Shadowing Practice: What to say in your daily standup - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Daily stand-up meetings, they can be terrifying for someone with basic English skills
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Daily stand-up meetings, they can be terrifying for someone with basic English skills
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and that's because talking in front of other people
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and being the center of attention while you're explaining something in English
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when you don't feel confident doing so can be a real challenge.
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What is a daily stand-up meeting?
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A daily stand-up meeting is a short meeting
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that lasts for about 15 minutes and it's meant to plan for the next 24 hours.
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It helps the team be on the same page
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because it creates an understanding of what everyone in the team is working on.
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It's usually held in the morning every day at the same time
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and place and it's called stand-up because people are usually Standing up to keep the energy high.
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That's very important.
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These kind of meetings.
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They have to be Short and in sharp and you have to focus and contribute
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Daily stand-up meetings can be held in two ways
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The first method is called round robin
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and in this method people are sitting in a circle and they go one by one answering three questions.
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What did I work on yesterday?
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What am I working on today?
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And what is blocking me?
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We're going to go back to these questions later in the video.
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The other method is called walking the board
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and in this method there's a board with all the tasks
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and each team member stands and picks the tasks they're working on
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and I talk about the progress they made and the blockers
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and other people in the team can offer to help with those blockers to help this person make progress.
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What is the challenge with these stand-up meetings?
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Well, if English is not your first language and you're struggling a little bit with English,
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you may face two main challenges.
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The first one is not knowing how to say what you want to say.
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And the second one is not paying attention to what the other people are saying
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because you're too worried about what you have to say.
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And if you do that,
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you're missing the point of the daily standard meeting.
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So how do you avoid that?
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By preparing your answers to the three questions that we mentioned before.
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Let's see how to do that.
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How do you answer these questions?
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To answer these questions, the first thing
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that you have to take into account is the tense that you use to answer them.
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So for example, to answer the question,
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what did I work on yesterday?
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You have to use the simple past and say something like,
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yesterday I worked on this and that.
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To answer the question, what am I working on today?
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You can use the future and say something like,
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today I will work on this and that or today I am going to work on this and that.
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You can also use the future continues and say,
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today I will be working on this and that.
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And you can also use a simple present and say,
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today my plan is to do this and that.
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Now, how do you answer the question, what is blocking me?
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Well, here you can use the simple present and say,
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my main block or my main impediment is this and that
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and you can also use the present continuous
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and say what is blocking me
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or what is preventing me from making progress is this and that let me give you some concrete examples
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yesterday i worked on a bug that was causing the invoice price not to have gst included
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Today I'm going to work on generating a PDF receipt.
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What's blocking me is the integration with Xero because I'm waiting for the credentials.
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Yesterday I worked on getting the survey responses from the provider.
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Today I will finish that and start working on the address validator component.
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Nothing is currently blocking me.
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Yesterday, I worked on the test scripts for the ordering flow.
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Today, I will start the test automation for invoice generation.
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I can't move forward with testing in Pre-Prod because I'm waiting for that environment to be set up.
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So when other person is talking about what's blocking them,
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you can offer to help.
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And for that, you can use several expressions.
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For example, you can say,
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I can help you out with that,
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or I can give you a hand with that,
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let me help you with that,
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or why don't I give you a hand or help you,
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do you want me to help you,
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would you like me to help you,
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or would you like me to give you a hand,
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I'd be happy to help you,
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I'd be happy to give you a hand,
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I'd be glad to help,
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or do you want me to have a look?
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So remember this, confidence comes with preparation and practice.
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Prepare well, you already know what the questions are going to be,
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so you can write your answers in Spanish
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and translate it into English using the Google Translate
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or any other translator that you you know
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but please please please use your common sense to improve those
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translations you can also write your answers on a Google Doc
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and see what the autocorrect feature suggests so you can improve it
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that way and make sure
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that you know how to pronounce the verbs in the past both irregular
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and regular and then repeat so repeat answering these questions
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and why do I talk about repetition
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because the more you say your answers the easier
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and the more natural they will come in the future you can kind of
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because the questions are always set you can kind of memorize a template in your mind
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and then you fill in the blanks with whatever tasks you're doing at the moment
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so remember preparation and repetition practice
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that was it for today I hope you have enjoyed this video
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and all the best in your next daily stand-up meeting see you next time bye
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Thank you.

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Why practice speaking with this video?

Daily stand-up meetings are a vital part of many workplaces, and they can pose a unique challenge for individuals who are learning English. Engaging in these meetings can be intimidating, especially if you lack confidence in your speaking abilities. However, practicing with this video can significantly enhance your English speaking practice. By observing and mimicking the speaker, you can develop your fluency and comfort when discussing your work in English.

This video allows you to learn the essential phrases and structures required in stand-up meetings. It provides you with a practical scenario to apply your English skills, focusing on daily communication that is crucial in professional environments. This focused practice will make you feel more at ease when it's time to share updates and challenges with your team.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

In this video, the speaker uses several key structures that are essential for daily stand-up meetings. Here are a few significant examples:

  • Simple Past Tense: To discuss past activities, such as "Yesterday I worked on…" This structure allows you to effectively communicate what you've accomplished.
  • Future Tense: To express plans, using phrases like "Today I will work on…" or "Today I am going to work on…". This helps in informing others about your current objectives.
  • Present Continuous: The speaker mentions, "Today I will be working on…", which emphasizes ongoing actions and is useful in collaborative settings.

By practicing these grammatical structures, you can improve your ability to communicate clearly and effectively during meetings. Try using the shadowing technique—mimic the speaker’s phrases and intonation to grasp how to structure your responses.

Common Pronunciation Traps

One of the challenges in learning English, especially in a professional context, is pronunciation. In the video, certain words and phrases may pose difficulties, particularly for non-native speakers:

  • Energy: The speaker emphasizes keeping energy high; pay attention to the stress in this word—it's pronounced with a strong 'en' sound.
  • Blocker: This term is frequently used in project discussions; make sure to pronounce it clearly, emphasizing the "block" syllable.
  • Focus: This important concept is often mispronounced. Ensure you’re articulating the 'f' sound distinctly to convey your message effectively.

By recognizing these common pronunciation traps, you can fine-tune your speaking skills. Engage with this content regularly as you learn English with YouTube, and consider combining this practice with a shadowing site to enhance your learning experience further.

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.

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