Shadowing Practice: 15 Must-Know TOEFL Speaking Templates for the "Take an Interview" Task + Response examples - Learn English Speaking with Video

The single biggest mistake I see students make on the TOEFL

speaking section is memorizing a full answer for every type of question

and then reciting it on test day like a robot

because ETS raters are trained to spot pre -written responses

so the moment they hear one your score on the rubric's range of grammar

and vocabulary criterion drops and your elaboration score drops with it,

which means two of the four scoring criteria are gone in just one sentence.

Welcome to the TOEFL test with Lingua Marina.

In today's video, I'll give you 15 templates

that will make you sound like a real fluent speaker who's actually thinking in English on the spot,

and they're designed specifically for the new TOEFL speaking interview task,

where you answer four questions about your experiences and opinions in 45 seconds each.

By the end of this video, you'll have all 15, plus a real example for every one of them,

and the reason each one earns points on the new 0 -5 rubric.

We post two TOEFL videos every week, so don't forget to subscribe if you want to ace the new TOEFL speaking section.

Now, there is an important distinction here that I want to clear up first.

What hurts your score on the new rubric isn't using phrases like the ones I'm about to share.

Native speakers use them constantly in every single conversation.

What hurts your score is pre -writing your entire answer

and reciting it on test day no matter what the interviewer actually asks.

Memorize a phrase?

That's fine.

That's how every fluent speaker actually talks.

Memorize a full multi -sentence answer?

That is exactly what raters are trained to detect.

And the moment they catch it, your range of grammar and vocabulary score drops and your elaboration score drops with it.

So that's why this video is built the way it is.

The 15 phrases I'm sharing today are the kind that fluent English speakers genuinely use every day.

Pair them with your real story, your real opinion, your real reason, and the rater hears a five -point response.

Pair them with a memorized full answer, and you're right back to where you started.

I've grouped the 15 into five categories, three phrases each, and I really recommend grabbing a notebook right now

because if you only watch this video without writing them down, you won't actually use them on test day.

You can pause the video at any phrase you want to write down.

So, the interview task gives you 45 seconds per question, and the first three seconds are the most important

because they set the rater's expectation for how organized the rest of your answer is going to be.

These three openers will give you structure and confidence right out of the gate, without sounding scripted at all.

Phrase number one, I'd like to talk about this phrase commits you immediately to a specific answer, which signals confidence in the first three seconds,

and that's what the rater registers under conversational pace, and it works equally well for an opinion question

or a memory question because it just hands you straight into your real content without any stalling.

When the interviewer says, tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision,

you can answer, I'd like to talk about the summer i had to choose between two scholarships one for engineering

and one for business i went with engineering

because the program included a research project with my favorite professor

and i knew i could not get

that anywhere else phrase number two in my experience the most effective way is use this

when the interviewer asks for your opinion on something because it signals a confident personal stance right from the start, which raters reward under conversational pace,

and it works as a natural lead -in to the reasons that follow your opinion.

Say the interviewer asks you, what is the best way to make new friends in a new country?

You can open with, in my experience, the most effective way is to join one regular activity at the same time every week.

I joined a Saturday hiking group when I moved to my new university and within a month, I had a group of five people I saw every weekend.

Phrase number three.

If I think back to, this is the safest opener for any question that has the words,

describe a time or tell me about because it signals

that a real memory is coming

and it gives you space to land on a specific story instead of starting with a vague claim that goes nowhere.

When the interviewer says, describe a teacher who had a strong influence on you, you can answer.

If I think back to my high school years, the teacher who shaped me the most was my chemistry teacher, Mr. Hassan.

He failed me on my first lab report and told me to rewrite it without telling me what was wrong.

It took me three more attempts to figure it out, and that is when I learned how to actually read instructions.

And one small note before we move on.

You should use one these three openers per response

and across the four interview questions vary your openers

so the rater hears a range because

if you use the same one four times the rater will absolutely notice

and your range of vocabulary score will not move the new

rubric explicitly says a five -point response is on topic

and well elaborated and elaboration just means specific examples not abstract claims

but the problem is that most students lead the same way every single time

which makes their answers blur together for the rater.

