Shadowing Practice: Why Do We Fear What People Think? | A2 English Shadowing - Learn English Speaking with Video
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193 sentences
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Many people feel afraid when they think about other people's ideas.
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They worry about words, faces, and small actions.
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They ask, do they like me?
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Do they think I am good?
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Do they think I am strange?
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This fear is quiet, but it is strong.
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It can stay in the heart for a long time.
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When we are children, we want love.
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A baby looks at the mother and father.
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The baby smiles when they smile.
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The baby cries when they look angry.
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From a very young age, we learn that people's faces are important.
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A happy face means we are safe.
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An angry face means something is wrong.
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So we grow up and we watch faces.
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We listen to voices.
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We try to understand what people think about us.
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At school, this fear becomes bigger.
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A child stands in front of the class.
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The teacher asks a question.
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The child knows the answer, but the child feels afraid.
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What if I say the wrong thing?
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What if my friends laugh?
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The heart beats fast.
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The hands feel cold.
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Sometimes the child stays quiet.
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The child chooses silence because silence feels safe.
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In this moment, the fear of people's thoughts is stronger than the wish to speak.
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When we are teenagers, this fear can become very strong.
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Teenagers want friends.
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They want to be part of a group.
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They look at clothes, hair, shoes, and phones.
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They think, if I look different, people will not like me
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So they try to look the same
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They try to talk the same They hide parts of themselves
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They do not always show their real ideas They want to feel accepted They think acceptance means safety As adults,
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the fear does not disappear It changes shape At work, a person has a meeting The boss is in the room.
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The person has an idea, but again there is fear.
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What if my boss thinks I am not smart?
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What if my co-workers think my idea is bad?
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So the person stays quiet.
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Later, the person feels sad.
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The idea was good, but fear was stronger.
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On social media, this fear can grow very fast.
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A person takes a photo.
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Before they post it, they look at it many times.
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Do I look nice?
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Will people like this?
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After they post it, they check again and again.
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How many likes?
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How many comments?
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If there are many likes, they feel happy.
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If there are few likes, they feel bad.
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Their mood goes up and down because of other people's clicks.
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It is like giving a heart to strangers.
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But why do we care so much?
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One reason is that humans are not alone animals.
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We live in groups.
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Long ago, people lived in small groups in nature.
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If the group did not like you, you were alone.
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Alone in nature was dangerous.
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So our brain learned something simple.
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Stay with the group stay safe even now our brain still
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has this old idea it tells us be careful do not lose the group another reason is
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that we want to feel important we want to feel seen
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when someone says you did a good job we feel warm inside when someone says you are wrong we feel pain
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Words can feel like a gift or like a knife.
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Because words are powerful, we become careful.
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We try to avoid the knife.
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We try to find the gift.
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Sometimes we fear what people think because we fear rejection.
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Rejection means someone says, I do not choose you.
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This can happen in love, in friendship, or at work.
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When someone does not choose us, we may think, maybe I am not good.
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We may forget that one person's choice is not the truth about our value.
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But the heart does not always listen to logic.
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The heart feels pain first.
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There is also another reason.
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We often think people think about us all the time.
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But this is not true.
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Most people think about themselves.
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They think about their own problems, their own fears, their own dreams When you walk in the street and feel shy, you may think
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Everyone is looking at me
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But many people are busy with their own thoughts They are
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not looking at you They are thinking about their life When we fear what people think,
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we can change our behavior We may not wear the clothes we like We may not say the ideas we believe.
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We may not try new things.
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We build a small box around ourselves.
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Inside the box, we feel safe, but we also feel small.
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We cannot grow in a small box.
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Growth needs space and courage.
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Imagine a young woman who loves to paint.
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She wants to share her art online, but she thinks, what if people say it is ugly?
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So she keeps her paintings in her room.
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Years pass.
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She becomes better and better, but no one sees her work.
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One day, she decides to share one painting.
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Some people like it.
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Some people do not.
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But something changes.
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She feels free.
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She understands that different opinions are normal.
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Not everyone will love her art, and that is okay.
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Fear of people's thoughts can also stop love.
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A man likes a woman.
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He wants to talk to her.
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But he thinks, what if she says no?
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So he says nothing.
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Days pass.
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Weeks pass.
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The chance is gone.
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Later, he feels regret.
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Regret can be stronger than fear.
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At least when we try, we know the answer.
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When we do not try, we always ask, what if?
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So how can we live with this fear?
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First, we can accept that it is normal.
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Almost everyone feels it.
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You are not strange if you worry about people's opinions.
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Second, we can ask, whose opinion is really important?
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Is it everyone's opinion or only the opinion of kind and honest people?
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Not all voices are equal.
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Some people do not know you.
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Some people do not care about you.
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Why give them so much power?
