Shadowing Practice: IELTS Speaking - Better Connectors, Better Fluency - Learn English Speaking with Video

When you're answering IELTS speaking questions, do you sometimes ramble?

Go round in circles?

Get lost?

Turn right onto Calais Alonso.

Or even forget the question.

So, yeah, I think that… I've forgotten the question actually.

If you do, it's bringing your fluency score down.

But don't worry, you're not alone.

It happens to many people.

And in this video, I'm going to show you some natural and advanced fillers and connectors that will up your fluency level.

Hi, my name is Keith.

If you don't know me,

I run the website IELTS Speaking Success,

trying to give you better English,

better answers and get a higher score on IELTS Speaking.

I also run free live lessons on Facebook.

Facebook Live every Tuesday and Thursday.

Check out the link below.

10 a.m.

Spanish time.

I also have an online course on Udemy.

IELTS Speaking Success Getter Band 7+.

Check it out if it's right for you.

Today then, we're going to look at fillers and improving your fluency.

So fluency makes up 25% of your score in the IELTS speaking, right?

It consists of hesitation.

I live in a repetition.

I want to...

I want to, I want to...

A range of connectives and discourse markers.

And what are they?

Well, connectives and discourse markers are rather fancy names for fillers and signposts.

To improve your fluency, you need to be coherent.

You need to connect your ideas and your sentences with good connectors

and fillers and show the examiner what you're going to say.

Now many people have a limited range.

They repeat the same connectors.

And I think also...

I also think that...

And I think...

I think for a band 7 and above you need a wide range of connectors and discourse markers.

First and foremost, I love desserts but that said,

I only eat them now and again.

So let's have a look at what we do in IELTS speaking.

We need to give opinions, right?

Add information, emphasise, clarify, compare and contrast, conclude.

And we'll be using different language to do this.

We may be saying, for example,

I think, also, I really think,

I mean, but, however, in conclusion.

And all of these are good but they're not enough.

You need a wider range of connectors to impress the examiner and really push up your fluency.

So let's have a look at each of these different areas and how we can expand your fillers.

So let's look first of all at opinions, giving opinions.

Take this question.

Do you like going to museums?

Well, to be honest, I'm not a big fan of museums.

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of museums.

So notice if the answers are no,

we can say well, to be honest.

Or honestly, notice the rising falling intonation.

Honestly.

If the answer is a positive.

Wow, without a doubt.

I'm a big fan of museums.

Absolutely.

I'm really into museums.

Notice we can say yes or wow, without a doubt.

Without a doubt.

or absolutely with quite a bit of emotion as well right

absolutely show the emotion on your face absolutely it's nice to give some feeling in our IELTS speaking

and here's another question do you think history is important Now,

if your answer is yes,

it's very important, you could say,

Yeah, I reckon it's essential.

For sure, in my eyes,

it's really important because without it...

Yep, I'd say it's pretty important because without it...

Yeah, I reckon.

I reckon means I think.

It's more colloquial and really nice to use in IELTS speaking.

You could also say for sure,

in my eyes, in my view.

All of these are good.

You can say yes, yeah, yep.

All of these are natural English and really good to use.

I would say or I'd say.

I advise you make the contraction.

I would say, I'd say.

I'd, I'd say.

I'd say, if you're not sure if it's important or not,

you may be using language like I guess so or I suppose so.

Notice how you can mix them up, right?

I guess so.

I suppose history gives us a sense of identity and...

I suppose so.

I guess history shapes our present day culture and identity.

I guess so.

I suppose history...

100

I suppose so.

101

I guess history is important.

102

OK.

103

And notice the number one mistake.

104

The most common mistake is,

105

do you think history is important?

106

I think yes.

107

That's not right, right?

108

You have to say this.

109

I think so.

110

yes, it is important.

111

So be careful with that one.

112

Let's move on.

113

And let's look now how we can use some nice fillers and connectors to begin an answer.

114

Here's one question.

115

What are the advantages of travelling by plane?

116

Well, first of all, it's fast and really convenient.

117

First of all.

118

Makes sense, right?

119

Logical.

120

Notice we often say well first.

121

Well, first of all, and you're connecting.

122

First of all.

123

Well, to kick off, it's faster than most other means of transport.

124

Well, to kick off.

125

To kick off is like the football match, right?

126

To begin.

127

To kick off is just to begin.

128

Well, to begin or to kick off.

129

For starters, it's faster than most other means of transport.

130

Now that's a really nice colloquial filler.

