Shadowing Sir Ken Robinson

Summary

Ken Robinson argues that education flourishes when it works with human diversity, curiosity and creativity. He criticizes a school culture dominated by conformity and testing, particularly in his discussion of American education policy. For him, improving schools means supporting the people who teach and learn within them. His closing image of flowers appearing in Death Valley after rain presents leadership as creating the conditions for dormant potential to emerge.

Key points, in order

1. Robinson begins with students who leave school and those who remain without feeling engaged. He calls for a broad curriculum that recognizes different talents, including the arts, humanities and physical education alongside science and mathematics.
2. Curiosity makes learning possible, and teachers do more than transmit information: they stimulate, mentor and engage. Standardized tests, in his view, should help diagnose learning needs instead of becoming education’s main purpose.
3. He describes successful approaches as personalizing learning, valuing professional development and giving schools responsibility. His examples include Finland and alternative programs that connect individual support with a broader curriculum and community.
4. Education is a human system rather than a machine that can be perfected through central control. Robinson asks leaders to strengthen relationships, widen opportunities and allow teachers and students room to be creative.

Five useful phrases to practise

Choose a caption line to open Repeat mode. Listen, then say it after the speaker.

1. 3:29 The first is this, that human beings are naturally different and diverse.
2. 6:42 Curiosity is the engine of achievement.
3. 8:30 The role of a teacher is to facilitate learning.
4. 12:42 One is this: they individualize teaching and learning.
5. 18:10 The real role of leadership is climate control, creating a climate of possibility.

Based on the video’s captions. Original video: How to escape education's death valley | Sir Ken Robinson | TED · TED.

Everyday phrases from this video

• I mean
• not really
• all the time
• after all
• in the end

• Level: B1
• Accent: British
• Length: 19 min · 249 lines to practise
• Speed: about 144 words a minute (an average pace)
• Words: about 2,700; the talk asks 16 questions
• Timing: Sada measures how far behind the speaker you are on every line

What to focus on in this talk

Use the sections about curiosity to practise comparisons and sentences with should.

What this talk trains

Sir Ken Robinson speaks for about 19 minutes: roughly 2,700 words in 249 caption lines. The pace stays fairly even, about 138 words a minute in the first quarter and 147 in the last. Overall it is faster than 15 of the other 66 talks on Sada. Its sentences average 12.0 words, no longer than the middle of the library (14.3), and 11.1% of its words fall outside the 3,000 most common English words (library middle: 12.9%). It asks 16 questions, so there is plenty of question intonation to copy. Phrases that fast speech often shortens come up again and again: “have to” (7 times) and “want to” (5 times).

Lines from across the talk, and what each one trains

One line from each quarter of the talk. Press a line to open it in Sada, ready to record. “Linking” marks words that run together: a word ending in a consonant sound joins the vowel that starts the next one.

1. 2:08 In some parts of the country, 60 percent of kids drop out of high school.

   “out of”: fast speech often shortens it to “outta”. Listen for whether the speaker does here. Linking: say “parts of”, “percent of”, “drop out” without a break between the words.

2. 5:42 Children are not, for the most part, suffering from a psychological condition.

   Linking: say “Children are”, “from a” without a break between the words. Several commas: say it in short chunks first, then as one line.

3. 10:15 You know, but it doesn't listen to Radiohead, does it?

   A question: listen to where the voice rises or falls at the end, and copy it. Linking: say “but it”, “does it” without a break between the words.

4. 15:01 It's about people, people who either do want to learn or don't want to learn.

   “want to”: fast speech often shortens it to “wanna” when a verb follows. Listen for whether the speaker does here. Linking: say “It's about”, “learn or” without a break between the words.

Words that keep coming up

Words outside the 3,000 most common English words that Sir Ken Robinson uses more than once. The number is how often each is said. Look up any you don’t know, then press it to practise the line where it first comes up.

• curiosity ×6
• irony ×5
• achievement ×4
• broad ×4
• trouble ×3
• diverse ×3
• dominant ×3
• standardized ×3

How the pace changes through the talk

The fastest minute starts at 11:30 (about 183 words a minute): practise that minute once the rest feels easy. The slowest starts at 4:57 (about 111): a good minute to warm up with.

Measured from the caption timing, so the numbers are close, not exact.

How the talk opens: press any line to practise it

1. 0:14 Thank you very much.
2. 0:17 I moved to America 12 years ago with my wife Terry and our two kids.
3. 0:21 Actually, truthfully, we moved to Los Angeles -- thinking we were moving to America, but anyway -- It's a short plane ride from Los Angeles to America.
4. 0:39 I got here 12 years ago, and when I got here, I was told various things,
5. 0:44 like, "Americans don't get irony."
6. 0:50 Have you come across this idea?

How to practise this talk

1. Warm up on the slowest minute (from 4:57) or on the opening lines above.
2. Then take the chosen lines above one at a time: a shortened phrase, linked words, a line said in chunks, a question.
3. On each line, press Record and say it after Sir Ken Robinson (Repeat) or along with them (Shadow), then open Compare and go again until every word is green.
4. Save the fastest minute (from 11:30, about 183 words a minute) for last.
5. At one minute a day you finish the whole talk in about 19 days, and Sada shows your first try against your latest.

More talks to practise

• Sir Ken Robinson — Bring on the Learning Revolution! (B1 · 149 words a minute · same speaker)
• Sir Ken Robinson — Do Schools Kill Creativity? (B2 · 165 words a minute · same speaker)
• Josh Kaufman — The First 20 Hours — How to Learn Anything (B1 · 142 words a minute · same level)
• Mel Robbins — How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over (B1 · 146 words a minute · same level)

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