Shadowing Practice: When One Door Closes, Stop Crying & Walk Up The Hall! | Steve Harvey - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
I mean, it is what it is, you know.
2
It's COVID.
3
This is the first time that the entire world has had the exact same problem.
4
I mean, we just have to deal with it, you know.
5
It's not just happening for Americans.
6
It's not just happening for the poor.
7
Rich people catching it.
8
You understand?
9
This can attack anybody.
10
So it's something we all got to pay attention to.
11
A lot of people are looking at this the wrong way.
12
There is a blessing in everything.
13
Behind every moment of adversity in your life, there is a blessing and a lesson.
14
Every moment of adversity has those two things.
15
Pain always leaves a gift.
16
Always.
17
It's not going to change for you.
18
It's COVID for everybody.
19
Say just you.
20
Your world 42 ain't finna crumble cause you got to change your career.
21
You have to change your career.
22
You just set it in the question.
23
Maybe it was time for you to move on.
24
Somebody sent me a plaque one day that said, don't worry about the people that God has removed from your life.
25
He saw things you didn't see.
26
He heard conversations you couldn't hear.
27
And he saw he made moves you wouldn't make.
28
Come on. And that's it.
29
So when COVID happens, people get, oh, this door closing, my business closed, my job closed.
30
When a door gets shut, all you gotta do is walk up the hall.
31
It's Mo Do's.
32
This is God.
33
God is, he's everything, man.
34
He got everything.
35
You ain't gotta, you ain't gotta worry about cause your company closed.
36
This ain't the only company.
37
Could it be that he's setting you up for an upward move?
38
But now if you're gonna stay there and cry, see here go the problem with you though.
39
Okay, they close your company.
40
You stand at the door, open the door, open the door.
41
The company's closed.
42
You gotta open back up, get some more investors, open your company.
43
Could it be that all he wants you to do is go, wow, it's been great, been some years, walk up the hall.
44
Could it be that there's a different door
45
that he wants you to go through that was better than the door that got shut in your face?
46
It's really, you have to live your life in the expectation of wonderful things happening.
47
God is a merciful God.
48
He didn't bring you this far to leave you.
49
He didn't set you up to fail.
50
You're tripping.
51
You're tripping, man.
52
He only wants to progress his children.
53
That's all he wanna do.
54
Even if you wrong, he forgives us.
55
Just keep moving, man, it ain't nothing.
56
This thing right here, really, man, you gotta look.
57
So many good things have happened to me.
58
Now look, I was having some painful moments in this, like you, but hey, I look for the bright side, man.
59
I expect something good to happen.
60
I'm back at work.
61
I don't know what he was doing, But he'd have made a move for me, cause I ask him to all the time.
62
And then I just sit in expectation and wait and see what he got for me.
63
Cause he got something for me.
64
People, somebody asked me a question the other day, if you could go back to any period in your life, what period would you go back to?
65
I ain't ever had it this good.
66
This is the best my life ever been.
67
You gotta be nuts.
68
Man, you wouldn't wanna be 25 again?
69
Are you kidding me?
70
The 25 year old dude that was me?
71
I'm so glad that idiot is gone.
72
No. 63 years old, man.
73
It's the best my life ever been.
74
You know what I'm saying?
75
But that's the scripture though.
76
If you honor me, your latter days will be greater.
77
So all I do, I just honor him and he gonna keep shining on me.
78
I gotta figure it out.
79
I ain't even worried.
80
2020 was a rough year.
81
Some of them, another kid said, 2020 man, it's gotta be the roughest year of our lives.
82
I got news for you.
83
This ain't even close.
84
This ain't even close to the roughest year of my life, partner.
85
I got some years.
86
He said, you've had a worse year than this?
87
Then he started naming all this stuff.
88
Kobe Bryant died.
89
Oh, dog, my mama died.
90
You was hurt when Kobe died.
91
My mama left this earth.
92
I like COVID, we was boys, it was huge.
93
But that wasn't bigger than my mama dying though.
94
Let me tell you something boy.
95
I thought they was gonna take me up out of here boy when that girl left, cause I was mad.
96
Doctor said, I don't think your mother's gonna make it.
97
I said, well cool, you ain't either.
98
That was my first reaction.
99
Your mama ain't gonna make it.
100
you ain't either.
101
That's the dude I was at 40.
