Shadowing Practice: you can be anything. - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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What kind of superhero would I want to play?
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Maybe, maybe Spider -Man in like 10 years time.
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I genuinely believe in manifestation and I have been so lucky in my life.
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It seems like if I want something, all I got to do is say it in an interview and then a couple years later, it'll come true.
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So what do you want right now?
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i was really lucky that like my life changed slowly like i i started
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when i was really young
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and then i had about 10 years before the spider -man
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thing happened the spider -man of it all was the
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that was the big turning point of where like everything changed
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and i was lucky
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that i had those formative years to sort of grow up
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make mistakes learn about set life learn about the world of movie making
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and then spider -man happened um
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but it definitely was a steep learning curve for sure i've always had this kind of narrative
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that i never wanted to be an actor i love performing you say
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that i love being on stage i loved dancing
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but acting was never something i wanted to do i have a hard time believing
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that i want to press you on that a little bit yeah
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and i'm happy to get into it because i found this book
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which predates any acting that i had done
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so i basically used to go to this dance school we
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did a show every year at the royal ballet school
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and the headmaster asked me to audition for billy elliott on
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the west end long story short i went through the audition process they sent trainers to my school
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which was really tough because it was a rugby school
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and all of a sudden like i was the one boy
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in the all boys school doing ballet in the gym at lunch
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and that came with its own set of challenges
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but i got the part
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and it wasn't until i sort of got through billy elliott i've been cast in the impossible
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and i was working on set with naomi
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that i really started to think like oh i could be
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like an actor like this is what i could do
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but in this yearbook i must be like six or seven
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when i answered these questions and the questions are like what do you want to be
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when you grow up what's your favorite color what's your favorite food
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that gets served in the canteen it's like kids questions
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and i wrote one what do you want to be
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when you grow up i wrote actor which i think is really weird
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because i don't remember ever wanting to be an actor
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but clearly i did i think the realization for me was that
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i'm a very confident person but i'm more confident
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when i'm pretending to be someone else
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because the ramifications of your actions aren't real because you're pretending
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so i would get really uncomfortable and not confident in social scenarios out in public
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and i think when you're just being you when i've just been myself
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and i think that's why i really latched on to drinking
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because it masked
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that insecurity with stupidity i guess a little bit that's why
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like i've always had a really hard time with like campaigns like i did a prada campaign
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which i loved and i loved working with them they were great
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but i had a really hard time seeing me on a billboard sell something
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because it was me tom holland not as a character
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so i think that's kind of why i latched onto it
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so much and through perseverance and kind of gritted teeth
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and fomo of not wanting to miss out I would force myself to go to bars
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and go to pubs and enjoy the beer garden for the football
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and when I realized that alcohol wasn't masking my insecurity or bringing out my best self
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it was actually doing the opposite I then started to feel
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this freedom of like oh I can just be myself
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and I have nothing to be insecure about that's
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when it started to get easier
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and I started to really feel the benefit of not being
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kind of tied to this drink i used to remember going to parties in in la when i
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because at the beginning you know as a young kid you try to fit into the la world
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and now that i've grown up a little bit and i know that it isn't my place to be
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i don't try as hard to like go out to the la parties
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and mix with celebrities that i don't know
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but i used to go to these parties
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and be like i can't speak to someone until i'm drunk like i've got to get this going
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and now that i've kicked that and i found replacements
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that make me feel like i'm a part of the process without sacrificing my morning my afternoon
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my next few days has been so liberating i guess
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when you can do what i can do maybe maybe you have a responsibility to do so good with it
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 75 sentences and 876 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:48. The speaker talks fast, about 182 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| spider noun | /ˈspaɪ̯dɚ/ | Any of various eight-legged, predatory arthropods, of the order Araneae, most of which spin webs to catch prey. |
| billy noun | /ˈbɪli/ | A highwayman's club, billy club. |
| pretend verb | /pɹəˈtɛnd/ | To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance. |
| mask noun | /mæsk/ | A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection. |
| ballet noun | /bælˈeɪ/ | A classical form of dance. |
| audition noun | /ɑˈdɪʃən/ | A performance, by an aspiring performer, to demonstrate suitability or talent. |
| insecurity noun | A lack of security; uncertainty. | |
| replacement noun | /ɹɪˈpleɪsmənt/ | A person or thing that takes the place of another; a substitute. |
| rugby noun | /ˈɹʌɡbi/ | A form of football in which players can hold or kick an ovoid ball; rugby football. The ball cannot be handled forwards and points are scored by touching the… |
| sudden adjective | /ˈsʌd.ən/ | Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly. |
| narrative noun | /ˈnæɹ.ə.tɪv/ | The systematic recitation of an event or series of events. |
| celebrity noun | /səˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ɾi/ | Fame, renown; the state of being famous or talked-about. |
| sacrifice noun | /ˈsæk.ɹɪ.faɪs/ | Originally, the killing (and often burning) of a human being or an animal as an offering to a deity; later, also the offering of an object to a deity. |
| pub noun | /pʌb/ | A public house where beverages, primarily alcoholic, may be bought and consumed, also providing food and sometimes entertainment such as live music or… |
| scenario noun | /sɪˈnɛəɹioʊ/ | An outline or model of an expected or supposed sequence of events. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. | |
| bring out verb | To elicit, evoke, or emphasize (a particular quality). | |
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| miss out verb | To miss an experience or lose an opportunity, etc. that should not be missed. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to go · used to remember |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have been · i've been · i've just been |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 24 contractions and reduced forms, such as I've, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: audition /ɑˈdɪʃən/, realization /ˌɹɪə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, manifestation /ˌmænɪfɛˈsteɪʃən/, ramification /ɹæmɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: celebrity /səˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ɾi/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, superhero /ˈs(j)upɚhɪɹoʊ/, realization /ˌɹɪə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/
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 spider, billy, pretend.
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.