Shadowing Practice: What Stanford students actually use ChatGPT for - Learn English Speaking with Video

30 seconds.

10 seconds.

Question number

one.

Question number one.

What kind of work do you delegate to ChachiPT, and what kinds of work do you keep for yourself?

Lydia kind of touched on this a little bit.

Gabriel.

I think I'm trying to give it as much grunt work as I can.

And not even grunt work that, you know, I'm like, okay, I have to do this for a class, but I'm gonna pass it off.

If I have to do it for the class, I'm gonna do it.

But, like, I was writing a research paper the other day, And this goes back to the last question.

My teacher specifically in the syllabus says, use Chachupiti to help you with research.

If you find a really long research article, throw it in, get a summary, then read it so you find the good nuggets.

Because it's not worth looking through a 60-page article for one little thing

that you never find that Chachupiti could have found in 30 seconds.

I don't think there's a critical thinking aspect of that process that you're losing out to Chachupiti.

But even when I get stuck in an essay, and I'm like, okay, there's one sentence that I need to refigure.

I don't give it to chat, because I want to be able to have that critical thinking and keep it to myself.

And I don't want to get into a practice of delegating little tasks that require even minimal amounts of critical thinking, because that way I feel like I'm learning.

And back to the last question is, like, are you learning faster than the curriculum?

I don't think I'm learning faster than the curriculum, but I think ChatGBT is.

And so if I give it to ChatGBT, it's learning, and I'm not.

So I still want to be in the shoes where, you know, my brain's doing the thinking.

But when my brain is doing thinking that already 100% knows how to do, then I can pass.

Got it.

I'm curious about where that line is with grunt work.

Like what technically qualifies as grunt work?

Like, does anyone else have anything to add to this idea of like, where do you draw the line between something that, okay, fine, I'll just pass it off to ChatGPT versus something that's like, no, I know it's a small sentence,

but I'm going to push through this one.

I'm going to figure it out on my own.

Yes, Eric.

Yeah, to me, it's like the difference between knowledge and decision.

I keep the decisions to myself, but if I need knowledge about something or information, I would ask ChatChapuKee for it.

But if it's something like I have to make a decision which sentence to change my essay, then I'll probably do it myself.

Actually, I independently came to the same opinion as Eric.

The framework I added under was kind of like teaching, like using AI to teach you versus to solve for you.

So I think that there's a lot of cases where like, even if there's like a problem that like, I didn't know how to do this problem, right?

I don't know if it's like too bad to even just like say, how do you solve this problem?

More problems like this.

That's like very close to the line, I think.

But like, that's another application.

But also I think there's this other like kind of dichotomy that we weren't talking about, which is like meaningfully like consulting chat GPT when you don't necessarily have a problem.

So like kind of like, oh, you know, like the chat GPT reflex, right?

Like, oh, I have a question.

Why didn't I actually use ChatGPT now and solve that?

Instead of, I have a homework problem, now I have to decide, do I want to use ChatGPT or not?

I think there's this whole other use case that we maybe didn't talk about as much.

I think throughout the day, more and more, I've come to realize that there are times that I can use ChatGPT to help me,

even though it's not related to a specific homework assignment or a task like a research paper I need to write, but just a question, like a curiosity.

Or maybe even like, oh, I want to start journaling maybe I can use ChatGPT and I'll just journal now because I can use ChatGPT.

It's a good framework.

Yeah, Aliana.

I would say, I'm just so honest, I don't know what work I keep to myself because I feel like ChatGPT has taken over my life. But...

That's the real...

For example, if we go back to the topic of writing an essay, I would definitely keep the structure and inspiration from myself.

Like, I'm going to be the one providing what style, what thoughts, opinions I'm looking for in this essay.

but like I'm gonna write him a draft, like write a child-gibb-d draft for sure,

but like rephrasing, polishing, and also elevating the style or these type of things, it's definitely something that I won't put that much time in,

but it doesn't mean I'm just gonna give my professor a child-gibb-d generated essay.

I would still look at the essay to learn from its

language with how was my draft different from the one child-gibb-d gave it to me, and how were the language that ChatGD wrote better than the one I wanted.

I learn and adapt to the language it provides to me, but like what Eric says,

I'm still making a decision of which one I want to use.

But I do think I learned a lot from my conversations with Chat

because I realized that now I talk more professionally or use more words that are AI generated,

but in a way it really phrased my goals well or like phrased my purposes better, if that makes sense.

Okay, you're providing the outline, ChatGPT is providing the result.

What if that result is, you look at it and you're like, yeah, sure, that's pretty good.

