Shadowing Practice: [VOL 5] IELTS Listening Test 2 - Learn English Speaking with Video

version three zero six seven seven

you will hear a number of different recordings

and you will have to answer questions on what you hear

there will be time for you to read the instructions and questions and you will have a chance to check your work.

All the recordings will be played once only.

The test is in four parts.

Write all your answers in the listening question booklet.

At the end of the test, you will be given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet.

Now turn to part one on page two of your question booklet.

Part 1 You will hear a telephone conversation between a customer and the manager of a house -sitting agency.

First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 6.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 6.

Hello, Oz House Sitters.

Adam here.

Oh, hello.

My husband and I are going on a trip overseas

and we'd like someone to stay in our house and look after it while we're away.

Is that something you can help us with?

It most certainly is.

We can take care of all the arrangements for you.

OK, great.

Now, can I just get some contact details from you for the form?

Your name is...

Jenny.

Jenny Hall.

Thank you.

Now, what's your address?

14 Grey Street.

Is that G -R -E -Y or G -R -A -Y?

A -Y.

Right.

And what's the suburb?

Greenfield.

Oh, I know it.

And if I can just get a contact telephone number?

I'll give you my mobile number.

That's probably the best one to use.

It's 0491 577 248.

Thanks.

Now, when did you want the house sitter to start?

We're flying out on the 25th of September, but my brother will be in the house for a few days until the 28th.

So, from the 29th of September, please.

I'll note that down.

And how long do you want the house sitter for?

Well, I'll be attending a training course in Paris for two weeks,

but we're also going to visit my niece in Singapore on the way home to Australia for a few days.

So, shall I put down three weeks?

That sounds about right.

I think four would be too long.

Sure.

Now, Jenny, can you tell me more about the features of your house?

This helps us to match house sitters and homeowners.

Sure.

What do you want to know?

Does the house have air conditioning?

No, we don't like using it.

We prefer the fresh air.

But last year, we did put in a pool.

Very nice.

And are there any other attractive features?

Is your house near a beach, for example?

No, not really.

We're about an hour's drive away.

But we are close to a station, so it's handy for anyone getting into work and so on.

OK, great.

Great.

Now, if our house sitter has their own transport, is there any space for them to park?

Well, we won't be taking our car, but it's a large double garage.

There'll be space for one more.

Okay, great.

I'll note that down too.

Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 7 to 10.

Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10.

And are there any special duties that you'll need the house sitter to carry out?

Oh, I don't know.

What do people normally ask for?

Well, for example, one common chore is looking after the garden.

Oh, yes.

We have an orange tree and an apple tree, which are both watered automatically.

But we haven't connected the sprinkler to our lemon tree yet, so they'll need to water that one.

Sure.

Now, Jenny, do you have any special requirements for your house sitter?

Well, I don't know if this is possible, but I'd probably rather have a couple than someone who's single.

The house might be a bit too big for just one person.

Sure.

Now, many of our owners ask for sitters without children.

What's your preference?

Oh, that's no problem.

There's nothing they can break.

What about smoking?

Oh, no. I can't stand the smell.

Definitely not.

Now, how do I know that my house is going to be safe with the house sitters?

Well, we check all of our house sitters very carefully.

They have to provide references.

But as well as that, you can ask for a police check if you want to.

Oh, yes.

I'd like to do that, please.

OK, no problem.

100

That's all I need for now.

101

OK.

102

that is the end of part one you now have one minute to check your answers to part one

103

Thank you.

104

Part 2

105

You will hear a manager talking to staff of a graphic design company about the move to their new office building.

106

First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 15.

107

Part 2.

108

You will hear part of a radio program in

109

which a successful businessman is advising listeners on how to become a self -made millionaire.

110

First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 16.

111

Thank you.

112

Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 16.

113

Everybody dreams of becoming a millionaire one day.

114

So we asked Arthur Knowles, who made his millions in the plumbing business,

115

to give the budding entrepreneurs among you a few tips on how to make your first million.

116

Arthur, welcome to the programme.

117

Thanks, Sue.

118

So, Arthur, what advice do you have for our listeners?

119

Well, one thing I've heard people say is that when you're starting up a business, you can't afford to make mistakes.

120

Well, I believe in the old saying, a person who never made a mistake never made anything.

121

You can't really predict when you'll make mistakes, and you have to look at them as a positive experience, and one that means you won't make the same mistake again.

122

You need to be able to cope with the world of business.

123

But according to recent American business school studies, Believing in yourself isn't enough by itself to guarantee success.

124

Confidence can be a good thing, but a person can have too much confidence.

125

And people who try to learn to be confident by buying those how -to -succeed books are just wasting their time.

126

The advice given in these American studies was that being a successful entrepreneur comes down to having the right attitude.

127

It's no good getting depressed every time something goes wrong.

128

Always keep your goals in mind and never give up.

129

And don't listen to all the people around you who say, oh, this will never work.

130

One thing I've learned in business is that you don't have to be an expert in everything, like marketing, for example.

131

When I started my business, I tried to do it all myself.

132

But I soon realised that although I knew everything there was to know about plumbing, I didn't have much idea about how to sell my ideas.

