Shadowing Practice: Answers and vocabulary for OLD BUILDINGS 🏛️ | IELTS Speaking Part 1 (2022) - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Hello lovely!
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Hello lovely!
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In this video, we're gonna give you model answers for OLD BUILDINGS an IELTS Speaking Part 1 topic.
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I'm Maria. And my name is Rory and we are here to help you prepare for IELTS Speaking and have fun along the way.
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In the first part of the video, we give you the answers to the questions and in the second part of the video, we crack jokes, have a laugh, and discuss gorgeous grammar and vocabulary.
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So watch this video till the very end.
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We also have premium episodes that cover IELTS Speaking Part 2 and 3.
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There's a link to that in the description below.
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Smash the like button, subscribe...
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Or gently...
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Gently caress the like button.
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Oh, how is this better then Smash the like button?
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Like the smash button.
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Gently caress. Oh, this so dirty.
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Oh... No it's not!
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You sound like... You sound like a dirty taxi driver, no, instructor...
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Driving instructor just released from prison.
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No. At least I sound original.
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Like, unlike, copying people who are like, yeah, we gotta smash this like button...
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What? Dear listener, so after the topic of sitting, we have another one for you - OLD BUILDINGS.
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So how horrible is this topic from 1 to 10?
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This could be worse.
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Sitting was the worst.
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So that was like a 10.
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This is more like...
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This is more like a 6 or a 7.
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Because we all see old buildings.
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And also you can be subjective about what's old.
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Like, pretty much anything can be old...
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Except for you, Maria.
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Thank you, darling.
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Right. So old buildings, they are not ancient buildings, because ancient like, pyramids, right?
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But old, just old.
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Okay. ... Rory, are you ready?
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Yes. Have you ever seen some old buildings in the city?
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Well, my hometown is hundreds of years old, so I see them almost every day.
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We've got a gallery in town called The McManus, which has a kind of gothic style to it, and that was built in the 1800s.
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There are also a few old jute mills, which were...
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They've been repurposed, but they're kept in their original state because they're listed buildings.
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Do you think we should preserve old buildings in cities?
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Assuming they're kept up to code then I don't see why not...
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It's a good reminder of the past and a connection to culture that pretty much anyone can access.
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I visited one of the first mosques in Africa, which was preserved as part of their local history in that area.
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Though, it really should have been a U.N.
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heritage site or something like that.
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Do you prefer living in an old building or in a modern house?
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I don't mind, really.
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As long as the place is easy to keep and it's not falling apart.
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I've lived in lots of places and it doesn't seem too difficult to accomplish.
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But then maybe my standards are just really low.
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Are there any old buildings you would like to see in the future?
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I thought about that a lot, and I don't think there are places I want to see, but there are people I would like to visit and cultures I want to experience.
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I don't think buildings mean much without the people around them.
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That's who they're for, after all.
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How do old buildings affect the appearance of a place?
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I think that depends on their upkeep, really.
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If it's in a state of disrepair, then clearly it'll bring down the reputation of the area.
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However, a well-maintained building can be a tourist attraction or a piece of cultural heritage that anchors the area and its history.
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What aspects of culture do old buildings reflect?
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Well, I suppose the architectural styles and tastes are probably the most easily seen.
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But you can infer a lot about a culture and what influences it and what values and what it wants to preserve just by looking at the buildings.
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It can tell you a lot about the big ideas and conflicts in a society, actually, now that I think about it.
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So old buildings.
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How can we paraphrase old buildings?
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Can I say something like very old or ancient buildings or...
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If you were being hyperbolic then you could say ancient.
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I don't see the problem with that.
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But most buildings you could describe...
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You just say they're old and how they're old.
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So for example, we could talk about the style or when they were built, and that adds detail to it.
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But there's not a great way of paraphrasing old buildings.
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You could maybe say like it's a former something.
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It's a former church, for example.
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And Rory said that my hometown is hundreds of years old, or my city is hundreds of years old.
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Hundreds, hundreds years old?
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Hundreds of years old?
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Hundreds of years.
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Hundreds of...
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Hundreds of years. Yeah.
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Or you can say my hometown is 100 years old.
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How old is your hometown?
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Moscow is 875 years old.
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That's it, right? Okay.
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So it's actually older than 800 years old.
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And you can say that okay, there is an old gallery. It was built in...
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Or it was built back in the eighties, and then it has been repurposed.
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A very nice verb - to repurpose something.
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So the gallery was repurposed or has been repurposed.
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So when the building has been repurposed, what happens to it?
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It starts off with one function and then switches over to another.
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An old McDonald's has been repurposed...
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Into a farm...
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Into a farm.
