Shadowing Practice: Cambridge 18 test 1 !! | IELTS Listening !! - Learn English Speaking with Video

Test 1.

This is the IELTS Listening Test.

Now turn to part 1.

Part 1.

You will hear an interview with a woman who is doing a survey on transport.

First you have some time to look at questions 1 to 5.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 5.

Excuse me, would you mind if I asked you some questions?

We're doing a survey on transport.

Yes, that's OK.

First of all, can I take your name?

Yes, it's Sadie Jones.

Thanks very much.

And could I have your date of birth?

Just the year will do, actually.

Is that all right?

Yes, that's fine.

It's 1991.

So, next, your postcode, please.

It's DW307YZ.

Great, thanks.

Is that in Wells?

No, it's actually in Harbourn.

Wells isn't far from there, though.

I really like that area.

My grandmother lived there when I was a kid.

Yes, it is nice.

Right, so now I want to ask you some questions about how you travelled here today.

Did you use public transport?

Yes, I came by bus.

OK, and that was today.

It's the 24th of April, isn't it?

Isn't it the 25th?

No, actually, you're right.

And what was the reason for your trip today?

I can see you've got some shopping with you.

Yes, I did some shopping, but the main reason I came here was to go to the dentist.

That's not much fun.

Hope it was nothing serious.

No, it was just a check-up.

It's fine.

Good.

Do you normally travel by bus into the city centre?

Yes, I stopped driving in ages ago because parking was so difficult to find, and it costs so much.

I see.

The bus is much more convenient too.

It only takes about 30 minutes.

That's good.

So where did you start your journey?

At the bus stop on Claxby Street.

Is that C-L-A-X-B-Y?

That's right.

Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 6 to 10.

Now listen and answer questions 6 to 10.

And how satisfied with the service are you?

Do you have any complaints?

Well, as I said, it's very convenient and quick when it's on time.

But this morning it was late.

Only about ten minutes, but still.

Yes, I understand that's annoying.

And what about the timetable?

Do you have any comments about that?

Hmm.

I suppose I mainly use the bus during the day, but any time I've been in town in the evening,

for dinner or at the cinema, I've noticed you have to wait a long time for a bus.

There aren't that many.

OK, thanks.

So now I'd like to ask you about your car use.

Well, I have got a car, but I don't use it that often, mainly just to go to the supermarket.

But that's about it, really.

My husband uses it at the weekends to go to the golf club.

And what about a bicycle?

I don't actually have one at the moment.

What about the city bikes you can rent?

Do you ever use those?

No, I'm not keen on cycling there because of all the pollution.

But I would like to get a bike.

It would be good to use it to get to work.

So why haven't you got one now?

Well, I live in a flat on the second floor and it doesn't have any storage.

So we'd have to leave it in the hall outside the flat.

I see.

OK, well, I think that's all we need from you today.

That is the end of part one.

You now have one minute to check your answers to part one.

Thank you.

Part 2.

You will hear a woman speaking to a group of people who are interested in becoming volunteers for an organisation called ACE.

First you have some time to look at questions 11 to 15.

Thank you.

and answer questions 11 to 15.

Good evening, everyone.

Let me start by welcoming you all to this talk

and thanking you for taking the time to consider joining ACE voluntary organisation.

ACE offers support to people and services in the local area

and we're now looking for more volunteers to help us do this.

By the way, I hope you're all comfortable.

We have brought in extra seats so that no one has to stand, but it does mean that the people at the back of the room may be a bit squashed.

We'll only be here for about half an hour, so hopefully that's okay.

100

One of the first questions we're often asked is how old you need to be to volunteer.

101

Well, you can be as young as 16 or you can be 60 or over.

102

It all depends on what type of voluntary work you want to do.

103

Other considerations, such as reliability, are crucial in voluntary work and age isn't related to these in our experience.

104

Another question we get asked relates to training.

105

Well, there's plenty of that and it's all face to face.

106

What's more, training doesn't end when you start working for us.

107

It takes place before, during and after periods of work.

108

Often it's run by other experienced volunteers as managers tend to prefer to get on with other things.

109

Now, I would ask you to consider a couple of important issues before you decide to apply for voluntary work.

110

We don't worry about why you want to be a volunteer.

