Shadowing Practice: Obama Candid Answers To Intern Questions- Full Video - Learn English Speaking with Video
Loading...
1
It's good to see you.
2
So we've heard a lot in the past speaker series that we've had with all the amazing staff about your relentless optimism.
3
I am.
4
I'm a relentless optimist.
5
I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about that, how you remain optimistic, or maybe you're not, but people still think that you are.
6
Ah.
7
Some of this is temperamental.
8
People just have different temperaments.
9
I tend to be a pretty happy guy.
10
I'm pretty sure this is because I was born in Hawaii.
11
And so I spent most of my early years in really pleasant weather all the time.
12
Splashing in waves and things. That helped it helped.
13
As I get older, and certainly in this job,
14
what helps me a lot is taking the long view on things.
15
I think so much pessimism and so much stress arises out of looking at things in this very narrow here and now.
16
But the day-to-day sort of ups and downs and swings, It's like the weather.
17
I mean, you get an umbrella sometimes, sometimes you take off your jacket.
18
But if you can keep your eye on the long view, not only does that relieve stress, but it also allows you to make better decisions.
19
The things that last, the things that are important usually have to do with how did you behave?
20
How did you treat other people?
21
Did you work as hard as you could have?
22
Did you do your best?
23
The things that you have control over.
24
When I'm on my death bed, the things I will remember will be,
25
you know, walking a four-year-old Malia to the park.
26
I'm not going to remember some headline.
27
I think that's helpful.
28
But that's just me.
29
It's mostly the Hawaii thing.
30
What kind of legacy would you like to leave in the African American community?
31
It's hard for me to say what I've meant to the African American community.
32
I can say what Michelle's meant to the African American community.
33
Michelle's the bomb.
34
What concretely I can say is
35
that the work this administration has done has made a difference in the lives of people who are struggling.
36
And those folks are disproportionately people of color.
37
So whether it's the Affordable Care Act and making sure people have health care or it's
38
expanding Pell Grants or it's programs to deal with low-income communities to help them rebuild and provide better job training,
39
in each of those areas there are a lot of people
40
who are better off than they otherwise would have been because of the concrete actions that we took.
41
There's a second category of issues that have to do with government action and are specifically related to civil rights, voting rights.
42
We now have an outstanding civil rights division in the Justice Department
43
that is actively filing suits and winning lawsuits to make sure people have the right to vote, to make sure that discriminatory practices are rooted out.
44
another category.
45
I put in that same category the work we've been doing around criminal justice reform
46
and reshaping how we do commutations and how we are working with law enforcement around best practices for policing.
47
So that's a whole category of issues.
48
And then there's There's just the cultural and psychological issues.
49
It's interesting, I think the impact may be
50
not just with black kids taken for granted that somebody who looks like them can be president,
51
but their white peers taken for granted that somebody that doesn't look like them can be president.
52
All of you are young enough that in some ways it's plausible to you maybe that race relations have gotten worse,
53
but actually it's a testimony to how much better they've gotten that this shocks you.
54
Evidence that, you know, there may be racial bias in our criminal justice system, you're hurt.
55
Whereas 25, 30 years ago, that was is a given.
56
So sometimes progress involves improvement, but then raising expectations.
57
Things are a lot better, but now our expectations are a lot higher.
58
Look, we got a long way to go when it comes to racial issues.
59
You know, history can go backwards as well as forwards.
60
But the overall trajectory, I think, is positive.
61
And the caution I have for this cohort,
62
because there's probably some self-selection going on.
63
You guys, if you're interning here with Obama, then you're probably, you have certain, you're more likely to have certain political views.
64
So I just want to caution all of you all of you to make sure that in wanting to improve race relations,
65
you don't become so rigid and sensitive in terms of your own views that instead of opening up dialogue,
66
you sort of harden lines and divisions.
67
All right.
68
All right.
69
Guy's turn.
