Shadowing Practice: THINK & SPEAK IN ENGLISH | About Your Skills And Abilities [Episode 1] - Learn English Speaking with Video

Speaking English fluently is not about how long you can speak in English.

It's not about speaking for 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes.

Instead, English fluency is all about your ability to organize your thoughts like a native English speaker.

That's right, organizing your thoughts about a certain topic.

So today I want to teach you how to organize your thoughts and speak properly and fluently about your skills and abilities.

And you can do that by using three simple steps.

I'm teacher Tiffany, let's jump right in.

All right, so step number one is you need to simply describe the ability or the skill.

That's right, you need to introduce the topic to the person you are speaking to.

So for example, you all know that I love sports and I really like playing basketball.

So basketball, playing basketball is a skill that many people have.

So to start the conversation, I need to describe the skill.

You've all heard of the NBA, right?

This is a big organization in America and it has a lot of basketball players, right?

So I can start the conversation off by speaking about basketball related to the NBA.

I can say the NBA is one of the most popular sports organizations in America.

Many people love watching basketball And many young people spend hours literally practicing different basketball drills and trying to improve their abilities.

Basketball is loved by a lot of people.

So again, what did I do?

I introduced the topic, the skill or the ability, basketball, right?

Playing basketball.

I haven't talked about my own skill or ability in basketball just yet.

And that's what you need to do.

When you're speaking about your skill or ability, you must start off with a basic description of what the skill or ability is.

Another example is, I like to draw.

I love to draw.

I use pens and pencils.

If I want to talk about art and my skill to draw or paint, I must first describe that skill in general.

In art, there are many different ways of producing art.

You can paint, you can draw using a pen, you can draw using a pencil, you can use pastels, you can use markers.

There are many different ways to produce art.

So I can start off by saying, art is loved around the world.

You can see a lot of different types of art when you go to a museum.

There are paintings, there are sketches, there are drawings.

And art is something that many people appreciate.

Stop, I've introduced the topic, right?

I've described it, I've explained what art is.

again before you talk about your personal skill you need to

talk about it in general the skill in general all right now the second thing you need to do

when you're talking about your skill

or ability is actually describe your personal ability that's right now

we're getting into more details now you're gonna connect you to the actual topic

so here we go we talked about basketball right I said

I love basketball I started off step one by introducing or describing basketball in general.

Now I can talk about my abilities.

I can say, now I have played basketball since I was seven years old.

I really loved the game and I really loved to play basketball.

I was a very good point guard and I loved also to shoot.

So I was a shooting guard as well.

So I'm telling you a little bit more about my skills.

I really enjoy playing basketball, but I'm telling you specifically the position I played.

I was a point guard.

I also was a shooting guard.

I could shoot really well.

So again, I'm telling you a little bit more about my personal skills and my personal ability.

Make sense?

Good.

Now, I also talked about art.

I said that there are many different types of art, but now I'm going to tell you about my specific type of art.

So, I love to draw using pen.

I love to also draw using pencils, but I've been using pen a lot more, and also watercolors.

So, I will draw something using a pen, and then I'll paint it using watercolors.

So I've started to do more abstract paintings, where in the past I did a lot of pencil portraits of people.

So I'm giving you a little bit more information about my personal skills related to art.

And that's what you need to do.

Step one, describe the ability or skill in its basic form.

Step two, talk about your personal skill or ability.

Now step three, the final thing you need to do is describe how you acquired that skill.

That's right, now you need to kinda go back in time a little bit

and give the person more information about how you developed this skill.

because now they're already very well aware of the skill.

You gave them basic information in step one.

Then step two, you talked about yourself and how you are currently.

So what happens in their mind?

Oh, I wonder how she improved her skills.

I wonder how he learned to do that.

So you answer that question before they even ask it by talking about how you develop the skill.

So for me, for basketball, again, mentioned before that my dad loves basketball.

