Shadowing Practice: "This Doesn't Lie" | Build Your Own English Level Checker with Google AI Studio - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
247 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
It's common now for people to constantly be checking things about their health, maybe their daily steps.
2
Maybe they've got an Apple Watch and they check their heart rate.
3
Well, what if you could do the same thing for your English?
4
Not some big test that you take once every 2 years, but...
5
Consistent checking.
6
So that you know.
7
Where you are, what your level is.
8
This is the idea that I had, and I've been vibe coding an evaluation tool.
9
I've been using Google AI studio.
10
You could use clawed code, whatever, the important thing is to know how the pieces fit together and what things are important so that it's actually useful and accurate.
11
So I'll quickly go through an evaluation.
12
I'll show you little pieces of it.
13
I am not going to show you the whole thing, so you don't have to watch the whole thing.
14
And then...
15
The important thing, the breakdown, the report at the end.
16
When we get to that part, I'll show you what the pieces are.
17
So that you can then build something like this yourself and test your English whenever you want with your own custom AI built.
18
English evaluation tool.
19
All right, so let's do it.
20
Now, one thing I do need to still work on is the variety of questions, they are generated, but...
21
The way I'm doing it now, it is not broad enough, there aren't enough types of questions.
22
So it's a little repetitive, and I'm not crazy about it.
23
So I'm working on that.
24
That way you never see the same question twice.
25
So it's a real test.
26
I very enjoy 2 reading.
27
I try to reading at least 30 minute, maybe 40 minute every day.
28
Often I do my reading in the evening.
29
When I'm sitting relax on my chair.
30
I enjoy learning and it is uh...
31
Nice way to...
32
Find new idea.
33
When you're, kind of designing it, it's better to do a minimum word count.
34
Than a minimum time.
35
Because if you say you have to talk for at least 30 seconds, Well, you can speak very slowly and not say that many words.
36
If you have a minimum of maybe 50 words, you're more likely to get an accurate Uh evaluation.
37
Could you explain the city or town where you live and explain what you like most about living there?
38
I live in small town.
39
And the countryside near the river.
40
Although I don't go into the river very much.
41
I like living in a quiet place.
42
A peaceful neighborhood with.
43
A lot of beautiful nature.
44
And scenery.
45
In your opinion, do you believe that social media has improved the way people communicate with one another or has it made personal relationships more difficult?
46
I've seen this question several times, so there's some too much repetition happening.
47
The structure is it's too...
48
Rigid. I need to, uh, I need to figure out.
49
A better way to do prompts.
50
To be honest, I haven't spent much time on that part.
51
I've been focused on the evaluation.
52
In my opinion, social media don't help the way we communication with each other because...
53
It is very superficial.
54
Because we may like or comment under post.
55
Or maybe share something with each other.
56
I think before, We communication more deeply and today is...
57
It is. Very.
58
Superficial.
59
Many people believe that university education is essential for a successful career, while others think that practical work experience is more important.
60
What is your opinion on this?
61
While there is a lot of value in what you can learning in the Uh, academic education, university.
62
Learning system.
63
Because. There are many.
64
Uh, people who is well known, who don't, Graduation from a university and who drop out and be successful.
65
And many career nowadays.
66
is not related to academics and is more Blue collars, so people can maybe becoming an electrician, which...
67
Don't require the university degree, although I think university is can also be valuable.
68
As education.
69
Okay, writing section 2 questions, some people prefer to shop for items like clothes and electronics and physical stores, while others prefer to do all their shopping online.
70
Which do you think is better and why?
71
Okay, submit.
72
Some people believe that regular exercise is the most important factor for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, while others think that a balanced diet is more significant.
73
All right, so let's submit this.
74
We're going for about a B two.
75
Analyzing. Oh, okay, B one.
76
I was going for B2.
77
I guess I did a little worse.
78
Then I thought, fair enough.
79
Let's see why.
80
So, Let me just explain this 1st part.
81
I have 2 scores here, B one.
82
And out of a hundred, I find the out of 100 is...
83
A little bit more specific, it's more accurate, right?
84
If you don't know, This is from the CEFR.
85
This is basically a level system for fluency in a language, and it goes from A1 at the lowest, that's basically you can't speak it at all, almost your beginner.
86
To. C2, which is the highest, which is basically fluent.
87
So, A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2.
88
It's not as accurate as a score out of a hundred, so I think it's good to have both.
89
So what have we done so far before we get into the report?
90
Well, we create a series of steps.
91
And the steps are questions.
92
As I've said, I wish my questions were a little more interesting.
93
I'm working on that, but you want to do both.
94
Speaking. And writing questions.
95
If you're just evaluating writing, That's not enough.
96
You also want to be checking speaking.
97
You want to make sure you're getting enough content so that you can get.
98
An accurate evaluation.
99
Now, ideally, you also want to be analyzing pronunciation because that's an important part of.
100
Overall fluency.
101
So you need to actually analyze the audio too.
102
Not just the transcript.
103
High level overview, this is useful, but not the most important thing.
