Shadowing Practice: Times I Plagiarized - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I almost lost a thousand-dollar scholarship because of plagiarism.
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Let's talk about that.
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Plagiarism.
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Adverb. The practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.
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Just the word plagiarism sounds like a crime.
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Racism, sexism, and plagiarism.
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I'm not here to talk about people who repost my comics, JPEG'd, cut my name off, and have the audacity to put their own watermark on, nah nah nah NAH, not that kind of plagiarism.
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I'm gonna tell you about all the times that I plagiarized, in school.
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And, OK, just off topic, I wanna address something publicly.
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I don't go looking through other people's comics and go: "Oh, this comic's funny! I'm gonna redraw it and pass it off as my own!" No, I'm not about that life.
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But some of my comics have been very similar to other people's comics.
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I read a lot of comics, so it's possible I saw them and then repressed them in my memory and drew them again, or it's possible that it's all a coincidence and me and someone else just came up with the same idea, it happens all the time with other cartoonists, not just me.
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Again, I don't purposely take comic ideas and try and pass them off as my own.
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Whenever people point out that my comic is a lot like someone else's, I get really sad.
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So you guys should check out these other cartoonists, they're really good.
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Anyway, I just wanted to say that at the beginning of the video, because I'm gonna be telling you about times that I actually DID plagiarize.
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But that was just in school, OK?
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I keep plagiarism off the Internet.
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Isn't that right, Matthew?
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I cheated a bit in school.
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An occasional glance at my partner's desk, maybe jot down that important equation on my hand, nothing TOO big.
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I had a Math Class where we went to Lunch in the middle of the class, and whenever we had tests, the teacher wouldn't split the test into two parts.
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Dff-- Do you expect us NOT to exchange notes?
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The first time that I got caught cheating was in 9th grade.
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And if you stalk me and watch my old videos, you know that I went to a preparatory school my freshman year.
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And in preparatory school, the amount of work they gave you as kids was just STUPID!
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So cut me some slack.
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In one class, we had to write an essay about something historical? or something?
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And I chose to write about the Berlin Wall.
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Specifically about people who escaped ACROSS the Berlin Wall.
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Now I chose this topic because... I don't know if you know this, but there's a National Geographic documentary about this exact topic.
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So I didn't copy and paste anything into my essay, per say.
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It's just I told the exact same stories in the exact same order as the documentary, and, OK, I might wrote some things down word for word.
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But at least I didn't plagiarize it from Wikipedia, OK?
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So I didn't copy and paste anything...
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...until I had to write the conclusion of the essay.
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And I found this article talking about it, and the article said some things that would've been PERFECT in my essays, sooooooooooo.....
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Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V.
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I turned it in, I didn't think too much of it, but then when I got it BACK, the conclusion paragraph had been highlighted, and a "see me" was written next to it.
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So I had gotten in trouble for plagiarizing the conclusion.
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Just the conclusion...
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Nothing. Else.
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To be honest, I'd kinda forgotten that I copied and pasted the conclusion.
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I thought he knew that I basically turned in the script of a documentary.
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The teacher who we'll call "Mr. Batman" He took me outside of the classroom, he told me that it was bad that I plagiarized, and he called my parents, that freaking snitch.
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My parents got mad at me too.
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He gave me a chance to rewrite the essay, and I remember just being so traumatised and stressed out that night.
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I kept thinking: "What if he finds the documentary and sees that I practically plagiarized the whole essay?" I ended up rewriting not only the conclusion, but the whole freaking essay.
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I turned in the new essay, and I don't think he ever found out that I copied the whole thing.
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Except, I did just admit it. And he watches my videos.
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Seriously, in April he emailed me and asked if I was the same James that was in his class.
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He's the only teacher to ever reach out to me.
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And even after all those years, I still didn't tell him that I plagiarized the whole thing.
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So... ...hi Mr. Batman.
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Uhh, you can't change my grade now, can you?
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But that was a good experience for me to have.
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It taught me a valuable lesson.
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Because I didn't plagiarize a single essay for the rest of High School.
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But then Community College rolled around.
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I did Community College for a bit, because I couldn't afford university on a Subway payroll.
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I took honors and A.P. classes in High School, I was a relatively good student.
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Except I didn't take any of the A.P. tests.
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So when I went to Community College, I had to take classes that were a step BELOW the classes I took in High School.
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What a GREAT way to spend my time!
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Senior Year of English, we were writing essays and analyzing poetry.
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Freshman Year of College, we were writing movie reviews.
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And the teacher didn't even like me, she thought I was a slacker because I was never paying attention.
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I didn't take Community College seriously, but it was so easy, I was still getting amazing grades.
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On the third semester of Community College, I took a Public Speaking class.
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Now I might be an introvert, but I don't have a problem with Public Speaking.
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That's part of my job now!
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I took the class because I thought it would be an easy A, and I needed a communications credit for my major, I wanted to be a Math teacher, and you may not have noticed, but they publicly speak ALL the time.
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So I take the class, I'm like the best person in the class, right.
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And for the final we had to give a persuasive speech in front of everyone.
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Oh, and by the way, I didn't learn like, ANY tricks to help with Public Speaking.