I can still remember right now when I was about two

or three years old going to the park on Sundays watching my dad play basketball with his friends for hours.

My sister and I would go with him and he'd play for hours.

We call it pick up ball.

Basically you go to the park and you see who wants to play

and you guys make a team and you play basketball.

So I watched my dad play basketball from the time I was a young child.

Then when I was I was in elementary school, middle school, high school, and college, I played basketball.

So I've played for so many years.

So the skills developed over time.

So again, I told you how I developed the skill of playing basketball.

Now what about art?

Now this is something interesting because I also got this from my dad, but we did not know.

And I say we because my sister was an amazing artist.

When she was in eighth grade, she was already drawing people and it looked exactly like them.

So I watched my sister and I thought I got my talent from her, but we both were able to draw really well.

However, my sister stopped when she was in high school and I kept going.

So we grew up, we never knew where we got it from, we just thought we naturally had the talent.

When I was about 25, I was having a conversation with my dad about something, he said, you do know that your sister and you got the skill of art from me.

And I said, huh, what do you mean?

I've never seen my dad draw anything.

100

And he said, oh, when I was a little boy, I used to draw a lot.

101

I used to draw planes and other things, and I loved art, but he never continued with it.

102

So I learned that I got the skill of art from my dad, even though I've never seen him draw.

103

So again, I learned that very interesting fact when I was an adult.

104

So again, I explained to you how that skill developed.

105

So what happens?

106

Now you know for a fact, first of all, what my skills are and I explained what they are.

107

Then I explained my personal skills, right?

108

I talked about the basics of the skill.

109

Then I told you about my personal skills.

110

And finally I said how I developed these skills.

111

This is how you speak about your talents and skills in English fluently.

112

Follow these three steps.

113

Talk about or describe the skill.

114

Second, describe your personal ability.

115

And third, talk about how you developed it.

116

Again, remember that English fluency is not about speaking for a long time.

117

It's all about how you organize your thoughts and relay or give the information.

118

Now, if you enjoyed this lesson, everything that I taught is actually in my ebook, How to Pass the IELTS Speaking Exam, all right?

119

So again, you can hit the link in the description

120

if you wanna get the book and keep studying but I really hope you learned a lot.

121

Remember that you can do it.

122

You can speak English fluently.

123

I believe in you.

124

Thank you so much for joining me for today's lesson.

125

Remember, I am always here to help you learn English and speak English confidently.

126

I'll see you next week.

127

You still there?

128

You know what time it is.

129

It's story time.

130

Hey, I said it's story time.

131

All right guys, so today I have a story for you that some of you may know, but some of you don't.

132

This is when I was in Korea, and I was studying in university.

133

I was studying to get my master's degree in oriental painting.

134

And I was in class, and we were learning about drawing the human figure.

135

And I was sitting in class and my stomach, oh my goodness, my stomach was hurting so bad.

136

You see, I was having cramps that day, so I wasn't able to focus on what the teacher was saying.

137

And it got so bad that I had to leave class.

138

So I told my friend, I said, please let the professor know that I'm sorry.

139

I have to go because I'm not feeling good.

140

So I left the class and this was not like me.

141

Remember I told you all I love school.

142

I loved learning and I still enjoy learning.

143

So I didn't want to leave, but my cramps were horrible.

144

So I left the class and I really couldn't even walk.

145

The campus was huge.

146

It was huge.

147

To walk from one end to the other would take you about 15 minutes.

148

It was really big.

149

15 or 20 minutes, it was really a big campus.

150

So I had to walk back to my apartment.

151

It was on campus, but I was hurting so bad, I actually was going to hail or get a taxi.