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Moo moo. Old McDonald had a farm...
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Most commonly in my country, its old churches are repurposed into houses for example, or restaurants.
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Hmm. Yeah. We are talking about preserving old buildings.
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So not like saving.
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Preserve. The verb is to preserve old buildings.
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And Rory, you said that they are kept up to code.
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Yeah. I don't know if this idea exists in other cultures, but usually you have to maintain your building to a certain standard and that's called keeping it up to code.
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So we should keep it up to code, maintain a building. So old buildings should be maintained, so you should keep them in good condition.
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So Rory said that this place is easy to keep, so easy to maintain, we maintain a building.
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And also you said that "a well-maintained building", right?
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So, yeah, there are many old buildings in my area.
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Some of them are well maintained and others are dilapidated.
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Or in a state of disrepair, which just means it's not well maintained or kept up to date.
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So some of the old buildings are in the state of what?
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Dis... Disrepair?
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Disrepair! Yeah. Or they are in poor condition.
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They are dilapidated.
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BAND 9! I love that word.
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And then you talked about a UN heritage site.
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Right? So UN is United Nations.
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I think now...
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I'm not really an expert in how the UN works, but I think they're called heritage or World Heritage Sites anyway. So those are places that are of significant cultural importance in an area and for the world.
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So obviously, if Islam is a major world religion, one of the first mosques in Africa would be quite important. I assume it wasn't treated that way.
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So you can say like, some of the old buildings are in..
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Or are UN heritage sites.
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Right? Sites like, places.
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And then you could talk about heritage more broadly.
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Right. And you talked about cultural heritage.
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Right? So...
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A well maintained building can be a tourist attraction or it could be a piece of cultural heritage.
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Yeah! And then you said like, that anchors the area in history.
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Yeah. But that's just basically...
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When we talk about cultural heritage, that's all about maintaining connections to the past and the ideas and values that you want to preserve in the society.
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So if it's anchored in history, then it's doing its job properly, if it's cultural heritage.
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When we talk about dilapidated buildings, buildings in poor condition, you can also say that some buildings fall apart.
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So yeah, there are some buildings in my area and they are falling apart...
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... to pieces.
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Now I've got the following two pieces song in my head.
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Rory, you said that you have low standards.
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Really? You have low standards?
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I have incredibly low standards.
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Look at the shirt I'm wearing!
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It's like ten years old...
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Oh, but it's a new shirt.
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It's not new. It's a new shirt for the video.
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Notice, by the way... I don't know if anyone's noticed the easter eggs that Maria, being the fashion icon that she is, changes her clothes regularly.
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But I always have the same clothes...
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No no! You now have a kind of new...
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T-shirt, so... Well done you!
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I got this like ten years ago for a charity thing that I did, so do not come to me for fashion advice...
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Also, Rory told us that: I don't think buildings mean much without the people around them.
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Oh, it's so cute and nice.
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So people mean more.
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But that's true!
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Oh, it's true.
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People. It's just people.
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Yeah. It's not where you go.
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It's who you go with or who you meet on the way.
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Yes, so it's not just an old building.
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It's like, who you see in this old building.
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According to Rory.
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Yeah. Also, you said that it depends on their upkeep, really.
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Upkeep? But again, that's just another way of saying it depends on their maintenance or how well they're repaired and kept in a good condition.
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Yeah. So maintenance. We maintain buildings.
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You can maintain your car, your house, your flat, and also maintenance.
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That's why in a company we have a maintenance department. Yeah?
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With people who maintain certain things.
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Yeah. And if it's in a state of disrepair...
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Not despair. Dispair is for people...
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Disrepair, then it'll bring down the reputation of the area.
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So it will...
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So old, dilapidated buildings, buildings in poor condition could bring down the reputation of the area.
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And this is a phrasal verb, my friends.
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Oh, yes. www.successwithielts.com www.successwithielts.com/podcourses Did I get it right?
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Check it. Go.
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GO! Open the search engine and check.
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Yeah. Also, the link is somewhere in the description.
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So check out our phrasal verb course.
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Yeah. And then Roy talked about architectural styles.
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Tastes. Sorry, architectural tastes.
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But that's just another way of talking about fashion senses and fashion tastes and fashion styles and preferences. There's nothing really new there.
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You can have...
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I guess, architectural tastes and the difference there is that it's something that a lot of people have, whereas fashion tastes can vary between individuals.
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And you said that you can infer a lot from that.
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Infer? It's like, come to an understanding with indirect evidence. So instead of like seeing the link between one thing and another, you just look for clues instead.
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Yeah. So for example, when we read a book and you read, and you need to deduce the meaning from context, you need to infer what the writer wanted to tell you.
