Maintenance: the shadowing protocol

P45.speaking-to-b2.21 · Audience: guest, language-pro, it-ml · Prerequisites: Maintenance: the weekly 2-minute voice-note protocol

Unité PO-34 · campagne 22 · borrow a native mouth for ten minutes.

Shadowing is imitation, assumed and total: play a short native extract and speak right behind it, half a second late, copying everything — rhythm, liaisons, melody, even the breaths. You are not analysing; you are letting your mouth copy what your ear hears. Ten focused minutes on one 30-second extract beats an unfocused hour.

The protocol:

  1. Pick a 30-second extract you like (podcast, interview — anything with one clear voice).
  2. Three passes listening, eyes closed, no speaking.
  3. Five passes shadowing — speak over/behind the voice, matching its débit. Falling behind? Drop words, keep the melody: rhythm first, completeness later.
  4. One pass alone: say the passage without the model.

Then verify the transfer here: say the two model sentences below (both native-voiced — listen, shadow, then record) and watch the liaison and rhythm scores — they are what shadowing trains.

Say: Nous avons attendu deux heures.

Say: La bibliothèque universitaire est fermée.

Checking your progress...

Ask the mentor about this module

Ask a question about this content. The mentor explains and grounds its answer in what you are studying; asking is recorded as a learning signal, not a grade.

Images, PDF or text. Kept on this device only.
Keeping your files on this device

Off by default. The mentor always gets your file; this only decides whether your own copy stays here. Copies live in this browser only - they do not follow you to another device, and clearing site data removes them.

Ctrl/Cmd + Enter to send

My notes on this module

Loading your notes...

Maintenance: the shadowing protocol — TransformerLab