152

but before I got the taxi I said I need to get some medicine

153

because this is bad so I had to walk from class all the way to the pharmacy

154

that was on campus I mean I was leaning over it was bad y'all

155

so I finally got to the pharmacist

156

and I walked in there was a female and she looked at me

157

and she said hey how can I help you again all in Korean and I said I have really bad cramps

158

please give me your strongest medicine she said you want the

159

strongest medicine I said listen I said I need something

160

that works quickly and I needed to work for a long time

161

so she could tell by the look on my face

162

that I was in extreme pain so she looked at me

163

and honestly it was like time stood still at first she was looking at me normally

164

and then her face changed and she said you sure you want the strongest

165

and I was a little bit caught off guard, but I was like, yes.

166

She looked around.

167

Now again, it felt like a movie to me.

168

Then she actually put her hand underneath the counter.

169

Now normally for the pharmacies in Korea, they have all of the medicine kind of behind them on this wall, right?

170

But she didn't go to the wall.

171

She put her hand underneath of the counter and there was like this secret drawer

172

and she opened the drawer and took out this little, like it was like a gold pack and kind of shook it.

173

And it was like little something, something inside of the pack.

174

She said, this will take away all of your pain.

175

It was a little bit suspect.

176

So I was like, do I take these from her or not?

177

But I was in pain.

178

So I said, okay, take the money.

179

I paid her the money and then she gave me the packs.

180

And she said, it's going to work.

181

Trust me.

182

So as soon as I got the packs, I opened them.

183

I needed it immediately.

184

So I got some water and I opened the pack and there was like, there were like 50 little black balls, like little black balls.

185

And I was like, what in the world?

186

But again, I was in so much pain.

187

I did not care.

188

I had never seen this medicine before.

189

I didn't know what, even though I could speak Korean, I was like, I don't know what this says, but I'm going to take this.

190

So I had the water and I had these little black balls and this little, this little pack.

191

And I took all of the black balls and then I drank water.

192

So I drank it and I swallowed all the black balls and I was like, I hope this works So I went outside to go get a taxi

193

and all of a sudden I started getting really dizzy I said, oh no lord.

194

Oh, no. She's giving me drugs lord She's giving me drugs.

195

So I was super dizzy.

196

I couldn't really walk straight and I felt really queasy I felt really weird.

197

I was like what in the world was in those black balls?

198

so I finally got a taxi still was feeling a little

199

dizzy got in the taxi taxi took me to my apartment

200

and I got to my apartment I was still feeling weird

201

but then all of a sudden I noticed

202

that my stomach cramps my cramps were slowly subsiding the intensity was going away

203

and I was like what's happening right now

204

and within about 10 minutes I felt as light as a feather I felt as free as a bird.

205

Everything was great.

206

I was smiling.

207

Remember I said I was in extreme pain, but all of a sudden after taking those black balls, I was living it up.

208

Right.

209

So I still don't know exactly what was in that medicine, but when I told my family,

210

they said, Tiff, you done taken drugs, but it wasn't.

211

I had some other friends who live in America.

212

Uh, they are Chinese American, I think?

213

I think they're Chinese American.

214

And when I posted this story on Facebook, they messaged me.

215

They said, oh, Tiff, I used to get those same little black balls when I was younger.

216

My mom would give them to me when I was six.

217

She was like, yes, they're so powerful.

218

So apparently there are some herbs and the combination really makes you feel better fast.

219

So I just thought it was a movie, y'all, because the way she took those little black balls and said, do you want these?

220

I was like, it's a drug deal, Lord, it's a drug deal.

221

So anyways, I felt better.

222

I will never forget those little small black balls and how they made me feel better.

223

I don't know if you guys have had an experience like this with some medicine that you weren't sure about, but it made you feel better.

224

If so, tell me about it in the comment section.

225

All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed today's story.

226

Thank you so much.

227

Remember, if you want to join our family and become a part of our family, all you have to do is go to letsjumprightin.com.

228

I will talk to you guys next time.

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 Practice: THINK & SPEAK IN ENGLISH | About Your Skills And Abilities [Episode 1] - Learn English Speaking with Video

Why practice speaking with this video?

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

What is the Shadowing Technique?