Shadowing Practice: B1 English Listening Practice - Phones - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hey everybody!
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Welcome to this B1 English listening practice video.
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You can use this video to practice your listening and comprehension as I speak.
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Before we start, remember to sign up for our $1 listening practice seminars at polyglossa .com,
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and download the free Listening Time podcast so you can practice your listening skills.
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So today, I'm going to talk about phones.
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I was talking about this topic the other day
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and I got to thinking about how important phones are in our everyday lives.
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So let's talk a little bit about this.
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Let's go briefly through the history of phones.
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Even though some basic versions of the telephone had been invented earlier, Alexander Graham Bell is usually credited with the invention since he won the first US patent for it.
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A patent is a government license given to someone who comes up with an idea for an invention.
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It excludes other people from making or selling this invention for a certain number of years.
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So, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone in 1876.
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Prior to that, people couldn't talk over long distances.
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They could only send messages through telegraph or some other means.
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You can imagine how revolutionary this invention was, when suddenly people could talk and have their voice heard in a different location.
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It must have seemed like really advanced technology at the time.
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But obviously telephones didn't just become common household items overnight.
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It would be decades before this device became commonplace, and at the turn of the century, there were still fewer than a million phones in use.
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One big milestone in the development of phones was the first transcontinental phone call, which was made from New York to San Francisco in 1915.
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Nowadays, this might not seem like a huge feat, but this type of long distance communication was completely unheard of at that time.
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The telephone was changing the way people thought about communication.
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Over the next few decades, many more millions of households installed landlines, and the telephone became the king of communication.
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Then, fast forward to 1973, and the world saw the introduction of the first cell phone made by Motorola.
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But if you're thinking that this cell phone bore any resemblance to today's phones, think again.
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The first mobile phone was a monster.
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It definitely couldn't fit in anyone's pocket.
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Later on in 1989, the first flip phone appeared on the market.
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A flip phone is a phone that you open like this, the type of phone that I had growing up.
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In 1992, the first text message was sent between phones.
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Obviously today, text messages are an essential function of all cell phones
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and people communicate more through messages than they do through calls.
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Come to think of it, it seems like people try to avoid calling and instead send text messages whenever possible.
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Another cell phone feature that we take for granted nowadays is the camera.
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The first camera phone came out in Japan in 1999 and then later on in the rest of the world.
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And then finally, in 2007, the first iPhone came out, stunning the world with its revolutionary design and touchscreen display.
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Even though there were already smartphones in existence at that time, the iPhone really brought smartphones onto the scene.
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After that, other companies followed suit and started releasing smartphone after smartphone.
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Nowadays, it seems like practically everyone who can afford it has a smartphone.
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This device has become a necessity in many people's lives and most people spend many hours every week using it.
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Actually, a lot of people don't even use their computer that much anymore because they can do everything from their phone.
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If you had told people just a few decades ago about the cell phones of today, they probably wouldn't have believed you.
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Who knows what type of innovation we might see with phones in the future?
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I guess we'll have to wait and see.
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Okay, now I'm going to ask you three questions about today's video.
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Write your answers and a comment down below.
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Number one: In what year was the first transcontinental phone call made?
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Number two: Which company made the world's first cell phone?
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And number three, what important cell phone feature was first added in 1992?
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Alright, before we go, remember to sign up for our $1 listening practice seminars
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and download the free Listening Time podcast so you can practice your listening skills.
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And of course, subscribe to the channel, click on the bell, and follow us on Instagram.
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I'll see you next time.
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Why practice speaking with this video?
This B1 English listening practice video focuses on the topic of phones, which is relevant in today's technology-driven world. By engaging with this content, learners can improve their listening comprehension while enhancing their speaking skills. The shadowing technique, a popular method among English learners, allows you to repeat what you hear in real-time, mimicking the speaker's pronunciation and intonation.
Using this video, you can not only learn new vocabulary related to technology and communication but also practice your IELTS speaking practice skills. The discussions around the history of phones and their evolution over time present an excellent opportunity to expand your contextual speaking ability, making it easier to express your thoughts in a coherent manner.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
As you listen to the speaker, pay attention to several key grammatical structures that can enhance your own speaking. Here are some examples:
- Use of Past Tenses: The speaker often refers to historical events, using the past tense to describe developments in phone technology, such as "Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone in 1876."
- Present Perfect: The speaker uses present perfect tense to discuss ongoing relevance, illustrated by the phrase "many people spend many hours every week using it."
- Conditional Statements: The speaker includes hypothesizing future innovation with sentences like "Who knows what type of innovation we might see with phones in the future," which is great for discussing possibilities and potential.
By practicing these structures in shadow speech, you can make your own conversational responses more dynamic and engaging.
Common Pronunciation Traps
When shadowing the video, be mindful of certain pronunciation challenges that may arise:
- Transcontinental: This term can be tricky; emphasize the separation of syllables: trans-con-ti-nent-al.
- Revolutionary: The rhythm may throw non-native speakers off; practice stressing the third syllable: rev-o-LU-tion-a-ry.
- Technology: Watch for the clear pronunciation of the “n” and the “g” at the end, especially in quick speech.
Utilizing a shadowing app can help refine your pronunciation as you practice these words repeatedly. The more you expose yourself to correct pronunciation through shadowing, the more natural your speech will become.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | had been invented · was made · was sent |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | someone who comes · call, which was · everyone who can |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was talking · was changing |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might not seem · might see |
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.