111

People have many different reasons that range from getting work experience to just doing something they've always wanted to do.

112

But it is critical that you have enough hours in the day for whatever role we agree is suitable for you.

113

If being a volunteer becomes stressful, then it's best not to do it at all.

114

You may think that your income is important, but we don't ask about that.

115

It's up to you to decide if you can work without earning money.

116

What we value is dedication.

117

Some of our most loyal volunteers earn very little themselves, but still give their full energy to the work they do with us.

118

Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20.

119

Now listen and answer questions 16 to 20.

120

OK, so let's take a look at some of the work areas

121

that we need volunteers for and the sort of things that would help you in those.

122

You may wish simply to help us raise money.

123

If you have the creativity to come up with an imaginative or novel way of fundraising,

124

we'd be delighted, as standing in the local streets or shops with a collection box can be rather boring.

125

One outdoor activity that we need volunteers for is litter collection,

126

and for this it's useful if you can walk for long periods, sometimes uphill.

127

Some of our regular collectors are quite elderly, but very active and keen to protect the environment.

128

If you enjoy working with children, we have three vacancies for what are called playmates.

129

These volunteers help children learn about staying healthy through a range of out of school activities.

130

You don't need to have children yourself, but it's good if you know something about nutrition and can give clear instructions.

131

If that doesn't appeal to you, maybe you would be interested in helping out at our story club for disabled children,

132

especially if you have done some acting.

133

We put on three performances a year based on books they have read

134

and we're always looking for support with the theatrical side of this.

135

The last area I'll mention today is first aid.

136

Volunteers who join this group can end up teaching others in vulnerable groups who may be at risk of injury.

137

Initially though, Your priority will be to take in a lot of information and not forget any important steps or details.

138

Right, so does anyone have any questions for me about...

139

That is the end of part two.

140

You now have 30 seconds to check your answers to part two.

141

Part 3

142

You will hear two students called Hugo

143

and Chantal discussing a talk they have just attended at the start of their course in fashion design.

144

First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26.

145

Thank you.

146

Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 26.

147

Hi Chantal.

148

What did you think of the talk then?

149

Hi, Hugo.

150

I thought it was good once I'd moved seats.

151

Oh, were the people beside you chatting or something?

152

It wasn't that.

153

I went early so that I'd get a seat and not have to stand.

154

But then this guy sat right in front of me and he was so tall.

155

It's hard to see through people's heads, isn't it?

156

Impossible.

157

Anyway, to answer your question, I thought it was really interesting, especially what the speaker said about the job market.

158

Me too.

159

I mean, we know we're going into a really competitive field, so it's obvious that we may struggle to get work.

160

That's right.

161

And we know we can't all have that dream job.

162

Yeah, but it looks like there's a whole range of areas of work that we hadn't even thought of, like fashion journalism, for instance.

163

Yeah, I wasn't expecting so many career options.

164

Hmm.

165

Overall, she had quite a strong message, didn't she?

166

She did.

167

She kept saying things like, I know you all think this, but.. and then she'd tell us how it really is.

168

Perhaps she thinks students are a bit narrow-minded about the industry.

169

It was a bit harsh, though.

170

We know it's a tough industry.

171

Yeah.

172

And we're only first years, after all.

173

We've got a lot to learn.

174

Exactly.

175

Do you think our secondary school education should have been more career-focused?

176

Well, we had numerous talks on careers, which was good, but none of them were very inspiring.

177

They could have asked more people like today's speaker to talk to us.

178

I agree.

179

We were told about lots of different careers, just when we needed to be, but not by the experts who really know stuff.

180

So, did today's talk influence your thoughts on what career you'd like to take up in the future?

181

Well, I promised myself that I'd go through this course and keep an open mind till the end.

182

But I think it's better to pick an area of the industry now

183

and then aim to get better and better at it.

184

Well, I think we'll just have to differ on that issue.

185

One thing's for certain, though.

186

From what she said, we'll be unpaid assistants in the industry for quite a long time.

187

Hmm.

188

I'm prepared for that.

189

Aren't you?

190

Actually, I'm not going to accept that view.

191

Really?

192

But she knows it's the case, and everyone else says the same.

193

That doesn't mean it has to be true for me.

194

OK.

195

Well, I hope you're right.

196

Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30.

197

Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30.