Pass it off.

Is that the essay?

Yeah, yeah.

It's kind of like learning, like learning the ChatGPT as well.

It's like, it learns my habits and I learn its habit.

And I like improve myself based on what I learned from Chat.

Got it, love that.

Yes, Nick.

So along the similar line, I would say I want to keep as much of academic work to myself as possible,

because these are skills that I would actually like to learn and work through myself, because there might be a moment in an interview or in a job where I might not have access to AI,

and I actually did this myself.

But for personal projects, it's really good for getting the ball rolling.

It can take you from 0 to 25 really easily

if you give it a bullet list of points that you want to do.

And so I feel like that's like your own personal curiosity and like your own personal projects.

That is the kind of work that I would want to delegate first and then I can pick it up by myself.

Totally.

Has AI impacted your decision of what to major in?

So I don't think it's necessarily the major that teaches us what we want to do.

I think it's like all the experiences like outside of classes as well that kind of help us learn more about ourselves.

So I want to do startups personally.

If I look at a lot of people in the startup industry like today, A lot of them don't go to college, a lot of them are high school dropouts.

And I feel like the reason why they're able to succeed is because they know what they want to do.

So I feel like kind of looking at this question, I feel like what's more important is, do you know what you want to do with your major?

Like, do you know what kind of life you envision for yourself?

So I feel like if you know the answer to that question, I think it's more important to know how to do AI.

Yep, love that.

Absolutely.

So I'm an international relations major and, you know, at Stanford, it's like STEM versus humanities oftentimes, I feel like.

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But I realize I remain committed to my major, but my interests within my field have changed.

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And so instead of focusing on, you know, geopolitical conflicts, I'm trying to look at tech

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or how AI can influence a lot of national security issues, et cetera.

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Okay, so how AI impacts the field that you already wanted to study.

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Millie, I saw you nodding a lot throughout the last two.

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Do you want to add to that?

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Yeah, I agree with Drew.

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I personally also switched from CS to EE, and the reason is seeing CS being so good at coding.

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I started having like, exist enterprises, seeing it doing a better job than I do.

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So I feel like there are maybe other skills that maybe AI cannot do.

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But now I'm rebutting myself because I realized that, oh, actually it's getting so much better too as I'm getting better like am I like other stuff?

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So I would say like for me right now, it's like I see it as either you like be really good at CS

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and like invent like advanced a frontier of AI or like you use AI, like use it as like an application and you don't need to be like

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that deep into like the core behind AI

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if you want to like just like pull APIs and like use it on the applications.

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So I go to a top where I could also like use a lot of AI.

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Love it, love it.

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You don't need to know how to build a large language model yourself

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if you want to take advantage of all the benefits.

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Okay, cool.

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Yeah, so I guess building on top of that, obviously your major is important and learning how to learn is also important.

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So I think having academic rigorous classes is good for you.

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But I think in a world where we have chat to see our fingertips

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and where anyone can be technical if they just buy code, I think what sets people apart is the people skills like growing up like I was really shy

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and like I always had a hard time talking to people

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and so I think

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that in this like new like world where we have such

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a technical like aspect to each of us it's more important

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to also like be able to express yourself clearly um and so like one of the

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most interesting classes I'm in right now is like an improv class um actually with Roshan

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but um I I think in that class, I learned a lot more about expressing myself,

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thinking of my feet, and other skills that you don't necessarily think of as academic, but still very important for your life.

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Fascinating.

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You happen to be getting out of an academic class, but that's also something you can get out of a club, an extracurricular, something like that,

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which is interesting, because I think it kind of brings up maybe the major isn't the solution to the, how do I learn these other skills thing, necessarily.

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Do you trust that professors know how to teach in an AI world, or do you feel like you're learning faster than the curriculum update?

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Emily.

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So this class called Spy, Fly, and Algorithms, it's a class on American intelligence.

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And the professor this year just decided to try something new.

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We have to write a memo on the nuclear conflict in North Korea.

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And last year, like, the professor addressed the fact that people could just chat their entire memo.

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And so this year, she literally taught us how to use AI to help us find the right sources to create our memo.

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And a lot of our assignments are now structured around how are we interacting with AI to create this memo.

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And then part of our

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that memo assignment is now talking about like how did you interact with AI to find the sources,

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what were the gaps in the research or the sources that AI gave you, and you have to like actually talk it out with your TA.

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And so now there's a lot more like AI proof initiatives in my classes that you notice.

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Love that.

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More AI proof initiatives.

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It's similar to what Emily was talking about, about her professor given the opportunity to do this.

