routine is a fantastic way to supplement your practice with a shadowing app or while using other shadowing sites.
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.