Shadowing Practice: Band 8.5 Sample - Full Speaking test | New Topics 2019 | IELTS with Datio - Learn English Speaking with Video
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This video is sponsored by Cambly, an app that allows you to practice speaking English with native speakers.
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Hey guys!
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In this very special episode today, I'm joined by my former student, Minthe.
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Hello, hey guys!
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You know what?
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She just took the IELTS exam after such a long time.
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I was hoping for her to take it but she kept on putting it off, you know?
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And finally when she took it, she got an overall 8 with an amazing speaking score of 8.5.
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Yeah, I'm really really happy and very glad that you got a score that you deserved.
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Thanks, thank you.
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Anyway, so in today's episode, I'm going to let Thu reset the IELTS speaking test.
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Alright, let's see how you're gonna do it.
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Yeah, okay.
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Ready?
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Sure.
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Okay.
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So in this first part of a test, I would like to ask you some questions about yourself.
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So first of all, let's talk about morning routines.
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So what is your morning routine?
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My morning routine?
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Well, class started really early, like 7 in the morning,
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so I don't get that much time to spend for myself in the morning
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so I have to wake up at really early at 6
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and then I do all of the brushing teeth
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and taking a quick shower I ate breakfast and then hop on the motorbike of my dad and I go to school.
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That's it.
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Is breakfast important in your opinion?
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Well in the past I would actually skip breakfast
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because I don't think that I didn't think that it was very important
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but but recently I suffered from a really severe stomachache and now I start to take breakfast more seriously.
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Yeah, and that's it.
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Do you like to get up early in the morning?
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Well, calling myself not a morning person is an understatement.
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I cannot tell you how much I detest waking up in the morning.
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I always, whenever I wake up early in the morning, I always ask myself why do I need to wake up?
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and then I was like oh yeah school
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and that's it I just it's just sucks I hate
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that now let's move on to talk about your hometown
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so where are you from well I am from Saigon
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or Ho Chi Minh City to be more specific I live in the D5 area
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which is like the Chinatown of the city and what do you like the most about your hometown?
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Well the thing that I enjoy the most about my hometown is the hospitality of the people.
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I feel like people can be very welcoming
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and people always treat you like you're you know not as strangers them like a family
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and whenever you need help people will be there for you.
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Yeah that's it.
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Do you think you'll continue living here for a long time?
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Well in the past I actually I actually have considered living somewhere else because I feel like the environment is deteriorating.
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But then now I start to think about it more seriously and I feel like even though you know,
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that is a big problem for the city but I also feel like I live for the
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unique vibe of Ho Chi Minh City and also for the hospitable people
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and I feel like I'm gonna stick to the city for a really long time in the future.
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Right, thank you.
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Now let's talk about sky.
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How often do you look at the sky?
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Well that's a very unusual question.
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I guess that I look at the sky every single day but mainly because I need to predict the weather.
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Because you know living in Ho Chi Minh City the weather can be very unpredictable
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and I want to know whether I need to bring an umbrella or not.
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Do you prefer the sky in the morning or the sky at night?
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Um, well to be honest, the sky at night is more appealing to me for some reason because whenever I look at the sky at night,
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daytime, I feel like it's so dull and boring.
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It's just a blue sky with a bunch of white clowns on them.
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Whereas for the sky at nighttime, it's very dark but you know,
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it's also, there are also stars that highlight the whole darkness of the sky and I love it.
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Can you see the moon and stars at night where you live?
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Well, I live near the city center so there are a lot of skyscrapers
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and stuff so I don't think that I can see the star very clearly
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but as for the moon I can totally see them
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and it shine very bright and I love it
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and I think it's really beautiful and there's something so romantic about looking at the moon.
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Is there a good place to look at the sky where you live?
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Well, Hojima City is full of skyscrapers and there are houses and buildings everywhere,
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so it's quite tricky to find a place to look at stars.
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The only place that I can think of right now is the Central Park area in District 2, which is a very vast
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and full of green area for you to lay on the grass
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and look at the star with your family or your boyfriend or girlfriend.
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Now let's move on to part 2 of the test.
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I would like you to describe your dream home.
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Describe my dream home.
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So, well currently, well ever since I was a child,
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I have lived in the same old small house in the D5 area.
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Even though the house is packed with a lot of fond memories,
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I still do wish that I can reside in a more ideal home.
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Because I live near the city center, there are so many people and the houses are packed together.
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There are people quarreling and music blasted in from speakers from shameless neighbors.
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So I really hope that I can move to a more tranquil area.
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For example, like the District 2 area or something.
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Well, whenever people are asked about their ideal home, people would answer that, oh, I want a villa or a really big house.
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But that's not me.
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I actually find big, spacious house a little bit uncomfortable.
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It's not that I'm scared of ghosts or anything, it just makes me very uneasy.
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I just want a cozy home.
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Because now I don't have my own room,
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I really hope that I can have my own personal space so that I can comfortably live in.
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I don't want to share my personal space with my sister even though I really love her.
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And I want a very nice
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and big kitchen with a lot of facilities for my mom
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because she loves to cook and also an office for my dad
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because he's a very hardworking man and he also likes to work at home and that's it for my ideal home.
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Very good, thank you.
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Now let's move on to part 3 of the test.
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In this part, I'll be asking you a few general questions related to part 2 of the test
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which you have just presented.
