Shadowing Practice: TOP 3 Tips To Improve Your Communication Skills! - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
I got a question recently on Facebook and this particular person when they asked me the question I clicked on their profile to see where they're from and I noticed they're from Scotland so the question they asked me was hello then I'm just wondering if somebody's just starting
2
up their Journey on improving their communication skills what top three things would you get them to focus on thank you for this question my Scottish friend and in this video I'm gonna get into the
3
top three things you can do to help you improve your communication skills let's get into it now
4
the first thing you can do and the first thing you must do is remove auditory clutter
5
what I mean by auditory clutter is remove your non-words and your filler words non-words being the sounds that you make to feel the silence um uh uh those things
6
four words being the words that you use to fill the silence and so like do you know what I mean when you use lots of non-words and filler words meaning there's more verbal clutter in the way
7
that you communicate the following occurs the first thing is that it decreases the clarity of your message the second thing it's going to rob you of credibility the third thing it's going to
8
rob you of authority and the fourth thing is that it makes you seem as if you're unsure about what you're talking about even if you are sure about what you're talking about it seems like you're not
9
I'd love to throw you to an example of one of my students I want to show you them before when there's lots of filler words and non-words and then I want to show you what happens when we remove the filler words and non-words from their communication watch
10
how powerful this example is let me let me grab the video from the top and pull it down
11
uh just because I wanted to challenge myself I signed up for a 300 level history course American Revolution and uh as we were kind of uh winding through our class we'd kind of gotten through
12
most of the inciting incidents to the American Revolution and uh and the the professor he would always uh sit at the edge of a table uh with his notes right beside him and uh so you know me the
13
youngest student in the class by about a year and a half and uh he he looked out at the class and said now why do you guys think it was important uh that the uh that the signers of the Declaration
14
uh addressed it to uh to the king uh so um yeah reason I'm telling you all this uh is uh that uh wound up being four years later um uh became jack of all trades uh master of two okay you got this
15
you got this uh sit at the edge of the table notes next to him and he posed the question of the class
16
why was it important that the framers of the Declaration of Independence why was it important for them to address the Declaration to the king and not to Parliament and timidly raised my hand
17
and said because it was a revocation of everything it was to be British he paused for a moment looked at me and said exactly boom big round of applause yeah you see that video right there just goes
18
to prove that if you just removed the verbal clutter it can completely transform how other people perceive you now the second thing that I will tell you to do is remove the visual clutter
19
remove the visual clutter visual clutter is the same as verbal clutter you can move your hands too much and then it distracts people from the message and then causes people to
20
have less respect for you because you can't dance and you've discovered My Kryptonite I can't dance and I gotta tell you this I was once on set for a short film
21
and they made us dance in a nightclub with no music because they had to record the dialogue from the actors and actresses so I had to stand in front of people that I just met for the first time being an extra and when I was dancing I literally I literally danced like this
22
and I did this for 30 minutes in front of strangers as my face was going beetroot red
23
back to what I was saying when it comes to visual clutter that's the visual tips that you may have body language tips let me share with you a couple of mine the first one was
24
the classic tilting of the glasses when I first started my speaking career I would know word of a lie do this at least 50 to 100 times when I'm on stage because this was my nervous tick when I
25
get nervous I keep adjusting my glasses and the pace at which I adjust my glasses will increase as I become more nervous it was the most mental thing and it drove people insane and the second thing that I would do which was again it's a form of visual cutter was I'd use the same
26
hand gestures and I wouldn't have any Variety in my hand gestures and when I speak I just I just keep doing different pieces of this so I'd go really fast if I'm excited and then I'd slow down
27
as I become less excited it was it was ridiculous for clarity's sake visual clutter is when you're using your body language in a non-functional way where it doesn't support the things you or saying
28
let's go to a student example in this video the visual clutter takes the form of movement and I want to show you how when my students move around with no real purpose how it can be a
29
form of visual clutter and distract people from the message and watch the before and after I think you'll find this one also very inspiring and inspiring because the smallest
30
changes can have the most drastic impact on the way people perceive you and your message so as we throw to this video I'm gonna I'm gonna spin into the video so you ready for this it's
31
pretty cool it's a pretty cool party trick one two so I looked up swimming lessons I went to the classes diligently there were little kids in the pool with me and I was swimming next to them
32
and I was feeling so embarrassed but then that voice in me kept saying courage courage courage
33
and and over time I started enjoying the water again and I started doing all the water activities which I would have missed had I not shown the courage so the point of my story is
34
at often times in your life you will come at a fork where you have to make a decision
35
so the point of my story is you will always have a fork in your life where you have the easy path or the difficult path which may seem difficult at first but not really so which one are you going
36
to choose stay in fear the rest of your life not enjoy the world what the world has to offer or do something about it you know take that step show some action and then enjoy life to the fullest big
37
round of applause not it hold on and unfortunately I've got to spin back into the video again and
38
okay I think I'm getting old yeah definitely getting old that that was only three spins and I actually feel quite dizzy and the final thing you can do to help you improve the communication game
39
is very simple it's smile smile more now there's a few ways you can smile and and I'll tell you the optimal way but what I've learned from my mentors and teachers is that the first form of smiling is
40
called a polite smile and the polite smile is when you're walking past a stranger and they look at you you look at them it gets a little bit awkward and then you you only smile with your mouth no other area of your face you look at them and you do the whole hang on hang on a
41
second when I when I do this face I kind of look like Kermit the Frog hi guys oh my God this is
42
give give this video a like or a thumbs up you know this is pretty good wow you're an idiot of him but you see that is a polite smile that's when we're only smiling with our mouth
43
the second kind of smile that we do it's one of those Smiles we use when we're taking a photo and it's not not really a real smile it's where you show your teeth but again you're you're not
44
moving any other area of your face and when you do this one it kind of looks like this
45
