Shadowing Practice: The WORST Financial Situation Caleb Hammer Has Ever Seen (Sad) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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What's the worst episode that you've done where you look back and this person's in the worst financial position?
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Because there's been a few where you've said this is the worst finances I've ever seen as a title.
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Yeah.
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But what is actually the worst?
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It's someone that I haven't had an update from, and I'm really sad about that.
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When I was first doing the show and not a single episode was released, we recorded four episodes and I put out a call in Austin for anyone to come on the show.
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I'd give them like 50 bucks, which is like all I had at the time.
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There's someone with $250 ,000 in private student loan debts at variable high interest rates.
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I can't imagine of those interest rates are like now, because they were at 10 % then.
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They started at like $150 ,000.
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In only a few years, they went to $250 ,000.
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They're going to be a million dollars before she knows it.
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And she really doesn't utilize it.
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It's for social work.
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Who gives these loans?
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Well, that's surprising to me that someone saw that and checks the box, say, yeah, we're going to give you the money on that.
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I know, right?
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Personal responsibility is very important.
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I will say in this situation, she certainly got fucked with her dad.
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Her dad, she shouldn't have done it, but as an impressionable teenager getting out of high school, her dad was like, sign the loan.
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I'll pay for it I'll pay for it her dad's ghosted her essentially
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and it's become this has been a complete tear in the relationship
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so they haven't you know seen each other ghost
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because of the loan I don't remember exactly that would be conversation
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that would be gnarly if you just couldn't make the payments
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and that's an awkward conversation to have with you she wanted to go to an in -state school in California
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that was public
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and save a lot of money he was like go to
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Baylor that's where I want you to go borrow as much
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as it take I will pay payler Baylor is a out -of -state private institution
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so she did get fucked in it but because of that
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and with the degree that doesn't make as much money
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that has to be one of the more daunting situations I've ever seen
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and she you can see in her finances
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that she's given up how good would you recommend for somebody
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like her what would she do you can't you can't discharge student loans
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and bankruptcy that's why they're so terrible
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because they allow an 18 year old kid to take on
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hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt regardless of what they want to study
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and there's no recourse you can't discharge that in bankruptcy
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because you're getting an education the education stays with you
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so you just get screwed yeah there's no way around it it's terrible
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and the fact that people sign off on that
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when they could buy a house with it I do you know
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and at least they could claim the house back
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but now that's why the student loans there's no recourse on it another conversation
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that needs to happen as a guy who has lots of
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music friends I studied in school music I loved my school music they excelled at quite a things like jazz
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and music therapy and stuff like that you know i love the experience not
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every single college in the united states needs to offer a music degree
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or an arts degree these are industries
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that the vast minority the small minority make it right
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and that's okay and i think anyone should pursue it with
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that expectation of knowing it's going to be hard and they can totally do that.
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But when a college of 10 ,000 people in the middle of Iowa
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or whatever is offering these degrees that have training
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that are lackluster compared to other institutions and are setting their students up for failure, it's irresponsible that institution to even offer that degree in the first place.
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But I get it because the college wants the money.
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You got the professors.
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They're on payroll.
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They're getting tenure.
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You got the college.
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You got the all the executives.
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Administrators?
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Yeah, administrators that take up a massive percentage of payroll for colleges.
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So I think it's irresponsible for that every single institution in the United States, regardless of them, and we have a billion of them, needs to offer every degree, even if that education for that degree at
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that institution is not going to be as good as it could be somewhere else.
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How do we get that girl back on the podcast?
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I don't think she wants to.
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Again, she wasn't from the audience.
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I cut out a lot of things that she wanted me to cut out, including even after the fact uh can you get can you
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gift her something towards the student loans in exchange for coming
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on i think i even gave her a big chunk of money after the fact
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because i was like hey you're one of the first people
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on the episode i know you weren't thrilled with the experience
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which by the way we sent on a survey to all the past guests this year
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and we got an average four out of five in terms of the experience the only thing
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that people don't like is that we rush a lot they feel
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but either way she's one of the first guests yeah and uh
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because she didn't know what the show was i didn't even
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know what the show was i think she was just oh
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this went in front of more people than i was expecting than any of us expected
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so yeah i don't think she wants to be in front of
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that same amount of audience again fair rough situation though yeah i feel
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so bad for her
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and i would no i'd love to help in any way
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whatsoever hopefully the budget i gave her i i know in
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those situations some people i i will also say just for context
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because i've read it a few places
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that um i was nicer in those earlier episodes uh in her situation stuff like
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that uh and that i'm not me or anything like that
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when i get like intense and stuff like
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that no i'm i'm like actually allowing my personality to come through now
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when i was first getting started i had no idea what
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a youtube video took i was trying to level back you know don't want to put off things especially
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while i have another job i don't want to come across as rude
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so i was just a lot more things were just tame.
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and just chill, including her episode.
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But now I'm literally just me.
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I just try to be the most open, honest person I can be at all times.
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Well, now people know what to expect.
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Yeah.
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And so if they're signing up, though, they know that you're probably going to yell at them.
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Yeah.
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Well, it also depends on the people's situation.
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We had a dude, unfortunately, experiencing homelessness on recently.
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I don't think The Voice was raised once in that episode.
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And I gifted him what he needed to, like, his first two months of rent.
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I gifted him.
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I gifted him a refrigerator for his current situation so he didn't have to eat out all the time.
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And I gifted him, someone from the audience gifted him a drone.
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A drone because he was making good money working for drone companies, but his drone broke down and then he went homeless.
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And then also I offered to pay for his first four therapy sessions because he has some really critical depression.
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So I love being in the position to be able to help with that.
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So it depends on the episode.
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But yes, there are lots of people like the model that you were talking about.
