Shadowing Practice: Why You Never Make Progress in English - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I know that you want to speak English fluently.
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That's your goal.
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That's why you are learning English.
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That's why you are watching this video.
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But I have a couple of questions to ask.
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Do you know your first step?
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Once you take the first step, do you know what to do next?
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Do you know how many hours per day you should study if you want to be fluent?
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And a lot of how -to questions.
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Do you know how to study vocabulary?
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How to learn grammar?
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How to improve your fluency?
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How not to forget words?
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How, how, how, how, how?
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Do you have the answers to these questions?
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Let me tell you one thing.
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I've been teaching English for about 12 years now.
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I have taught thousands of students and I have talked to millions of students.
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I've read your comments, I've read your emails, your messages.
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I've talked to a couple of you face to face.
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I know that these are the questions you guys have.
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These are the same questions every language learner has.
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And in this video, I am here to once
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and for all answer all these questions and tell you what the solution is if you want to speak English fluently.
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My name is Matty
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and this is my Slow English Podcast let's start with the
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first one you know the main reason a lot of people want to start studying english
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but never do
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and always have an excuse saying today i'm busy tomorrow i'll
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start next week i'll start from the next year i'm gonna
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start from next monday i'm gonna start the reason why you are in this loop
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if you are in this loop is because you don't know what to do first yesterday day, I had a meeting with one of my subscribers.
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It was a face -to -face meeting.
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Do you know what he told me?
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He said, I wanted to start studying English.
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So I talked to a tutor.
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And then I realized I don't want to learn with a tutor.
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So I started watching YouTube.
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And while watching YouTube, I thought I need a more organized approach.
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So I bought a book.
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But I didn't know how to study the book.
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So I talked to a tutor.
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And then when I talked to the tutor, I realized, no, I want to do it on my own.
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So I listened to some podcasts, then went to YouTube videos.
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Then again, talk to the tutor, went to the book.
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You see, this is a vicious cycle.
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You are at the center of this cycle.
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And you keep going around and around and around without ever starting to learn English.
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There are so many things available.
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There are lots of applications you can use to learn English, lots of classes, schools, academies like our own academy,
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books, tutors, podcasts, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cloud, everything's available.
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And when the number of options go up, that number cripples action.
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You will be unable to take action.
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Let me give you one example.
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Last night, I wanted to watch a movie.
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I turned on the TV, went to Netflix, and I had a million options to choose from.
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So many options.
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I spent half an hour going from one movie to another, from one genre to another,
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and in the end, I ended up scrolling Instagram for hours before I went to band.
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You see, too many options available on Netflix.
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I could not choose one.
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When the number of options go up, it becomes even more confusing for a learner to choose from.
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So that's problem number one.
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I'm going to give you the solution at the end of this video.
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Stay with me.
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Now, let's say you overcome this problem somehow and you start taking the first step.
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When you finish your first study session, what is the question you ask yourself?
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Hmm, what should I do next?
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Now imagine each time you sit down to study, you have to decide what to study.
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You have to decide your next step.
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Should I study another grammar page from my book
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or should I learn 20 new words?
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if i want to learn 20 new words what kind of
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words am i going to learn should i choose the level as beginner
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or intermediate how should i learn these words how do these words relate to grammar i studied
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so many things going on and there are two problems with this first of all
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if you are in charge of deciding what to do next
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this is going to be exhausting this is going to make you tired.
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Learning on its own is already difficult.
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I don't want you to do this too.
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I don't want you to sit down and think about what to study.
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You have to sit down knowing what to study and just start.
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Problem two, if you are in charge, more often than not, you are not qualified to be in charge.
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You are not supposed to be in charge of what you should learn next because you don't know.
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An expert, or a system, needs to provide you with what to do next.
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So you get that off your mind and you start studying.
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Think about tennis.
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I want to learn tennis.
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I take a course, the coach enters, do I have to tell the coach what to work on?
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Or will the coach, depending on what I need, tell me what to work on?
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Exactly.
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It is not my responsibility, it is their responsibility.
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It is not your responsibility to know what to do next.
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It is a teacher, a tutor, or a system's responsibility to tell you what to do next.
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The third burning question students have, how many hours a day should I study?
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Is one hour per day enough?
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And you know, when I hear this question, my immediate answer is, okay, let me answer with a question.
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In the past six months, on average, how many hours a day have you studied?
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nothing right
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and now you're sitting here telling me one hour is not enough the thing is we are looking for motivation
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and once we have it one day
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because we feel good we start setting goals the goals we set are based on
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that motivation so the goals are very high
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and you say okay every day i'm going to study three hours a day
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or two hours a day you start making a huge huge commitment.
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And here's the thing about huge commitments.
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It makes it incredibly difficult for you to stay consistent and be disciplined.
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Because motivation is like an up and down and up and down curve.
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It goes up, it comes down.
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It goes up, it comes down.
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When it goes up, you decide two hours.
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When it comes down, you're like, what the hell?
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I don't want to even sit down and study.
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Think about New Year's resolution.
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Look, right now we're in October and soon we're coming to the end of 2026.
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2027 will start and I promise
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and I guarantee you guys are going to make to have a New Year's resolution for 2027.
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But look back.
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Look at your New Year's resolution for 2026, 2025, 2024.
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What happened to them?
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The answer might be nothing.
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Yeah, I was feeling really motivated on New Year's Day.
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So I made this huge commitment.
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I never acted on it.
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I know.
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I've been there.
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I myself last year told myself that from now on this year, I'm going to go to the gym four days a week.
