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IfI'mgoingtogiveyou
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Summary
Najla Mohamed's TEDx talk argues that incompleteness and "in-between" moments are beautiful and valuable, using personal stories and examples from nature, history, and science.
Present perfect for realisations — used to express a truth the speaker has come to understand: "I realized that I'd lived 24 years of my life postponing every single piece of happiness."
Should have + past participle (past modal of regret) — expresses what would have been the better action in hindsight: "I should have used those stuff. I should have leave the moment at that time."
Conditional with 'when' instead of 'if' — a natural spoken pattern where 'when' signals an assumed future event: "I'll get to it when I get back to Egypt."
Gradual change with 'gradually' — used to describe a slow process over time, common in academic and reflective speech: "they gradually lose the sense of being of that division of cells later on."
About this video
In this TEDx Youth talk, Najla Mohamed opens with a simple but thought-provoking question: would you choose a single flower or an entire garden as a gift? Most people would pick the garden — and that instinct, she argues, reveals a widespread bias toward bigness and completeness. Drawing on 24 years of living in Saudi Arabia while mentally "saving" her real life for a return to Egypt, she shares how she spent decades postponing happiness. She also recounts taking the intensive CELTA teaching certification while simultaneously caring for her mother, her university-student daughter, and a 12-year-old son — realising afterwards that the richest achievements were the quiet, "in-between" ones she had almost ignored. She then broadens the argument with examples from nature (the sun at midday, the full moon, the life cycle of stars) and history (the Roman and Ottoman Empires), concluding that the so-called "gray area" — not yet settled, not yet complete — is where true balance and beauty live.
For shadowing practice, this talk is excellent material. Najla speaks at a measured, deliberate pace with clear articulation, pausing naturally between ideas. Her accent is non-native but highly intelligible, which gives learners exposure to a widely encountered variety of world English. The language is conversational yet structured, blending personal narrative with reflective commentary.
This video suits B2 learners looking to practise persuasive and reflective speech patterns. Shadowers will absorb useful discourse markers, conditional structures, and the kind of thoughtful, flowing sentence rhythm typical of public speaking and presentations.
Idioms & expressions
raise your hand — a classroom/audience instruction meaning to lift your hand to show agreement or respond to a question
ace it — to do something extremely well or achieve the highest possible result; "I took the challenge that I'm going to ace it."
leave it behind — to abandon something and not take it with you, literally or figuratively; "I even had to leave them behind because they were either old-fashioned or out of date."
put pressure on myself — to create stress or high expectations for oneself; "I put a lot of pressure on myself."
in between — the middle stage or transitional period between two points; "those in-betweens, those little successes that we do."
gray area — a situation that is uncertain, not clearly defined, or not black-and-white; "this area that we call the gray area where we are still not settled."
go through a phase — to experience a particular period or stage in life; "I think we mostly go through this phase when we procrastinate."
