Shadowing for English Listening Practice

Shadowing for English listening practice is a way to practise English listening. Practice shadowing by speaking the words that you hear at the instant you hear them.

It sounds easy but it’s difficult.

There are different ways to do shadowing.

Shadowing Audio

You start the audio, and as you hear the words, you try to say them. On this site, you can practise shadowing the audio for short stories one to two minutes long. You can also practise shadowing one sentence at a time.

Shadowing Video

You start the video and as you hear the words, you try to say them. This is usually more difficult because the video is usually longer and sometimes the speakers speak very fast.

Shadowing a Live speaker

As you listen to someone speaking, you repeat each word that you hear at the same time as the speaker. This is usually annoying for the speaker, and requires a high degree of skill and confidence. On the other hand, it is generally easier than shadowing recorded audio and video. Working with live speakers is the best.

Shadowing Audio with a script

This is similar to shadowing audio but you can see the script. Your listening skill does not improve as fast as without a script but you can see the words that you can’t hear, and learn more about the pronunciation of words and phrases.