133

So, I got someone who knew more about this to take care of the marketing side of things for me.

134

And as for leadership, well, you've got to be someone your workers look up to because you've been seen to make the right decisions.

135

You have to be able to control people, but listen to them at the same time.

136

Some people are driven to make their companies successful, but that too often leads to a ruthless approach.

137

Then there's the question of taking risks, even calculated ones.

138

I personally feel it's actually better to tread carefully when it comes to taking short -term risks.

139

You need a degree of vision, certainly, but it's easy to get carried away by your desire to increase profits and if things go wrong,

140

you can end up losing more than you gain.

141

Now listen and answer questions 17 to 20.

142

So, if you have a great idea for a business, what should you do next?

143

Well, the first thing to ask yourself is whether there's a need for your product or service.

144

Can you cater for people's needs better than existing companies?

145

You don't need to worry about whether it's original or not, because there isn't always enough of a demand for completely new ideas.

146

And the second thing to ask yourself is, not what colour should the packet be or how much should it cost,

147

but do I care enough about this idea to dedicate the next ten years of my life to it?

148

Because realistically, that's how long it will take.

149

Tell us how you got started, Arthur.

150

How do you explain your early success?

151

Well, I started my business just as the economy was going into a recession, which wasn't the best time, and I was lucky to survive,

152

especially as the banks weren't being particularly supportive to small businesses at that time.

153

If I'd listened to the business advice I was given back then, I'd never have got started.

154

My strengths were

155

that I knew I could provide a better service than my competitors who really hadn't spotted the opportunities

156

that were out there and that my wife had a good job

157

and was able to pay the household bills while I was getting the company on its feet.

158

The first couple of years were very tough but I knew I would make it eventually.

159

Okay, now we're going to take some calls from listeners

160

that is the end of part two you now have 30 seconds to check your answers to part two

161

Section 3 You will hear two primary school trainee teachers called Stefan and Magda discussing their placements for science teaching.

162

First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26 on page 6.

163

Thank you.

164

carefully and answer questions 21 to 26.

165

Hi Magda, how was your placement?

166

It went really well.

167

The kids really enjoyed the science I did with them.

168

So did mine.

169

I think they found it very motivating.

170

Yes, the programme we had to teach was much better than the old style science experiments we did at school.

171

Yes, though I don't understand why the children should have to build a model of a steam engine.

172

I tried it with the kids, but I couldn't get it to work.

173

Me neither.

174

And it really shows it's hard to get any real results.

175

Yes.

176

And it's usually the children's parents, rather than the kids themselves, who favour that type of experiment.

177

So what experiments did you do?

178

Well, one day a discussion started in class about breakfast cereals, about which one was best.

179

One child then said that we should test them in class.

180

That's a nice idea.

181

Yes, and it wasn't expensive.

182

We brought four different brands of cereal and had everyone evaluate them for taste, appearance and sogginess in milk.

183

And are you going to tell me which one won?

184

No, I'll let you do it yourself.

185

It obviously isn't difficult to set up.

186

Another experiment we did, the sports teacher's idea actually, was to spend a morning seeing how high various balls bounced.

187

For example, do new tennis balls bounce higher than old ones?

188

And do basketballs that are fully inflated bounce better than flatter ones?

189

And I guess you got some interesting data.

190

We did.

191

And they had to make a chart to plot the results.

192

It really improved their grasp of charts and graphs and calculation.

193

Apparently they'd had problems understanding the point of graphs in the past.

194

Did all your experiments work out OK?

195

Well, we had one lesson on making paper from grass.

196

The children made a terrible mess in the classroom.

197

Whatever they did didn't work.

198

And it wasn't because it was difficult.

199

I think it was because it didn't engage them at all.

200

It didn't seem to motivate them.

201

My tie -dying experiment went well.

202

They had to get a piece of material and twist it into a rope and then dye it.

203

The children did end up with blue and green hands for a few days though.

204

But don't you need to spend more than one lesson on that?

205

Yes, we did it over three classes.

206

The children really loved it though, and one suggested we make scarves from the result.

207

I declined, as my sewing skills aren't up to much.

208

I guess the one experiment that everyone loved in my class was making glue from milk.

209

I thought it would be a complete failure, but in fact it worked brilliantly.

210

One reason, I suspect, is that they got feedback straight away.

211

Some children get really restless if they have to wait for anything interesting to happen.

212

Yes, I think that's always a good idea.

213

Really helps to make it a success.

214

Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 27

215

Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30.

216

i see you've got a diagram there for one of your

217

experiments yes it was an idea i got from the internet it was very easy

218

and straightforward to set up the idea is to make a

219

condenser to extract essences from plants the large containers made of metal right

220

and that holds the hot water that's right and it has a strainer

221

which sits inside it this is where you put the plant matter We use plants like rosemary, as the essence you can extract is quite strong.

222

So what's the container right at the top?

223

It's made of glass.

224

It's where we put the ice.

225

The glass container has a drip tip at the bottom.

226

What's that for?

227

It's where the essence collects.

228

Where does the essence go then?

