Практика Shadowing: How to go from B1 to C1 English - Изучайте разговорный английский по видео

So, you can understand videos and films in English.

You can have simple conversations.

But when you speak in English, you use the same simple words and make the same mistakes again and again.

Is your English stuck?

Many students may be like you are stuck at that intermediate level of English.

Let me tell you why you are stuck

and I'll give you six activities you can be doing right

now to move more quickly from a B1 to a C1 level.

Hold on tight.

We're about to begin.

Hello, it's Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy.

here to help you become a more confident speaker of English with my free resources on the website,

the Key Speaking Academy, and my online courses there too.

So why are so many students, maybe like you, stuck at that intermediate B1 level of English?

There are, I think, four main reasons why this happens.

I'm going to explain why.

I'm going to show you how to get unstuck.

And today I'll give you six simple activities you can do

on a regular basis to move from B1 right up to B2 and C1, an advanced, more fluent speaker of English.

Let's begin with the first reason.

And this one might surprise you.

What do you mean?

How can I do too much listening and reading?

Well, let me ask you a question.

Do you understand far more than you can actually speak in English?

Probably yes, right?

Your receptive skills, listening and reading, are much higher than your speaking skills, right?

And the reason is simple.

You've been spending more time doing reading and listening than speaking.

For example, I imagine you can probably understand this.

Hmm, I'm not particularly keen on it.

But when you speak, you probably say something like this.

No, I don't like it.

It's not your fault.

This is how we learn foreign languages in school.

Mostly reading.

Little bit of listening.

Speaking?

No, not really.

It's a lack of speaking practice.

The solution, of course, is to do more speaking.

But how do you practice speaking?

Well, here is the first very simple activity you can do, and I call it personal drills.

So when you're studying, maybe listening or reading, notice three useful phrases.

Something that you understand, but you probably wouldn't say.

Like the, I'm not particularly keen on something.

Okay.

Write them down, three.

Then make a personal sentence.

Something with that about you.

For example, I'm not particularly keen on football. For example.

Okay.

Make a personal sentence.

And then with the three examples, try and speak for 60 seconds using those in your speech.

Then repeat it, but don't look at the notes.

Try and remember it and speak them out 60 seconds using them in your speech.

Super simple.

You can do this on a regular basis whenever you're reading, listening and studying personal drills.

Really, really useful.

Now, let's move on to the next reason you're stuck.

And this one is going to make you laugh.

Now, come on, Keith.

How can I be too fluent?

Well, not too fluent, but you focus too much on fluency, right?

A question for you.

Do you speak quite easily, but you use the same simple language again and again?

Right, so at that B1 level, what often happens is you can communicate,

and quite fluently sometimes, but you use the same simple language, words you're familiar with.

And I noticed this is really true for students living in the UK.

They're in England, they can speak quite fluently, but it's always the same simple words.

Why does this happen?

Because your brain always chooses the simplest path, the easiest path.

and it says, this works, I can communicate.

It's simple.

Let's do that.

Your brain goes, well, why would I choose complex language?

It doesn't.

It chooses the easiest route.

And so your motivation to use complex language isn't there because you're communicating.

But deep down, there's a problem because you're stuck at that B1 level.

So how do you improve?

The first thing really important is you need the motivation to improve and to get to that advanced level.

Otherwise, you'll just stay at that level, which is OK.

But if you want to move up, you need that motivation.

Second, you need to notice more complex language and start using it.

My formula is notice it, note it and use it.

Okay.

Now, many students think, oh, but complex language, there's so much vocabulary.

There are too many words, too many idioms.

In IELTS, there are hundreds of topics.

It's just too much.

You know, you're thinking, how do I build all this vocabulary for every topic?

You don't.

Okay.

Because when you're building your vocabulary house, All the bricks are connected.

You don't build a new house for your family vocabulary and then another new house of vocabulary for your travel vocabulary.

You've got one house and everything is connected.

You're building on what you know.

It's one big vocabulary house.

100

So all you need to do is build step by step with the connections.

101

And you can put this into practice with that simple formula.

102

Notice it, note it, and use it.

103

If there's one thing you remember from today's video, it's that, right?

104

Now, let me give you an example.