198

I thought the speaker's account of her first job was fascinating.

199

Yeah.

200

She admitted she was lucky to get work being a personal dresser for a musician.

201

She didn't even apply for the job and there she was getting paid to choose all his clothes.

202

It must have felt amazing.

203

Though she said all she was looking for back then was experience, not financial reward.

204

Hmm.

205

And then he was so mean telling her she was more interested in her own appearance than his.

206

but she did realise he was right about that, which really made me think.

207

I'm always considering my own clothes, but now I can see you should be focusing on your client.

208

She obviously regretted losing the job.

209

Well, as she said, she should have hidden her negative feelings about him, but she didn't.

210

It was really brave the way she picked herself up and took that job in retail.

211

Fancy working in a shop after that?

212

Yeah, well, she recommended we all do it at some point.

213

I guess, as a designer, you'd get to find out some useful information, like how big or small the average shopper is.

214

I think that's an issue for manufacturers, not designers.

215

However it would be useful to know if there's a gap in the market, you know?

216

An item that no one's stocking, but that consumers are looking for.

217

Yeah, people don't give up searching.

218

They also take things back to the store if they aren't right.

219

Yeah.

220

Imagine you worked in an expensive shop

221

and you found out the garments sold there were being returned because they fell apart in the wash.

222

Yeah, it would be good to know that kind of thing.

223

Yeah.

224

That is the end of part three.

225

You now have 30 seconds to check your answers to part three.

226

Part 4 You will hear a zoology student giving a presentation on the process of moving wild elephants to a new reserve,

227

known as translocation.

228

First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.

229

Thank you.

230

Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.

231

For my presentation today, I want to tell you about how groups of elephants have been moved and settled in new reserves.

232

This is known as translocation and has been carried out in Malawi in Africa in recent years.

233

The reason this is being done is because of overpopulation of elephants in some areas.

234

Overpopulation is a good problem to have, and not one we tend to hear about very often.

235

In Malawi's Majeti National Park, the elephant population had been wiped out by poachers, who killed the elephants for their ivory.

236

But in 2003, the park was restocked and effective law enforcement was introduced.

237

Since then, not a single elephant has been poached.

238

In this safe environment, the elephant population boomed.

239

Breeding went so well that there were more elephants than the park could support.

240

This led to a number of problems.

241

Lastly, there was more competition for food, which meant that some elephants were suffering from hunger.

242

As there was a limit to the amount of food in the national park, some elephants began looking further afield.

243

Elephants were routinely knocking down fences around the park,

244

which then had to be repaired at a significant cost.

245

To solve this problem, the decision was made to move dozens of elephants from Majete National Park to Nkotokota Wildlife Park,

246

where there were no elephants.

247

But obviously, attempting to move significant numbers of elephants to a new home 300 kilometres away is quite a challenge.

248

So, how did this translocation process work in practice?

249

Elephants were moved in groups of between 8 and 20, all belonging to one family.

250

Because relationships are very important to elephants, they all had to be moved at the same time.

251

A team of vets and park rangers flew over the park in helicopters and targeted a group,

252

which were rounded up and directed to a designated open plane.

253

The vets then used darts to immobilise the elephants.

254

This was a tricky manoeuvre as they not only had to select the right dose of tranquiliser for different sized elephants,

255

but they had to dart the elephants as they were running around.

256

This also had to be done as quickly as possible, so as to minimise the stress caused.

257

As soon as the elephants began to flop onto the ground, the team moved in to take care of them.

258

To avoid the risk of suffocation, the team had to make sure none of the elephants

259

were lying on their chests because their lungs could be crushed in this position.

260

So all the elephants had to be placed on their sides.

261

One person stayed with each elephant while they waited for the vets to do checks.

262

It was very important to keep an eye on their breathing.

263

If there were fewer than six breaths per minute, the elephant would need urgent medical attention.

264

Collars were fitted to the matriarch in each group so their movements could be tracked in their new home.

265

Measurements were taken of each elephant's tusks.

266

elephants with large tusks would be at greater risk from poachers, and also of their feet.

267

The elephants were then taken to a recovery area, before being loaded onto trucks and transported to their new home.

268

The elephants translocated to Enkotakota settled in very well,

269

and the project has generally been accepted to have been a huge success, and not just for the elephants.