104
Solid B one learner.
105
You can communicate your ideas effectively, but your frequent grammatical mistakes make your speech and writing feel less professional.
106
Oh, no. If you focus on fixing your systematic errors.
107
In comparatives and verb forms, you will quickly move toward a B2 level.
108
So it's, it's, I guess, the takeaway here is.
109
It's not that maybe I...
110
Can't use English, it's that I make too many mistakes.
111
That's a clear takeaway.
112
Oh. I need to fix all my mistakes.
113
I make too many mistakes.
114
I'm talking about the right things.
115
I'm addressing the topic.
116
I'm talking about the right topic.
117
I understand what's going on.
118
That's not too bad, right?
119
pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, you know, they're on the on the low side compared to...
120
Compared to my content score.
121
My strengths you're able to express clear opinions on a variety of topics.
122
Okay, so that's the content thing.
123
You use some higher level vocabulary like superficial orchard and blue collar, and I did intentionally choose...
124
Those words as more advanced.
125
Your responses are relevant and you stay on topic throughout.
126
Okay? Areas to improve, correct your use of comparative adjectives, avoid more better.
127
You must improve your subject verb agreement.
128
Social media doesn't instead of don't, mm, right.
129
You should practice using the ING form after prepositions.
130
For example, without leaving it.
131
Yeah, okay.
132
But... It's still not specific enough.
133
So, Now we get into the pieces.
134
In addition to creating the steps of the evaluation and generating questions, Having the input of both speech, right?
135
Audio. And text writing.
136
In addition to that, you also need A rubric with descriptors.
137
Now. You can just find the CEFR descriptors.
138
So it's a description of, Each level.
139
What does each level mean?
140
You can add that as you're creating the evaluation.
141
Basically, here are the rules.
142
When you get.
143
Well, the input from the student.
144
Compare their input against.
145
These rules, these standards.
146
So you're saying, This is what a C2 is.
147
This is what a C2 means, description.
148
On these criteria.
149
Vocabulary and lexical resource, that is how well you use the language you know.
150
Grammar and accuracy.
151
That means how accurate your grammar is, right?
152
Content and task achievement staying on topic, right?
153
So these are the main categories, and then you have the descriptions for each level.
154
And that's important because then once you have the specifics, you can learn a little bit about what you need to focus on.
155
And you need to have examples in the evaluation.
156
So, under basis for score, and this is the very 1st thing, because we want to know why it is what it is.
157
Don't give me the good news, give me the bad news, right?
158
Tell me why.
159
We lost 58 points out of 100.
160
Why? Systematic errors.
161
20 points for incorrect comparative forms, 20 points for verb pattern errors.
162
And 18 points for subject verb agreement and pluralization issues.
163
Yikes. for like what?
164
For example?
165
Oh, okay, for example, online shopping is more better than go to physical stores.
166
I very enjoyed 2 reading.
167
Many peoples who do a lot of exercise.
168
How to improve, you must review the rules for comparative adjectives.
169
Okay, so a suggestion for this specific category.
170
Now. You could go deeper here, and I'm thinking about whether I want to.
171
You could say, not 3 examples, but give me...
172
The entire list of examples, right?
173
So instead of just, Several examples, I want...
174
Every single mistake.
175
Now, I'm not sure if I want that level of detail.
176
in an evaluation like this.
177
I don't think so, but you could.
178
And you could say, here's the audio.
179
Listen back to it.
180
And here are all the mistakes.
181
You could make it very, very detailed, very, very specific.
182
And you do that for all the categories.
183
Now, for pronunciation, this is my current work in progress.
184
This is currently just based on the transcript.
185
I'm currently working on this, and I think.
186
What I want to do here is combine a version of the pronunciation evaluation tool that I built before.
187
I did that in another video.
188
Feel free to check that out.
189
Many people have made copies of it or done similar things.
190
I want to combine that with this.
191
So this is just a placeholder.
192
Nothing here is, you know, you wouldn't want to take any of this seriously.
193
But... With this, you generate a challenge and read it and you get a deep evaluation.
194
It shows you the entire transcript.
195
Every word that you said, you can click on each word, a full breakdown of your pronunciation.
196
You get an audio from a coach.
197
With an analysis of your pronunciation.
198
You get a score and a breakdown of just your pronunciation, specific issues, you get to hear your original audio, so you get the whole thing.
199
So. You got the full report.
200
And a pronunciation report, a deep analysis of your pronunciation based on the audio.
201
And an analysis of the audio.
202
Then it becomes a really accurate way to say, okay, this is where I am right now.
203
And that's kind of the whole point.
204
The whole idea is.
205
To build something.
206
That is like wearing an Apple Watch.
207
You know, the Apple Watch tells you...
208
How many steps, heart rate for the day?
209
Blood oxygen level, all the things you want to know about your health, sleep.
210
That probably means, well, for some people, less visits to the doctor, right?
211
Because you have that data daily.
212
The idea would be, don't take some giant test, right?