and it just doesn't look real we're trying to smile in a way where we don't want the wrinkles to appear around our eyes now that's actually the best smile we can do it's the most
46
sincere and authentic smile because when you're truly laughing with your friends you don't care how your face looks you're not posing you're not being polite you're just truly expressing laughter and happiness and when you do that you're doing a dishin smile and if the shin
47
smile is when you're smiling your teeth are showing your cheeks are moved up and you've got the crow's feet appearing around your eyes I am guilty of not doing this smile enough I'm
48
going to show you a few photos where I do the classic photo pose smile have a look at that cheesy smile not even real look at them being fake and phony and not sincere or authentic that's me
49
that's what I used to do but the moment I learned this let me show you an example of me doing a real smile look that just looks way more authentic and way real it looks like I'm genuinely happy as opposed to posing for a body photo these are the three things that I would encourage
50
all of my students do especially those who are early on and just starting their communication skills Journey make sure you remove the auditory clutter make sure you remove the visual cutter and smile more it may seem super simple but these three things can completely change the
51
way other people perceive you thanks for joining me for this week's video everyone if you've got any questions on communication skills or anything you'd like to ask me please do leave them in the comment section below I love getting questions because you can see
52
things I can't there are times you're going to come up with a topic that I wouldn't even thought of so I'd love to hear from you drop me a comment down below see you next week foreign
📺 Same Channel
C21,194
When do you stop understanding? 🙊
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B12
The 2 biggest benefits of PAUSING when you speak
Business EnglishWorking Adults
B14
Top 5 Communication Skills Lessons
Business EnglishWorking Adults
B13
5 vocal exercises for a more powerful voice 😎
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B16
How to Speak with MORE Clarity!
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
The Guide To Talk To Anyone (Regardless of Their Seniority)
Business EnglishWorking Adults
B15
How to improve your articulation FAST
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B16
5 simple habits to be a better communicator
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B16
Look confident + sound confident = Feel confident
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
Doing This (Almost) GUARANTEES You Get Hired In A Job Interview!
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B129
Never answer questions quickly. Pause first.
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B24
How to Enter Conversations (Even If You Have Nothing To Say!)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B22
How to Have Difficult Conversations (Even If It's Confronting)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B26
How to Be Disgustingly Articulate And Well Spoken
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B22
7 POWERFUL Storytelling Secrets to Level Up Your Communication Skills
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B13
You must PAUSE when you speak!
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B23
STOP Saying Umm & Ahh
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
Give me 14 minutes and I'll help you think & speak faster
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B229
Why You're So Good At Being Shy...
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B12
You won't believe the difference hand gestures make... 🤯
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
✨ Recommend Video
B24
119 sentences
3 Steps To Improve Your Speech Clarity
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21,113
32 sentences
🎧Listening English Podcast - IELTS Speaking PART 2-3 Band 6.5+ & Topic: COMMUNICATION
IELTS PrepBusiness EnglishDaily Conversation
B21
7 sentences
Communication Barriers
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2192 sentences
How to Understand Native English Speakers: Advanced Listening Skills
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B243
35 sentences
English shadowing | Relationships and Communication | Level B2 | How to improve English
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B21
193 sentences
Improve Your English Speaking Fluency \ Level "Hard"
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B24
178 sentences
"Give me 13 Minutes, and I'll Improve Your Communication Skills by 88%..." - Jim Rohn
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B22
160 sentences
Improve Your English Pronunciation in 3 Steps (British Accent)
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
133 sentences
How I Learned to Speak With More CLARITY - 7 Tips for Clear, Concise Speech
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B11
21 sentences
3 Phrases To Keep A Conversation Going #communicationskills
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B22
132 sentences
give me 7 minutes, I’ll change the way you speak on YouTube
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B26
113 sentences
American English Intonation | Reduce Interruptions & Send Clear Messages
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 52 sentences and 1881 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:37. The speaker talks at a natural 177 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
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| courage noun | /ˈkʌ.ɹɪd͡ʒ/ | The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate. |
| pose verb | /poʊz/ | To place in an attitude or fixed position, for the sake of effect. |
| polite adjective | /pəˈlaɪt/ | Well-mannered, civilized. |
| spin verb | /spɪn/ | To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction. |
| authentic adjective | /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/ | Of the same origin as claimed; genuine. |
| verbal adjective | /ˈvɜː.bəl/ | Of or relating to words. |
| perceive verb | /pɚˈsiv/ | To become aware of, through the physical senses, to see; to understand. |
| silence noun | /ˈsaɪ̯ləns/ | The absence of any sound. |
| swim verb | /swɪm/ | To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means. |
| adjust verb | /əˈd͡ʒʌst/ | To modify. |
| fork noun | /fɔɹk/ | A utensil with spikes used to put solid food into the mouth, or to hold food down while cutting, or for serving food. |
| inspire verb | /ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/ | To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by… |
| gesture noun | /ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃɚ/ | A motion of the limbs or body, especially one made to emphasize speech. |
| sincere adjective | /sɪnˈsɪɹ/ | Genuine, honest, and free from pretense or deceit; heartfelt. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. | |
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
| move up verb | To promote, put onto a higher level. | |
| slow down verb | To decelerate. | |
| wind up verb | /waɪnd ˈʌp/ | To wind (rope, string, mainsprings, etc.) completely. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 58 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, I'd. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, thumb /ˈθʌm/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shin /ʃɪn/, revocation /ˌɹɛvəˈkeɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: ridiculous /ɹɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, credibility /kɹɛd.əˈbɪ.ɫɪ.ti/, auditory /ˈɔː.dɪˌtɔɹ.i/
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 skill, courage, pose.
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 discovered · I've learned |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is let · are moved |
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.