Shadowing Practice: 37k - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hi, my name is Lizzy.

I'm a pretty ordinary girl, to be honest.

I do quite well at school.

Have a kind family and a great group of friends.

One of my closest friends is called Amanda.

And I haven't known her for very long, she only moved to the school about six months ago.

But from the first time we met, we got on so well that we now spend loads of time at school together.

Her family lives over on the other side of town from mine, so we can't really meet up after school, but we make up for it by sitting by each other every day at lunch.

One day, we had an assembly at school.

Mr. Harris, our ICT teacher, stood up at the front and told us about how important it was to keep our information safe online, to stop people hacking into our accounts.

He said that hacking was becoming more and more common, and that people could end up having lots of money stolen.

He said that your password shouldn't be your birthday or your pet's name.

I was a bit ashamed because my Facebook password Is my cat's name Snowy?

After the assembly, we headed towards the cafeteria for lunch.

I was looking around for Amanda, but I couldn't see her anywhere.

Which was weird because usually we would stand in line together.

I got my baked potato and sat at our usual table.

About ten minutes later, looking a bit flustered, Amanda ran over with her lunch.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

She nodded as she quickly ate her potato, checking something on her phone at the same time.

This was odd in itself.

We weren't supposed to have phones at school.

And although most people usually ignored the rules and did it anyway, Amanda usually stuck to them.

When I asked her what she was looking at, she said she'd realized she'd forgotten her history research we'd been given for homework, and that she was asking her mom to email it to her.

I didn't know if I could ever remember Amanda forgetting her homework.

But, I guess we all have off days.

Amanda was acting a bit strangely for the rest of the afternoon.

She told me that the assembly we'd had worried her about her internet security, and that she was scared that somebody was going to steal her passwords.

I was relieved that nothing more serious was happening.

I said that she didn't need to worry, that my password, especially my Facebook one, wasn't very strong at the moment.

But I thought it would probably be fine.

That seemed to make her feel a bit better.

She changed the subject, saying that she was getting a new cat on the weekend, and asked me what my cat's name was.

I told her it was Snowy and we spent the rest of the lunch discussing names that she could call her cat.

That evening I was doing my homework on my computer and browsing on my Facebook at the same time.

I came across a funny video of a cat drinking from the kitchen sink.

and I was about to click like, when I realized that I had already liked it.

How could that be right?

I was sure I'd never seen that video before.

Maybe I just accidentally clicked on it while scrolling on my phone?

Another strange thing was that all the adverts and recommendation videos were for computer software, which is stuff I'm not interested in and never look at.

I probably would have just brushed it off, but I kept coming across open messages that I hadn't read.

And there were a few people who I didn't know who had requested to be my friend.

It was all little things, but it freaked me out.

After the assembly today, I was worried that somebody had hacked my account.

I suddenly remembered telling Amanda my cat's name and my passwords were easy to guess.

But surely Amanda wouldn't do that.

She was my friend.

It must just be a coincidence.

I decided to change my password to something much more secure.

The next day Amanda was acting a bit more normal, so I was glad that I hadn't jumped to conclusions about her.

But at lunch, she started asking me quite a lot of personal questions.

Like when my sister's birthday was or what was my mom's middle name?

Although I was sure that this must still be a coincidence, I told her all the wrong answers, just in case.

Only a few hours later, I started getting emails saying that an unknown device had tried to access my Facebook account, And did I recognize it?

I hadn't even logged into Facebook, so I clicked "No"

Then I got another one saying that I had been locked out of my account for too many incorrect password entries.

That was when I knew that it must be Amanda.

I was pretty shocked to be honest.

Amanda and I were good friends and I just couldn't understand what she wanted my Facebook account for.

I wasn't sure what to do.

Should I confront her or just ignore it?

I decided not to mention it, but to try and secretly find out more about what Amanda was up to.

At school, we sat together at lunch like normal, but after school, instead of walking home, I hung back to follow Amanda to the bus stop where she caught her bus home.

I didn't want her to see me, so I stayed behind a group of tall guys from the year above as we walked along the street.

Amanda walked into the corner shop next to the bus stop.

I snuck in and hid behind the next aisle so I could watch her.

I jumped as the shop door opened again.