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She wasn't receptive to anything.
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So naturally, as me just being me, you know, I'm just very invested in it.
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And I hate when I care more about their situation than they do.
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But I also get equally as excited when they pay off their debt.
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Like, dude, I get so fucking hype.
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Like, you have no idea.
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When people are making progress, dude, that emotion you see when I'm angry is equal on the other side of me being excited for them.
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Because the channel's only been around for a year and a half and debt takes a long time to pay off.
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We've seen less of that excitement.
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We will, though.
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You got to do like the Dave Ramsey debt -free scream, but like your version of that when they pay off like student loans or something like that.
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You know, when they do a six -month emergency fund, let's say, have them come back and like take a photo or something like that.
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We tell them to keep us updated all along the way.
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You know what you need?
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Awards.
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Little trophies to give you.
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Oh, that would be good.
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I like that.
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And if you're on the show and they hit certain milestones, let's just say paying off their student loans, six -month emergency, you send them a little trophy of some sort.
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I like that.
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Yeah, I think that would be a nice look.
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As they make it further, the trophies get a little bit bigger.
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Yeah.
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They hit a million dollar net worth.
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They get a big trophy.
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Your face.
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That's sweet.
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No. That's actually really cool.
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No, that's good.
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That's good.
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We get updates all the time from people.
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And people are doing well.
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But again, a lot of these death situations, if you watch the videos, they're like multi -year payoffs.
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So we won't see the end situation for a while.
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So this guy that was homeless for a little bit, have you had any updates with him after giving him the money in the refrigerator and the drone?
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He hasn't updated us in a few weeks.
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So we leave it up to them to reach out to us when they need help and when they want.
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But we tell them to, you're not going to annoy us.
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Reach out to us as much as you can.
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Pester us for questions.
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Let us help, everything like that.
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But we also don't want to pester them and everything like, how are you doing?
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How are you doing?
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Are you better this week?
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Are you better this week?
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So I know he had a lot of clinical stuff.
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So I definitely don't want to pester him.
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But I very much want to hear from him.
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I haven't paid for the therapy sessions yet because he hasn't done them.
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I'm offered to pay for them, but he needs to sign up to do it.
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You can only do so much, I feel.
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And same for the rent.
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I want him to rent or put down a security deposit, whatever it was.
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I was going to cover a two -month rent, I think, or a security deposit plus one -month rent.
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He has to go take the action to get the place, though.
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And I'm fully willing and excited to do it when he does it.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 172 sentences and 1905 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:14. The speaker talks fast, about 231 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 86% 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
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- institution /ˌɪn.stɪˈtʃuː.ʃən/ (noun) — A long-established organization or type of organization, particularly one involved with education, public service, or charity work.
- drone /dɹoʊn/ (noun) — A male hymenopteran (ant, bee, hornet, or wasp), whose sole primary function is to mate with the queen.
- trophy /ˈtɹoʊfi/ (noun) — An object, usually in the form of a statuette, cup, or shield, awarded for success in a competition or to mark a special achievement.
- regardless /ɹɪˈɡɑɹd.lɪs/ (adverb) — Without attention to warnings or indications of bad consequences.
- ghost /ɡoʊst/ (noun) — A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death.
- minority /maɪˈnɒɹ.ɪ.ti/ (noun) — The state or condition of being smaller, inferior, or subordinate to something or someone else; lesserness.
- deposit /dɪˈpɑ.zɪt/ (noun) — Sediment or rock that is not native to its present location or is different from the surrounding material. Sometimes refers to ore or gems.
- depend /dɪˈpɛnd/ (verb) — To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition
- bankruptcy /ˈbæŋkˌɹʌp(t).si/ (noun) — A legally declared or recognized condition of insolvency of a person or organization.
- administrator /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stɹeɪ.tɚ/ (noun) — One who administers affairs; one who directs, manages, executes, or dispenses, whether in civil, judicial, political, or ecclesiastical affairs; a manager.
- discharge /dɪsˈtʃɑɹdʒ/ (verb) — To accomplish or complete, as an obligation.
- payroll /ˈpeɪˌɹəʊl/ (noun) — A list of employees who receive salary or wages, together with the amounts due to each.
- irresponsible /ˌɪɹ.əˈspɑn.sə.bəl/ (adjective) — Lacking a sense of responsibility; performed or acting as though without responsibility; negligent.
- refrigerator /ɹɪˈfɹɪd͡ʒ.əˌɹeɪ.tɚ/ (noun) — A household or commercial appliance used for keeping food fresh by refrigeration (short form fridge).
- vast /væst/ (adjective) — Very large or wide (literally or figuratively).
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- pay off (verb) — To bribe, especially to deter oversight.
- cut out (verb) — To refrain from (doing something, using something etc.), to stop or cease (doing something).
- break down (verb) — To stop functioning.
- call in (verb) — To communicate with a base etc, by telephone.
- come across (verb) — To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition.
- come back (verb) — To return to a place.
- come on /ˌkʌm ˈɒn/ — Come along with me; join me in going.
- come through (verb) — To come into a room or other space through a door or passageway.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 60 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: institution /ˌɪn.stɪˈtʃuː.ʃən/, rush /ɹʌʃ/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: institution /ˌɪn.stɪˈtʃuː.ʃən/, minority /maɪˈnɒɹ.ɪ.ti/, administrator /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stɹeɪ.tɚ/, irresponsible /ˌɪɹ.əˈspɑn.sə.bəl/, refrigerator /ɹɪˈfɹɪd͡ʒ.əˌɹeɪ.tɚ/
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 institution, drone, trophy.
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 | you've done · you've said · has been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was released · weren't thrilled · was raised |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | bucks, which is · guy who has |
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.