229

Into the dish at the bottom.

230

It's made of pottery.

231

Sounds good.

232

I might try it with my class.

233

That is the end of Section 3.

234

You now have half a minute to check your answers.

235

Now turn to section 4, on page 8.

236

Part 4.

237

You will hear part of a talk about recent research into the design of workplaces.

238

First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.

239

Thank you.

240

now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40

241

hello everyone I recently completed some important research into the way office space is designed

242

and its impact on employees the open plan office had been the norm for offices around the world.

243

I'm sure you can picture one, a big room with maybe 50 or 100 workers sitting at their workstations.

244

You might think open plan designs are a recent phenomenon, but they actually came about in the early 20th century,

245

when businesses needed large numbers of people to do typing.

246

These employees, usually women, used to have to sit in rows working away at their typewriters under the watchful eye of their supervisor.

247

Over the years, designers have come up with several variations on the open theme.

248

In particular, this has been achieved through furnishings.

249

The early designs featured separate desks.

250

A subsequent design introduced the concept of the cubicle.

251

These can have either high screens that workers can't see over, or a screen just low enough to keep a lookout for the manager.

252

Nowadays, with the increase in large call centres, a phenomenon known as hot -disking is common.

253

In this system, employees working on different shifts are asked to share the same workstation.

254

As you can imagine, this is not very popular with staff as there is little opportunity to personalise your workspace.

255

in fact my research shows

256

that employees in general dislike the open plan design as a

257

part of my research I conducted a survey of the staff

258

in several large companies with open plan offices the employees all voiced similar concerns about the design firstly they felt

259

that the open plan took away their privacy

260

but many also felt the need to carry their valuables with them at all times

261

so to some extent they also felt there was less security with these designs.

262

Another common complaint may be something for employers to consider

263

when choosing this type of design and this was that these types of office space are bad for the health.

264

I was intrigued by this possibility but looking at staff records, it does seem to be borne out.

265

So if this design is so unpopular, why is it so commonplace?

266

Well, the answer to that is in the benefits that the employers feel this type of design has.

267

Of course, there is the obvious benefit that this design significantly reduces costs.

268

both in terms of rent and even in terms of energy use.

269

Employers also argue that an open plan design leads to better teamwork and communication.

270

They also feel that new staff can learn from observing other workers, so this design can actually help in training staff.

271

However, the complaints voiced by employees seem to suggest that the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages.

272

The reality is that unhappy workers are unlikely to work well together,

273

and there is plenty of evidence to suggest workers are frequently distracted from their work by the noise

274

that is all around them.

275

What is clear is that, as designers, we need to think carefully about the impact

276

that our design has both on the staff involved and the work that they do.

277

that is the end of part four you now have one minute to check your answers to part four

278

Thank you.

279

That is the end of the listening test.

280

You now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the listening answer sheet.

281

Thank you.

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Waarom oefenen met deze video voor je Engels spreekvaardigheid?

Deze video biedt een realistische context voor het oefenen van Engels: een telefoongesprek tussen een klant en een manager over huiszitting. Zo leer je niet alleen dagelijkse taal, maar ook hoe je helder communiceert in praktische situaties. Ideaal voor schaduwspreken (shadowing), want de dialoog is duidelijk en bevat veel gebruikte uitingen. Door meerdere keren mee te spreken, verbeter je je fluïditeit en zelfvertrouwen in spreekende situaties.

Grammatica & uitingen in context

"Is that something you can help us with?": Deze vraagstructuur is handig om hulp te vragen zonder direct te eisen. Let op de plaatsing van "something" en "you can help us with".
"We're flying out on the 25th of September": De present continuous ("are flying") wordt hier gebruikt voor een geplande toekomstige handeling. Nuttig voor het bespreken van reizen of afspraken.
"Shall I put down three weeks?": "Shall I..." is een voornaamste manier om voorstellen te doen. Handig in gesprekken waarbij je samen met iemand plannen maakt.

Veelvoorkomende uitspraakvalkuilen

Bij het schaduwspreken zijn er enkele woorden die aandacht nodig hebben: "suburb" (uitgesproken als /ˈsʌbɜːb/) wordt vaak verkeerd uitgesproken als "sub-urb" in plaats van "sab-urb". Daarnaast is "Grey" (met "ay") een trap: let op het verschil met "gray" (zelfde betekenis, maar soms andere spelling). De intonatie in vragen zoals "Is that G-R-E-Y or G-R-A-Y?" is ook belangrijk: de stijging aan het eind maakt het een echte vraag, niet een verklaring.

Met deze video kun je de shadowing techniek effectief toepassen. Herhaal de dialoog zo snel mogelijk na de speaker, en let op timing en intonatie. Dit helpt je Engels spreekvaardigheid op een natuurlijke manier te verbeteren!

Grammatica in deze video

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

Structuur	In de video
Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet	will be played · will be given · you've been seen
Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt	haven't connected · I've heard · I've learned
Betrekkelijke bijzinnen who / which + zin — extra informatie over een persoon of ding	tree, which are · person who never · people who try

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.

Shadowing-techniek: lees de volledige stap-voor-stap-gids →