102
My mama ain't gonna make it, I tell you what.
103
Why you in here talking to me?
104
You better get in there and get to doing something because if she don't make it, you ain't either.
105
And me and my brothers was dead serious.
106
They was dead serious.
107
We gonna kill him.
108
That stupid ass went, yeah.
109
My oldest brother said, we gonna kill him.
110
Me and my brother said, yeah.
111
My father came in there and said, Y'all ain't got nothing to do with this.
112
That's my wife.
113
I ain't gonna kill him, what you gonna kill him for?
114
That's a crazy conversation, ain't it?
115
Well, God changed people, so.
116
Sure glad he changed me.
117
All right, come on!
118
Now let me know I bull you not.
119
I was in trouble, man.
120
God saved me for real.
121
When I tell you God saved me, he saved me for real, man.
122
He gave me a gift, man.
123
If I wasn't using this gift, I don't know what I was gonna do.
124
I can't do nothing else.
125
I entertain, I tell jokes.
126
I can't do nothing, I can't.
127
Can't draw, can't paint your house.
128
I don't like fixing cars.
129
I ain't good at math.
130
Can't teach.
131
That's a lawsuit if I get any teacher.
132
Sit your , sit the down.
133
Check your!
134
Can't be a teacher talking like that.
135
Teachers gotta have a lot of patience.
136
I ain't got no patience.
137
Yeah, I'd be in trouble, man.
138
I don't know what I'd do.
139
I tried a lot of stuff before I got into comedy, man.
140
I had about 11 jobs before I got into comedy.
141
Out of them 11 jobs, probably 10, 11 jobs.
142
I've probably been fired probably 10, 11 times.
143
I'm not a great employee, man.
144
I'm a hard worker, but I don't like, you know the problem I had, man?
145
I never met a person that I thought was supposed to be my boss.
146
That was my whole problem.
147
I never met the person that I thought should have been in charge of me.
148
I just, you know, I wasn't arrogant.
149
I just never met the person that I thought should be in charge of me.
150
I always had a different spirit.
151
I thought I would be the best person to be the boss, me.
152
I just had to find something I could be the boss.
153
And comedy was it.
154
I didn't need a partner.
155
You ain't gotta have a team.
156
You're totally dependent on how you do.
157
It's the only profession that you cannot take a lesson for.
158
You know, you can take a drum lesson, piano lesson.
159
You go to school, be a doctor, dentist, architect.
160
You can go to school, learn how to be a scientist.
161
You can go to school, learn how to play the piano, acting lessons, singing lessons.
162
You can't go to school for comedy.
163
There is not a course you can take, and when you finish taking it, your is funny.
164
It does not exist.
165
It's a very, very unique skill set, man.
166
And God gave it to me.
167
And that's the thing about, I tell people all the time, if you can identify your God-given gift,
168
that's your greatest chance for success.
169
Because God gave all of you a gift.
170
All of you are gifted, every last one of you.
171
God gave you a gift at birth.
172
He gave it to you.
173
Everybody, you don't have to go to school for it.
174
He gave it to you at birth.
175
You ain't gotta look for it, it's inside you.
176
It's the thing that you do the absolute best with the least amount of effort.
177
That's your God-given gift.
178
When you are living in your gift, when you get up in the morning to go to work, you're overjoyed.
179
This is how you know you're not living in your gift.
180
If you are waking up in the morning and you can't stand waking up
181
cause you don't want to go to your job, it's because you are not living in your God given gift.
182
God created you to have a life of abundance, to wake up in a joyous spirit.
183
If you're not, it's because you have not tuned in to what God created you for.
184
That's all.
185
You know, I know it, look man, I know it sounds simplistic, but it really is the truth.
186
The Bible says your gift will make room for you.
187
Your gift.
188
Once you identify that gift, the thing that you do the absolute best with, you can stop doing everything else.
189
If you do hair better than everybody else, then you're supposed to be doing hair.
190
If you cut grass better than anybody else, you should be cutting grass.
191
If you bake pie better than anybody else, you oughta be somewhere baking pie.
192
If everybody gots to have your fried chicken, you oughta be somewhere making chicken.
193
What is you down there at the plant for, driving the truck when clearly God made you to be a chef or to be a caregiver?
194
That's what he made you for.
195
Anything else you're doing, man, you're wasting your time.