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Now what are the advantages and disadvantages of living in an old house?
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Living in an old house, well as you can imagine, if you live in the same house ever since you grow up,
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the house is full of your memories from your childhood into your teenage years.
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So basically there are a lot of memories of you in
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that house and I guess that an old house can have a lot of sentimental values.
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And actually that's the only advantage that I can give you right now in terms of living in an old house.
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And as for the disadvantages, you know, one way or another, an old house will run down and I don't think
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that people can have a good living standard out of that kind of accommodation.
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What is the most popular type of accommodation in your hometown?
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You know, I feel like mainly people still prefer to reside in their own individual house a virtual house,
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people like to have a space for themselves, but because of the increasing population,
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people are forced to look for another type of accommodation and that is apartment.
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And I think that especially youth, they really opt for that kind of option because they don't have that much of a money.
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As you can imagine, in a house you have to pay pay for the land also
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and it can be very pricey and as for an apartment, you can just pay for the space that you're living in and that's it.
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What are the differences between living in the city and living in the countryside?
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Well you know the city is the place where everything is developing very fast
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and I feel like you know
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because people are always busy with their own hectic schedules people can actually ignore each other
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and act very cold towards each other.
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Whereas because of the chilled and easygoing way of life in the countryside,
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I guess that people treat you nicely and more warm and more welcoming.
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However, I got to say that there is a very big disadvantage of living in the countryside and that is,
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you know, insufficient infrastructure and that can lead to lower quality of life.
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Can you compare the past and present of cities in general?
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Definitely the cities that we're living in right now compared to the city 50 years ago can be very different.
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Now one of the main features that I can think of right now is
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that the number of people here in the cities,
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well even though the city in the past is also considered very populous, there are only average like 2 million people in each city.
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However, for example in Ho Chi Minh City alone there are approximately 10 million people living in the city already.
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So, you know, and that, you know, because of the increasing population,
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it can lead to a lot of problems like not enough living space for people.
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And that's the main, the first feature that I can think of.
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And the second difference is that
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while the green area took most of the city's territory in the past there were a lot of green lands
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and parks and new playgrounds in the past.
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And it played a very important role in the city's environment.
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Whereas for today, trees are basically being cut down because of the demanding space for buildings like schools,
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universities and apartments.
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Those are the two main differences I can think of right now.
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Thank you very much, that is the end of a test.
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Thank you Cambly for sponsoring this video.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Band 8.5 Sample - Full Speaking test”. This video has 151 sentences and 1877 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:45. The speaker talks at a steady 147 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hometown noun | /ˈhoʊmˌtaʊn/ | An individual’s place of birth, childhood home, or place of main residence. |
| disadvantage noun | /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/ | A weakness or undesirable characteristic; con; drawback. |
| countryside noun | /ˈkʌn.tɹiˌsaɪd/ | An area located outside of towns and cities; an area that is not urban or suburban; a rural area. |
| accommodation noun | /əˌkɒm.əˈdeɪ.ʃən/ | Lodging in a dwelling or similar living quarters afforded to travellers in hotels or on cruise ships, or students, etc. |
| skyscraper noun | /ˈskaɪˌskɹeɪpɚ/ | A very tall building with a large number of floors. |
| reside verb | /ɹɪˈzaɪd/ | To dwell permanently or for a considerable time; to have a settled abode for a time; to remain for a long time. |
| sponsor noun | /ˈspɒn.səː/ | A person or organization with some sort of responsibility for another person or organization, especially where the responsibility has a religious, legal, or… |
| deteriorate verb | /dɪˈtɪɹ.iə.ɹeɪt/ | To make worse; to make inferior in quality or value; to impair. |
| detest verb | /dɪˈtɛst/ | To dislike (someone or something) intensely; to loathe. |
| easygoing adjective | Calm, relaxed, casual and informal. | |
| hardworking adjective | /ˈhɑːɹdˌwɜːɹ.kɪŋ/ | Of a person, taking their work seriously and doing it well and rapidly. |
| hectic adjective | /ˈhɛktɪk/ | Very busy with activity and confusion. |
| hospitable adjective | /hɑsˈpɪtəbl̩/ | cordial and generous towards guests |
| motorbike verb | /ˈmoʊtɚˌbaɪk/ | To ride a motorbike; to travel by motorbike. |
| nighttime noun | /ˈnaɪtˌtaɪm/ | The hours of darkness between sunset and sunrise; the night. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| cut down verb | To cut downward. | |
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. | |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. | |
| run down verb | To hit someone with a car or other vehicle and injure or kill them. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Alright, let's see how you're gonna do it.
- Is breakfast important in your opinion?
- Do you like to get up early in the morning?
- Do you think you'll continue living here for a long time?
- How often do you look at the sky?
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 | is sponsored · are asked · are forced |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have considered · have lived · have just presented |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 21 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: accommodation /əˌkɒm.əˈdeɪ.ʃən/, shameless /ˈʃeɪ̯mlɪs/, spacious /ˈspeɪʃ.əs/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, insufficient /ɪnsəˈfɪʃənt/
- Long words — get the stress right: disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/, accommodation /əˌkɒm.əˈdeɪ.ʃən/, deteriorate /dɪˈtɪɹ.iə.ɹeɪt/, understatement /ˌʌndɚˈsteɪtmənt/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like hometown, disadvantage, countryside.
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.