Shadowing Practice: CAE8 O TEST1 PART2 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Hi, my name's Kerry, and the topic of my presentation this evening is a bird called the Swift.

For people living in most of Europe, the Swift's a familiar bird, but it only stays in the Northern Hemisphere for a few weeks each summer,

the rest of the year it spends in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Indeed, one of the best-known facts about this incredible bird is

that it has one of the longest migrations of any living creature.

The other incredible fact is that a Swift spends most of its life in the air, where it eats, drinks and sleeps, only landing to build a nest and raise its young.

Indeed, the name of the bird in German translates to wall glider in English, whereas its Latin name means without feet,

both reflecting the fact that the bird never seems to touch the ground.

In Europe, swifts are a familiar sight, wheeling around high up on summer evenings, making a lot of noise.

But swifts don't produce a song like some birds, nor do they go tweet-tweet.

Instead, they produce what can only be called a scream.

You must have heard it.

Swifts are not large birds, but they have a very characteristic shape in flight.

Some people say this reminds them of a new moon, and the birds certainly crescent-shaped with a very noticeable forked tail.

But for me, the thing that comes to mind when I see a swift is a boomerang, you know, the thing made and thrown by traditional peoples in Australia.

So swifts come to Europe to breed, and they often make their nests in buildings, especially chimneys and for some reason ancient monuments.

Because they can't land, the swifts' nests need to be in places from which they can launch themselves into the air.

Probably cliffs were their original preference, but even out of town, these days they'd tend to go for man-made places like quarries.

As you'd expect, leaves and grasses are used to build the nests, but even here the link with humans is evident, as amazingly paper is often used,

together with less surprising things like the feathers of other birds.

materials the swift probably catches in flight.

Because they never land, swifts are very vulnerable to bad weather

and in Europe retreat to their nest sites during periods of rain or high wind.

I was once lucky enough to observe a large group of

swifts travelling at great speed to get out of the way of a thunderstorm.

It was an awesome sight that I'll never forget.

As I said, swifts only spend a short time in Europe each year,

generally June and July, with even the newborn birds making the incredibly long journey to Africa in about 48 hours.

One strange fact I discovered in my research is that once it gets back to Africa, the bird is silent, people there being unaware of that characteristic call.

Swifts have always fascinated people, especially because the birds have always been attracted to towns and buildings.

traditionally in Europe the bird was used as a symbol by

the younger sons of wealthy families who without land to inherit were destined to wander the globe I like

that so before I go on to where now play the recording again

that is the end of part two now turn to part three

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “CAE8 O TEST1 PART2”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: swift, bird, Europe, nest, Africa. This video has 34 sentences and 563 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:19. The speaker talks at a natural 169 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
nest noun	/nɛst/	A structure built by a bird as a place to incubate eggs and rear young.
characteristic noun	/ˌkæɹ(ə)ktəˈɹɪstɪk/	A distinguishing feature of a person or thing, a part of mental or physical behavior.
boomerang noun	/ˈbuːməɹæŋ/	Any of various traditional throwing sticks used for hunting or combat by Australian aborigines, including the symmetrical, crescent-shaped, type (the returning…
fascinate verb	/ˈfæsɪneɪt/	To evoke an intense interest or attraction in someone.
glider noun	/ˈɡlaɪdɚ/	One who glides.
thunderstorm noun	/ˈθʌn.dɚˌstɔɹm/	A storm consisting of thunder and lightning produced by a cumulonimbus, usually accompanied with heavy rain, wind, and sometimes hail; and in rarer cases…
inherit verb	/ɪnˈhɛɹɪt/	To receive (property, a title, etc.), by legal succession or bequest, usually after the previous owner's death.
chimney noun	/ˈt͡ʃɪmni/	A vertical tube or hollow column used to emit environmentally polluting gaseous and solid matter (including but not limited to by-products of burning carbon-…
crescent noun	/ˈkɹɛs.ənt/	The figure of the moon as it appears between its first or last quarter and the new moon, with concave and convex edges terminating in points.
quarry noun	/ˈk(w)ɔɹ.i/	A site for mining stone, such as limestone, or slate.
amazingly adverb	/əˈmeɪzɪŋli/	In an amazing manner; in a way that causes amazement; wonderfully.
wander verb	/ˈwɑndɚ/	To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood.
feather noun	/ˈfɛðə/	A branching, hair-like structure that grows on the bodies of birds, used for flight, swimming, protection and display.
noticeable adjective	/ˈnəʊtɪsəbl̩/	Capable of being seen or noticed.
newborn noun		A recently born baby.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
get back to verb	Return to (an activity)
get out of verb	To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 5 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, don't, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thunderstorm /ˈθʌn.dɚˌstɔɹm/, feather /ˈfɛðə/
Long words — get the stress right: characteristic /ˌkæɹ(ə)ktəˈɹɪstɪk/, amazingly /əˈmeɪzɪŋli/, traditionally /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nə.li/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like nest, characteristic, boomerang.

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 →

Shadowing Practice: CAE8 O TEST1 PART2 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?