Shadowing Practice: 65k - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
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Hi, my name is Dana.
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Today, I wanted to share my biggest secret.
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My plastic surgery.
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I know what you're thinking.
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What kind of teenager gets plastic surgery?
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Well, you'd be surprised.
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These days, with everyone wanting to fit in or look like the next Kardashian, plastic surgery is more common than ever, even in someone as young as me.
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I was 18 when I got my surgery.
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So, before you judge me, hear my story and tell me what you would have done in my situation.
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I've always been the chubby girl in my class.
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Growing up, I was bullied so much for my weight that it became the thing I thought about the most.
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I tried absolutely everything I could.
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I went on diet after diet growing up, and nothing seemed to help me.
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I tried absolutely everything I could.
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I spent all my allowance on these detox diet teas I found on Instagram too, but nothing seemed to work.
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Eventually, my mom took me to the doctors and I found out that I had a medical problem.
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The doctor called it an underactive thyroid, but basically, it just meant my hormones were unbalanced and my metabolism was super slow,
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so I kept gaining weight.
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The doctor gave me some medicine and said things should get better after that.
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I was really happy for the first time in a long time that day.
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But that all changed when I first started high school.
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I started to get interested in boys, but I didn't have any experience dealing with them.
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So I asked my best friend Annie about it, and the reaction I got was awful.
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I expected her to help me or give me advice, and I guess she did, but it was useless.
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Annie told me I'd never get a boyfriend with the way I looked.
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She told me that I was too fat for any guy to be interested in.
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I tried to stay strong, but after we spoke, I cried and cried until I couldn't cry anymore.
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I felt like my whole life revolved around my weight, and because I couldn't do anything about it, my whole life was ruined.
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But the doctor had said I might lose some weight now that I was on medication.
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I just had to hold on and hope for the best.
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Things did get better too.
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I met a new friend in my trigonometry class named Lucas.
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He was super nice to me
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and I felt like for the first time in a long time
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that someone looked past my appearance and saw the real me.
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We became friends and hung out a lot after school.
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We both liked playing games and spent a lot of afternoons playing on his Xbox at his house.
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After a few months, I realized that I had a crush on Lucas, but I was scared.
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He was slim, tall, and cute, and I was a fat, disgusting mess.
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I went back to Annie to ask her what I should do about it, but she gave me pretty much the same answer as before.
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Lucas will never like you the way you are now.
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You need to lose weight.
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I was sick of her always putting me down about my weight, so I stopped talking to her after that, but I couldn't shake what she'd said.
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I didn't believe Lucas would like me the way I looked, so I never told him about my crush.
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I didn't want to get hurt or lose a great friend.
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Over the course of freshman year, I still didn't lose any weight, so I started considering something I'd thought about for years now, plastic surgery.
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My great aunt had died a few months back and left me a lot of money.
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I was going to save it for college, but maybe this was a better use for it.
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I spoke to my mom and dad about it at first.
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They were both against the idea.
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They didn't think I needed it but as i explained how i felt
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and how i hated the way i looked my mom came
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around my dad still didn't like the idea he told me
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that i was beautiful just the way i was
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and i didn't need to change for anyone but i explained
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that i didn't want to change for anyone else i wanted
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this for myself in the end my mom convinced my dad
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to let me do it she said she thought it would help myself esteem and we'd exhausted all other options.
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We spoke to my doctor and while he didn't want me to do it, he did agree that liposuction may have some health benefits.
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I was so excited and my dad finally seemed to get on board.
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So that summer, I did it.
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I had two types of surgery.
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I got the lipo to get rid of fat around different parts of my body and I got something called a rhinoplasty,
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which actually has nothing to do with rhinos.
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It's an operation to change the shape of my nose, which was something else I'd been unhappy with before.
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It wasn't a big change.
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They just smoothed out a little bump and made it straighter.
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I figured why not if I was already getting something else done.
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After a few weeks of recovery, I finally looked in the mirror and...
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Thank you.
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Real-Life Scenarios: Sharing Personal Struggles

The video tells a heartfelt story of a teenager navigating self-image, friendship, and tough decisions. It’s a great example of how to talk about personal challenges—like bullying, medical issues, or crushes—in everyday English. Whether you’re sharing your own experiences or listening to others, this dialogue teaches you to express emotions, explain situations, and connect with others authentically. It’s perfect for english speaking practice because it uses natural, conversational language that you’d hear in real life.

Useful Chunks & Collocations to Memorize

  • "fit in": To be accepted by a group. Example: "These days, everyone wants to fit in or look like a celebrity."
  • "revolve around": To be the main focus. Example: "I felt like my whole life revolved around my weight."
  • "look past": To ignore someone’s appearance and see their true self. Example: "Lucas looked past my appearance and saw the real me."
  • "shake what someone said": To stop thinking about something hurtful. Example: "I couldn’t shake what Annie had said about my weight."
  • "get hurt": To feel emotional pain. Example: "I didn’t want to get hurt, so I never told Lucas about my crush."

Your Shadowing Challenge: Practice Pronunciation & Flow

Shadowing is a great way to improve english pronunciation and fluency. Here’s how to do it with this video: First, watch a 30-second clip of the dialogue. Then, play it again and repeat each sentence out loud immediately after the speaker, matching their tone and speed. Focus on phrases like "I tried absolutely everything I could" and "I felt like for the first time in a long time"—these are common in daily conversations. For extra practice, use a shadowing app to record yourself and compare it to the original. This "shadow speak" technique helps you learn natural rhythm and intonation, making your English sound more like a native. You can even learn english with youtube by using videos like this one for regular practice. Ready to start? Press play and let’s shadow!

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 →