Shadowing Practice: [Audio] Basic IELTS Speaking - 01 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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103 sentences
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frequently asked questions in the first part of the ielts test city and country
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which part of your country do most people live in can
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you tell me about the main industries in your country is
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it easy to travel around your country do you think your country has changed a lot since you were a child?
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Do you know something about the history of your hometown?
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Are there any interesting places I can visit?
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What do you like the most about living in your hometown?
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Can you compare your hometown with big modern cities like Beijing?
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in your hometown?
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Can you describe the city where you live now?
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Are there any things you dislike about the city?
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How would you improve the city where you live?
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Job.
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What do you do?
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Why did you choose this job?
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What is your routine work?
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Tell me about a typical working day.
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what do you like or dislike about your job do you like your job
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if you don't what kind of job would you prefer do
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you have any plans to change your job in the future
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study what subject do you study why did you choose this subject
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What do you like most about your studies?
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Are there any things you dislike about your studies?
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What do you find most difficult in your studies?
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What kind of qualifications or certificates do you hope to get?
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What do you hope to do after graduation?
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Childhood.
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Where did you grow up?
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What is a good place for children to grow up?
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Where did you usually play?
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Who is the most important person in your childhood?
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Is childhood now different from the time when you were a child?
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Films.
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Do you enjoy watching films?
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How often do you watch films?
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what kind of films do you like to watch do people generally prefer watching films at home
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or in the cinema would you like to be in a
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film public transport what kind of public transport is available where
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you live what kind of public transport do you use most
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often what problems are there with public transport where you live how would you improve public transport where you live
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do you prefer to use public or private transport
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animals tell me about some of the animals in your country
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which animals do you like tell me some of the ways
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animals are used in your country for example agriculture how
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do people in your country usually feel about animals shopping who does the main food
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and household shopping in your family what kind of shopping do
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you usually do what kinds of shops do you prefer what
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time of day do you prefer to go shopping what is
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the worst thing about shopping housework who usually does the housework for example cooking
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and cleaning where you live how is the housework shared in your family
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what do you think is the most important household task do
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you have any ideas about how housework has changed in recent years in your country do you enjoy housework
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and what kind of housework do you like food
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and restaurants what kinds of food do you like is there any food you don't like
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Do you usually cook at home?
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Are there any special occasions when people in your country go to a restaurant?
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of eating in restaurants?
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Free time.
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When do you have free time?
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What do you like doing in your free time?
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What activities are most popular in the place where you live?
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Do you think that free time is important in people's lives?
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Would you like to spend your free time with friends or with family?
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School Which middle school did you study in?
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Is it close to your home?
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How did you get to school every day?
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What did you like the best about that school?
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Is there anything you didn't like about your school?
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If you were the president of the school, what changes would you like to make?
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What did you think of the teachers there?
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Hobbies, entertainment.
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Do you have any hobbies?
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How did you become interested in that?
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How much time do you spend on that?
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Do you prefer relaxing at home or going out in the evening?
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When you go out for the evening, what would you like to do?
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Is there any kind of entertainment you dislike?
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Why do you think that people have hobbies?
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Travels.
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Do you like traveling?
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How often do you travel, and why?
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What kinds of places are you most interested in, and why?
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What places have you enjoyed visiting, and why?
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What do you normally do when you are in a new place?
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Which do you prefer, traveling by yourself or with friends, and why?
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What does traveling mean to you?
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Festivals What are the special days celebrated in your country?
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What do you think is the most important festival in your country?
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In what way do people celebrate the festival?
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Do people prepare any special food for the occasion?
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Which do people prefer, to spend it with family or with friends?
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How did people celebrate the festival in the past?
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How has the way been changed and why?
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Do you think that it is important to have festivals?
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Friends.
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What kind of people can be your friends?
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How do you make friends?
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How much time do you spend with friends?
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What do you normally do with your friends?
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Do you prefer to spend more time with friends or with family?
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Would you rather have one close friend or many common friends?
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How important is friendship to you?
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When you have trouble, do you turn to friends or family?

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “[Audio] Basic IELTS Speaking - 01”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: prefer, housework, transport, film, shopping. This video has 103 sentences and 963 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:30. The speaker talks at a steady 113 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 94% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 69 of its 103 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
hometown noun/ˈhoʊmˌtaʊn/An individual’s place of birth, childhood home, or place of main residence.
dislike verb/dɪsˈlaɪk/To have a feeling of aversion or antipathy towards; not to like.
hobby noun/ˈhɑ.bi/An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time.
household adjective/ˈhaʊshoʊld/Belonging to the same house and family.
occasion noun/əˈkeɪ̯ʒən/A favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance.
disadvantage noun/ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/A weakness or undesirable characteristic; con; drawback.
compare verb/kəmˈpɛɚ/To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it…
friendship noun/ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/The condition of being friends.
agriculture noun/ˈæɡ.ɹɪˌkʌl.t͡ʃɚ/The art or science of cultivating the ground, including the growing and harvesting of crops, and the rearing and management of livestock.
routine noun/ɹuˈtin/A course of action to be followed regularly; a standard procedure.
certificate noun/səˈtɪf.ɪ.kɪt/A document containing a certified statement.
relax verb/ɹɪˈlæks/To make something loose.
cinema noun/ˈsɪn.ə.mə/A movie theatre, a movie house.
graduation noun/ˌɡɹæd͡ʒuˈeɪʃən/The action or process of graduating and receiving a diploma for completing a course of study (such as from an educational institution).
qualification noun/ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/The act or process of qualifying for a position, achievement etc.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

WordMeaning
grow up verbTo mature and become an adult.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

  • Are there any interesting places I can visit?
  • Can you describe the city where you live now?
  • Are there any things you dislike about the city?
  • How would you improve the city where you live?
  • Is there anything you didn't like about your school?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

StructureIn the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters nowhas changed
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does itare used · been changed
Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a groupthe most important · the worst · the best
Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing formenjoy watching · enjoyed visiting

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: occasion /əˈkeɪ̯ʒən/, friendship /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/, graduation /ˌɡɹæd͡ʒuˈeɪʃən/, qualification /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
  • Long words — get the stress right: disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/, agriculture /ˈæɡ.ɹɪˌkʌl.t͡ʃɚ/, certificate /səˈtɪf.ɪ.kɪt/, graduation /ˌɡɹæd͡ʒuˈeɪʃən/, qualification /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like hometown, dislike, hobby.

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 technique: read the full step-by-step guide →