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The whole class was literally just us giving speeches to each other over and over.
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So three semesters of doing easy classes and wasting my time, my apathy meters were just off the charts.
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I didn't wanna work too hard, so I chose to do my speech on why we should get rid of the penny.
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And, I don't know if you know this, but there's this YouTube video made by CGP Grey, that makes great arguments on why we Americans should get rid of the penny.
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AGAIN, I didn't copy and paste anything per say, it's just the speech I gave had the exact same arguments in the exact same order as CGP Grey.
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OK, it was pretty much a one for one recreation of his whole video.
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I'm sorry! I thought we were getting graded on Public Speaking, not writing original speeches!
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The teacher caught me, I guess she's a fan of CGP Grey.
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And gave me a 0 on the final.
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So I ended up getting a D in the class!
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And that was the worst grade I got in Community College.
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Part of me was like: Pfft!
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What-what-whatever.
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I don't- I don't care...
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This next semester though, I wanted to go to a REAL college.
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And still trying to be economical, I found that it was actually cheaper for me to an out of state school, than to go in state.
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At this school, they gave scholarships to out of state students who had high enough GPAs and enough credits.
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It would've saved me THOUSANDS of dollars.
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And I had family living in this state, so that was another reason why I wanted to go to that school.
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But here's the thing.
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Even with that D, I still had a high enough GPA to get the scholarship, but since I failed, it didn't count as a credit.
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So I ended up being ONE credit short for what was required.
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PLAGIARIZING WAS GOING TO COST ME THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!
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My options were either: Stay home and do a 1 credit semester of Community College, or beg the university to give me my scholarship anyway.
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During Christmas, my family visited the state the school was in.
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So me and my dad got the chance to go to the school, and basically talk our way into getting the scholarship.
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We talked to five different people, now THAT'S Public Speaking.
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I had to use my persuasive talking skills that I would've learned!
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And all of them were telling us: "There's nothing we can do." But we were talking to one lady, she was telling us the same thing about not being able to do anything.
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She looked at my transcript.
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She said: "Oh, you failed Public Speaking." She looked at it for a bit, she'd type something on her computer, she printed out a piece of paper and handed it to me saying: "It's OK, I'm not good at Public Speaking either." SHI-- SHE THOUGHT I WAS BAD AT PUBLIC SPEAKING!
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She thought I failed 'cause I was insecure or something, and not 'cause I did something WRONG.
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Oh, uhh... ...yeah! I'm just terrible at speaking to the public...
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So really, there WAS something you could do.
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I got the scholarship, because a lady wearing eye shadow took pity on me.
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But I only ended up staying a semester and a half at that school, because my YouTube kicked off.
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And now I'm doing that full-time.
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But I'm still thankful I got the scholarship!
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I hope my Public Speaking teacher could see where I am now.
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I speak in front of MILLIONS of people for my JOB.
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I mean, I can't see them, and I'm just reading everything off a script, in my closet.
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And I didn't get punished for plagiarism!
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I didn't learn my lesson.
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And I didn't learn anything in your class.
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Learning from Real-Life Stories: A Practical English Practice Guide
The video shares a personal story about plagiarism, blending humor and honesty. It’s a great resource for English learners because it uses conversational language, natural pauses, and relatable anecdotes—perfect for practicing speaking and listening skills. The dialogue includes casual phrases and emotional expressions, making it ideal for real-world communication practice.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- "Cut me some slack": A friendly way to ask for understanding. Example: "I missed the deadline, but cut me some slack—I was sick."
- "Per se": Used to clarify that something isn’t exactly true. Example: "I didn’t lie, per se—I just didn’t tell the whole story."
- "Jot down": To write something quickly. Example: "Jot down the address before you forget it."
- "See me": A common teacher phrase meaning "talk to me later." Example: "The note on my paper said ‘see me’—I hope I didn’t fail."
- "Off topic": Changing the subject. Example: "Off topic, but have you seen the new movie?"
Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide for This Video
Shadowing is a proven technique to improve pronunciation, intonation, and fluency. Here’s how to use this video for effective practice:
- Listen and repeat short segments: Pause the video every 5-10 seconds and repeat the speaker’s words. Focus on matching their tone—notice how they stress words like "STUPID" or "traumatised" for emphasis.
- Copy natural pauses: The speaker uses pauses for comedic effect (e.g., "sooooooooooo"). Mimic these to sound more natural in English speaking practice.
- Record yourself: Compare your recording to the video. Check if you’re using the right rhythm—this helps with IELTS speaking practice, where fluency is key.
- Use a shadowing app or site: Slow down the video speed if needed. Many tools let you loop sections, making it easier to master tricky phrases like "passing them off as one’s own."
- Practice daily: Spend 10-15 minutes a day on this video. The shadowing technique works best with consistent effort, and the conversational style will help you feel more confident in real conversations.
By focusing on these steps, you’ll not only improve your English but also learn to communicate with the natural flow of a native speaker.
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 been · would've been · would've saved |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who repost · people who escaped · teacher who we |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | had been highlighted · was required |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | were writing · was never paying · was still getting |
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.