Shadowing Practice: What Makes Us Happy? | practice English with Spotlight - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Welcome to Spotlight.
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I’m Adam Navis. And I’m Ruby Jones.
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Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.
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It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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If you could wish for one thing, what would it be?
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Is there one thing that would make you happy?
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You may wish for a larger house, a better job, or a new car.
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These are all normal things which people think will bring them happiness.
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Most people believe that the rule for happiness is simple: happiness is getting what you want.
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But you know what? People are wrong.
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Today's Spotlight is on this question: what makes people happy?
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In the end, we will find that people who seem happy as children are not always happy as adults.
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Also, people are not that good at knowing what will make them happy.
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And finally, we will see how happiness has more to do with ourselves than with our situation.
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Some important research began in 1937.
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It was called the Grant Study.
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This study involved several hundred male college students.
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It followed their lives over the next 70 years.
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Every few years the men were examined by doctors.
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They had mental tests and answered a series of written questions.
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This information was collected and organized.
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Today, the men are old, so the information is being collected together.
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The results are interesting.
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People who were happy as children were not always happy or successful as adults.
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The study used students from Harvard University.
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Harvard is one of the United State's top universities - and one of the most costly.
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As children, the students had financial security.
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They attended the best schools.
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As far as anyone could see, they were on the path to a good job, a good family, and happy life.
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But not everyone developed into a happy, healthy adult.
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In fact, those who reported the most happiness as adults often grew up in difficult situations, such as having a parent who hit them.
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The study showed that it was not a question of which men would experience trouble, but how they would react when they did.
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Everyone experiences trouble.
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It is often those people who have learned to deal with trouble when they were children who are best able to deal with it as adults.
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Joshua Wolf Shenk is a writer.
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In the magazine Atlantic Monthly, he wrote about some of the results of the research:".
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People learn how to deal with trouble from the pain of experience.
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They then use these skills through their whole lives.
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For example, compare two men - the study names them "David Goodhart" and "Carlton Tarrytown." Both men grew up afraid and lonely.
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Goodhart was raised in a lower-class family.
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His father drank alcohol, and his mother was "very tense, afraid, and worried." Tarrytown was raised in a wealthy family.
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But his father also drank alcohol.
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His mother was so depressed that Tarrytown was afraid she would kill herself.
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Goodhart went on to become a leader on human rights issues.
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Goodhart was in the top fifth of the Grant Study in mental health.
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However, Tarrytown was in the bottom fifth.
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He was divorced three times.
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He drank alcohol and took drugs to deal with his pain.
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At age 53, Tarrytown killed himself.
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Goodhart lived to 70." What was the difference between these two men?
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Why did one grow into a happy adult who improved the lives of other people, while the other destroyed himself?
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In the end, it turns out that happiness depends less on our situation than we think.
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There are some things that we should choose over others.
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For example, we should prefer to make more money than to get sick.
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But we should be careful not to believe that a change in our situation will have a big effect on our level of happiness.
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In fact, putting too much hope in such a change will probably lead to disappointment and unhappiness.
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There is one area of life that does affect our happiness: love and relationships.
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People are not meant to be alone.
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People are designed to be with other people.
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It is the same for all of us - no matter what age, sex, or country of origin.
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Even people who enjoy time alone need to spend some time with other people.
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This is not a new idea.
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The Bible claims that God designed people to live together.
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If we were created to live with other people, then it makes sense that our happiness comes from other people.
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It also makes sense that cars, money, or being famous do not make us happy.
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So, if you want to live a happy life, make sure you put your time and energy into the people you care about.
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Who are the people you most care about?
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How much time do you spend with them?
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What choices can you make to improve your relationships with other people?
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You can also leave your comments on our website.
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Or you can email us at [email protected].
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You can also find us on Facebook - just search for spotlightradio.
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The writer of this program and the producer were part of the Spotlight team.
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The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom.
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All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight.
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You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at www.radioenglish.net.
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This program is called ‘What Makes Us Happy?’ You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
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We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program.
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Goodbye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “What Makes Us Happy?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: happiness, Spotlight, adult, study, program. This video has 79 sentences and 945 words to shadow. The speech runs for 14:22. The speaker talks slowly, about 66 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 91% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 13 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| unhappiness noun | The feeling of not being happy. | |
| costly adjective | /ˈkɒst.li/ | Of high cost; expensive. |
| tense noun | /tɛns/ | The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists. |
| organize verb | /ˈɔɹɡənaɪz/ | To arrange in working order. |
| adapt verb | /əˈdæpt/ | To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit. |
| disappointment noun | /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪntmənt/ | The feeling or state of being disappointed: a feeling of sadness or frustration when something is not as good as one hoped or expected, or when something bad… |
| depressed adjective | /dɪˈpɹɛst/ | Unhappy; despondent. |
| react verb | /ɹiːˈækt/ | To act in response. |
| examine verb | /ɪɡˈzæmɪn/ | To observe carefully or critically to learn about someone or something. |
| depend verb | /dɪˈpɛnd/ | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition |
| wealthy adjective | /ˈwɛl.θi/ | Possessing financial wealth; rich. |
| lonely adjective | /ˈloʊnli/ | Unhappy due to feeling isolated from contact with other people. |
| goodbye | /ɡʊdˈbaɪ/ | Farewell; a formula used to another person or persons when the speaker, writer, or person addressed is departing. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. |
| turn out verb | To end up; to result. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- If you could wish for one thing, what would it be?
- Is there one thing that would make you happy?
- Who are the people you most care about?
- How much time do you spend with them?
- What choices can you make to improve your relationships with other people?
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 | was called · were examined · was collected |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who seem · People who were · those who reported |
| Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea | should choose · should prefer · should be |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the most costly · the best · the most happiness |
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like unhappiness, costly, tense.
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.