213
Evaluate your English regularly in a custom way.
214
A way that you.
215
Define. And decide.
216
And I think that's what's cool about this.
217
You're creating your own way to check the things that are important to you.
218
So I'm not saying, hey, do exactly this.
219
I'm just kind of.
220
Giving you a sense?
221
For what I think is possible, and I'm I'm kind of halfway through this project.
222
But I think this is pretty cool.
223
I'm sure there are ways to improve on this.
224
I'm still working to improve on it.
225
As I said, I'm going to fold.
226
The pronunciation part in to combine them.
227
And I'm going to see where it takes me.
228
I just think it's fun to do.
229
So. Try it out for yourself.
230
I'm doing this in Google AI Studio, but Do it wherever you like, vibe code it wherever you like.
231
The important thing is to know what the important pieces are, what matters and what doesn't matter.
232
You don't want to just be asking the AI based on nothing to evaluate.
233
Anyone's English, including your own.
234
Because it could be all over the place.
235
You need to evaluate it against a clear standard.
236
This is a simple way to do it using the CEFR.
237
That's not the only way you could do it.
238
There are definitely other ways that you could do it.
239
This is a simple way to do it.
240
And... In my testing, it is...
241
Accurate. It can give you a pretty good picture.
242
So that's it.
243
If you have other ideas that I should try, let me know in the comments.
244
If you haven't done so already, don't forget to hit the like button and subscribe.
245
Check out the 90 day program.
246
The best way to improve your English in 90 days.
247
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
B11
How to Improve English Pronunciation with ChatGPT
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2Is Siri AI Usable for English Learning?
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B11
How to ORDER COFFEE in English at Starbucks
Travel EnglishTeensDaily Conversation
B13
Customer Service English: Calming Frustrated Customers
TOEIC PrepBusiness EnglishWorking Adults
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
B23
79 sentences
Can you learn English with AI?
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B1585 sentences
Why You Should Stop Comparing Your English | English Speaking Practice
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B12
211 sentences
Improve your English in 30 days with this ACTION PLAN
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B11
477 sentences
How to Study English Alone || Graded Reader || Learn English Through Stories
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
306 sentences
2389 - Everyday English You Should Use Every Day
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C168 sentences
Task-Based Language Learning
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
4 sentences
M41: Six steps to a better speaking English for a software developer
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
242 sentences
What's REALLY Your English Level? (Not What You Think)
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
75 sentences
Understand ANY English Word (No Dictionary Needed!)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B11
335 sentences
The 5-Minute Morning Routine That Trains Your Brain to Build Sentences
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B213
220 sentences
Improve Your Spoken English in Just 15 Minutes
British AccentIELTS PrepBusiness EnglishDaily Conversation
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “"This Doesn't Lie"”. This video has 247 sentences and 2241 words to shadow. The speech runs for 13:05. The speaker talks at a natural 171 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 85% 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| pronunciation noun | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken. |
| verb noun | /vɝb/ | A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being. |
| comparative adjective | /kəmˈpæɹətɪv/ | Of or relating to comparison. |
| evaluate verb | /ɪˈvaljʊeɪt/ | To draw conclusions from examining; to assess; to appraise. |
| superficial adjective | /ˌsupɚˈfɪʃəl/ | Existing, occurring, or located on the surface. |
| transcript noun | /ˈtɹæn.skɹɪpt/ | Something which has been transcribed; a writing or composition consisting of the same words as the original; a written copy. |
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
| analyze verb | /ˈæn.əˌlaɪz/ | To subject to analysis. |
| breakdown noun | /ˈbɹeɪkˌdaʊn/ | A failure, particularly one which is mechanical in nature. |
| combine verb | /kəmˈbaɪn/ | To bring (two or more things or activities) together; to unite. |
| grammar noun | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general. |
| adjective noun | /ˈæd͡ʒ.ɪk.tɪv/ | A word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes a noun’s referent. |
| descriptor noun | /dɪˈskɹɪp.tə/ | A name associated with certain data or documents in an information storage and retrieval system; an index term. |
| fluency noun | /ˈfluːənsi/ | The quality of smoothness of flow. |
| takeaway noun | /ˈteɪkəweɪ/ | A restaurant that sells food to be eaten elsewhere. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| drop out verb | To leave (school, a race, etc.) prematurely and voluntarily. |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
| fit together verb | To put the appropriate parts of (something) into a whole; to combine pieces that go together to create a finished object. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'll show you little pieces of it.
- All right, so let's do it.
- When I'm sitting relax on my chair.
- What is your opinion on this?
- Which do you think is better and why?
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 | I've been · has improved · I've seen |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who is · highest, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 60 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, superficial /ˌsupɚˈfɪʃəl/, electrician /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪʃən/, pluralization /ˌplʊəɹ.əl.(a)ɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, comparative /kəmˈpæɹətɪv/, superficial /ˌsupɚˈfɪʃəl/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, systematic /ˌsɪs.tɪˈmæt.ɪk/
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 pronunciation, verb, comparative.
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.