These three phrases will give you natural ways to introduce a specific story.

Phrase number four one time

that really stands out is use this in the middle of your answer after you've made a claim

and you need to back it up with a specific story

because without this kind of phrase students often state an opinion

and just stop talking but with it you walk straight from the claim to the example

which is exactly the structure the rater rewards

if the interviewer asks is it more important for a manager to be friendly

or strict you might answer I think a manager has to be friendly first strict second one time

that really stands out is

when i had a manager at my summer job who was

strict from day one the whole team was scared to ask her questions

and we ended up making the same mistakes for three weeks straight just

because nobody wanted to walk into her office phrase number five this actually reminds me of

this phrase sounds like something a native speaker would actually say in real conversation

and it works as a smooth bridge from a general point to a specific story from your own life

which makes you sound experienced rather than rehearsed.

When you get a question like how important is it to have a hobby outside of work

or school you can say a hobby gives you something that is yours separate from grades or salary.

This actually reminds me of when I started learning the guitar in my second year.

My exam stress dropped within three weeks

because I had something to do with my hands at the end of every study session

that had nothing to do with my GPA.

Phrase number six, there was this one time when this phrase sounds completely natural in spoken English

and it forces you to commit to one specific moment with specific details instead of giving a general feeling,

because vague answers cost you elaboration points on the rubric, but specific moments with real details earn them every time.

The interviewer might ask, when did you realize you wanted to study abroad?

You answer, there was this one time in my second year sitting in an organic chemistry lecture when something just clicked.

I noticed the professor was reading from an American textbook.

I went home that night, looked up master's programs, and within a week, I had a list of five universities I wanted to apply to.

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And if you want the full set of speaking and writing templates

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that show you exactly how to organize your response for each interview scenario, you could get them in our TOEFL course, Get Five or Above on TOEFL,

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taught by Anastasia, who scored 119 out of 120 on the TOEFL.

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Inside the course, every speaking and writing template is rebuilt from scratch for the new January 2026 format,

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all designed to sound conversational instead of pre -written, and you also get to practice every single one on our LinguaTufl platform,

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which simulates the real interview task with the actual timer and a pre -recorded interviewer,

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so you train under real test conditions before test day.

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The course is especially discounted this week if you click through now

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and you can use the promo code LINGUA MARINA to get

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20 % off the course plus a 5 % discount off your TOEFL exam fee.

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The link is in the description.

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Now let's get back to the phrases.

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Category 3, showing range of vocabulary and grammar.

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The new rubric specifically rewards a range of accurate grammar and vocabulary for a five -point response.

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And that sounds vague at first,

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but in practice, it just means don't use the same simple sentence structure for all four of your interview answers.

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These three phrases will change the grammar of your sentence in

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a way the rater notices without requiring you to memorize any new vocabulary.

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Phrase number seven.

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What I started doing was this phrase introduces a specific habit

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or strategy you adopted which gives the rater a real personal action to follow

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and the structure itself is more complex than a simple I did X sentence

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so it picks up points under range of grammar on the rubric without any extra effort.

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Say the question is what is the best way to prepare for an important exam?

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You can answer, practice tests are the single best preparation.

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What I started doing was timing myself under real test conditions, even when I was just doing it at my kitchen table on a Saturday morning.

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After three timed practice tests, the real one felt like the fourth.

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Phrase number eight, when I was trying to decide between, use this when the question asks you to compare two options

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or explain a trade -off because it sounds like normal conversation

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and it forces you to lay out two real options before you commit to one

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which is exactly the analytical move the rater is listening for

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if the interviewer asks did you choose your university for the location

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or the program you might say

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when i was trying to decide between the two the location was actually the bigger draw at first.

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The university near my home had a nicer campus and I would be close to my family,

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but the program I picked had a co -op with three companies in my field

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and that is what made me pick it in the end.

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Phrase number nine, what really turned things around for me was, this phrase tells the rater what mattered most before you explain why

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and it's a real fluent speaker move with strong native speaker idiom, so it earns you points under range of grammar on the rubric,

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and you should use it after you've already set up the scene of your story.