131

For starters.

132

Often we use it for the first course of a meal,

133

but also when you're talking to say to begin with, for starters.

134

Nice.

135

Let's move on now and look at the same question,

136

the advantages of flying and how we can add information.

137

What fillers can we use here?

138

Well, we can use another thing is,

139

on top of that, as far as I know, to my knowledge.

140

All of these are great.

141

Let's see these in action.

142

Another thing is, apparently, flying is the safest way to travel.

143

On top of that, flying is said to be the safest way to travel.

144

As far as I know,

145

flying is the safest way to travel.

146

To my knowledge, flying is the safest way to travel.

147

And now for emphasising.

148

There are different ways we can emphasise.

149

A nice one, rather complex but higher level is this one.

150

I'd go as far as to say,

151

which means I would add even more emphatically,

152

I would go as far as here to say something.

153

Let's have a look.

154

I'd go as far as saying flying is the best way to travel hands down.

155

Hands down is a lovely expression.

156

Hands down just means for sure, undoubtedly.

157

Make notes, start practicing it.

158

We can also use actually as a matter of fact, in fact.

159

And here's the thing.

160

Notice the intonation is really important.

161

usually has that falling and rising information.

162

And that indicates you're going to carry on.

163

Actually, I think this.

164

Actually, flying is the safest way to travel.

165

Let's have a look at these in action.

166

Actually, flying is the safest way to travel.

167

As a matter of fact,

168

flying is the safest way to travel.

169

In fact, flying is the safest way to travel.

170

And here's the thing.

171

Apparently, flying is the safest way to travel.

172

Now, when we move to giving examples,

173

there are many ways we can do it.

174

The common ones, for example,

175

for instance, take me as an example,

176

take me as an example.

177

Let's see some of these in action.

178

For instance, to my knowledge,

179

Qantas Airlines has never had a fatal accident ever.

180

You can see this with Qantas Airlines.

181

As far as I know,

182

they've never had a fatal accident ever.

183

I love that last one.

184

You can see this with Samsung.

185

You can see this with Apple.

186

So whichever your example is,

187

it's a really nice, smooth,

188

natural way to give an example.

189

Let's move on.

190

Now, a part three question is often,

191

why do some people do this?

192

Now, this is a difficult question because it's very open.

193

And often we want to clarify what we mean or what we're going to talk about.

194

And one of the great strategies in part three is with the why do some people question is to break it down,

195

to look at different kinds of people.

196

Right.

197

We can talk about young people,

198

parents, old people, workers, unemployed, break it down.

199

And so to do that,

200

we use very simple clarifying techniques.

201

My favourite is this one.

202

If we're talking about young people,

203

I reckon they move to the city in search of better job opportunities.

204

Did you get that?

205

If we're talking about, if we are talking about something or someone.

206

If we're talking about, great, here's another example.

207

If we're talking about parents,

208

I suppose they want a better school for their children.

209

Let's look now at contrasting,

210

contrasting, similar to comparing, but where we look at A and then contrast it with B.

211

So often we use the word but.

212

There is this, but there's that.

213

But is the most overused connector.

214

What are other ways we can use to express that?

215

Well, however, that said,

216

mind you at the same time and notice with most of these we have that falling rising intonation

217

that said mind you and it just indicates

218

that we're going to carry on speaking it's great natural intonation

219

lovely connector let's see in practice the same question as before

220

why do some people choose to live in the city rather than in the countryside?

221

If we're talking about young people,

222

I reckon they move to the city in search of better job opportunities.

223

That said, many people who work remotely choose to live in the suburbs or even the countryside.

224

If we're talking about parents,

225

I suppose they want a better school for their kids.

226

Mind you, nowadays there are lots of good quality schools to be found in rural areas too.

227

Can you see how that works?

228

Brilliant.

229

Start practicing.

230

And let's wind up with concluding.

231

Concluding.

232

There are different ways to conclude.

233

Finally, to summarise in conclusion.

234

I think some of the more natural ones are these.

235

In a nutshell, overall, all in all,

236

at the end of the day,

237

so again, let's have a look at these in action.

238

In a nutshell, I think people move to the city because it offers more opportunities.

239

Overall, I think people move to the city because it offers more opportunities.

240

All in all, I'd say people move to the city because it offers more opportunities.

241

At the end of the day,

242

I suppose people move to the city because it offers more opportunities.

243

Guys, that's it.

244

A whole bunch of fillers that will help you improve your fluency

245

and give cracking answers in your IELTS speaking for part one and part three.