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In one of my classes, they actually require you to use ChatGPT.

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Or like not only ChatGPT, but also like, for example, you have to use ChatGPT for specific tasks.

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You also have to use notebook L.M for like analyzing like large numbers of papers.

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You have to use, like for example, we have to conduct a lot of interviews

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and you have to ask people who you take interviews with and transcribe it with AI.

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So I think also sometimes there are those professors who just give you opportunity to learn with AI

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and I think some of my professors do it now

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because we're going to graduate to the world where we're going to have AI

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and I think that is really crucial to just give us this chance

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and requirement as well yeah

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so actually requiring you to use the ai not just uh wondering

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if it's happening in the background yeah

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so i feel like i align more with the second point like i worked on a project in high school

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that like allowed students to like use uh like passing a youtube video

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and then like learn

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that material like online uh by like passing it to chat with you through like a transcription

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but i feel like that just allows people to learn

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so much faster right

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but you have an available tutor at all times right it

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doesn't your professor needs to take some time to respond to all of his emails, right?

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So this is just immediate, right?

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And then you can get like quiz questions, all of this material just like on the fly, right?

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So I think that sort of experience of just learning immediately and then maybe somebody with a greater like, you know, depth of that subject, maybe you go to them later,

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but I think you can learn much faster through the use of AI.

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Do you think most of your peers use ChatGPT that way?

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I unfortunately don't think so.

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I think the majority of people will just let it like supplement everything they do, But I think if we have a focused environment where you are forced to learn it,

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along with ShadDZ giving you some information and hints, that's the best way to learn.

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There needs to be a critical thinking aspect to it.

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Cool.

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Who else resonates with that or wants to offer a kind of perspective?

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Yeah.

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Theoretically, I think AI can definitely be used as a tool

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that can help all of us learn a lot quicker than we have been learning.

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But what I noticed from some of my friends is that it doesn't necessarily supplement it.

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Sometimes they use it to fully replace it.

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And so I think that's part of the dangers with using really, really powerful models like ChatGBT,

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because they're so good now that it can be used to solve a whole lot of questions.

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And we should be using it as a tool instead of something that fully replaces our thinking.

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Okay, cool.

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Yeah.

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I'd argue that the assignments that professors have been setting haven't been changed like what they've been doing in previous years.

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And I feel like they've been set in a world that didn't have AI.

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And if the goal of college is to prepare people for a future workforce where you have AI access to knowledge,

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your fingertips, then the learning should be like an assessment should be given in a way that limits that.

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So they could prepare for a workforce where the barrier is in knowledge, you know, inaccessibility.

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But it's how do you put information together on a pretty big place?

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Okay.

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Okay, if the purpose of college is to prepare us for the workforce after college,

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Stefan, Che, earlier, the purpose of college is to learn about who we are and learn about ourselves.

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Just pinning these on the board as we talk

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because we're going to come back to this idea of the purpose of college here in one of our later questions.

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When AI can assist in essays, projects, code, how should this university measure your success, your intelligence?

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I think there's two parts of this.

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I think one is like the high school level one where they're like, okay, AI, it can assist, so we're not going to allow it to and do your other essays in class.

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You know, that was like a huge switch.

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And now I think that's being reassessed as in, okay, this tool is like actually going to exist.

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So we have to figure out how, you know, we incorporate that.

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But then I think at the university level, you know, again, you can't ignore it.

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It's going to be a part of things.

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But then also, like everything, AI is still a product, you know, and there's still a lot of profitability within it.

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And companies like OpenAI have different price models.

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So I think part of it is also exploring inequities within students' ability to use AI.

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If everyone has access to base, but then someone else is premium, and they're all being graded the same, and they're allowed to use Chats of ET,

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but one person can go through 400 articles of five minutes, and other people can only use three, is that fair?

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So should Stanford, I think like, I have an excellent, should Stanford be paying for everyone to have at least some premium version

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so that everyone has an equal base playing field.

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And then when you're measuring success, it's not based on can you afford 20 extra dollars a month to get a premium or not.

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I mean, it depends on how you measure success.

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Like if you're trying to evaluate how well a person could ask JAT-GPT to implement an algorithm, then you should be able to use AI in your class, right?

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But if you're taking a class like 106b, where you're learning about all sorts of algorithms and the objective

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and kind of expectation is that you're going to be able to finish that class and be able to implement them yourself.

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I do believe that it still makes sense to kind of like evaluate

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and test students on their ability to come up with this in an environment devoid of AI.

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Yeah, I think it's just a reality that we have to deal with.

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We're going to have to use AI.

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We need to get good at it.

