Pratique du Shadowing: CELPIP Speaking Task 8 - TIPS! - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo

Création de la leçon...
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Take a look at this.
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How would you describe...
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This.
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Do you have any idea?
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Well, this is an example of task 8 on the speaking part of the CELPIP exam.
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In task eight, You have to describe an unusual situation.
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An unusual situation.
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These questions in task 8 are very strange.
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Very strange.
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And they're hard because you have to use specific vocabulary.
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Very specific vocabulary.
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That's why I think this is the hardest question on the speaking test.
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A lot of people find this very difficult.
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But hey, I have great news for you.
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In my book, I help you prepare for this question.
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Okay, we look at lots of examples
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and I try to help you prepare for different questions that could be on the test.
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Okay, when I designed the questions in my book, I was thinking about how I can prepare you for this question.
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Okay, we look at pictures of strange animals,
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strange vehicles, strange costumes and different kinds of strange situations, okay?
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So I think my book will really help you improve your score in this question specifically.
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Well, all the questions, but especially for this one because it requires such specific vocabulary.
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Hey, if you want to get a copy of my book, you can just go on my website, metv .cool.
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I'll put the link to my website down description.
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Okay, so in this question you have 30 seconds to prepare and then you have 60 seconds to speak.
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So basically you just have to wing it.
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Wing it means you have to try your best without preparing.
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I mean 30 seconds is not very much time to prepare.
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You know, after reading the question and trying to understand the question, looking a little bit at it, you won't really have much time to prepare.
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Then you're just going to have to start speaking.
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Okay, so that's why you have to wing it.
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Okay, so here are my tips.
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Okay, the first thing is that you should plan your introduction.
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Think about your introduction because very often people get carried away looking at the picture.
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They're trying to find the right words.
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They're trying to prepare the right words to describe this picture And then suddenly they hear "Start Speaking Now." "Uh..."
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Okay, "Hi John, I'm just, I'm in a shopping mall right now and I see a very strange..." Okay,
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you don't want to start that way.
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You don't want to start your answer flustered.
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Flustered means sort of sort of confused overwhelmed okay you want
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to just start all your answers on the speaking part in a very calm confident tone of voice.
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So you should prepare your introduction for this question and for all the questions,
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for all eight eight tasks on the speaking test, okay?
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So don't spend all your time just looking There, look at the question, okay?
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You're in a shopping mall and see a very strange man standing outside a store.
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Call your friend and describe what you see.
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Okay?
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So first, where are you?
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What's the situation?
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Okay, you're in a shopping mall and who do you need to talk to?
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on the phone, right?
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It says "call your friend" that means to call on your phone your friend
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You're not calling your mom or your dad or your grandma.
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Sometimes people make a mistake like that.
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No. who you're calling.
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That's part of plan your introduction.
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Okay, so let's take a look at my tips from my book for this question.
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Okay, the most important word in this situation is Costume.
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Costume.
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You need to use that word.
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You have to describe the overall scene before you describe the details.
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Very often people will start a question like this by saying: I see an egg.
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That's wrong.
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I see a funny man who looks like an egg.
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Wrong.
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I see an egg with arms and legs.
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Wrong.
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I see an egg yolk.
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Wrong.
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Okay, you need to start your answer by giving a correct description of the scene.
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"I see a man wearing an egg costume." Right.
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I see a man wearing an egg costume.
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Now, we know he's a real man because the question
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says that you're in a shopping mall and you see a very strange man.
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standing outside a store.
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Okay, so, I mean, it's probably a real man.
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You could assume that it's a mannequin A mannequin is one of those things,
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a fake person that is always in front of a clothing store, behind the glass.
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You always see mannequins wearing different kinds of clothes.
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So you could assume it's a mannequin.
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You could say, "Hey John, I'm just in Brentwood Mall and see a strange mannequin." But, in this question, because it said it was a man,
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I think the safest thing is to assume It's a real man.
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Okay, so how should you start your answer?
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Well, You should start by saying the person's name.
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If it's your friend, just make up a name.
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"Hi John, Hi Mary, okay if it's your uncle or your or your aunt.
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Hi Uncle John, hi Aunt Mary, If it's your mom or your dad, if it's your brother, sister, grandma, grandpa.
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Okay, so make sure you get that part right.
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Hi and hey, you can decide.
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In a casual situation, if it's with friends or family, you know, most likely we would just say "Hey, John" but you can say "Hi, John" it doesn't matter, it's up to you.
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Okay, then we always say "It's Mark calling".
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When you talk on the phone, you should always identify yourself.
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That's just polite, phone, etiquette.
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Etiquette means good manners.
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Okay, so when you talk on the phone you should identify yourself and then describe the situation a little bit.
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Where are you?
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What is this situation about?
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Why are you calling the person?
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I'm just in Brentwood Mall right now and I see a really strange thing.
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There's a man standing in front of a store wearing an egg costume.
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So here we go.
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The egg costume.
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Remember, that is the most important thing in this scene.
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So after your introduction, then you should describe the details.
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You're going to describe the different parts of the costume.
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Now, I would say start with the biggest details in the scene,
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and then talk about the smallest details at the end.
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That's just common sense.