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Right? Because the writer doesn't say, I want you to hate this person.
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They'll make the person really unlikable.
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Yeah. Yeah, infer.
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And Rory, when you go to places, do you kind of, walk around and do you look at old buildings or do you prefer modern ones?
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Is it more pleasant for you to look at modern buildings out of glass and steel?
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I don't know. I've never really thought about it before.
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Think about it now....
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So let's imagine, like, you are in...
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When you first went to Moscow, were you kind of like... Was it more pleasant for you to look at old buildings or modern buildings?
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I don't... I think both of them are fine because actually, to be honest with you, they're necessary in the first place because we don't live in the past, or at least we shouldn't.
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So it's nice to see where a country has come from and also where it's going...
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...in general.
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But there are some places like in Gran Canaria, which is a Spanish island, for example, where everything is new or it looks new at the very least.
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And so that's also quite nice because it fits with the modern aesthetic that they want people to...
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Well, they want to promote in the island or on the island.
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Yeah. Nice, nice word. Aesthetic.
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The aesthetic of the island.
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Just don't ask me what it means.
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Aesthetic. Everything.
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The looks. The look.
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The atmosphere. The look.
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Right. And would you like to live in an old castle?
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So we are thinking Scotland, freedom...
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We're thinking castles and ghosts.
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No! That would be, like, phenomenally expensive.
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Do you know how expensive it is to live in a building that's hundreds of years old?
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But this podcast is going to be super famous and popular, and you're going to be a celebrity.
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So you'll have money to maintain a castle with ghosts.
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I don't want to live in a castle...
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Okay. No castles for Rory...
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Yeah. Right.
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Lovely. Now, dear listener, you do have some vocabulary and grammar about old buildings.
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So make sure that you can make some examples of old buildings.
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Maybe have your favorite old building.
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Again, old is like what is old?
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Well, it's just not new.
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Right? So don't talk about skyscrapers, right?
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Or very tall buildings.
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So think about something old.
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Some old churches.
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Galleries. Well, you could. I mean, what...
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The Empire State Building is almost 100 years old.
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Are you joking?
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Okay, we are googling.
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I wasn't Googling how old Moscow is. I know it...
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So construction started in March 1930.
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And it opened the next year in 1931.
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So that means it's 91 years old.
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So almost 100 years old.
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Pretty good.
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Thank you very much for listening!
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Please write in the comments Do you like old buildings?
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Do you have a favorite old building?
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Any old buildings in your area?
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Maybe any old churches...
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Like comment and share.
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Bye! And we will see you next week.
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Bye!
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Why practice speaking with this video?
Practicing your English speaking skills through the shadowspeak method can significantly enhance your fluency and confidence. This engaging video on old buildings provides model answers to common IELTS Speaking Part 1 questions, making it a perfect context for learners. By listening to the conversational style of the speakers, you gain exposure to natural language use, which is crucial for improving your English pronunciation.
As you watch the video, pay attention to the discussions surrounding old buildings, their history, and preservation. These topics not only enrich your vocabulary but also prepare you for various speaking scenarios, ensuring you can express your thoughts effectively in English. Emulating the speakers through the shadowing technique can help you internalize speech patterns and improve your overall communication skills.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Throughout the video, several grammatical structures and expressions stand out as particularly useful:
- Present Perfect Tense: Rory says, "they've been repurposed." This tense indicates actions that started in the past and continue to influence the present, a useful structure to master for expressing experiences.
- Expressing Opinions: The phrase "I don’t see why not" is an effective way to express agreement or support for a suggestion. Practicing responses like this can equip you to handle opinion-based questions during conversation.
- Describing Structures: Phrases like "they are kept in their original state" demonstrate how to convey details about preservation and condition. Mastering descriptive language will enhance your ability to articulate thoughts about various topics.
Common Pronunciation Traps
When improving your English pronunciation, it's crucial to be aware of certain tricky words mentioned in the video. Words like "gallery," "gothic," and "preserved" may present pronunciation challenges:
- The word "gallery" is often mispronounced; focus on the soft "g" sound and the stress on the first syllable.
- "Gothic" can be easy to misarticulate if you're not familiar with the emphasis on the first syllable. Ensure you pronounce the 'o' sound clearly.
- The term "preserved" may lead to confusion because of its multiple syllables; practice driving the 'pres' and 'erved' sounds distinctively to enhance clarity.
Incorporating these insights from the video into your practice will empower you to speak more fluently and confidently. Engage with the content repeatedly using the shadow speak approach, allowing you to assimilate both vocabulary and pronunciation skills effectively. Happy learning as you explore English with YouTube!
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.
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