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Every single day, I'm going to run in the morning for 30 minutes, walk in the evening for 30 minutes.
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And guess what?
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I never did any of that because it was just too much.
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This year I tried something else.
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I told myself every day I want to do one small thing for my health.
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It could be not eating a dessert.
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It could be going for a 15 minute walk.
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It could be doing a few push -ups or pull -ups or sit -ups at home.
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Because the commitment was small, we're in October
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and I have been able to do this every day I've done something for my health
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so that's a huge mistake making a big commitment and
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if you guys know me if you guys have been following my channel
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and the things I teach I am a big fan of
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15 minute study sessions sit down study for 15 minutes is
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that enough probably no will that keep me consistent yes is consistency more important than how much you study definitely.
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Be consistent first, then increase the number of hours.
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And the fourth problem is how -tos.
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How to learn words, how to study grammar, how not to forget words, how to use the words I've learned when I speak, how to speak more fluently.
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And I know these questions bug you, they annoy you, And you need answers.
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I totally understand this.
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So I am here to present a solution.
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And before I present the solution, let me clarify something just for the sake of transparency.
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My solution is a mini course, but the mini course is free.
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I'm not even going to ask you for your credit card or payment information, nothing.
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It's for free.
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and the reason why I created it was
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because over the years I have seen a lot of confused students
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so I want to give you the answer to all four questions with one mini course.
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How will the mini course help you?
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First of all, it provides you with the first step.
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You don't have to worry about how to start.
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Should I start with a book, a YouTube channel, a podcast, a tutor?
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Forget all of that start with the mini course.
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Two, what should I do after studying the first lesson?
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You don't have to think about what to do next.
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I am going to tell you what to do next.
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I have designed the journey for you.
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so you don't think about how to start
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and you don't think about what to do next how much
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of a commitment are we talking about 15 minutes a day
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that's all that's all i'm asking that's all i'm giving here's how it works you scan this qr code
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or you click on the link above this video it will
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take you to the landing page of our mini course on the landing page you read everything if you want.
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You watch the video if you want.
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Scroll down.
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You check the curriculum if you want.
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Scroll down.
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You come to the forum.
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All I need is your name, your email address, your country, and your level.
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Look, the level is the most important thing.
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Just tell me whether you're a beginner student, intermediate student, or advanced student.
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The rest is on me.
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For free, I will send you lessons.
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Every other day, I will send you lessons with videos, with PDF files, with exercises, and with what to do next until the next lesson.
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You don't have to worry about anything.
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You want to register and you want to start right now?
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QR code or the link above this video.
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And again, I'm telling you guys, this is for free simply because I want to help you get started it.
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Is it a full course?
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Is it going to help me finish everything in English?
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No. It's a mini course.
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Is it going to help me get started?
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Yes.
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Is it going to help me get the ball rolling and finally finish all the questions in my head?
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Yes.
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Immediately after you click submit, you receive one welcome email.
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And after 24 hours, you receive the first lesson.
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You don't have to do anything you just wait you just
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wait for me to send you the lesson sit down study
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and wait for the next lesson that's how you do it that's how we're going to do it together and
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if these links don't work for you go to the description
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there is also the link in the description in the comment section
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if you have any questions about the mini course you can ask me i'm going to go
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and check the comments right now see you there take care
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why You Never Make Progress in English”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: study, hour, learn, english, words. This video has 201 sentences and 2056 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:18. The speaker talks at a natural 167 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| tutor noun | /ˈtjuːtəː/ | One who teaches another (usually called a student, learner, or tutee) in a one-on-one or small-group interaction. |
| podcast noun | /ˈpɑdˌkæst/ | A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on… |
| grammar noun | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general. |
| fluently adverb | In a fluent manner, as expressing oneself easily, especially in a foreign language. | |
| scroll noun | /skɹoʊl/ | A roll of paper or parchment; a writing formed into a roll. |
| motivation noun | /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/ | Willingness of action especially in behavior. |
| learner noun | /ˈlɜɹnəɹ/ | One who is learning; one receiving instruction. |
| beginner noun | /bəˈɡɪnɚ/ | Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started. |
| intermediate adjective | /ɪn.tə(ɹ)ˈmi.di.ət/ | Being between two extremes, or in the middle of a range. |
| loop noun | /luːp/ | A length of thread, line or rope that is doubled over to make an opening. |
| fluency noun | /ˈfluːənsi/ | The quality of smoothness of flow. |
| subscriber noun | /səbˈskɹaɪbɚ/ | A person who subscribes to a publication or a service. |
| fluent adjective | /ˈfluənt/ | That flows; flowing, liquid. |
| motivate verb | /ˈmoʊ.tɪ.veɪt/ | To provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage; to actuate. |
| confuse verb | /kənˈfjuːz/ | to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go up verb | To move upwards. |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. |
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
| go around verb | To move or spread from person to person. |
| look back verb | To think of (past events) in retrospect (in hindsight). |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Do you know your first step?
- Do you know how to study vocabulary?
- How to improve your fluency?
- Do you have the answers to these questions?
- Do you know what he told me?
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 | I've been teaching · have been following |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have taught · I've read · I've talked |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are not qualified · are based · be disciplined |
| Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea | should study · should I do · Should I study |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 44 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, vicious /ˈvɪʃəs/, genre /ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/
- Long words — get the stress right: motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, intermediate /ɪn.tə(ɹ)ˈmi.di.ət/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, transparency /tɹænsˈpæɹənsi/, consistency /kənˈsɪs.tən.si/
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 tutor, podcast, grammar.
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.