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Imagine you get the question, what helped you most when you were learning English?

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You answer, I took classes for years, but what really turned things around for me was watching one specific TV show with the subtitles off.

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I could finally hear how native speakers actually pause and stress words which no textbook had ever taught me.

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The single biggest difference between a four -point

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and a five -point response on the interview task is elaboration

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because a four -point answer is on topic

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but may lack effective sentence level connectors

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and a five -point answer connects every claim to a reason and every reason to an example.

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These three phrases will do the connecting work for you.

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Phrase number 10, and the reason I say that is

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because this is the cleanest way to bridge a claim to a reason

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because the five -point rubric rewards responses where every claim is supported, but most students just stop at the claim,

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and this phrase forces you to keep going.

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When the interviewer asks, should young people travel before starting university,

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you can answer, I would tell most students to travel for at least six months before they start,

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and the reason I say that is because I started university at 18 and felt completely lost in my first year.

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By the time I figured out what I wanted to study, I had already wasted a whole semester.

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Phrase number 11, looking back on it now, this phrase adds reflection to your story,

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and reflection is what separates a four -point answer from a 5 .1

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because it shows the rater you're processing the question instead of just reciting an answer.

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Say the question is, tell me about a decision you regret.

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You can say I quit the swim team in my second year because I told myself I was too busy.

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Looking back on it now the real reason was that I was scared of competing at a higher level.

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I've never been able to bring myself to join another team since then and I miss it.

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Phrase number 12.

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The main thing for me was the interview task gives you 45 seconds to explain a complicated answer.

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And this phrase forces you to pick one strongest reason and develop it well, instead of listing five reasons and developing none of them.

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The interviewer might ask, why are you applying for the scholarship?

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You open with, the main thing for me was the chance to do research with Dr. Thompson, who wrote the textbook our entire department uses.

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Working with her for two semesters would teach me more than any other program I have looked at.

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The clock is the second biggest reason students lose points on the interview task, because you hear the timer hit five seconds,

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you panic, and the recording cuts off mid -sentence, and the rater hears you stopping in the middle of the sentence, and you lose points on conversational pace.

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These three phrases will give you a clean ending in under eight seconds.

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Phrase number 13, at the end of the day.

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This phrase signals that you're about to land your final point

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and it sounds like something a real native speaker would say to wrap up an answer.

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So use it when you have around 10 seconds left on the clock.

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When the question is, do you think students should be required to live on campus?

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You close with, at the end of the day, I would say first year students should be required to live on campus because they need the structure.

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After that, it should be a choice.

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Phrase number 14.

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So in the end, this phrase is even more conversational than at the end of the day,

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and you should use it when you've already made your main point

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and you want a clean closing line that wraps up the story.

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If the interviewer asks, tell me about a time you had to ask for help, you finish with, so in the end,

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I went to my professor after class and asked her to explain the topic again.

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She did in five minutes and I scored 92 on that exam two weeks later.

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Phrase number 15.

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And that's something that stuck with me ever since.

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This is a really natural reflective closing

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that ties your story directly back to the question

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and it sounds genuine instead of memorized

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because it sounds like something you would actually say in a real conversation about a meaningful experience,

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say the interviewer asks, tell me about a time when you worked in a team.

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You rap with, and that is something that stuck with me ever since.

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I will never join a team again without a clear schedule on day one, no matter how friendly everyone is at the start.

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So that's the full list.

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15 natural phrases, five categories, all built specifically for the new TOEFL speaking interview task,

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and all designed to sound like real fluent English instead of a memorized script.

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If this video was useful, hit the like button and drop a comment letting me know what TOEFL topic you want us to cover next.

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And if you want the full set of speaking and writing templates,

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the Lingua TOEFL practice platform with the real interview simulator and Anastasia's lessons, you could get them in our TOEFL course,

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Get 5 or Above on TOEFL, linked in the description.

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And don't forget to subscribe to our channel to get more tips and tricks on how to ace the TOEFL test.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: 15 Must-Know TOEFL Speaking Templates for the "Take an Interview" Task + Response examples - Learn English Speaking with Video

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