270

Employment prospects have improved enormously, contributing to rising living standards for the whole community.

271

Poaching is no longer an issue, as former poachers are able to find more reliable sources of income.

272

In fact, many of them volunteered to give up their weapons, as they were no longer of any use to them.

273

More than two dozen elephants have been born at Enkotakota since relocation.

274

With an area of more than 1,800 square kilometres, there's plenty of space for the elephant population to continue to grow.

275

presence is also helping to rebalance Enkotakota's damaged ecosystem,

276

and providing a sustainable conservation model which could be replicated in other parks.

277

All this has been a big draw for tourism,

278

which contributes five times more than the illegal wildlife trade to GDP,

279

and this is mainly because of the elephants.

280

There's also been a dramatic rise in interest from...

281

That is the end of part four.

282

You now have one minute to check your answers to part four.

283

Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Cambridge 18 test 1 !!”. This video has 283 sentences and 2911 words to shadow. The speech runs for 27:41. The speaker talks slowly, about 105 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 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
elephant noun	/ˈɛlɪfənt/	A large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to Africa and Asia.
voluntary adjective	/ˈvɑ.lənˌt(ɛ)ɹi/	Done, given, or acting of one's own free will.
poacher noun	/ˈpoʊ.t͡ʃɚ/	A person who trespasses in order to take game illegally, one who poaches; a person who illegally takes animals or plants from the wild.
translocation noun		Removal of things from one place to another; displacement; substitution of one thing for another.
vet verb	/vɛt/	To thoroughly check or investigate particularly with regard to providing formal approval.
kilometre noun	/kɪˈlɑmɪtəɹ/	An SI unit of length equal to 10³ metres. Symbol: km
overpopulation noun	/ˌoʊvɚˌpɑpjəˈleɪʃ(ə)n/	An excessive number of occupants (people, animals, plants, etc.) in a particular area; specifically, when the number of occupants exceeds the ability of that…
poach verb	/ˈpoʊt͡ʃ/	To trespass on another's property to take fish or game.
tusk noun	/ˈtʌsk/	One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth (either cuspids or incisors) that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild boar, and…
dart noun	/dɑɹt/	A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand; for example, a short lance or javelin.
keen adjective	/kin/	Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.
convenient adjective	/kənˈviː.niənt/	Serving to reduce a difficulty, or accessible with minimum difficulty; expedient.
afield adverb	/əˈfiːld/	Away (from the home or starting point, physical or conceptual). (Often preceded by far, farther, or further.)
designate verb	/ˈdɛz.ɪɡ.neɪt/	To mark out and make known; to point out; to indicate; to show; to distinguish by marks or description
dresser noun	/ˈdɹɛsə/	An item of kitchen furniture, like a cabinet with shelves, for storing crockery or utensils.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
find out verb	To discover, as by asking or investigating.
give up verb	To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone).
check up verb	To verify through brief investigation or revisit for assurance that there are no problems.
come up with verb	To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
end up verb	To bring to a conclusion.
get on with verb	To proceed with; to begin or continue, especially after an interruption.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
knock down verb	To hit or knock (something or someone), intentionally or accidentally, so that it falls.

Sentences worth repeating

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

First of all, can I take your name?
Did you use public transport?
Do you have any complaints?
Do you have any comments about that?
What about the city bikes you can rent?

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've been · I've noticed · have brought
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	isn't related · be delighted · are called
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	woman who is · people who are · careers, which was

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 57 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, we're, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: theatrical /θiˈætɹɪkəl/, grandmother /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: overpopulation /ˌoʊvɚˌpɑpjəˈleɪʃ(ə)n/, shopper /ˈʃɑ.pɚ/, relocation /ˌɹiːləʊˈkeɪʃən/, squash /skwɔʃ/, dedication /ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: voluntary /ˈvɑ.lənˌt(ɛ)ɹi/, kilometre /kɪˈlɑmɪtəɹ/, overpopulation /ˌoʊvɚˌpɑpjəˈleɪʃ(ə)n/, imaginative /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪnətɪv/, tranquilizer /ˈtɹæ̞ŋkwɪläɪ̯zə/

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 elephant, voluntary, poacher.

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 →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Cambridge IELTS 18 – Test 1 – Section 1 (Listening, 1–10)