Today we've got a lovely technique-based video, kind of a skill that you can practice and get better and better at, and that is shadowing.

I've just been calling it copying, but shadowing is so much more romantic.

Sounds a lot more beautiful.

You're going to shadow me and you're going to learn my accent.

Lucky you!

Shall we get to it?

I think so.

Let's get started. Shadowing is so good for sounding natural.

If you want to sound a little bit more authentic when you're speaking in English, a little bit more, I guess, native, shadowing is great because you're kind of copying the nuances, the little details in an accent and in pronunciation, which is, as we all know, quite difficult to master. When you're shadowing, what you want to do is try to speak at the same time as me.

Not after, not before, because that's impossible, at the same time.

And by the way, you could do this every day as part of your English practice.

Find a person that you like the sound of and who has the accent that you want, listen to them every day on YouTube.

That's the beauty of the online world.

You can usually always find what you're looking for, no matter how weird or wonderful that is. The focus is not on grammar, it's not on vocabulary.

Try not to get distracted by some grammar that you don't know or a word that you've never seen.

Focus on intonation and all of the features I'm going to tell you about. When you're having conversation with someone, they ask you questions.

Have you ever been to Italy?

Have you ever seen the Eiffel Tower, for example?

Have you ever tried caviar?

And that's when stories come up, right?

You might want to tell a story as part of your answer.

The story that I'm going to tell today is about when Tom and I went to Cornwall.

We had the most amazing time and we tried wild garlic.

So if anyone ever asks me, have you ever been to Cornwall or have you ever tried wild garlic?

This would be my response. Are you ready?

In May, a couple of years back, Tom and I went down to Cornwall for a little getaway.

In May, a couple of years back, Tom and I went down to Cornwall for a little getaway.

The features.

I've used a schwa.

Obviously, I've used a schwa.

I'm always using schwas.

The modern RP accent is full of them.

I've used a schwa in A, so I'm not saying A, I'm saying uh.

By the way, the sound of the schwa is uh, in case you didn't know.

I've used one in two, so I've said tuh instead of two.

And I've used one in four, so I've said fuh instead of four.

There's also one in the middle of getaway.

I'm not saying getaway or geta, I'm saying geta, getaway, getaway.

Again, try not to worry about the vocabulary, just focus on the pronunciation. Intonation.

I have stressed the word Cornwall in this sentence because Cornwall is the most important word in the sentence to deliver the meaning to the listener.

If I didn't stress Cornwall, it might not be as clear and might not be such an efficient way of communicating that.

I'm going to say it again now and I want you to try and copy me and say it at the same time as me, which is called shadowing. In May, a couple of years back, Tom and I went down to Cornwall for a little getaway.

In May, a couple of years back, Tom and I went down to Tom and I went down to Cornwall for a little getaway.

I'm sure you sound so good. We stayed in a little cottage which had a babbling brook running through the garden.

It also had an old English country kitchen with an aga.

It was amazing.

A feature of this part of the story in terms of pronunciation is blending.

It's formerly known as catenation, which is something I actually only learned the other day.

Catenation or blending is what we do when a word ends with a consonant and then the next word starts with a vowel.

As you probably know, vowels are A, E, I, O, U.

We have catenation between stayed and in because stayed ends with a consonant, D, and the next word starts with a vowel.

So we can blend them together instead of having a break.

This creates a smooth flow when you're speaking.

We stayed in, we stayed in, din, stayed in.

It also happens between had and a.

We're not saying had a, we're saying had a, had a, and a is a schwa so it's easier to do that, okay?

So it's had a, a is your schwa sound.

It's happening throughout this piece of the story, honestly.

There's so many examples.

Old English, old English.

We're blending D to E there.

Not old English, not like a robot.

It's smooth like hot chocolate.

Old English.

Shadow me when I say it again. We stayed in a little cottage which had a babbling brook running through the garden.

It also had an old English country kitchen with an aga.

We stayed in a little cottage which had a babbling brook running through the garden.

It also had an old English country kitchen with an aga. Here's the next part.

On one of the nights of our stay we foraged for wild garlic in the surrounding fields because there was an abundance of it.

Later that day we made a pasta dish using the wild garlic.

I hadn't known Tom for very long so it was a great opportunity for to sound more natural, definitely try to use contractions.

We've got one here with hadn't.

Hadn't.

We're not saying had not, we're saying hadn't.

Another point on intonation.

It's so important guys to know which words to stress.

As I always say, try to stress the words that give the most meaning.

Try to imagine the sentence without those words.

It wouldn't make sense, right?

The meaning would not be delivered to the listener.

In this text I'm stressing wild garlic because it's the star of the story, okay?

It's what I'm mainly talking about here.

I'm also stressing the word abundance because it's a word that exaggerates.

We often stress exaggerating words.

It just gives drama and sparkle to the story.

I want you to shadow me now.

Good luck. On one of the nights of we foraged for wild garlic in the surrounding fields because there was an abundance of it.

Later that day we made a pasta dish using the wild garlic.

I hadn't known Tom for very long so it was a great opportunity for conversation.

One more time. On one of the nights of our stay we foraged for wild garlic in the surrounding fields because there was an abundance of it.

Later that day we made a pasta dish using the wild garlic.

I hadn't known Tom for very long so it was a great opportunity for conversation. What you can do now everyone is rewind and just listen again.

Just keep shadowing me until you feel that you've got the essence of how I sound.

Of course you don't want to sound exactly like me.

You have to inject your own personality into that, your own charm and your own sparkle.

Because how you speak is what makes you unique.

I hope you enjoyed that.

I definitely did. Storytelling is so important when you're having conversation.

How to tell a story.

It's really for advanced level students who reach a point where they're communicating quite regularly with people who are asking them questions and they want to tell a good story.

Good luck with all your shadowing everyone.

I'm sure you sound so so beautiful.

I'm gonna see you really soon.

I'm gonna see you next Saturday.

Have the loveliest most amazing weekend.

Bye!