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Talk about the big things first.
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Not just for this question, but for the other questions where you have to describe the scene.
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Task three is describe a scene.
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So this is the same tip for that question.
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Now, the thing is that you might not know one word.
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Okay, that's very important.
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That is the biggest thing.
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Well, then you should start with what you know and move to the things that you don't know.
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Try to save the things you don't know for the end, because if you try to describe the things you don't know,
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lot of time trying to describe those things.
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Okay, so start with what you know.
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Okay, so, let's take a look at this picture.
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What is the biggest thing here?
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Well, I would say the biggest thing is The shell.
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the shell.
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Okay, so we've already given an overall description of the scene.
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We've said, "It's a man wearing an egg costume." Okay, so we don't need to use the word "egg" Again,
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we now we're going to actually describe the part the parts of the costume So what is the biggest part?
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Well the shell okay this big shell now on the top of the shell here?
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This part is brown.
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I don't know why and in this part of the shell is the is white or light brown.
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Okay, and this here is the egg yolk.
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Okay, the yellow egg yolk
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and then we have cracks see here there are some cracks in the shell where the arms and legs are and
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These things could be called pants.
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Okay, the guy is wearing pants or we could use the word leggings
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women often wear leggings leggings are like tight pants pants, right?
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Men don't really wear leggings, except if it's part of a costume.
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Okay?
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So, if you go to a Halloween party, let's say, and you dress up like Peter Pan,
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then you're probably going to need some tight green leggings.
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Okay, so whatever word you want to use, pants or leggings.
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Now, these things are called sleeves.
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Okay, so he's got brown sleeves brown pants
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and a red bow tie a red bow tie now you could say You know he's wearing glasses too.
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They sort of look like Harry Potter glasses Okay, you could describe his hair too, but the main thing is the costume okay?
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You're describing the costume and you can describe his shoes and as well.
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Okay, so let's take a look at my answer here from my book.
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Tell me if my answer is good or bad.
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Okay.
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Hey Bill, it's Bob here.
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I'm just in Willowbrook mall right now and see a really funny thing.
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There's a guy wearing an egg costume standing outside a store.
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I'm not sure why he's standing there.
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It might be for some sort of promotion.
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Maybe the store sells eggs.
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Or maybe it has something to do with Easter.
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I'll just describe what the guy looks like so you can get a picture of it or sorry, Describe what the guy looks like so you can picture it.
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Okay, the main part of the costume is the shell of the egg.
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It almost covers the guy's whole body.
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His arms and legs have broken through the shell and the shell is cracked in those areas.
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The top of the shell is brown but most of the shell is white.
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There is a yellow yolk in the middle of the egg.
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It looks like it's sliding down the front of the shell.
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The man has brown sleeves and brown pants.
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His shoes are orange and turquoise.
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They sort of look like bowling shoes.
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He's also wearing glasses and a red bow tie.
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Anyway I hope that gives you a good idea of what he looks like.
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Okay, so there you've described The guy, the egg yolk sliding down the front of the shell.
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His arms and legs have broken through the shell and the shell is cracked in those areas.
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Okay, the bow tie, the shoes orange and Turquoise.
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Do you know what turquoise is?
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Where is that?
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Orange and turquoise.
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Turquoise is sort of like a blue -green color, almost like the ocean, the color of the ocean.
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Okay, so...
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One tip I want to give you for this question.
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Now this might really come in handy.
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Come in handy means it might be really helpful for you.
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Okay, is that you might get stuck.
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If this is a very hard scene to describe, you might actually get stuck and stop talking.
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you don't know what to say.
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Well, then you should say this: "Wow, this is really hard to describe." Let me just gather my thoughts for a second.
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Let me just gather my thoughts for a second.
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That means let me just think about it for a second.
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Now this is okay because in real life native English speakers you know, Sometimes we need to think about it.
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Okay, so if native English speakers can say this then
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And how much more can you be allowed to say this if you're trying to describe a difficult scene?
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Okay?
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Like if I saw this in real life and I was calling let's say my uncle.
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"Hey Uncle John, I'm just in Brentwood Mall right now and I see a really strange thing.
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I wonder if you.. have you ever seen anything like this?
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I'll just describe it for you.
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Well, I.. this is really hard to describe.
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Let me just gather my thoughts for a second.
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Hmm.
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Okay, well, the main part of the costume is a shell, and then blah blah blah.
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Okay?
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So did you see how I handled that?
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I said, "Wow, this is really hard to describe.
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Let me just gather my thoughts for a second, then you can..." Stop for a few seconds and think about it.
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And then when you're ready, you can start talking again.
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That's much better than just stopping.
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Because if you stop talking, then the cell pit person who's marking your test might think, "Why did they stop?" They need to explain it.
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So if you explain this, that it's hard to describe, then it sounds much more natural.
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Okay?
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So you might want to memorize this sentence,
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or these two sentences, just in case you get stuck on task eight because it's really hard.
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Okay, so let's take a look at another one from my book for homework.
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Okay, I want you to describe this object.
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Let's say you're in a furniture store and you need to call your friend
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and describe a strange piece of furniture that you see.
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How would you describe this?
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Let me know down there in the comments, and I'll see you over in the next episode of Mad English TV.
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Take care.
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you

