Shadowing Practice: C1 Advanced Speaking test - Raphael and Maude | Cambridge English - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Good morning.
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My name is Bridget Harrison and this is my colleague Mary Whiteside.
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And your names are?
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Raphael.
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Raphael?
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Maud.
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Maud.
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Can I have your mark sheets please?
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Thank you.
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First of all, we'd like to know something about you.
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Raphael, where are you from?
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I'm from Lucerne, it's a city in Switzerland, and it's in the German part.
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And what do you do there?
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I'm still at school and I have two years to go.
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Maud, how long have you been studying English?
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Well, I think I've been studying English for about six years now, yes.
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What do you enjoy most about learning English?
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It's, it is very useful, I mean, to talk with foreigners.
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I have a lot of foreigners, foreign friends, and I really enjoy being able to talk with them.
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Maud, do you think you spend too much time working or studying?
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Well, sometimes maybe because I'm hard working, I like it.
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And sometimes I think I should rest, take time to rest, yes.
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Why?
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Because, well, when I study, I stayed at home.
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I didn't go out with friends or I didn't like working at a cafe or something.
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So it's not very a social activity.
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Yeah.
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So I should meet my friends and go out.
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Rafaell, do you like using the internet to keep in touch with people?
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Yeah, sometimes.
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But to keep in touch with people, I think it's better to see them face to face, not just writing.
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But something like Facebook, I think it's useful like a contact book, but not really as interaction between people.
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In this part of the test, I'm going to give each of you three pictures.
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I'd like you to talk about two of them on your own for about a minute
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and also to answer a question briefly about your partner's pictures.
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Raphael, it's your turn first.
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Here are your pictures.
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they show people doing things together.
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I'd like you to compare two of the pictures
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and say why the people might be doing these things together and how the people might be feeling.
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So I think these two guys are playing just music together and these three little girls are baking,
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I don't know, a cake or something.
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And I think they are doing it together because they might be sisters because they look so similar.
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And these two are maybe in a band or in a music group.
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And I think they enjoy to play together music and interact together.
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And these three girls just like to have fun here and bake in the kitchen.
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I don't think it will be a nice cake, but yeah, just to learn how to cook.
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And it's just an activity for them together.
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And I think the both guys could also be preparing for something maybe a concert or something but yeah Thank you Rafa.
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Maud, in which situation do you think the people benefit most from being together?
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Well, I think every kind of situation depends on the kind of relationship you have with the person.
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When you're at school, maybe in a class, it's good to talk with some people sometimes just to think about something else.
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And when you're cooking, the same, you share ideas, you learn things.
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When you're playing music, you, well, you learn about each other so it really depends on the situation.
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Thank you.
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Now Maud, here are your pictures.
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They show students doing different activities.
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I'd like you to compare two of the activities
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and say how students can benefit from doing these activities
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and how helpful the activities might be in preparing them for their future lives.
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Alright, okay.
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So, let me see.
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So I'd like to talk about these two pictures.
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Well, on these two pictures we can see two students who are doing different things.
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I think she is studying so well.
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While studying she gained knowledge and she gets prepared for a test, maybe, something.
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So it helps her preparing it and maybe she will pass the test if she work hard.
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So and this student is giving a presentation and it helps her,
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it will help her develop a kind of ease while talking to other people.
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So if she wants to be in the entertainment field,
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it will be very useful for her to be able to talk to people.
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Thank you.
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Raphael, which of these activities do you think is most useful?
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I think it's this one where they built a tent or something, because it helps for the teamwork.
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And I think that's the most important thing for future life because when they're in the office or just at the job,
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they have to be prepared to work in the team and ask others about their opinion and work together with them.
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Thank you.
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Now I'd like you to talk about something together for about two minutes.
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Here are some things that people often have to make decisions about and a question for you to discuss.
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First you have some time to look at the task.
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Now talk to each other about what people might have to consider when making these decisions.
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Okay, so let's talk about choosing a university first.
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I think people have to think about, well, first the students have to think about what they like of course
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when they want to study a university yeah and students
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and parents have to think about money
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because in some countries universities is very how very expensive like in England here
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and I think you have also to choose the university for
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like where you can study the subject you really want to
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and also that the university with the subject is the best university from all the universities with the subject.
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Like the best results in an exam or something like that.
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And what about starting a family?
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Again, there is a financial criteria to consider, I think.
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And well, when you start a family, you need to talk maybe about children.