196
And you only got one life.
197
You oughta drop what you're doing and go do it before you mess around and die.
198
I heard Bishop Jake's talking one time.
199
Bishop Jake said, I would hate to die and never do the thing I was born to do.
200
I would hate to do that.
201
I never, man.
202
I'm so glad God gave me what I came to do and I found it.
203
So I wake up overjoyed.
204
I wake up in the morning, my alarm go off, I ain't tripping.
205
Matter of fact, I don't even set my alarm.
206
I haven't set my alarm in years, because I wake up.
207
I can't wait to get up.
208
I'm gonna go down here and tell some jokes.
209
They gonna give me a check?
210
What?
211
Wait a minute.
212
You mean I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna play music on a radio show for four hours.
213
When I ain't playing music, I'm telling some more jokes.
214
They gonna give me a check?
215
What?
216
I come down here, I meet y'all.
217
You know what I do?
218
I tell jokes.
219
Your gift will make room for you.
220
That's what it did for me.
221
Your gift do the same thing for you.
222
You just got to identify it and go do it.
223
Stop wasting your time down there at these jobs.
224
They ain't got nothing to do with you.
225
Well, first of all success is not fame or money
226
You just get that out the way success is Living your best life with the gift that God gave you That's success
227
That's what success is If you were born to teach and you're teaching, that's success.
228
If you were born to care, that's success.
229
If you were born to be a first responder, to serve and protect, if you were born to serve the military and you're in the military, that's success.
230
It ain't money or fame.
231
There's a lot of people got money and fame.
232
That ain't success, man.
233
That's hard anyway.
234
So that's really what I would call success.
235
I'm successful in my own right because I took the gift God gave me and I just, I pounded it, man.
236
I just pounded it.
237
I just did this gift he gave me and I just worked it, worked it, worked it, worked it.
238
Well, I kept the faith the whole time, but the whole time I was believing I was working.
239
Faith without works is dead.
240
You can believe all you want.
241
If you ain't gonna put no effort behind it.
242
So I just pounded the gift.
243
It just so happens I have a gift that I've learned to multiply.
244
And then I put some financial goals to it.
245
And through the grace of God, I got it.
246
I mean, you know, but really, if you look at my life, it's really God's grace, man, because I don't really deserve the life I have.
247
I really don't.
248
I don't work no harder than no other man in here.
249
This is favor.
250
God just showed me favor, man.
251
He just gave me a life way bigger than the one I was...
252
The one I was planning on wasn't this big.
253
I ain't see all this happening.
254
That's why it kills when people win awards and they go, you know, I always knew I'd be here.
255
Really?
256
I'd be stunned when I watch people on award shows.
257
You know, I always knew I'd be here.
258
I dreamed of this.
259
Really?
260
You dreamed of this?
261
I didn't.
262
I didn't even know this existed.
263
I didn't know nothing about no jets.
264
I was a little boy.
265
Jet, I wanted a bike.
266
You know, people kill me, man.
267
They get there, and they don't say nothing to God about it.
268
That's why your hand don't go back there on your back, because it don't belong back there.
269
You ever tried to pat yourself on the back?
270
It don't go back there, because it don't belong back there.
271
And you got people, man, get up on these award shows, And they don't mention God.
272
They ain't got nothing to say to God.
273
They go, I had a fire manager one time.
274
I was on stage thanking God at this award show.
275
When I came on stage, you know, Steve always getting on stage thanking God.
276
He don't ever thank the people.
277
I went, whoa.
278
Whoa, dog, hold on.
279
When you take yourself to put yourself in front of God on the list of things I should be thanking, it's time for me and you to separate.
280
Because I don't know who you think you are.
281
You're not it, bro.
282
You're not the reason he wouldn't told everybody who's reason for my success, but you're not I made him will make another one I got better idea make yourself
283
Just go make you If you know how to make a star make yourself one it pay good
284
You ain't even got to go find a client just do you So,
285
you know man, I just that's my that's my thing I'm going to go to the next video.
📺 Same Channel
B13
Life Changing Advice From Steve Harvey: Trust God's Perfect Timing
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B13
Top 5 SENSATIONAL Kids | Steve Harvey
KidsTeensDaily Conversation
B123
Don’t give up
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B24
Life Changing Advice From Steve Harvey: Ask God For Big Things
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B23
One of My Old Stand-Up Performances 😀 #shorts #steveharvey #standup
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B12
Any time I get to chop it up with one of the Wayans brothers, you know it’s gonna be a good time!
TeensDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B21
Everything Starts In Your Mind | Steve Harvey
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B16
Young Sheldon Tries to Guess 80s Items! 😂 | Steve Harvey
TeensDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B21
Steve Harvey’s POWERFUL Advice: Believe in Your Journey | Steve Harvey Motivational Talks
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A1Little Presidential Tommy Has Us All Cracking Up! | Steve Harvey
KidsDaily Conversation
B2Manifesting 101: How to Force the Universe to Deliver | Steve Harvey
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2How To Block Negative Thoughts | Motivated
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2Thinking Higher | Motivated
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2The Two Sides | Motivated +
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2Loyalty Has an Expiration Date | Steve Harvey
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2God Got You: Why Faith and Gratitude Will Change Your Life | Steve Harvey
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
✨ Recommend Video
B22
156 sentences
Steve Harvey's Motivational Speech Will Change Your Future!
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B210
192 sentences
Growing Older Means Learning That Closure Is a Luxury | B2 English Shadowing
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
28 sentences
MADEA - LET THEM GO | LIFE CHANGING SPEECH (MUST WATCH!!)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
40 sentences
Trust God's Timing | Steven Furtick
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
109 sentences
Give me 5 minutes to show you WHY it's gonna be okay *no matter what*
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2116 sentences
The Wake Up Call | Powerful Speech By Sheikh Khalid Yasin
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B123
11 sentences
One Conversation That Defined a Life | Pursuit of Happyness
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
159 sentences
God says ignore your reality.
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2651 sentences
Walk Alone, Build Yourself!|Powerful Motivational Jim Rohn Speech | Discipline Self Growth & Success
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
121 sentences
You Are Closer To Getting Rich Than You Think...
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
49 sentences
Oprah_ Why You Must Trust Your Intuition and Change Your Mind #intuition #selftrust #oprah #wisdom
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “When One Door Closes, Stop Crying & Walk Up The Hall!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: gift, success, gave. This video has 285 sentences and 2541 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:28. The speaker talks at a natural 164 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| adversity noun | /ædˈvɜː.sɪ.ti/ | The state of adverse conditions; state of misfortune or calamity. |
| overjoyed adjective | /ˌoʊvɚˈd͡ʒɔɪd/ | Very happy. |
| whoa | /woʊ/ | Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down. |
| bake verb | /beɪk/ | To cook (something) in an oven (for someone). |
| expectation noun | /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/ | The act or state of expecting or looking forward to an event as about to happen. |
| blessing noun | /ˈblɛs.ɪŋ/ | Some kind of divine or supernatural aid, or reward. |
| patience noun | /ˈpeɪ̯.ʃəns/ | The quality of being patient. |
| caregiver noun | /ˈkɛɹɡɪvɚ/ | A carer; a person who looks after another person. |
| crumble verb | /ˈkɹʌmbəl/ | To fall apart; to disintegrate. |
| joyous adjective | /ˈd͡ʒɔɪəs/ | Full of joy; happy. |
| merciful adjective | /ˈmɝ.sɪ.fl̩/ | Showing mercy. |
| multiply verb | /ˈmʌltɪplaɪ/ | To increase the amount, degree or number of (something). |
| responder noun | /ɹɪˈspɒndə/ | One who responds. |
| simplistic adjective | /sɪmˈplɪstɪk/ | Overly simple. |
| plaque noun | /plæk/ | Any flat, thin piece of clay, ivory, metal, etc., used for ornament, or for painting pictures upon, as a dish, plate, slab, etc., hung upon a wall; also, a… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. | |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. | |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. | |
| go off verb | To explode. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Could it be that he's setting you up for an upward move?
- You know what I'm saying?
- He said, you've had a worse year than this?
- Why you in here talking to me?
- They gonna give me a check?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has had · has removed · it's been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was hurt · been fired · are gifted |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 145 contractions and reduced forms, such as ain't, don't, gonna. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/, patience /ˈpeɪ̯.ʃəns/, profession /pɹəˈfɛʃ.ən/, shine /ʃaɪn/
- Long words — get the stress right: adversity /ædˈvɜː.sɪ.ti/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like adversity, overjoyed, whoa.
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.