It was Ashley, a girl from our year who used to be my best friend, until we'd fallen out a few months ago.

Luckily, she hadn't seen me, although I was nervous about what I would say if either of them did.

Ashley was still friends with Amanda, so she said hi, and they started chatting.

While Amanda was choosing some chips, Ashley was "That's weird," she said.

"Facebook is saying I've watched a video on computer stuff, but I've never seen it." I gasped.

That was the same video that it kept saying that I had watched.

Amanda must have been hacking Ashley's account too.

As if to confirm my suspicions, I saw Amanda smiling guiltily behind Ashley's back.

As a bit of background, Ashley and I fell out over something really stupid.

Someone posted on Facebook that they were giving away a free ticket to a Taylor Swift concert as they couldn't go.

And I posted before Ashley that I wanted the ticket, and so I got to go to the concert.

Ashley says though that she commented on the post before me, but her post disappeared.

So she blamed me for somehow deleting it.

We never talked it through.

She just...

stopped talking to me.

It suddenly occurred to me now though, as I was hiding in the shop, that maybe Ashley's post actually did get deleted.

It wasn't like Ashley to make something up like that.

Could Amanda have hacked in and deleted the comment?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it must be true and that I had to tell Ashley what I'd discovered.

That evening, deciding not to risk using Facebook, I ran up to Ashley and explained everything to her.

To my surprise, she agreed with everything I said, saying that she suspected Amanda too.

Together, we hatched a plan to get revenge on Amanda.

It was so nice to have my best friend back.

In math the next day, I caught my chance for revenge.

Amanda went to the bathroom near the start of the lesson, and I pretended to drop my pencil on the floor.

While picking it up, I slipped my hand into her bag and got out her phone.

I did the same thing later in the lesson, but replacing her phone this time.

That night, Ashley came over to my house so we could admire my work.

We sat on my bed with my laptop and smiled as we saw that Amanda had gotten what she deserved.

Do you want to know what we did?

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I had written a confession post on Amanda's own Facebook page pretending to be her,

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saying about how she had hacked into loads of people's accounts because she wanted to steal their boyfriends, and about how she was proud of herself for being so smart.

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anymore, because nobody will trust her enough to tell her anything about themselves.

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I learned from this that my teacher, Mr. Harris, was right.

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You should really be careful who you trust with your personal details.

105

What do you think of this video?

106

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26 sentences

Speaking Goals for This Video: Mastering Natural Storytelling Flow

This clip is perfect for IELTS speaking practice and improving your ability to tell a story with natural rhythm. You’ll learn to convey everyday emotions—like confusion, relief, and slight worry—while keeping your speech smooth. It’s a great way to practice shadowspeak (repeating phrases aloud to match the speaker’s tone) because the dialogue uses casual, conversational language that mirrors real-life interactions.

Phrase Bank: Reusable Expressions for Daily Chats

"make up for it" (compensate for a lack of something: "We can’t meet after school, but we make up for it at lunch.")
"flustered" (nervous or rushed: "Amanda ran over looking flustered.")
"off days" (days when you’re not your usual self: "I guess we all have off days.")
"brushed it off" (ignored something minor: "I would have brushed it off, but the signs kept coming.")
"freaked me out" (made me anxious: "The strange messages freaked me out.")

Fix Your Weak Spots: Rhythm and Intonation in Casual Speech

The video’s relaxed pace makes it ideal for practicing the shadowing technique. Notice how Lizzy pauses slightly when she’s confused ("How could that be right?") or speeds up when she’s worried ("I suddenly remembered telling Amanda..."). Mimicking these subtle shifts will help you sound more natural. Pay attention to short, common phrases like "to be honest" and "I guess"—they add fluency but are easy to miss. Use this clip to learn English with YouTube by repeating lines aloud, focusing on matching the speaker’s tone and rhythm. You’ll quickly notice how small adjustments make your speech feel less scripted and more like a real conversation.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is called · been given · was relieved
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	haven't known · I've watched · have hacked
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	software, which is · people who I
Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past	was becoming · was looking · was acting

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 technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: 37k - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Speaking Goals for This Video: Mastering Natural Storytelling Flow

Phrase Bank: Reusable Expressions for Daily Chats

Fix Your Weak Spots: Rhythm and Intonation in Casual Speech

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?