Shadowing practice: Fluency in 5 minutes a day (with the chunking method)

This clip is British English speaking practice straight from a teacher talking to camera, not a scripted scene. Keith, from the Keith Speaking Academy, explains his chunking method for fluency at a brisk 173 words per minute, so a B1 learner will want more than one listen before shadowing it line by line.

It is a single monologue that builds one idea at a time rather than jumping between speakers, which suits shadowing this line by line rather than skimming the whole clip once. Line 12 states the problem, focusing on individual words, and line 15 gives his fix, focusing on chunks of two or three words, so those two lines only land if you practise them as a pair.

The interesting language here is about sound, not grammar, which is exactly why it is worth practising your own pronunciation on. A few lines do the real work.

• "Now this one technique I mentioned is called the chunking method." A plain topic sentence, useful as a warm up line before the faster material because the stress falls cleanly on "technique" and "chunking method".
• "We focus on chunks, two or three words together." Say this one as three separate words first, then as one run together sound, which is the exact contrast Keith is teaching.
• "When I say, when I say, I don't say when I say, I say when I say, when I say." The same four words repeated with different stress and speed each time. Shadow it slowly first, matching where he speeds up and where he pauses, before trying it at his pace.
• "It's a bit like when you go shopping and you take bananas." A relaxed, conversational line that shows how his rhythm loosens once he moves from explaining to illustrating with an everyday example.

Work through the opening in the order Keith actually builds his argument, not at random, so each line still makes sense against the one before it.

• Start with line 3, his greeting, to get used to his voice and pace before any content arrives.
• Shadow line 4 and line 12 back to back. One names the method, the other names the problem it solves.
• Repeat line 15 on its own five times. It is the shortest, densest sentence in the clip and the one the rest depends on.
• Slow line 23 down first, then bring it back to full speed once the words stop tripping you. It is the fastest, most repetitive stretch in the opening.
• Finish on line 27 through 30, the banana comparison, read at a natural conversational pace rather than a teaching one, since that is where his tone relaxes.
• Once the sequence feels comfortable, run lines 3 to 30 straight through as one english speaking practice session and time yourself against his 173 words per minute pace.