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Yeah.
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You have also to think about if you're ready already to build a family.
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And if you have enough money and where to settle
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and you need to think about the jobs maybe
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because I think that's now most of the parents I mean two parents are working
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so they need to yeah to take that in consideration
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and moving to another country I think the language is very important yeah and
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There are some restrictions as well about languages, like if you want to move to Australia,
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you need to pass the IELTS exam.
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Thank you.
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Now you have about a minute to decide in which situation it's most important to make the right decision.
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I think the most important is getting married, because when two people find the find each other
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and they think about getting married they should really think about it
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because it's an important decision and they don't just get married.
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Yes, then you have to sign kind of a contract
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and those people are together for whole their lives so they need to think about it before getting married.
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I think this is also connected to starting a family because I think it's To another country.
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Well, yes.
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Everything relies on it.
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Yeah.
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Mm-hmm.
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Okay. So, yeah.
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And also when you are getting married, I think it's better to first get married before you start a family,
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because then you're like a couple.
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Kind of, yes, a legal couple or something like that.
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Thank you.
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Rafaell, is it best for people to make decisions on their own or to ask others for advice?
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I think it's always important to consider other opinions because they have a different view on the topic or on the question.
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And so I think it's always important to ask as many people as possible and consider the different points.
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Do you agree, Maud?
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Well, in some ways, yes, but I think that some people can,
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should make their own decision when they think that the advice that all the people give them are not very strong. So yes.
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Maud, some people think it's best to plan their lives carefully, others prefer to make spontaneous decisions.
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What's your opinion?
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Well again it depends on the individuals and I think
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that planning your life is very important like in my opinion planning studies
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and holidays is very important because
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when you study you don't have a lot of time to leave to holiday
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so if you book a holiday or or something like that.
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You need to think about it before. Do you agree, Raphael?
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Yes, I agree.
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But I think it's also important that we don't plan everything because when we don't reach it at the end, we may be depressed.
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And so it's always just the most important thing we should plan.
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Why do you think some people find it harder to make decisions than others?
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I think that some people are not very used to make their own decisions like when you have very
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Pushy parents you you don't really get to make your own decision and maybe some people are scared about
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About the following Yes, yeah the other opinions or and also,
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it's It's like I think it's like you
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Either you are very good in making decisions and you should also be like a leader for a group or something.
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But when you don't, I think it's better when you just listen to someone else.
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Yes, listen to someone's advice, yeah.
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How do you think young people can be helped to take on responsibilities?
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I think it's important that they are teached in school about this and also from the parents at home.
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Yes, very important.
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The parents, I think, play a very important role because they are like an example for their children and yes,
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they should teach them the good way of,
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well, decision and how to to pre think about how to make a decision.
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I think you can also start at an early age with like giving them little tasks to do
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and then they have to the responsibility to do the task and then they learn what it means.
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Yes, I often ask them questions like what do you want, what do you think so that they can talk
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and share their ideas and give their opinion about things and develop this kind of skill.
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So also in the job they will get tasks from their boss and then they also know
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what it means that they get the task done.
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encourage them to do their homework or things like that when they're very young.
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Thank you.
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That is the end of the test.
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About This Lesson
Practice real-world English speaking skills with this C1 Advanced Speaking test video. You’ll learn to answer personal questions, compare images, and discuss topics—key skills for exams and daily communication. Use shadowing to mimic the speakers’ tone and speed, and improve your fluency with natural dialogue.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Face-to-face: Direct, in-person interaction (e.g., "It's better to see them face-to-face").
- Prepare for: Get ready for an event (e.g., "Preparing for a concert").
- Teamwork: Collaborative work (e.g., "It helps for teamwork").
- Develop ease: Become comfortable (e.g., "Develop a kind of ease while talking").
- Consider: Think about factors (e.g., "What people might have to consider").
Practice Tips
Use shadowing to master the video’s conversational pace. Pause after each speaker, then repeat their lines aloud—focus on matching their intonation and stress. For example, when Raphael says, "I think it's better to see them face-to-face," emphasize "better" and "face-to-face" to sound natural. This shadowspeak technique trains your mouth to move like a native. The video’s tone is casual yet clear, so mimic that balance. Practice daily with this shadow speak exercise to build confidence in exams and real conversations. For more resources, use a shadowing site to find similar videos and keep improving.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | have you been studying · I've been studying |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is also connected · may be depressed · can be helped |
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.