105

A second practical activity.

106

I call this oral summaries.

107

So you're maybe reading or listening to something.

108

You notice some complex grammar or vocabulary and you note it, write it down.

109

And then use these notes to make an oral summary, speaking of what you read or listened to.

110

Then repeat that, but without the notes from memory, do an oral summary.

111

And then finally compare it to the original.

112

And notice if you are starting to use the complex grammar, where the gaps are and repeat it until you get it better and better.

113

This is a short, simple activity, again, you can do on a regular basis, oral summaries.

114

Great.

115

Let's move on to the third reason you're stuck.

116

So, when you're speaking English, do your sentences sometimes sound correct, but not very natural?

117

This often happens at the B1 intermediate level and it's because you're building sentences word by word, often translating.

118

What you need to do is start thinking in English

119

and a good way to do that is to focus on chunks and to speak with chunks, not just word by word.

120

Okay, let me give you some examples of chunks here.

121

Actually, a little quiz for you.

122

Can you guess when or where you would say this?

123

Here's the first one.

124

This one's on me.

125

When would you use that?

126

Probably when you're inviting somebody or paying for a meal or a drink.

127

You'd say, well, this one's on me, I'm going to pay.

128

What about this second one?

129

Right, I'll be making a move then.

130

When would you say that?

131

When you're finishing a conversation and you're leaving.

132

What about the next one?

133

Oh, you shouldn't have.

134

When would you say that?

135

Right, when somebody has given you a present, or you shouldn't have, right?

136

So all of these are actually chunks, multi-word chunks that we use,

137

set expressions, and fluent speakers of English use lots of them in their language as they're speaking,

138

rather than always building your sentence word by word.

139

Now here's the next activity you can try, and I call it situation chunks.

140

So what you do here is you're watching or listening to something.

141

First, identify the situation.

142

For example, are they asking for directions?

143

Are they giving advice?

144

Are they making a decision?

145

What are they doing?

146

Then notice one or two chunks.

147

Note the chunks.

148

Notice, note.

149

And then to use it, practice a little dialogue with them.

150

It might be something like this one.

151

So we've finished eating then.

152

Oh, this one's on me.

153

No, no, no, no, no. No, I insist.

154

Oh, okay.

155

I'll get the next one.

156

Oh, I'll get the next one.

157

There's another chunk.

158

I'll get the next one.

159

Practice like this.

160

Notice, note it and use it.

161

Let's move on to the fourth reason you might be stuck.

162

So when you're speaking, do you make mistakes, some mistakes, and you know you make the mistake, but you continue to do it?

163

Right.

164

These are called in linguistics, it's called a fossilized error.

165

A great name.

166

Fossil, right, from the dinosaurs.

167

It's been in the ground for millions of years.

168

Your errors have been with you, not millions of years, but some time.

169

Ever since you arrived at that intermediate level, that's when they start to fossilise.

170

The good news is, if you're a beginner and you've just arrived at the intermediate level, it's much easier to correct them.

171

However, the longer you've been at that intermediate level, the more difficult this is going to be.

172

The kind of mistakes, the typical mistakes people make.

173

It often depends on your mother tongue, but not always.

174

You may recognize these mistakes, right?

175

Do you prefer coffee or tea?

176

Oh, well, it depends.

177

Instead of it depends.

178

How long have you lived here?

179

Oh, I live here for three years.

180

Instead of I have lived here for three years.

181

Can you say me the time?

182

Instead of can you tell me the time?

183

And as much as teachers correct students, these errors go on and on fossilised.

184

Now, let me give you two activities

185

and there's quite a bit of research to support these that can help you start to tackle it.

186

I'm not going to sugarcoat this.

187

This is probably the most challenging part of moving up to that advanced level, but it's worth the effort if you've got the motivation to do it.

188

The first one is error diaries.

189

So with your error diary, the first thing you do is you notice the mistake, like it depend.

190

Okay, then you note it down.

191

So in your notebook, and you could put this right at the back of your notebook.

192

Put first of all, the mistake, not all your mistakes, the ones you always make that you know you make, right?

193

Put the mistake, put the correct version.

194

It depends. And why?

195

Well, because verbs take the third person, S, right?

