Get the app

Shadowing practice: Are You an Internal or External Processor?

Listen to the line, then say it out loud
Line 1

Full transcript

  1. If you look at a meeting, like the tenor of any meeting, there's different personalities in a meeting.0:00
  2. There are people who think out loud, people like me.0:06
  3. I have to generate thoughts by talking.0:11
  4. And there are people who ruminate.0:14
  5. They sit there quietly the whole meeting.0:16
  6. And the problem is, is people like me, the think out louders, are often accused of stealing all the air and dominating the meeting.0:18
  7. And if you take a dozen people, or 10 people, in a meeting, there's going to be three or four that do all the talking.0:27
  8. There'll be a couple people that talk a little bit.0:33
  9. And there'll be a few people, probably three or four.0:35
  10. It's probably going to be a bell curve, who do no talking.0:37
  11. And so we can't go at the end of the meeting to the quiet people and say, so what do you think?0:43
  12. Because it's all been done already, and it's unfair.0:49
Show all 21 lines Show fewer lines
  1. And now they feel like and are treated like the afterthought.0:52
  2. So what I started doing, and plus they're ruminators, they need to think.0:56
  3. The think out louders are doing their thinking in the room.0:59
  4. The ruminators need a day sometimes.1:03
  5. So what I do is when we reconvene the following week, I start the meeting with the ruminators.1:06
  6. I say, OK, all you ruminators who said very little in the last meeting, tell me what you think about the last meeting.1:11
  7. And I do go to the ruminators at the end.1:18
  8. I shouldn't say that I don't do it, because sometimes they do have some amazing thoughts.1:20
  9. But I always make sure to say to the ruminators, I want your thoughts, and I start meetings with them now.1:24

American Accent Training with Simon Sinek's Fast Lecture on Meeting Personalities

This clip is a B1 level lecture from Simon Sinek, delivered in an american accent at 235 words per minute, faster than 89% of the catalogue. Sinek is not reading a script, he is arguing a real idea: that meetings split people into those who think out loud and those who ruminate quietly. Keeping up with him at that pace is real english listening practice, the kind that trains you for native speed conversation instead of slowed down audio.

Across the 21 lines he moves from naming the two personalities, to describing what happens in an ordinary meeting, to explaining the fix he now uses himself. That gives you three different textures to work with: an explanatory opening, a descriptive middle, and short spoken instructions near the end, which makes the clip useful for american accent training across more than one register.

The Language in This Lecture: English Speaking Practice Line by Line

Shadow this line first: "If you look at a meeting, like the tenor of any meeting, there's different personalities in a meeting." It runs long and circles back on itself, tenor doubling for topic, which is exactly how unscripted English sounds before a speaker tightens the point.

  • "I have to generate thoughts by talking." Short and blunt, the stress falls on generate and talking, the two words carrying the whole claim.
  • "They sit there quietly the whole meeting." Flat delivery with no rise at the end, matching the picture of someone who does not speak.
  • "It's probably going to be a bell curve, who do no talking." The clause order is backwards from how you would write it, and that is normal in spoken English, repeat it until the phrasing feels natural rather than fixing it in your head.

Step by Step: Shadow This Lecture for B1 English Speaking Practice

Work through the clip in the order Sinek built it rather than jumping around.

  • Start with line 1, the long setup sentence, and repeat it until "the tenor of any meeting" comes out in one breath.
  • Move to lines 2 to 6, where Sinek names the two personalities, and match his pace on "I have to generate thoughts by talking."
  • Slow down on line 10, "It's probably going to be a bell curve, who do no talking.", since the backwards clause order is the hardest part to say naturally.
  • Finish on lines 17 to 21, where Sinek explains his fix, and practise the instruction "I say, OK, all you ruminators who said very little in the last meeting, tell me what you think about the last meeting." for pace control on a long sentence.
Download on the App Store