Shadowing practice: I woke up at 5am for 30 days

Matt D'Avella's personal experiment on sleep and mornings gives you exactly what english shadowing practice needs: a native American speaker moving at 235 words per minute, faster than 88 percent of recorded material. At B1 level, the 152 lines balance conversational ease with real sentence complexity. Early on, the speaker shares how he used to procrastinate through the day, then shifted his schedule. This mix of personal narrative and reflective asides is what real English sounds like when someone is thinking out loud.

The recording moves naturally between casual chat and more formal explanation. When D'Avella talks about his evening routine with his partner, his speech softens. When he pivots to discussing Matthew Walker's sleep research, the pace and precision sharpens. That shift in register teaches you to improve your english speaking and listening at once. You will hear how native speakers adjust their rhythm and formality depending on context, not just recite prepared material.

This clip pulls you through both casual storytelling and information delivery. The opening lines establish a personal story, then transition into practical advice and research.

• Line 11: "It wasn't until I started living with my partner Natalie that I decided to shape my schedule around hers." This sentence shows how a native speaker packs complexity into natural speech, with a delayed main clause and temporal structure you can study.
• Line 12: "It's at that point that I fell in love with early mornings." A simple emotional turn, but the timing and phrasing shape how the listener understands the turning point in the narrative.
• Line 13: "There's something special about watching the sunrise with a cup of coffee." Reflective and concrete, with a rhythm that feels less rehearsed and more genuinely felt. This is how you learn to speak english fluently: by shadowing real moments, not scripted dialogue.

Tackle this english speaking practice clip in focused sections, moving from introduction into the narrative, then into explanation.

• Begin with lines 1 through 6, the repeated "Or" interjections. These are short, high-energy, and a good warm-up for your American accent training.
• Move into lines 7 through 19, where D'Avella sets up his entire premise. His pacing here is conversational but clear. Shadow each line twice, then listen again without repeating.
• Lines 20 through 37 shift the tone. The speaker moves into more formal instruction and research explanation. This is where the pace quickens. Take it in shorter chunks if needed, maybe three or four lines at a time.
• Finish with lines 38 through 44, the personal moment where he says goodnight to his partner. This conversational section brings the energy back down and is a natural closing point for a practice session.