196

And then with that, just drill, practice on your own.

197

Or if you have a teacher or a friend, a classmate who can ask a question and you answer, it depends.

198

It depends on the weather or it depends on the person.

199

It depends on the price and carry on practicing.

200

And that drill is useful.

201

But also then when you're having conversation practice, have your error diary back of your book, check it before the conversation.

202

In the conversation, ask the teacher or your friend when they hear the mistake to just wave.

203

They don't correct you, they just wave.

204

And you realise.

205

Because the problem is it's easy to drill.

206

It's hard to do it in a real conversation because of the cognitive load.

207

So if you've got somebody who can just wave, that will help you.

208

At the end of the conversation, just go through your diary again.

209

Maybe add some more errors.

210

The error diary, really, really useful.

211

The other thing you can do is what I call AI feedback, artificial intelligence feedback.

212

Again, quite simple record yourself speaking you can do this directly now in chat gpt

213

or you can get a transcript of your recording put it into chat gpt

214

and ask it not to correct everything but to identify repeated errors

215

and this is really effective over time because it's got a memory right your chat gpt

216

and then it can again it'll give you what the mistake what's the correct thing and why

217

and you can use that to help you become aware as you're practicing.

218

And you can ask ChatGPT or whichever Gemini, Claude, to do a bit of practice, that drill practice with you.

219

Okay, great.

220

Remember, all the way through here, notice it, note it, and use it.

221

Can you see that?

222

All the way through.

223

Good.

224

So there you have the four reasons that you're stuck

225

and six activities you can be doing right now on a regular basis to help you.

226

Okay.

227

Bonus tip two.

228

First one, extensive reading and listening for pleasure is a really, really good way to reinforce the language,

229

to help you become aware of complex grammar, vocabulary, chunks, mistakes, or the correct form.

230

It's a really powerful reinforcer of the language, extensive reading and listening. Do lots.

231

Second tip, sign up for an exam.

232

I talked about motivation, right, a lot.

233

And if you're not motivated to get better, there's nothing like an exam to motivate you.

234

235

And that is something that will really help motivate you to make progress.

236

Don't stress out.

237

Enjoy this and use it as a motivator to help you make progress.

238

Okay.

239

The key message, right, if you're stuck at B1 is don't start learning thousands of words and reviewing all the grammar again,

240

it's start activating and speaking out what you know.

241

Notice it, note it, use it.

242

Okay.

243

To help you do that, I have a PDF you can download.

244

It's a worksheet.

245

It reviews these activities.

246

It reviews the reasons that you're stuck and it will give you more activities.

247

It's a very practical worksheet.

248

So you can start putting this into action.

249

Don't sit on it.

250

Start moving.

251

Start doing it and move towards that C1 level that you want to get to.

252

If you want to get there, thank you for watching.

253

Oh, if you're interested and you want more videos, join the private membership, my YouTube channel.

254

You can now join, become a member and get access to extra videos about my personal insights,

255

IELTS questions, and lots more to motivate you with your English learning.

256

You can join just by pressing the button there.

257

Again, thanks so much for watching and hopefully I'll be seeing you in the next video.

258

Take care now, my friend.

259

Bye-bye.

Что такое техника Shadowing?

Shadowing — это научно обоснованная техника изучения языка, изначально разработанная для подготовки профессиональных переводчиков и популяризированная полиглотом доктором Александром Аргуэльесом. Метод прост, но эффективен: вы слушаете аудио на английском от носителей языка и немедленно повторяете вслух — как тень, следующая за говорящим с задержкой в 1–2 секунды. В отличие от пассивного прослушивания или грамматических упражнений, Shadowing заставляет мозг и мышцы рта одновременно обрабатывать и воспроизводить реальные речевые паттерны. Исследования показывают, что это значительно улучшает точность произношения, интонацию, ритм, связную речь, понимание на слух и беглость речи — что делает его одним из самых эффективных методов для подготовки к IELTS Speaking и реального общения на английском.

Практика Shadowing: How to go from B1 to C1 English - Изучайте разговорный английский по видео

О этом уроке

Ключевые слова и фразы

Советы по практике

Что такое техника Shadowing?