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We can also learn to listen to our own voice.
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Inside you, there is a quiet voice.
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It says what you like, what you believe, what you want.
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This voice is sometimes soft because outside voices are loud.
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But if you stay quiet and listen, you can hear it.
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When you follow your own voice, you feel strong.
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Even if someone does not agree, you still stand.
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It is also helpful to make small, brave actions.
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You do not need to change your life in one day.
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You can start small.
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Share one idea in a meeting.
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Wear one piece of clothing you love.
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Say hello to someone new.
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After each small action, you will see that the world does not end.
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Maybe someone will not like it, but many times nothing bad happens.
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Your brain slowly learns that fear is not always truth.
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We should remember that people's opinions change.
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Today someone may not like you.
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Tomorrow they may respect you.
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Today someone may laugh at your dream.
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Tomorrow they may ask you how you did it.
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If you change your life for every opinion, you will feel tired.
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You will move left and right all the time.
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But if you choose your own direction, you can walk straight.
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There is a big difference between listening and fearing.
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Listening means you are open.
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You hear feedback.
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You think about it.
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If it is useful, you use it.
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If it is not useful, you let it go.
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Fearing means you feel small.
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You think every word is a big truth.
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You forget your own value.
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Listening makes you grow.
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Fearing makes you hide.
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When we stop living only for other people's thoughts, something beautiful happens.
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We feel lighter.
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We laugh more.
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We try more things.
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We accept mistakes.
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We understand that mistakes are part of being human.
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No one is perfect.
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Even the people we admire make mistakes.
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But they continue.
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They do not stop because of every opinion.
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Think about your life now?
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How many choices do you make because you truly want them?
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And how many choices do you make because you are afraid of what people will say?
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This question is simple, but the answer can change your life.
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If you choose only to please everyone, you may lose yourself.
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But if you choose to be honest with yourself, you may lose some approval, yet you will find peace.
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In the end, people will always think something.
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You cannot control their minds.
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You cannot close their mouths.
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But you can control your steps.
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You can choose to walk, even when nobody claps.
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You can choose to speak, even when your voice shakes.
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You can choose to live your life, not a life made from fear.
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Why do we fear what people think?
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Because we want love, safety, and acceptance.
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Because we are human, but we can learn something new.
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We can learn that our value is not a number of likes, not one comment, not one rejection.
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Our value is inside us.
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When we understand this, fear becomes smaller.
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It may not disappear, but it does not control us.
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And when fear does not control us, we become free.
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We become real.
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We become ourselves.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This A2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why Do We Fear What People Think?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: fear, choose, opinion, voice. This video has 193 sentences and 1550 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:44. The speaker talks at a steady 132 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 94% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| rejection noun | /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/ | The act of rejecting. |
| silence noun | /ˈsaɪ̯ləns/ | The absence of any sound. |
| knife noun | /ˈnaɪ̯f/ | A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge… |
| regret verb | /ɹɪˈɡɹɛt/ | To feel sorry about (a thing that has or has not happened), afterthink: to wish that a thing had not happened, that something else had happened instead. |
| acceptance noun | /əkˈsɛp.təns/ | The act of accepting; the receiving of something offered, with acquiescence, approbation, or satisfaction; especially, favourable reception; approval. |
| disappear verb | /dɪsəˈpɪɹ/ | To vanish. |
| teenager noun | /ˈtiːnˌeɪ̯d͡ʒə/ | A person between thirteen and nineteen years old (inclusive). |
| cloth noun | /klɒθ/ | A fabric, usually made of woven, knitted, or felted fibres or filaments, such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use. Sometimes… |
| clothing noun | /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/ | Any of a wide variety of articles, usually made of fabrics, animal hair, animal skin, or some combination thereof, used to cover the human body for warmth, to… |
| mood noun | /muːd/ | A mental or emotional state, composure. |
| helpful adjective | /ˈhɛlp.fl̩/ | Furnishing help; giving aid; useful. |
| worker noun | /ˈwɝ.kɚ/ | One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor. |
| ugly adjective | /ˈʌɡli/ | Displeasing to the eye; aesthetically unpleasing. |
| friendship noun | /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/ | The condition of being friends. |
| brave adjective | /bɹeɪv/ | Strong in the face of fear; courageous. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go up verb | To move upwards. |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- They ask, do they like me?
- Do they think I am good?
- Do they think I am strange?
- What if I say the wrong thing?
- What if my friends laugh?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if I look different, people will not |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | may think · may forget · may not wear |
| Comparatives -er than / more … than — comparing two things | stronger than |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | will not like · Will people · will love |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “th” sounds: cloth /klɒθ/, clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: rejection /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/, friendship /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/, shake /ˈʃeɪk/, shoe /ˈʃu/
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 rejection, silence, knife.
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.