246

I hope this has helped to remind you, come along to Facebook.

247

It's the IELTS Speaking Success Facebook page,

248

Tuesday and Thursday, 10 o'clock Spanish time.

249

Free lessons.

250

It's brilliant.

251

We have a ball.

252

We have a whale of a time.

253

Do come and join us.

254

And if you're looking for a more in-depth online course,

255

check out my course on Udemy, IELTS Speaking Success.

256

Get a Band 7+.

257

Go ahead.

258

Go and get it.

259

get a Band 7 Plus.

260

Please share this video with your friends, subscribe, turn on notifications.

261

I really appreciate you following me.

262

Thank you very much and I can't wait to see you soon.

263

Take care everybody.

264

Bye-bye.

265

Thank you.

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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les

Deze spreekles op niveau C1 is gebaseerd op de video “IELTS Speaking - Better Connectors, Better Fluency”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: speaking, Ielts, flying, travel, filler. Deze video bevat 265 zinnen en 1910 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 16:19. De spreker praat in een gelijkmatig tempo van ongeveer 117 woorden per minuut, prettig om te shadowen. 85% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden; de rest kun je beter vooraf bekijken.

Belangrijke woorden in deze video

De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:

Woord	Uitspraak	Betekenis
connector zelfstandig naamwoord	/kəˈnɛktɚ/	connector, verbindingsstuk
fluency zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈfluːənsi/	vlotheid
intonation zelfstandig naamwoord	/ɪntəˈneɪʃən/	intonatie, zinsmelodie
conclude werkwoord	/kənˈkluːd/	besluiten, concluderen
discourse zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈdɪs.kɔːɹs/	betoog, discussie
clarify werkwoord	/ˈklæɹ.ɪ.faɪ/	klaren
colloquial bijvoeglijk naamwoord	/kəˈloʊ.kwi.əl/	informeel, spreektalig
nutshell zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈnʌt.ʃɛl/	notendop
countryside zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈkʌn.tɹiˌsaɪd/	platteland, buitengebied
emphatically bijwoord	/ɪmˈfætɪkli/	nadrukkelijk
repetition zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/	herhaling
signpost zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈsaɪnˌpoʊst/	wegwijzer
summarize werkwoord	/ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/	samenvatten, opsommen
hesitation zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˌhɛzɪˈteɪʃən/	aarzeling
coherent bijvoeglijk naamwoord	/koʊˈhɛɹ.ənt/	samenhangend, coherent

Phrasal verbs die je zult horen

Woord	Betekenis
hands down bijwoord	met losse handen, met gemak
check out werkwoord	onderzoeken

Zinnen om te herhalen

Korte, volledige zinnen uit de video die je in alledaagse gesprekken kunt gebruiken:

If you do, it's bringing your fluency score down.
Check it out if it's right for you.
Do you like going to museums?
What fillers can we use here?
Can you see how that works?

Grammatica in deze video

De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:

Structuur	In de video
Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt	I've forgotten · has helped
Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet	is said · be found

Uitspraak om op te letten

De spreker gebruikt 38 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals I'd, we're, you're. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.

De klanken “sh” en “zh”: intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, nutshell /ˈnʌt.ʃɛl/, contraction /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/, repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/, hesitation /ˌhɛzɪˈteɪʃən/
Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, colloquial /kəˈloʊ.kwi.əl/, examiner /əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/, emphatically /ɪmˈfætɪkli/, repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/

Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:

Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: bind /ˈbaɪ̯nd/, conclude /kənˈkluːd/, connective /kəˈnɛktɪv/, countryside /ˈkʌn.tɹiˌsaɪd/, overuse /ˌoʊvɚˈjuːz/
/æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: clarify /ˈklæɹ.ɪ.faɪ/, examiner /əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/, contraction /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/, emphatically /ɪmˈfætɪkli/, ramble /ˈɹæmbəl/
/w/ — met ronde lippen: colloquial /kəˈloʊ.kwi.əl/, whichever /wɪt͡ʃˈɛvɚ/, whale /ˈweɪl/

Zo oefen je met deze video

Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
Spreek zin voor zin na op normale snelheid en herhaal elke zin tot je ritme gelijk is aan dat van de spreker.
Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als connector, fluency, intonation.

Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?

Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.

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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les

Belangrijke woorden in deze video

Phrasal verbs die je zult horen

Zinnen om te herhalen

Grammatica in deze video

Uitspraak om op te letten

Zo oefen je met deze video

Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?