70
Yes, sir.
71
Right here.
72
How do you deal with knowing when to compromise, and how have you learned how to compromise, and how to more or less stick to your guns?
73
Maybe my rule of thumb is if the issue we're working on, I've got a particular objective,
74
and the compromise thwarts that objective, then that's a bad compromise.
75
If the compromise makes things better, but just not as good as I think they need to be,
76
then my instinct is that's a good compromise.
77
And probably the best example of this is the debate we had around health care.
78
Once we get the structure in place, it's like a starter home.
79
And it would be nice if we had, you know, granite, you know, countertops in the kitchen.
80
But we can't afford those yet.
81
There's no porch.
82
But it beats sleeping outside.
83
And I think I've been proven right on this because I've got 20 million people who have health insurance who haven't before.
84
Now, it's far from our ideal,
85
but every single step in social progress in this country has started with a starter home.
86
The political process in this country is incremental.
87
Democracies of our sort require reform as a general rule.
88
proposition and not revolution.
89
And that's okay.
90
You know, betters, there's nothing wrong with better.
91
Because you hold out for the best,
92
and that means that whoever was gonna be helped by better doesn't have healthcare that year,
93
or isn't getting as much help on going to college as they otherwise would have.
94
All right, well you guys have been great.
95
I always say this to all of you, So even though it's boilerplate, I'm gonna repeat it.
96
Don't get bored, don't get cynical.
97
You guys are the most privileged people at the most prosperous, secure period in human history.
98
And so, no griping and no moping.
99
The possibilities of what you can do are enormous.
100
And that doesn't mean, you know, becoming president involves a lot of luck.
101
Becoming, you know, Steve Jobs or, you know, Quentin Tarantino, you know,
102
that requires, there are certain amount of breaks that you get.
103
It's not because you're so much better than everybody else.
104
And being Picasso, it's because you're better than everybody else.
105
But a lot of times it's just, you know, happenstance or things worked out.
106
but being useful and having a satisfying life and making a contribution, that is entirely within your control.
107
Orient yourself towards having an impact and making a difference, and you will, and you'll be happy doing it.
108
All right, what have I got here?
109
You've just been waiting for this.
110
Oh, this is so nice.
111
Look at this, and like glitter on the sides.
112
You got help, didn't you?
113
Your parents helped you.
114
It's just like the science projects.
115
Absolutely.
116
This is so nice.
117
Well, thank you, everybody.
118
Yeah, happy birthday, almost.
119
All right.
120
Almost.
121
Good luck, everybody.
122
You're going to do great.
Speaking Goals for This Clip
This video is perfect for practicing conversational fluency and natural tone, especially when discussing personal experiences and complex ideas. It targets the milestone of speaking with confidence in extended responses, balancing humor and seriousness—key for real-world interactions. The dialogue also helps with structuring answers to open-ended questions, a critical skill for interviews or casual discussions.
Phrase Bank
- "take the long view on things" – to focus on long-term outcomes rather than short-term issues
- "relieve stress" – to reduce mental tension
- "concretely I can say" – to shift to specific, actionable points
- "disproportionately people of color" – a group affected more than others
- "rooted out" – to eliminate something harmful or unfair
- "taken for granted" – to accept as normal without thinking
Fix Your Weak Spots
The video is ideal for improving English pronunciation and rhythm, especially with connected speech. Notice how "I am a relentless optimist" flows smoothly, with reduced "am" to "m" and linked "a relentless." Practice shadow speak by repeating Obama's lines immediately after him—this trains your mouth to mimic natural intonation and stress. Pay attention to pauses after humor ("laughter") and how he slows down for emphasis, like in "the things I will remember will be walking a four-year-old Malia to the park." Shadow speech helps you internalize the cadence of conversational English, making your speaking sound more natural. Learning English with videos like this also exposes you to real-world vocabulary and cultural references, boosting both fluency and comprehension.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.