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And I think the way to measure

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that is to say like how well do you understand what you just built in two seconds, right?

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If you've If you've got code of something, how much do you understand what it's good at, what it's bad at?

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Can you debug if there's an issue?

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I think that's what they should be measuring.

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If you build something quickly, we should be asked questions about what we built, maybe find something really quick.

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That's what they should be testing.

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They should be testing how well you understand the thing that you just built with AI.

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Your generation has the most powerful tools and yet perhaps the most uncertain future.

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Very plainly, how does this make you feel?

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Yeah, I feel both excited and scared.

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And it could be like full of excitement or full of fear, depending on the day and depending on the time.

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It's so weird because I feel like I'm so excited in the sense

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that the first time that I used AI to generate a website

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or generate an image or I was so annoyed that I have to go and design this poster.

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But now with ChachiPT, I could design a flyer instantly.

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I was just so relieved and so excited that I could spread this message.

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But then sometimes I also feel very scared

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because like I just don't know like AI is able to do all these things

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that I've been learning about like web development for, for, you know, like spending three years like really honing my skills.

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What am I going to do in the future?

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Like is AI going to like continuously improve and take over some of this kind of cognitive work?

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And so what's very interesting is that like, what I know from psychology is that like, when we are both like scared and when we're both excited,

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we're actually engaging the same kind of autonomic nervous system.

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And it's really a matter of perspective sometimes that, what kind of emotion that we're feeling.

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And so I think it's just interesting.

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It's like very fluctuating and it's very, very interesting times.

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Cool.

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I love that spectrum, that kind of binary, excited, excited and afraid.

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Obviously there's so much nuance here, but I'm on purpose gonna make it really black and white.

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I'm gonna ask, raise your hand if you feel more excited than afraid.

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And then I'm gonna say, raise your hand if you feel more fearful than excited.

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Okay, so think to yourself which one you're gonna raise.

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Okay, raise your hand if you feel more excited than afraid.

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Okay, raise your hand if you feel more afraid than excited.

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Okay.

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Let's hear two voices from each.

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why I feel like I'm scared of it, but also at the same time, like I know that like being scared of it like does me no good.

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Like all I need to do is like to look at the solution to see like, like so yeah, that is like the fact now.

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So where do we go from there?

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So I feel like I'm just like more cautious, but also at the same time, I understand that this is like just reality.

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Totally.

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Well, I appreciate you guys being willing to chat that side because I know I forced you into an impossible binary.

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Final thoughts, Sid.

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To add on to what Neha said, I think it's interesting because I think our end goal has now, like, we're thinking too small.

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Like, we need to think of, like, really broad end goals.

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And, like, sure, building a website right now, that might be an end goal.

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But tomorrow might be to build, like, you know, hundreds of websites every day.

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And, like, you know, I think we think too small.

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Like, this is more efficiency, so therefore we should be able to push that end goal further and do so much more and tackle those big problems, like, exploring other planets, you know, stuff like that.

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So think more broadly.

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I love it.

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Thank you so much you guys.

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That is our last question which brings us to the end of our presentation.

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Give yourselves a round of applause.

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A hand or a round of applause.

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73 sentences

Speaking Goals for This Clip

This video helps you practice conversational fluency and topic expansion, key milestones for English learners. The dialogue features natural back-and-forth discussions about using AI tools, which mirrors real-life conversations. By engaging with this content, you’ll learn to express nuanced opinions, ask follow-up questions, and clarify ideas—skills critical for confident English speaking practice.

Phrase Bank

"I think I'm trying to give it as much grunt work as I can" – Useful for describing task delegation.
"That way I feel like I'm learning" – Expresses purpose behind a choice.
"I independently came to the same opinion" – Shows agreement with a unique perspective.
"It's the difference between knowledge and decision" – A clear way to contrast concepts.
"I've come to realize that" – Introduces a new insight.

Fix Your Weak Spots

This clip is ideal for practicing shadowing technique to improve rhythm and intonation. The speakers use casual, conversational pacing with pauses and emphasis (e.g., "But, like, I was writing a research paper the other day"). Use a shadowing app to mimic their tone—pay attention to how they stress words like "critical thinking" or "100% knows how to do." Focus on "shadow speech" by repeating phrases immediately after the speakers to build muscle memory for natural flow. Pairing this with English speaking practice using videos like this will help you sound more like a native, as you’ll learn to balance pauses, stress, and connected speech.

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	have been learning · have been setting · I've been learning
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	are now structured · are forced · been changed
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've come · has taken · have changed
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	about, which is · people who you

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 →

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