Why practice speaking with this video?

This video offers valuable insights into Task 8 of the CELPIP Speaking Test, which involves describing an unusual situation. By practicing with this video, learners can enhance their speaking skills in a high-stakes context that mimics real-life communication scenarios. The emphasis on using specific vocabulary helps you improve English pronunciation and allows you to become more articulate in your descriptions. Furthermore, the speaker's tips on preparing your introduction and maintaining a calm demeanor can significantly boost your confidence as you prepare for similar speaking tasks in exams or everyday conversations.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

In this video, several key grammar structures and expressions stand out:

  • "You have to wing it." This expression means to improvise or act without preparation, which is crucial to remember during the speaking test.
  • "In a shopping mall, I see a very strange man..." This sentence structure helps build context and paints a clear picture for the listener, a vital part of effective communication.
  • "Call your friend and describe what you see." This imperative construction emphasizes the action you need to take, reinforcing the importance of direct communication in conversational English.

These expressions can greatly enhance your speech, and practicing them using the shadowing technique will allow you to internalize the rhythm and flow of English conversation, helping you learn English with YouTube more effectively.

Common Pronunciation Traps

As you practice speaking along with the video, be mindful of certain pronunciation challenges:

  • The phrase "strange situation" can be tricky; focus on the initial 'str' sound and the transition between the two words.
  • Watch out for the word "flustered." Its pronunciation can be confusing due to its stress patterns, so practicing this word will help you feel more confident in your delivery.
  • Pay attention to the term "prepare." The speaker emphasizes it frequently, and proper stress on this word will enhance your overall intonation.

By honing in on these common pronunciation traps and using resources like this video, you can improve your oral skills significantly. Incorporating the principles of shadowspeak will also enhance your ability to mimic natural speech patterns, contributing to a more fluent speaking style.

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?

Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.

Technique du shadowing : lire le guide complet étape par étape →